New guy

[quicksimon]

Hi everyone im new to the forum but have been keen on astronomy for about 1 year. I have bought a new 8"f6 dob and was wondering what potential it has. I have only used it a couple of times due to the cloudy weather here in the north of England and been impressed with a clear cassini division and impressive sightings of the m42 and m31. I was wondering if I would be able to see the grs on jupiter when the clouds clear and the polar cap on mars in the summer. Thanks

[[1ponders]]

Welcome to the family quicksimon. There are plenty of 8" dob owners here that will be more than happy to "point" you in the right direction. You should certainly be able to see the grs when the clouds clear.

[quicksimon]

Thanks Paul

Noticed you have a Meade LPI, just got one myself but haven't had chance to use it at night yet, I can't wait. Got the basics I think. Do use process your images in registax and is registax tricky to use. Cheers

[ving]

Hi dellow 8" dob user!! :)

you will see all but the faintest DSOs. so yes the grs can be seen in good seeing conditions :)

welcome to my forum ;)

[[1ponders]]

I don't use the LPI much, I'm very much a ToUcam fan, rumples riot is out resident LPI expert. Yes I do use registax3, its not so much tricky as different. There are a couple of good registax tutorials around the net. I'll have a look at the ones I've collected and see if I can track down the original webpages. If I find them I'll post them tonight.

[rmcpb]

Welcome to the forum.

You have one of the best little workhorse scopes there is and it can do all you have asked and more. Of course it depends on how dark your observing site is as light pollution really kills detail on the planets.

Just make sure it is collimated correctly and you should get many enjoyable sessions out of it.

Cheers

[rumples riot]

Welcome Simon, to our southern forum. The LPi is a great little starter, and I have done heaps with it, but have now retired it and gone with the Toucam. When you start playing let me know if you want some help with settings, it is a little tricky but I found as a general rule use the base line settings (so if you want to image jupiter set the LPI in the software to jupiter) that way you will get something to start with. Remember you can save every image and then process in registax. That is a good program and settings can be quite hard. But once again ask away and we will help if we can. Spread the knowledge is our motto here, not hoard it. The resident guru on planets is Bird, and I have found that he is very help and friendly.

Anyway let us know if you need help.

[Striker]

Welcome Simon.......everyone must do what Simon says.....hehehe

I also have the LPI but are too scared to pull it out of the box.....I am still learning about my scope to add another load on this limited Brain of mine.

[Exfso]

Yo welcome Simon, very diverse lot here, bit of everything I reckon

:astron:

[ballaratdragons]

G'day Simon, :gday:

Welcome.

Have you had a look at the Jewel Box, LMC, SMC, 47 Tuc, Eta Carina, Peacock & Altar Globulars, Tarantula Nebula etc, etc, etc, etc, etc,

OOPS!, sorry. Your in the Northern Hemi. :doh:



:lol2: :welcome:

[RAJAH235]

Hi Guys, Welcome Simon. Nice T'scope to start with. Pity it wasn't a DOB tho! The least you could do Ken, is to post some recent pics. so that Simon can see what he's missing out on,seeing as he is on the wrong side of the globe! :earth:

[quicksimon]

Thanks everyone for your help, this forum is awsome. I don't know anyone who has an active interest in astronomy where I live so this is going to be a big help. Its cloudy again tonight so can't use the LPI yet:mad2: I'll definately ask for some tips though when i use it cheers and I hope some time soon I will be able to help aswell. The weather must be better in Australia for checkin the sky. I'd love to be there checking out the jewel box and the tarantula:astron:

[Robby]

Alo Simon chap (with pommy accent :)).
That 8" of yours will pull in a lot. GRS on Jupiter with ease (if seeing allows). Rings on Saturn. Jovian & Saturian moons, heaps of Galaxies & Nebulas. The skies the limit literally. I have had an 8" for a few years now and it still challenges and amazes me. Welcom the the forum. It's a good'un.

[ballaratdragons]

Rajah,

Simon can get pics from the net!



Simon,

Look up Southern objects on the net, then get one of those toilet paper centre tubes and look at them on the computer through the cardboard tube. :cool2:

There you go, Southern viewing!!! :D

[De-Gen]

Hello Quicksimon, welcome to the Australian community.

[RAJAH235]

Hi Guys,
Ken, does that mean that you aint got none?:D
Would that be a short tube?

[ballaratdragons]

Yeah, short.

Use Paper Towel Tube for f/8 :)

[Astro_Guy]

Simon,

Mars will be at opposition on 7 November 2005, at least for those of us in the Northern hemisphere. The angular diameter will be almost 20 arc-seconds, vs. the 25 arc-seconds of the well publicized close approach in 2003. Your scope should easily show you the polar cap as well as a variety of dark surface features. I would suggest that you invest a few quid in a neutral density filter, as Mars will be very bright in an eight-inch scope.

Clear Skies,

Bob

[RAJAH235]

Hi Simon, As Bob has suggested, you will get better views of Mars if you have some coloured filters, not just an N/D. These can be purchased singly or in sets. You'll find that the diff. shades avail. will highlight diff. features on the surfaces of all the planets.
Is it possible for you to borrow 3 or 4, from someone on your next Observing night, to see which ones you need before buying?
HTH,

[quicksimon]

Thanks guys for your advice.
I have a set of coloured filters and have used them on Saturn with good results. The green filter i think brings out more detail. I am now waiting for the clouds to break so I can try them on Jupiter. I can't wait till early November to see Mars at opposition. I will certainly look into buying a n/d filter. Thanks again.
Simon

[ballaratdragons]

Simon,

An 'ND' filter knocks out about 75% of available light.

Better results can be gained by multiple coloured filters without the Large % light loss.

Fiddle around with combinations like light yellow, light blue, and light pink together.

[quicksimon]

Ken,

I've been looking on the internet at n/d filters and they do seem to knock out a lot of light. I'll try experimenting with the colour filters i think for now. I've got a moon filter does that have a similar effect as the n/d filter? Thanks

Simon

[Astro_Guy]

Simon,

The planets are very bright, so knocking out a lot of light is not necessarily a bad thing. An alternative approach would be a variable polarizing filter set, which allows you to tune the light throughput to your own tastes. Have a look at the Meade #905. This model has an external slide that allows you to adjust the light throughput without removing the eyepice.

BTW - I was using a neutral density filter with a four-inch scope to knock down the glare at the last Mars opposition. You will need to do something with that eight-inch Newt, whether that be an aperture mask or a filter, if you hope to enjoy Mars.

Clear Skies,

Bob

[quicksimon]

Bob,

The planets are bright, i remember the glare from Jupiter last year without the benefit of filters was quite over powering and that was through my first telescope a 5.1" newt. I'll check out the Meade #905 thanks. I read somewhere that when Mars is at opposition it will be summer in the southern hemisphere there and the polar cap will be smaller, was that the case at the last opposition. I was wondering because looking at pictures from amateur telescopes in 2003 the polar was very clear to see. Whats the weather like in the eastern US. Its been cloudy here for about a month now. It must be because I bought this Meade LPI. Thanks Bob

Simon

[Astro_Guy]

Simon,

We received about 30 cm of snow two weeks ago, and the temperatures had been hovering around -15 C. More recently ee have enjoyed daytime highs of +10 C for each of the past three days, and the snow depth has been reduced to 10 cm. The skies have been incredibly clear and calm over the wekend. I was able to enjoy Saturn at 220X in the refractor this past Saturday night. Clouds are rolling in now, and the forecast calls for more snow on Thursday. Those clouds that you mentioned must be finishing up a long eastward journey from Chester to the Northeastern US!

Clear Skies,

Bob

[quicksimon]

Bob

-15c! thats cold cold:. And I thought it gets cold here, its hardly dipped much beneath 0c this winter. There were no clouds last night although there was ground fog and bad seeing - which made it look like saturn was viewed through water at 120 times and made getting the LPI out a bit pointless. I've got my fingers crossed for tonight though. Hope those clouds don't hang around too long in the US for you.

Simon