8" VS 10" Dobsonian

[DRCORTEX]

Hi People,

I've been reading, and reading, and reading for a few weeks now, weeding out those scopes which are simply trash ( Ebay ), or out of my league right now ( Meades with Goto's ).

Basically, as many people have put it "I get my best bang for buck with one of these 8 or 10 Guan Shengs.

As people have already said, the Guan Sheng models look like great value for the money, so that is where I am headed. Andrews is only 15 minutes from my place.

Now to the questions, assuming I do go ahead and purchase a telescope ( I've been using binos for a month or so )

a) Will I be able to either replace my mount with a computerised version later, or upgrade the mount itself ? I would like to take a shot at astrophotography one day

b) Should I purchase a collimator when I purchase the scope, and should it be a cheshire or laser version ?

c) Which way do I go - 8 or 10" - is there really that much more light gathering power in comparison to the price ?

d) Is what I get with my first purchase sufficient - should I look at an extra eyepiece or two ? and what about a barlow ?

e) I wear glasses and suffer from astigmatism - could this be a problem ?

f) Could someone give me the dimensions and wieght for the 8 and 10" models - I need to determine whether I could fit them in my little Hyundai Accent ( fortunately the back seats fold down ). Can the scope be easily damaged by repeated trips in a vehicle ?

g) The binos I use arn't really that crash, they cost me some $65 and are 50X7's - with all the light pollution, they give an ok view of the moon, and I can definitely get some colour resolution from Mars and Saturn, plus can make out some nebulae. How much more would I actually be able to view from an 8 or 10". Would the light pollution living with so many street lights, etc, make viewing from home not worth the effort ?.

Anyway, thats about it for now. Hope I havn't simply bored you all totears with the same questions that other newbies ask.

Regards,

Neo ( As in Neo Cortex - not the one from the Matrix )

[hogly52]

Hi and :welcome: Neo, :gday:,

You've come to the right place to have all your questions answered and I know there are the people here who will answer them all for you. Some I could answer myself, but I'll leave it to the more knowledgeable IIS members.

Good to see you on board, I'm sure you'll learn a lot while here. ;)

:drink:
Graeme

[Striker]

10"....just for the fact your not bending over as much....not good for the back.

[iceman]

HI Neo!

Welcome to the forum! How did you hear about us?

Great to see you've done your research.. i'll answer a few questions now and i'm sure others will provide more answers.

a) Yes and yes. You can buy an EQ6 or similar motorised/computerised mount (looking at $1500+) and put the newtonian OTA on it for tracking and astrophotography. For simple tracking and simple astrophotography, you can also use an EQ platform while still keeping the convenience of a dobsonian base.

b) Yes, definitely. Get the cheshire/sight tube combo. But you can also simply use a film cannister with a small hole drilled in it.

c) Aperture wins, always. The 10" is worth the extra.

d) The eyepieces that come with the scope will get you buy, but it won't be long before you'll want some extra eyepieces (better quality ones) and also a 2x barlow. Budget at least $500 for eyepiece/barlow upgrades in the next few months.

e) No, it's no problem. But if you need glasses to observe then your eyepiece choices mean factoring eye relief as a higher priority. You'll need eyepieces with more eye relief so that they are comfortable to use and you can see the whole FOV while wearing glasses.

f) I think they're on the GSO website, someone else will provide a link. The scope won't get damaged by transportation as long as you secure it properly (don't let it roll about the back :)). But collimation can be knocked out in the car, so you will need to learn to collimate and check it regularly.

g) The binos will still get some use occassionally - they'll be fine in combination with your scope. And even in light polluted skies you will see a MAJOR (and I mean, major!) difference between the binos and a 10" scope. Binos are great for widefield scanning of the milky way, but they just don't compare to what you'll see on planets, the moon and deep space objects through a 10" telescope.

I'd also recommend getting to a local observing group and looking through some similar telescopes before taking the plunge. You'll get a much better feel for what you're getting, and what you'll be able to see.

Also, it would be great if you could come to IISAC (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/?iisac) at the end of the month - there'll be tonnes of people to help you spend some money and loads of telescopes to look through.

