First Light

[Pinwheel]

Hi all well after waiting 2 days the cloud departed last night was clear. A little windy but I found a nice spot on the north side of the house.
Right on dusk I had Jupiter right in front and decided this is it "First Light".

I turned the Bintel BT320 12" Dob on to target with a 20mm EP & looked in,WOW! Talk about bright, crisp & sharp. I could clearly see the bands of Jupiter & five obvious moons. My BT-302b is everything I wanted.

Later as Jupiter went behind some tall trees I turned to M-42 and experimented with all my EP's, I'm happy to report all were sharp & clear. I could easily see the wisps & turbulence in the nebula cloud. Last I turned my attention to the milky way and was blown away by all this new detail I've never seen before.

I will need to re-learn all my favorite parts of the night sky now as it looks so different compared to the views from my 8" f4 newt. I also need to find a more comfortable way of viewing as standing half the night tiers you out. Anyway I'm very happy with my new toy! :thumbsup:

[barx1963]

Doug
Well done and congrats once again.
Having been through the exact same upgrade path I can realte to your excitement.
Just out of curiosity, how did you find the collimation mechanism and the springs?

Malcolm

[pw]

Congrats on new scope and having a clear night :-)
The Bintel Stellar observing chair is very good.

[Pinwheel]

The Dob was collminated before dispatch but on arrival was way off. I re colliminated it on set up using the standard film canister method. As for the springs & adjustment knobs all seemed fine. Good feel on the knobs & nothing a miss so far. It was a lot easier to collminate than the 8" f4 that's for sure.

[barx1963]

I found with my 12" even after I upgraded to the Bobs Knobs springs and Knobs, I still had to collimate every night, and recheck it every 2/3 hours so good to hear that it is easier than the old system they used to have in these scopes.

Cheers

Malcolm

[OzStarGazer]

Congratulations! I share your excitement.
(PS: The 5th moon was probably a star; only 4 are visible even with powerful telescopes.)

[Pinwheel]

I thought that was the case last night because number 5 was higher & didn't appear to be in the same orbital plan.

Thanks.

[Pinwheel]

Here's a photo of the rear Malcolm so yo can see the differences from the earlier model to the BT 302-B version. And a photo of the two scopes getting to know each other so there are no fights when it gets dark.:D

[barx1963]

Thanks Doug
I assume the black knobs are the "locking" knobs? I found the best way to use these was remove them from the scope and find a large deep lake to throw them into! That is provided the springs are strong enough to hold collimation.
When I used them I would back them of, carefully collimate using the main screws then tighten the locking knobs and end up re-collimating only this time using the locking knobs!
The only reason they are there is if the spring are incapable of holding the mirror which the ones on the model scope i have definitely were not.

Malcolm

[Pinwheel]

Hi Malcolm, Well I've man handled the scope now 6 times, That is taking outside & bringing inside three times now. So far nothing has moved. I don't know if the springs have been upsized in this "b" version, surly Bintel could confirm.
So far so good.