First Light

[vindictive666]

hi everyone

i am going to attempt a first light report :)


after waiting until a reasonably clear night
came up i took it outside and set it up

first i had to realign the finders scope wasnt hard to do would like an mod for it so you can put a lock nut or something so you can lock the screws in place ?

(allthough i am going to have to save up for a other finder that has a right angle viewfinder because the standard model gives me too much of a pain in the neck(ive got wear and tear in some of the joints in my neck :( ) when the finding goes higher, maybe there is an add on for the existing finder ?)

secondly i did the all famous star test

wow factor came in what i thought was a star was in fact saturn go figure (excitement i think because i do know where saturn is )

i turned the focuser all the way in and lo and behold the spider and the secondary mount circle came in and the circle was even all round (not sure on the technical explanation people :) )

then turned it all the way out same result
:D ( i later did it with a star betelguese i think it was same results)

so according the my nooooobie assesment the collimation is ok ? comments wellcome :)
( forgot to mention i used the 15mm plossle to do this with )
then i turned my attention to the seven sisters (m45) before it sank to farin the west and my house blocked it out i used the 32mm 2 inch gso for this wow what a view :)

then i had look at castor nice and bright

too low was getting a smidgin of turbulance.

the i swung around to Rigel kentaurus
the one lowest below the southern cross i used the 15mm plossle another wow came in ive always been able to split this one even in my 60mm refractor:)

then unfortunatly the neighbors decided to turn on everyones favorites those spotlights so basicly that was the end of my viewing that end of the sky :(


i then swung back to saturn definetly worth an other wow the seeing was clear (15mm plossle i found out sofar thats seems tobe the best ep to use)

i saw the cassini division reasonable easy also saw a different color band going around the centre of the planet

saw at least 5 if its moons one of which with averted vision.,
The scope was well and truly cooled down by now

and here comes a question while keeping the image of saturn in the fov
when the image reaches exactly the same place (aprox looking thru the ep not quite top right not near the edge if you can understand what i mean) in the ep it developed a partial secondary image and snapped back in focus ? it seems to do this eveytime has anyone happen this and a possible fix ?

i also had a look at the ever popular m42 wooooow saw the trapezium easy very cool and the nebula also was realy cool



in the mean time jupiter was rising


it was definitly too low i used the 15mm plossle and saw the four main moons with ease how ever good old jupie itself was like seeng thru a heat wave, how ever i could make out the two equatorial bands and not much else.

by this time 09.35 pm local time my neck and back decide to make their presence felt so i packed everything up (those pesky thin layer of clouds came in anyway ) actualy from memory it helped the seeing of jupiter a smidge ?

basically i had a very interesting if not
exciting time (wasnt really a very clear night iether cause of those clouds :)





:eyepop: :abduct:

[parsec]

I gather this was with the 12" dob ?

If so, was there any colour in m42 ?

shaun

[vindictive666]

the color i saw in m42 was all in the light to dark greyscale because the highest magnification i can use (and Ive got ) is the 15mm plossle i want to get a barlow and different ep's at a later date

yes and it was the 12 inch dob sorry for the confusion i forgot that in my report :)

[ving]

that effect ou saw on saturn i believe is called ghosting (?) but I am sure someone will give you the low down on this...

glad you had a good night.

alway thought it should be called first dark rather than light :P

[janoskiss]

You're right about the finder being a pain in the neck. I would like a right-angled finder too.. But I would also want to keep the straight through one because I don't know the sky well enough, and it makes it easier to aim the scope initially; One eye looking at the sky directly and the other through the finder. When it comes to star-hopping is where the straight-thru finder gets very uncomfortable (esp. on my 8" which is much shorter than your 12").

PS. I know someone said it before, but that avatar of yours is freaking me out too. :P :scared2:

[slice of heaven]

Vin, is the tube blacked out inside?Also the focusser is too close to the end of the tube on those dobs.Ghosting is from stray reflections.Check out the threads in equip disc on flocking if its not blacked out, and I noticed someone put an extension on the top of their tube.Is yours from andrews or bintel?Final price?

