My first scope's first light! 10in Skywatcher Collapsable dob

[kitsuna]

Hi everybody! (Hi doctor Nick!)

Some of you might remember a few months ago that I was first posting on here to ask/talk about different types of scopes, and where to buy.

Well I finally bit the bullet last week and bought myself a 10 inch collapsable skywatcher dobsonian. It got delivered on Wednesday, and I built it. I stood back in horror as the monstrosity was completed... I'd ordered a telescope, and they'd sent me a DALEK!! EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE!!!. :lol:

I was having so much fun that when I finished, I was surprised to find that the nice clear blue sky I'd been seeing all day had disappeared under a blanket of evil clouds....:mad2: Typical.

Before I get on with the story, I'd appreciate it if someone with a lot of experience with skywatcher dobs could take a look at the attached picture and clarify something for me.

When I ordered it, I understood that I was getting the 10 collapsable version that came out BEFORE the black diamond series. I was lead to believe that the scope I'd ordered was white, and had a basic rack and pinion focuser. I'm reasonably certain I've got a crayford focuser on there.

The thing that turned up is attached. make no mistake, I'm very happy with it, but I am confused. Could someone clarify? Is this the old 10in collapsable model (which I thought was white and had a basic focuser) or the new Black diamond model with the crayford? I thought I'd done my research really well, but it seems I missed something.

anyway back to the first light!

So tonight the clouds parted for a bit, and I got the chance to see how well I'd collimated. It seemed to be ok. I put in the 10mm eyepiece, found a bright star, centred it and put it out of focus. Looked good to me. When I had it in focus, and centred, it seemed sharp, blue and clear with no weird fringes. It got a little whispy as the star moved to the edge of field, but that doesn't really surprise me. So far so good.

I managed to get a fairly decent look at M42 and the trapezium despite the clouds playing hide and seek with the sky. :rolleyes: Very pretty.

Just before the sky became completely overcast, I had a hunt for Betelgeuse. I found it about 10 seconds before the clouds set in....

GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY :eyepop: that's a red star. looks like darth vader's lightsaber crystal. yeesh.

anyway, just thought I'd show y'all my new toy. :D

anyone with a bit of info about the mystery of the black scope would also be appreciated.

[BrisGreg]

Thats a black diamond with a crayford:)

[Suzy]

Congratulations on your purchase, Adam!
And a black diamond to surprise you! :eyepop:
Very nice indeed. :D I much prefer the look of the collapsible ones in black as I think they look very classy. :thumbsup:
I was just having a look at the Ozscopes site and it seems that all their Skywatcher collapsible dobs are in black diamond only, whereas the Saxon range only seem to be available in white. :question: I'm just wondering if that is the definition between the two models. Did you specify which brand you wanted?
I was under the impression that once you get into the 10" models they all come with the Crayford focuser - so I thought. :question:

[stattonb]

Very nice scope,it is a black diamond with the crayford focuser but i too like the black style dobs as they do look better and less distracting :)

[BrisGreg]

I can understand where the confusion came from Adam as I know up until very recently the sw collapsibles that Andrews sold were white and I saw a white sw collapsible at sirius. You are lucky to get an RACI with it. That's a very recent addition. My collapsible is identical to yours except mine came with a straight thru finderscope. Its sure a nice piece of kit. Wait til u have a look at saturn with that bad boy:)

[kitsuna]

thanks everybody.

Without wanting to impugn the honor of the dealer I bought it from, what I'll say is that the website advertised that they had the black diamond versions of the 8 and 12 inch watchers, but NOT the 10 inch. It was quite clear on the website, and when I spoke to the person I was giving my order to, that the 10 inch was the OLD, white version with basic straight thru finder and rack and pinion focuser. I was a little bit miffed that they weren't stocking the BD in 10 inches, but the price was right. So yeah, I was pretty confused when what I got was not what was described.

I'm hardly disappointed though. I call it an un-looked for bonus! BrisGreg I believe you are referring to the right angle finder (is that what RACI stands for?). When I spoke to the dealer, the one they we discussed stocked a straight thru finder. I'd specifically asked if a 90 degree finder could be sent instead, and they agreed. So I'm not surprised about that.

When it first turned up, I thought perhaps they'd accidentally sent me an 8in BD instead. A quick check of the tube diameter ruled that out. So somehow I wound up with a 10 in BD. Which is what I would have preferred anyway! Lucky me! :)


Definitely looking forward to getting Saturn in my sights. Wish the clouds would oblige. :D

[Waxing_Gibbous]

:) The white ones get very dirty and have to be sent thru' a car-wash. The BDs you can just wipe down.

[mr bruess]

Now you have a good telescope,enjoy the views of the universe!!!!

[Sarge]

Adam,
You've got a great scope. Hours of enjoyment and excitement to come. So get out and play. PS Omega Cen is up and about this time of year, well worth a very long look.
:D:D
Rod

[kitsuna]

Funnily enough, it was just last night when I was showing my family the orion nebula, jewel box and Betelgeuse and Rigel (for colour comparisons) when I thought about trying to find my first glob cluster with this scope. I was in a bit of a hurry last night and so ran out of time to figure out what/where I should be looking. Thanks for the suggestion Rod. Better collimate that sucker when I get home. :rolleyes:

[Liz]

:lol::lol:

Great scope Adam, same as mine. ;)

[kitsuna]

Had a chance to have another look down the eyepiece last night. Managed to find quite a few things for the first time in my scope.

I had a mind to check out some globular clusters and other things, with mixed success.