Good luck and keep asking questions!

[Truscott]

I have heard of Andrews on this forum before, who, what and where is he ??:newbie: P.S Love the smiliely options!

[acropolite]

Welcome Neo,
ditto what mike said, basically there's no substitute for aperture and the GS dobs certainly represent the most bangs for your buck on offer. Regarding astigmatism, one eyepiece manufacturer, Televue, offers correction lenses for some of their eyepieces. TV eyepieces (and products in general) don't come cheap but are excellent quality. Here's a link to the televue site describing the DIOPTRX™ eyepieces. http://www.televue.com/engine/page.asp?ID=259 If you have the money it would be well worth going for quality eyepieces right from the beginning as you will find after a very short period of time that eyepiece selection is of primary importance. :astron:

[ballaratdragons]

Andrews are at www.andrewscom.com.au.
They are mainly a Ham Radio enthusiast store but he bulk orders telescopes and binoculars so he can give a better price than the usual telescope shops. They are not really into 'pre-sale' preparation. You get it in the box it left Taiwan in. But the prices are good.

I have only heard of one scope that didn't turn up as ordered. It had mirror damage.

Yep! Here is the site with all the dimensions, weights etc of ALL the GS Models. Hope it helps. Just scroll down to the size you want to know about. http://www.telescope-service.com/dobsonians/dobsonians/dobsoniansstart.html

And if you can't afford, or transport, the 12" go the 10". Size does make a big difference. There is quite a big difference in Mirror area between an 8" and 10".

And yes, you will see an amazing difference between binoculars and a 10" Dob!!!!

I have recently placed my 12" Dob onto an EQ mount with Tracking. Buying a Dob doesn't mean you are stuck with using it as a Dob. Good luck Neo.

[mickoking]

G'day Neo,


You'll be on a winner with a 250mm Dob. Thousands of deep sky (and solar system) object's will be visible many showing breathtaking detail. As for eyepieces get the best you can resonably affoard. Also I personally dont rate barlows its just more glass between the object and your eye and are a bit awkward to use with an un-driven Dob.

I hope I have been of help :)

[ballaratdragons]

Oh, and another thing Neo, make sure when you order your scope get the one with the 'Crayford Focuser'. It is about $100 extra (I think) but most definately worth it!!!!

[jjjnettie]

Hi Neo,
I've got astigmatism as well and find my 2" GSO eye piece that came with my scope
( a 10" dob from Andrews ) most comfortable to use when wearing glasses. Otherwise I take them off to look through the 1 1/4 ".

[Reg Johnson]

Hello, Ive recently bought a 12" dob and im just beginning to realise that I should have bought better eypieces to start with (instead of the generic ones supplied) it has great light grasp at 60x and 100x but on planets can only just hang in there at 166x but nearly useless at 375x (I thought I needed high power for planets) this at 2am , so the sky was dark
enough, Ive never seen any detail at all on Mars which was disapointing , and am reluctant to spend
$250 - $350 on an eyepiece that might show detail.

[janoskiss]

As an 8" owner for the past 12 months I can wholeheartedly recommend you get the 10", which is the max aperture in this design that is still comfortably transportable in a sedan or hatchback.

[mickoking]

Could be the tube currents ruining your view of the planets at higher magnification. I very rarely get good high magnification views thru my 250mm Dob even though it has a theoretical max magnification of x500.

[Reg Johnson]

Thanks mickoking , it actually was very windy so it could have been the problem. also ive been looking at some of the reviews , and one that interested me was on the series 500 plossel......use it as a door stop.

I'm going to save my pennies.

Thanks for the reply

[iceman]

Reg,

Due to seeing conditions, transparency, thermal currents in your tube and not having your mirror at ambient temperature, it's actually very rare that you'll use an eyepiece that gives you magnifications of 200x or over.

It's not so much the type of eyepiece (series 500 or a nagler) that limit your view of detail on the planets, it's those factors described above that are the major influence.

In my 10" dob, my main planetary eyepiece will be (soon to be purchased) a 6 or 7mm eyepiece, which will give me 208x on steady nights. When the seeing is not good, I can only use a 9mm, which only gives me 138x.

