drmorbius
29-06-2006, 10:10 AM
Well, the new 8” GSO Dobsonian has now had first light and christened Robby (the dobby). I spent the first night putting it all together and was pleased to see that the collimation was close enough. I fiddled with it anyway to see what did what, but didn’t want to fiddle with it to much for fear of putting it out.
When finished, I went outside but found nothing but clouds. Mind you, I expected this after reading all the IIS posts on the affect of new scopes on the weather. No worries, I'd waited 5 months to get to this point.
The next night was clear skies so mini-Morbius and I carted Robby outside to cool off while we had dinner. Much to the disgust of the missus… it was a very quick dinner for the two of us… Unfortunately we had a few things on later that night so we would only have a half hour or so of viewing time. It was a shame to rush first light, but I wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity.
I let mini-Morbius choose the first target and he picked... Saturn. Oops! I’d left it too late and she’d already dropped below the horizon. That’s ok, pick something else… Betelgeuse (he loves the name). :doh: Oh dear, we weren’t off to a very good start. One more try.
After a few seconds deep in thought… Rigel Kent! Whoa… now that was impressive. I can't believe he remembered that one (crikey... I couldn’t remember that when Zubenel quizzed me on the weekend). Never mind, good choice… let’s see if we can split Alpha Cent A & B.
And there they were… the headlights (as mini-Morb calls them). I don’t think I’d seen a prettier star... er, stars. From there it was a quick trip up to Omega Cent. That view was rated an “Awww… sick!” from mini-Morb. Then to Eta Carina… yes… a real live Nebula!
After viewing the Jewel Box and a couple of open clusters in Scorpius we were running out of time, but there was one last target that I wanted to try. This one made me nervous because it had the capacity to disappoint me if I couldn’t see it through my new scope… NGC-4945. I’d seen it before through larger dobs and it was faint even then. Would my 8” pick it up.
It took 5 minutes, but there it was... a misty smudge nestled amongst the stars. I don’t know... maybe it was just my imagination, a speck of dust in the eyepiece or the tears in my eyes. But it didn’t matter; I now had a real telescope :D . Bring on clear skies!
When finished, I went outside but found nothing but clouds. Mind you, I expected this after reading all the IIS posts on the affect of new scopes on the weather. No worries, I'd waited 5 months to get to this point.
The next night was clear skies so mini-Morbius and I carted Robby outside to cool off while we had dinner. Much to the disgust of the missus… it was a very quick dinner for the two of us… Unfortunately we had a few things on later that night so we would only have a half hour or so of viewing time. It was a shame to rush first light, but I wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity.
I let mini-Morbius choose the first target and he picked... Saturn. Oops! I’d left it too late and she’d already dropped below the horizon. That’s ok, pick something else… Betelgeuse (he loves the name). :doh: Oh dear, we weren’t off to a very good start. One more try.
After a few seconds deep in thought… Rigel Kent! Whoa… now that was impressive. I can't believe he remembered that one (crikey... I couldn’t remember that when Zubenel quizzed me on the weekend). Never mind, good choice… let’s see if we can split Alpha Cent A & B.
And there they were… the headlights (as mini-Morb calls them). I don’t think I’d seen a prettier star... er, stars. From there it was a quick trip up to Omega Cent. That view was rated an “Awww… sick!” from mini-Morb. Then to Eta Carina… yes… a real live Nebula!
After viewing the Jewel Box and a couple of open clusters in Scorpius we were running out of time, but there was one last target that I wanted to try. This one made me nervous because it had the capacity to disappoint me if I couldn’t see it through my new scope… NGC-4945. I’d seen it before through larger dobs and it was faint even then. Would my 8” pick it up.
It took 5 minutes, but there it was... a misty smudge nestled amongst the stars. I don’t know... maybe it was just my imagination, a speck of dust in the eyepiece or the tears in my eyes. But it didn’t matter; I now had a real telescope :D . Bring on clear skies!