I can say that I did find both 47 Tucanae and Omega Centauri last night, the first of which was quite challenging given that there aren't really any obvious naked eye stars to orient myself with due to light pollution. Still managed it though. :)

As for my impressions? I found them as dim, fuzzy blobs, though I was able to resolve many of the edge stars. I've seen 47 Tuc in a 14 or 16 inch lightbridge (can't remember which) with a decent eyepiece, and I know it's crazy good.

that tells me that I definitely need to get to a dark sky area, and probably get some decent eyepieces. Same problem most astronomers have eh? :lol:

[Gem]

Out of curiosity...
Do you collapse it each time you move it? Or do you leave it set up and just move it outside? If you leave it set up, does it stay collimated ok?
I remember lugging my 10 inch f/5.6 inside and out. Was pretty awkward at times!

[kitsuna]

I collapse it after each time I use it, and move it in and out of the house. I expect this is PART of the reason why I have to collimate at the beginning of each session. I try to be gentle in moving it, but it is bulky, and my dad doesn't call me "Mr Puny-verse" for no reason.

I should point out, that at this stage, I've only used the scope twice, and when I used it, I was collimating a scope for the first 2 times ever, with no helping hand from a more experienced astronomer; only a cheshire EP and written instructions from astronomy books I own. I found that I'm getting better at collimating it, and this will no doubt that as I gain experience, it'll hold that collimation for longer. I'm reasonably certain I didn't have the primary mirror locked into position firmly the last time I used it.

That said, I've been reading an interesting thread in the equipment section about collapsable dobs (particularly 10in and larger skywatchers) which seem to suggest that the default springs behind the primary are too soft for the mass of the 10in and heavier mirrors, and as a result, move around after a relatively short amount of use. Whether my scope has this issue, I don't know. I'm sure I'll find out.

So far I've been very happy with the scope, and to my inexperienced eye, has held collimation throughtout my viewing sessions well, taking into consideration my experience setting up the scope. :thumbsup:

I also bought a 2x shorty barlow today, to double the effective amount of EPs I have, and am looking forward to putting it to use. I'm planning to do some galaxy hunting for the first time when the weather clears up. :D

[WadeH]

Hi Adam,

Sounds like a real nice unit you've got there. But I would say it needs collimating if 47 Tuc and Omega Centuari are dim blobs



My 200mm Newt will fully resolve both clusters to the centre and they are bright!

[barx1963]

Light pollution will make 47 Tuc and Omega Cent hard to resolve. Of course practice helps. I see heaps more in both of these than I could a year or so ago.

[kitsuna]

I should probably qualify my statement better. I could make out the edge stars reasonably well, and could see individual stars about halfway to 3 quarters of the way to the centre of the cluster with patience. After that, the more central stars amassed into a central blob (moreso for 47 tuc, less so for omega centauri). that said, the entire image presented was surprisingly dim regardless of whether I used the 10 or 25mm eyepiece (for both 47 tuc and omega centauri). It was like looking at them through a pair of dark sunglasses. I should point out that I have only the stock eyepieces. a 10mm and a 25mm plossl issued by skywatcher. I can't really say I have the experience to determine whether I would have had better luck with a different type of eyepiece (though obviously I intend to upgrade to a better quality range once I've had the opportunity to try some out at the next available star party or club meeting night).

It probably did need collimating. As I said, I'm still learning. All I know is that most other bright objects resolved quite well, less than a minute before finding 47 Tuc and Omega Centauri. The stars of the constellations themselves (alpha Crux, Sirius, the jewel box, the various belt stars of Orion for example) were nice and sharp pinpoints of light, and I didn't seem to have any noticable coma until they were past half way between the centre and edge of the field of view, which suggests that it wasn't badly collimated. I am in a suburban area, and the position of omega centauri and 47 Tuc are both over well lit metropolitan areas (football stadiums in some cases I suspect. yet another reason why I hate AFL and soccer :mad2:). Of course, I'll be out there the next available night to try again. I may have better luck.

I also intend to get under a proper dark sky. That should help eliminate LP issues from the equation. After that? who knows. I look forward to experimenting. :D

I'm also hanging out for Saturn. It's coming into opposition in the next few days, and the moon will be dark.... first Saturn look ever? At opposition? through my own scope? Aw hell yeah. :thumbsup:

[kitsuna]

Had a chance to get out the scope tonight, and I'm glad for it!

47 Tuc and Omega centauri are still lacking in brightness from my location, but the stars were much more easily resolvable individually. a product of better collimation I suspect. I also had the opportunity to do a proper star test as well. nice even rings on either side of focus, with no obvious spherical aberrations or any other unwanted errors. Sweet.

I also took my first ever look at Saturn thru a scope.... wow. just wow. 25mm ep with the 2x barlow got me a nice crisp disk and rings. no cassini division that I could see, or distinctive snappy colours on the planet itself (in fact, it seemed a bit washed out), but that probably had to do with my inability to keep my head still given where the eyepiece had to be so I could get Saturn in view. next on my list of priorities is a decent chair!

I also counted what looked to be 4 moons. 2 on the left side, out a reasonable distance, and 2 on the right, quite close together near the rings. I'll have to look up in my planet guide whether there actually were 4 visible moons tonight or whether I was just imagining them. :D

one other thing I was looking to nail down tonight was the sombrero galaxy. I figured that since I was in the same basic neighbourhood checking out Saturn, that the ol' hat would be a good first galaxy to see through my scope. Right? Wrong. Couldn't find it at all. I'm not sure if I was just having no luck (or no skill), or if I'm in too light polluted an area. i suspect a combination of both.

must get to a dark site soon. :)