On above average nights, I'll be hoping to use a 5mm which will give me 250x. So you can see that it's just not possible to use high magnification on the planets 99 nights out of 100.

So while a better eyepiece will help you see detail when the seeing is good (better contrast, light transmission, colour reproduction, edge performance), don't try and push the magnification too high, as all you'll get is a wobbly blurry bubble.

Also don't forget that Mars is shrinking fast, less than 11" now and it's very difficult to see detail on something so small. You should try Saturn, rising around midnight and high enough to view by around 2am. On a steady night you'll see the cassini division almost all the way around, banding on the globe, it's an awesome sight.

And don't forget our nearest neighbour, the moon! Plenty of fine detail to see on the moon and can be observed at different times throughout the month so it's always convenient (except at full moon!)

Hope i've helped!

[davidpretorius]

i also remember at the november star camp, ken said he hardly ever used his 6.5mm eyepiece in his 12" which gives him 230x. We chucked it in his scope anyway and due to the major factors ie mirror the same temp as ambient and the seeing was 9/10, then out popped the cassini division and 5 or 6 moons of saturn from memory.

Do not confuse external factors with poor optics. I have mainly series 500 and have been using for 6 months. I am now moving on up, but I believe I will always class them as "good", it is just that i am ready for "better" r "best"

The series 500 are fine as a beginner's eyepiece. It is just that for the higher powers 6.5mm to 12mm, you need a cooled mirror (<1 degree difference) and good to great seeing.

I have a 5mm vixen at the moment ( aprox $200) and it also will not work well if the conditions are not right!

[davidpretorius]

Hi Neo!

as the guys have said, go the highest diameter you can afford, carry and transport.

I have a 10" dob and have just bought a dob driver, so it is now computerized. So i have tracking and "goto". Very easy to install for me and enjoyed the project.

I also believe i will get a heavy duty EQ mount down the track.

So yes, it is a very versatile telescope.

The eyepieces will be fine to start with, but the 6.5mm if you get that will be very vard to look thru with glasses. The vixen range look very promising as they have lovely eye relief and if you are looking at higher power eyepieces (ie <12mm), i would recommend them

[DRCORTEX]

Hi People,

Thanks for the info. Gives me that bit more info I need before my purchase. I think I'll hold out another month and attend one night of the upcoming viewing camp, to serve as a further buying guide. I'm sure there will be a few people there with both the telescopes I am looking at, and you never know, I may bite the bullet, and crash the credit card for something better if I see it.

In the meantime, I'll take a look at the forum re the viewing camp for details of where, when and how much.

Regards,

Neo ( Lance )

[janoskiss]

Make sure the mirror's got a cooling fan. Makes a big difference in how high a magnification the scope will support; even on my 8" Dob. 200x is usually not a problem and more often than not I go well over that from suburban back yard. At 1200m+ altitude I can consistently get 300x or more out of the scope. Before I fitted the fan I could rarely go over 150x. Jupiter and Saturn look amazing at high magnifications.

[ving]

actually it depends on seeing. I have a 6.5mm series 500 EP and during good seeing I have seen plenty of detail on planets. :)

Neo: I have a gso 8" which i have mounted on a EQ. I kept the round thingies on the side of the optical tube so i could mount it back on the dob base to... makes it all very versatile :)
heres a link to a pic.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v46/ving68/8inch_dob/attachment.jpg
it all comes down to what your budget is tho. if you can aford a 10" with all the bits and pieces you need to go along with it then et that, if not then you may have to go down a size :)
when i bought my 8" it was the price of the current 10" :(

but either the 8" or 10" will let ou see heaps when the seeing is good :)

another alternative is the gs660 eq mounted 8" on the andrews site. or maybe you want a refractor? i'd go a short tube one from AOE on an eq mount... aoe.com.au

[DRCORTEX]

Well, the plot thickens.

I've decided to go with the Bintel BT-252 10" Premium Dob, which includes the fan and 2" CRF. ( $799 ). It is the same Guen Sheng scope.