[vindictive666]

ok ok

ill fix the avatar :)

[vindictive666]

is this better ? :) :)

[vindictive666]

hi janoskiss


yes it is coated in black

i got it from lee andrews

final price $1150 which included $150 shipping and insurance to my location .


and also i noticed that the base of the focuser doesnt actually sit flush with the roundness of the ota ive got gaps both sides do you know what i mean ? i am trying to think of a way to block these gaps ?

ghosting only seems to happen in the 15mm at the moment though

havent got an higher mag ep on the list also :) nor a barlow

i was going to get some material for a dew shield eventually when the cash flow starts again :) :)

would this possible fix it as well ?

:) :)

[janoskiss]

no? just coz it freaks people out does not necessarily make it bad! But now watch out! We'll get a slap on the wrist soon from the moderators for being off topic. Better include something constructive here...

For a good star test you need high magnification; maybe as high or higher than your scope can normally use (much higher than you get with a 15mm EP). Then you'll see diffraction ring(s) around in-focus images of stars. You might need an artificial star because the atmosphere will probably be too noisy.

I don't think there's a need to lock the adjustment screws on the finder. It tends to be pretty good at holding its position. Plus the spring loaded screws make it so easy to adjust.

[janoskiss]

That's not the nicest. I suppose you asked for the Crayford focuser upgrade. I've seen the same thing on photos of Ken's (ballaratdragons) Dob. I suspect the Crayfords were made for 10" scopes.

[vindictive666]

thanks for that
ive got three screws on mine
only one of which is spring loaded the other two are the only ones i can adust it with :)
tried turning the spring loaded one but doesnt do much except hold it in place ?
looks like ill have to invest in some more eps when the rest of my radio control planes and gear sells :)

[rumples riot]

Vin sounds like you need to do a few things. If you do a search on the internet of Collimating a Newtonian, there are plenty of tutorials on how the star should look under a star test. The fact that you say you have ghosting is a sure sign your collimation is out. Do a search and then it will tell you how to test (they usually have pics to demontrate) and then it will tell you how to collimate your scope. Once you do this you will get much better images and have learned a skill that you need to have. Collimation of all scopes are important and needs to be attended to frequently to get the best out of your scope. If you still have trouble with collimation of your scope, please ask us how to do it.

Then you should see about getting an adapter plate for your focusor. If there are gaps and adapter plate will fix that problem and these can be purchased from most large telescope retailers.

Good luck, hope this helped.

[vindictive666]

thanks rr

i only get the ghosting so far in the 15mm plossle
and it last for about a microsecond in the same place every time when saturn passes thru fov :) saturn shows a very very clear view thru the 15mm

and no ghosting thru the others iam not saying its not a collimation problem most likely is :)

i did my first attempt of colli with the cheshire ep i bought with the scope i posted the results in a other post :) ive been looking for info on how to use the chesshire but not much luck sofar

it would be a lot simpler if i had a club or something llike that in my location or someone that could physically show me but not possible for now :)

as far as a higher mag ep(what size would you recommend for the star test? 4mm or an 9mm (plse dont forget iam a totally noooob as far as newtonians are concerned :) ) :) for the star test its gonna have to wait for the reasons i stated earlier

jupiter looks no worries apart form seeing conditions


any hoo thanks for your tolerance and patience wid me sofar :) :)

[rumples riot]

No problem, you only need to use a 10mm or 12mm for star testing. And maybe a barlow on really still nights of good seeing.

Just a quick search provided these sites.

http://www.propermotion.com/jwreed/ATM/Collimate/Collimate.htm

And this one that is a little long winded but really well explained.

http://www.atmsite.org/contrib/Carlin/collimation/

Both have diagrams and pics to help you with the process.:astron:

[wavelandscott]

Do you get the ghosting with other eyepieces?

Maybe it is the eyepeice...you might check to see if the edges are blackened...

[vindictive666]

hiyas '

had another go collimating the scope

from one the webpages that rumples gave me at least now the cheshire's cross hairs line up on the centre spot on the main mirror

then i adjusted the primary so mayyyyyyyybeeeee this time i may be close :) :)

at least this way getting tossed in the deep end you get to know the bits and pieces and what they do :)

[RAJAH235]

Vin, try this as well. Pretty good article and easy to follow.
HTH. :D L.
http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/howto/scopes/article_790.asp

[Exfso]

Collimation is a pain for sure. At least you dob and newt owners can get at your secondary. On the Schmidt Newtonian, the secondary is attached to the corrector plate, and one has to treat these with a great deal of care. I havent seen, at least not as yet, a definitive description on how to collimate a Schmidt Newtonian. But one battles on, it is all good fun.

:whistle: