shaggy
09-12-2005, 11:34 PM
Oh what a day!
Ordered the new 12" GS Dob from Andrews yesterday and received the package at home in Brissie today. Gotta love being back in the city again (I've only just moved back from NT; spent quite a few nights out observing with gaa_ian.)
Anyway, scopes togeather in record time and bunged through a quick collimation and setup on the front yard. The wife and kids have gone out to do the Christmassy lights with her mother; things can't get much better to start the evening.
First light was on the moon - beautiful sharp views. Man this is looking good.
Zoomed across to Mars and had a look with a variety of mags. The rough collimation is showing, but still get some brilliant views of mars and obvious surface features showing nicely.
Next was to get another bourban :drink: and setup all the anti-mossie stuff. This mozzie plague here is (almost) worse than Gove! Geez, just can't escape them at the moment, but at least we can swim without worrying about crocs!
Enough diversionary tales! On with the show!
Well, with Orion now showing nicely in the sky there was no resisting. The results was staggering! Just how good can it get to finally see colour in nebulae! :prey2: The nebulae was an aqua marine colour (blue/green colour). I would assume a slightly bigger scope would be needed to pickup any red, but it may improve with better collimation. I was suprised the colour persisted, even when down to a 5mm eyepiece, but definitely best viewed with the 17mm plossel. Hmmm, gotta start looking at some widefield 2" eyepieces ;)
This is why I bought the 12" and its was so mind blowing. I can't wait to get to a dark site and full horizon and check out all other DSO's.
Tomorrows plan is to mod up the sliders, maybe casters (or trolly) for the scope and handles. Probably also change the eyepiece holder and make a dew cover and eyepiece warmer to retard dew on the eyepieces. Probably also setup a low-level red led on it as well to see the eyepieces a bit clearer.
The only problem with the scope is the finderscope adjustments will not move around enough to align with the OTA. Something that will need to be investigated tomorrow in the daylight hours. :prey:
Cya,
Shauno
Ordered the new 12" GS Dob from Andrews yesterday and received the package at home in Brissie today. Gotta love being back in the city again (I've only just moved back from NT; spent quite a few nights out observing with gaa_ian.)
Anyway, scopes togeather in record time and bunged through a quick collimation and setup on the front yard. The wife and kids have gone out to do the Christmassy lights with her mother; things can't get much better to start the evening.
First light was on the moon - beautiful sharp views. Man this is looking good.
Zoomed across to Mars and had a look with a variety of mags. The rough collimation is showing, but still get some brilliant views of mars and obvious surface features showing nicely.
Next was to get another bourban :drink: and setup all the anti-mossie stuff. This mozzie plague here is (almost) worse than Gove! Geez, just can't escape them at the moment, but at least we can swim without worrying about crocs!
Enough diversionary tales! On with the show!
Well, with Orion now showing nicely in the sky there was no resisting. The results was staggering! Just how good can it get to finally see colour in nebulae! :prey2: The nebulae was an aqua marine colour (blue/green colour). I would assume a slightly bigger scope would be needed to pickup any red, but it may improve with better collimation. I was suprised the colour persisted, even when down to a 5mm eyepiece, but definitely best viewed with the 17mm plossel. Hmmm, gotta start looking at some widefield 2" eyepieces ;)
This is why I bought the 12" and its was so mind blowing. I can't wait to get to a dark site and full horizon and check out all other DSO's.
Tomorrows plan is to mod up the sliders, maybe casters (or trolly) for the scope and handles. Probably also change the eyepiece holder and make a dew cover and eyepiece warmer to retard dew on the eyepieces. Probably also setup a low-level red led on it as well to see the eyepieces a bit clearer.
The only problem with the scope is the finderscope adjustments will not move around enough to align with the OTA. Something that will need to be investigated tomorrow in the daylight hours. :prey:
Cya,
Shauno