It's $100 more than the Guan Sheng sold by Andrews, but I've been told it has better eyepieces, and includes a collimation and scope check by Bintel before delivery.

The guys at Bintel are very helpfull, and the after sales service I would receive from them could be the make and break of whether I have an enjoyable experience, or quickly throw the scope into the back of my garage :P

Don's suggestion re change of mounts later, was basically, just buy a new scope with mount, etc, better suited to photography etc, when the time comes, as a decent computerised mount will cost 4 times the value of the scope anyway - a good point I thought, as decent photography would be well out of my reach for some time.

Anyways, catch you later

Neo ( Lance )

[ving]

yeah its the sme scope as the andrews one. congrats, you'll love it. you will have to learn how to collimate (if you dont already know how to) but once you get the hang of it you'll be fine :)

:thumbsup:

as for the mount, theres absolutely no reason you couldnt buy a mount for it further down the track.... none what so ever.

[davidpretorius]

$100 well spent if only for the back up service. The only reason i went andrews was that it was $125 cheaper again to get it to tassie!!!

Eyepieces will be roughly the same i would think, the series 500, bintel and gs versions are all good starting points and will work well. In a few years time, you will work towards starting to get a specialist eyepieces!!

The collimation before hand is great, but hopefully they can help show you how they do it. A few bumps on the way home and the collimation will be out anyway.

Well done, welcome to the extraordinary 10" dobbers club. Find orion, put your 25mm or 30mm or even 12mm and sit back and lap it up.

The other jaw dropper is saturn, hang around for say 1am and you will see a pinkish star, well that is saturn. Put your smallest eyepiece in ie 12mm or 9mm and check it out!!!

[acropolite]

Well chosen Neo, keep us posted on your progress.>:thumbsup:

[RAJAH235]

A nice choice Lance. You won't regret it until 'aperture fever' hits.
Just to help a little bit with collimation >
http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/howto/scopes/article_790.asp
http://www.andysshotglass.com/Collimating.html
Clear skies. :D L.
ps. Did you get a 'Cheshire' collimator, a 'planishere' & red LED torch?

[Dobman]

Good Choice Neo. I bought the bintel 12" 8 months ago & its absolutely brilliant:) !! I went the 12" as I had no transport concerns(falcon station wagon) There is a significant difference in light gathering abilit between the 8" & 10". If my high school maths serves me correctly, if you increase the diameter by 25% (8' to 10") you increase the area by 50%- Area = pi r squared(R=Radius) thus the area of the 8" mirror is approx 50.25 square inches and the 10" is approx 78.5Sq inches- a big difference. Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong
What others have said about EP's is right on, they make a huge difference. My one piece of advice if you want to look at DSO's(deep sky objects) think about a wide angle EP I've just got a 8.8mm 82Degree AFOV EP which gives me 170x mag & its the onle EP i use now. The view is best at 170x but when I barlow it I'm always disapointed with the view I get
Join a club and try out other peoples EP's b4 you buy.
You will love the view you get even from a light polluted backyard
Let us all know what "First light" is like when you get it
Clear skies
Simon

[ballaratdragons]

That's right Davo!

I hardly ever use my 6.5mm EP coz it just ain't worth it. You need near perfect conditions for it!!! The moment Davo is talking about was at the Camp and Saturn was as clear as a Hubble photograph and it was only about one inch above the horizon!!!! That is exceptional seeing!

Normally the 6.5mm in an f5 (the GS 12" is an f5) is pretty useless and you are pushing the limit at around 9mm. It is not the scope, it's the seeing and that f5's just don't like very high mag. Thay are a Deep Space scope and therefore love 10mm - 32mm and especially widefield. The 12" comes into it's best as a Galaxy Hunter, not so much a Planet Snooper. But that suits me fine as I am a Galaxy & DSO freak.

[janoskiss]

Easy there with the wide angle eyepieces Simon & Neo! :lol: There is an overwhelming range of choices and prices. You don't need those yet, Neo. Better spend some time getting an idea of what sort of things you like looking at and what magnifications are the most useful for you. The only accessories that I'd recommend at this stage is a barlow and a Cheshire/sighttube for collimation. A 2x barlow with the Bintel starter EPs (the 15 & 9mm in particular) will be useful for cranking up the magnification when seeing is good.

[janoskiss]

The 10" f5 will handle shorter focal length eyepieces than the 12" f5 by virtue of the shorter focal length of the scope itself. I'd say you'd use a 6.5mm more often in the 10". I certainly use the 7mm or a barlowed 12mm (which is like a 5.5mm) quite often in my 8" (1200mm focal length, close to the 1250mm of the 10"). Ah, numbers, numbers, numbers. It matters not, Neo. You will have your own preferences different from ours... :)

[kosh]

In the past, i have found that using a barlow has made it impossible for me
to achieve a good focus on anything, but this may just be a caused by
bad quality barlows and EP's. I bought the 10" GSO a couple of months
ago, and very happy, however i has the same issue, couldn't see any detail
on mars either, but I, also, am mainly interested in Deep space Objects.

Davidpretorius: Do you have any info on the dob drive? I would like to have a
look at, maybe give it a go.

[ving]

a good barlow wont degrade your seeing, but a bad one will... that help kosh. :)

[janoskiss]

I could still see plenty of detail on Mars just 3 days ago in my 8", in average seeing conditions. But cooling the mirror is very important, as is collimation. So don't be lazy with collimation and crank those fans! Greyish blue "seas" on the red surface and the polar cap (on top when viewed in the EP) are easily seen. Even a complete newbie could see them after I explained what to look for (and I'm pretty sure they weren't just being polite).

Details are easiest to see with my UO HD orthos or TV Plossl. It seems that the warmer colour tone of the TV plossl (15mm barlowed) actually enhances contrast of the Martian surface compared with the more colour-neutral HD orthos. But just about any old plossl should be fine.

[davidpretorius]

need to cut a few more sections with the coping saw tonight to balance up the other side of the ALT axis and then i will post some more pics. I got mine 2nd hand from Gary in NZ who bought it from AStromart

The other system similiar and probably more well known is Mel Bartels. Do a search on google and he crops up heaps.

I paid $600, so i am very very happy for the investment, not sure what it is worth brand new!

[Gavan Butler]

Get the 10" model if you can. The 10" has approx. 80 sq. ins. of light gathering area compared with 50 sq. ins. for the 8".
If you need to travel regularly for dark skies a refractor may be a better option.

Regards,

G.B.

[ballaratdragons]

G'day Gavan, and welcome. :)

You sound like a Man who knows his scopes!! :lol:

[ving]

welcome aboard gavan :)

[janoskiss]

Welcome Gavan!

Neo, I'd say once you've gone to the trouble of traveling to dark skies, then you might as well make that little extra effort of packing the largest aperture you, your vehicle, and your wallet can manage. I see the refractor's main role as a quick grab-n-go backyard / social scope. I'd say you'd need a minimum of 80mm aperture, max. about 100mm (otherwise you lose the grab-n-go factor).

But personal preferences vary, and I think there is enough info on this thread for you to make a reasonably informed decision. If you can visit a star party or similar amat. astro. get-together for a bit of hands-on experience before buying, that should be helpful.

[kosh]

Welcome Gavin. Good advice.

THanks for the info David, will have a look.

[DRCORTEX]

OK,

I've got my 10" Bintel Premium DOB ( with the 2" and fan ). BARELY fit into my car - had to put the rear seats down. Took everyones advice and grabbed the largest aperture my car could accom, plus a redled, and planetsphere. They threw in a pair of Meade 7X50's for 30 bucks - wanted an extra pair for guests/vistors/relos.

Not exactly shopping in comfort - Bintel have got to get out of the city! ( more about that in another post )

Now then, to unpack and put this sucker together.:scared:

Wish me luck

Neo

[janoskiss]

Good Luck Neo! And congratulations!
Take your time and it will all go together nicely. You got a ripper deal on the 7x50s.
Come down to Bintel Melbourne, if you don't like to have your scope shop in the middle of the city. :D
Let us know how it goes and what you can see up there. :astron:

[mickoking]

Fantastic Neo similar 'scope to many of us in IIS. No doubt you will have a ball will it.

[DRCORTEX]

All assembled - actually very easy. A few obvious mistakes in the assembly instructions - such as "insert 6 screws", when there are only 4!, etc, but it is pretty straightforward. Diagrams need to be clearer to give you a better view of the completed scope.

Pity about the weather - alas. Can't even allign the finder :mad2:

As for the eyepieces, should they be inserted completely into the holder or protrude some measure ?

Neo ( Lance )

[janoskiss]

Just put the eyepiece in the focuser (smaller 1.25" barrel ones need the adapter, the big 2" one does not) as far as it goes and tighten the locking screw. Don't worry about the clouds. They won't be around for long by the look of the satellite map.

[DRCORTEX]

Could you point me to this resource - certainly something to add to my favorites. I have the BOM 128km Radar site, but that only shows rain, not cloud cover.

Neo ( Lance )

[janoskiss]

Neo, latest satellite photos here:
http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/satellite/

[iceman]

Check here too:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/?resources

There's weather resources under that.

[DRCORTEX]

My first experience - excuse the obviousness of my lack of obvious :nerd:

Cloud, Cloud, Saturday night, some breaks, GO GO GO! - my inital results , really dissapointed.

At this point, what I saw through the finder, did not match what I saw through the scope. Light could be seen through the 2" crawford, just not where I thought it would be. Obviously, my obviouslessness, was not obvious at this point :)

Well, twist this, turn that, and then, realise that sometimes, left, actually means right, and we get the moon.

The moon, yeah, right, the moon, twist, turn, and then BANG! - WOW! - that is absolutely farkin ( scuse me ) incredible!

The whole family took a look, and there was not one "yeah ho hum" amongst them. I actually had to get the son to "move it - my scope, my time when I want it - heh = felt good". I was really amazed by the clarity of seeing a crater, and a crater within that crater!

Started to move to another point, then, ah, clouds - what can I say. Not the greatest start to my astronomical endeavours, but, pleased. I can only imagine what I could see on a fine night, no light.

What is more, I didn't actually see that particular point of light next to the moon, but, I think I will look up a few maps and see what it was, why, becasue I'm curious. Hmmm, they say that curiosity killed the cat ?

All in all, if the moon is a start, then the skies the limit - good grief - I should be in adverts :wink2:

Interesting that the 2" EP ( hehe - my first journey into astrospeake ) should show the moon so cool ! - yet the 9 and 15 EP's - showed just a wash of light. Obviously again, I have a lot to learn ( insert READ READ HELP here ).

I would love to get the moon even closer, so comments please.

If this is a taste - then "Whip The Monkey" - give me some more :lol: - I want to show my nephews there is more to life than PS2 - well Amiga 500 anyway
EDIT: and C64 and ELITE! - they couldn't duplicate that

Regards,

Neo ( Lance )

Next stop Mars!

[mickoking]

Your on the steep learning curve of being an Astronomer great stuff ;) you will thru trial and error and with some friendly help gain experience and enjoy this fantastic hobby of ours.

[ballaratdragons]

Lance,
Mars has moved away from us and has become a hard target so don't get too dissapointed when it looks like a little blurry orange ball. Next target for you should be the Orion nebula. Easy to see at almost any magnification and quality of EP. I prefer it in either my 2" 30mm or especially my 2" 32mm, but also looks stunning at 15mm. Then anywhere from 10mm down to 4mm you can concentrate on the stars in the centre of it (the 'Trap' or 'Trapezium').

Here is a link to a simple map for finding it. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=76682&postcount=12

Once you find it, stare at it for a long time. After a few minutes you may make out the very light green and pink!!!

[janoskiss]

When you pop a different eyepiece in you have to refocus, i.e. turn the big knob on the side(s) of the focuser. There are two small screws on the bottom of the Crayford focusers. The one closest to the tube is the locking screw. When it's done up the focuser is locked in position. You need to loosen that one to be able to refocus. The other screw is the tension. Need to tighten that one until there is no slippage.

For other info grab the Orion XT10 manual here:
http://www.telescope.com/text/content/pdf/IN_179_SkyQuest_XT10.pdf

The XT10 is essentially the same scope (except you have a Crayford focuser). The Orion manual has everything you need to get started, including info on collimation.

[barees63]

Sorry if this is too obvious or if I missed it somewhere in this thread, but do you have moon filter? I find I can't really look at the moon comfortably without a filter because it's way too bright.. I got a cheap (maybe $12) moon filter that screws onto the bottom of my 1.5" eyepieces and it makes a lot of difference to how much detail I can see..

[RAJAH235]

I like to use one, but a few do not. Best viewed in early thru to late phase. No good when full. No detail visable. :D L.

[barees63]

They must have teflon eyeballs :-) I find the moon painfully bright in my 10", I've been thinking about getting one of the adjustable polarising filters eventually.. it would be nice to be able to dial in just the right amount of brightness for comfortable viewing.

[ballaratdragons]

I go blind for about 10 - 15 minutes when I forget my Moon Filter!

Dopey me gets it dead centre in the finder then I go straight to the EP, and BAM! :P

And I've got a 12" reflector!!!!!

And then after using the Filter, Dopey me (agian but even more Dopey) forgets to take the filter out and wonder why everything else is so Dark!!!! :confuse3:

And the really stoopid part is - I do it often :lol:

The Moral of the Story is: If you use a Moon Filter, remember to take it out after looking at the Moon ;)

[DRCORTEX]

I got a set of filters with the scope - which one is actually the moon filter - it dosn't say. They are all different colours. I am guessing the "black" one. There is also red, green, blue, yellow, etc.

Focused in om my first messier objects last night:

M42/M43 - looked great. I can see why they are photographed so much. The gas clouds stood out so well.
M4 The Pleiades - also good to view.
Mars - just a big red blob from what I could see ( with a 2X barlow and 15mm plossi ) - but now I know what to look for.
Satellite - no idea which one. I was concetrating on Orion, when a blip of light rapidly passed through my field of view.

For the moon, I have found the 2" widefield to be pretty well perfect. I tried my webcam with it to see what came out - absolutely nothing but darkness, but I didn't really expect anything - cams and photography in general are further down the track.

Tonight, back to clouds, storms, summer weather.

I want to try and find a spiral galaxy next if I can

Could anyone point me in the right place for a few of the spectacular sights in the summer sky ? Pity I live in the suburbs. The light really hampers good viewing. NGC or M numbers would be fine, I can look up the rest.

I'm going to have to get used to having my neck screwed into so many strange positions for viewing as well - ouch!

Enough rambling. Catch you later

Neo ( Lance )

[davidpretorius]

here looking south,


where do you have less sky glow.

i would say looking south is best at the moment.

as for spiral galaxies.....hmmmm very hard in city, you may see the core, but not the arms..........anyone any thoughts???

by the way, there are 2 comets to chase on this screen shot!!!

scultor galaxy is very nice ngc 253 and easily viewable!

[janoskiss]

Moon filter looks green when you look through it.

Few things to look at:

NGC 104
NGC 253
NGC 2070
NGC 1365 is one of the easier face-on spiral galaxies. Needs reasonably dark skies (mag 5.5 at least).

[jjjnettie]

How about exploring Carina? Eta Carina nebula is stunning, there are lots of beautiful open clusters in the area as well.
The Large and Small Magelanic Clouds are worth cruising around.
47 Tuc ( NGC 104) is very special as well, start with your biggest EP and work your way down to your smallest. This globular cluster is right next to the SMC.
Do you have a copy of Sky and Space, or Sky and Telescope? Their maps are easy to follow, and show you the highlights of what to look at, at this time of year.

[ballaratdragons]

Sombrero Galaxy is back up again. Always worth a look! Easy to find and easy to see!

[barees63]

A purpose made "moon filter" is a greenish color but the "black" filter is probably a Neutral Density filter which would also be good for the Moon..

Since you have other colour filters as well check out this great website: http://sciastro.net/portia/advice/filters.htm

[DRCORTEX]

Thanks for the info everyone - I've added it to my growing database.

Regards Lance