vespine
10-04-2006, 06:18 PM
I managed to make it out with my 12"LB to near Wedderburn, 250km from Melbourne, over some mountains and I was blessed with 2 beautiful clear nights! The moon was over 50% but on Friday I stayed up until well after moonset which was around 1am. The skies were spectacularly dark, coal sack was well defined and both LMC and SMC were clearly visible!
I was set up near the house and to begin with there was a light on inside and along with the moon I was getting quite a bit of light interference through the EP. I tried to see if I could use a book to shade the incoming light to see exactly where the effect was coming from but it was actually a lot harder to affect it then I thought. I have not 'blackened' any parts of the scope yet but am seriously thinking about it now :) Actually, I know people think I'm crazy but I'm actually thinking of taking the thing completely apart into individual components and spraying the entire thing stealth black! Not purely for baffling purposes, I just reckon it would look hot! :)
Anyway, after the moon set and everyone else went to bed and turned all the lights off, I had easily my best observing session ever, by a long shot! It was really cold but I was very well rugged up. Unfortunately Orion had already set so I couldn't inspect m42 but with Scorpio, carina and Virgo in good position there was plenty to point the scope at! In the dark I found myself seeking out all the nebulas I could find, spending a long time ogling at eta carinae, tarantula and the 4 bright nebulas in/near Sagittarius. During that time I was also spotting many faint objects just with naked eyes, examining with binoculars and finally with the telescope. There were several clusters which were just visible to the naked eye, (apart from omega cent, obviously) the one just below Scorpio's tail being another notable one.
With such great darkness I tried to have a hand at finding some planetary nebula which have as yet eluded me in the city. I tried to look for 2, ghost of Jupiter and the one right near crux and I have to say that unfortunately I still didn't manage to find either, even after probably an hour of trying, I put it down to not actually knowing what I was looking for. At skies like that, I can definitely see how Argo Navis would be excellent! There was just so much to look at I really struggled spending time at the charts, why look at pages when your eye can be at the EP?? I guess that's because I'm still so wet behind the ears ;)
I don't have my charts and stuff as I write this so sorry for my newbie lack of names for things. Me thinks it's now about time I start an observing log. :) Next time I'll have more details, promise, at the moment I'm still a little star struck!
So, initial impressions of the LB are: Awesome! Had no problems transporting it and putting it together. When I was considering getting the GSO I thought transporting it wouldn't be an issue, but then my housemate offered to drive his mum's 4wd up there instead and I'm sure the GSO would not have fit without removing seats or something, so being able to take the LB apart was great! The secondary cage sits well in the base in the boot and the mirror box belts up perfectly on the back seat. :) Putting it together could not be easier, after a few goes I'm sure you could do it in the dark. You could use an extra hand mounting the secondary cage up onto the trusses but I've done it myself, it's just a tiny bit fiddly to hold it and screw it in at the same time. I marked 2 of the truss poles near the seam so that the scope would go back together exactly the same way I had it set up at home and Collimation was out by only just a tiny bit, a half turn on one screw fixed it up (this is just using a sight tube, I'll be VERY interested to learn by how much my collimation is really out by ;) )
The mirror cover is the only thing that's a bit of a pain, it's worryingly flimsy, I'm cautious not to leave it anywhere anyone might step or sit and also it is recessed for the 3 mirror mounts to fit into almost perfectly which is impossible to line up in the dark, I don't need any lights to put it away in my shed, except to put the cover back on, which is a little annoying.
I guess another thing I would change if I could would be the red dot finder, it's supposed to be the 'premier' one but the 'switch' which you have to turn to turn on and off is really annoying, it really takes too much effort to use AND the battery cover is a screw cap on top of the switch so if you don't grab the switch properly you can end up unscrewing the battery cover instead. The switch is also perfectly round and MARKED in white to indicate what setting it is on, which is COMPLETELY useless in the dark, there is no other feedback to the position of the switch, the only way to make use it is off is to bend over again and look again to see if it is off?!? pretty annoying... I know this isn't really a fault of the LB but I reckon just a regular toggle switch would be much easier and simpler, even if it was 3 way for off/low/hi. seriously, who would actually use 7 dimmer settings??:screwy: And I can't really see myself using the different red dot 'shapes' that you can switch through either, it's a bit of a gimmick imho... Anyway, it does the job I guess, but it's gone on the list of things to mod eventually :)
For the longer term. I'm still very much thinking about equatorial mounting this scope. Has anyone had the same thoughts? Has anyone converted a dob to equatorial mount here? The alt bearings on the LB look so nice and well machined, they are almost begging to be bearing mounted, something like this http://www.jimsmobile.com/images/ngt125.jpg
So it was excellent, the only other thing I could have asked for was some company! My housemate got too cold and bored (he likes having a peek but isn't into it enough to brave the elements that long) So i'll still be really keen to come down for a star party somewhere ! :)
Anyway, sorry about the leangthy post! :P
I was set up near the house and to begin with there was a light on inside and along with the moon I was getting quite a bit of light interference through the EP. I tried to see if I could use a book to shade the incoming light to see exactly where the effect was coming from but it was actually a lot harder to affect it then I thought. I have not 'blackened' any parts of the scope yet but am seriously thinking about it now :) Actually, I know people think I'm crazy but I'm actually thinking of taking the thing completely apart into individual components and spraying the entire thing stealth black! Not purely for baffling purposes, I just reckon it would look hot! :)
Anyway, after the moon set and everyone else went to bed and turned all the lights off, I had easily my best observing session ever, by a long shot! It was really cold but I was very well rugged up. Unfortunately Orion had already set so I couldn't inspect m42 but with Scorpio, carina and Virgo in good position there was plenty to point the scope at! In the dark I found myself seeking out all the nebulas I could find, spending a long time ogling at eta carinae, tarantula and the 4 bright nebulas in/near Sagittarius. During that time I was also spotting many faint objects just with naked eyes, examining with binoculars and finally with the telescope. There were several clusters which were just visible to the naked eye, (apart from omega cent, obviously) the one just below Scorpio's tail being another notable one.
With such great darkness I tried to have a hand at finding some planetary nebula which have as yet eluded me in the city. I tried to look for 2, ghost of Jupiter and the one right near crux and I have to say that unfortunately I still didn't manage to find either, even after probably an hour of trying, I put it down to not actually knowing what I was looking for. At skies like that, I can definitely see how Argo Navis would be excellent! There was just so much to look at I really struggled spending time at the charts, why look at pages when your eye can be at the EP?? I guess that's because I'm still so wet behind the ears ;)
I don't have my charts and stuff as I write this so sorry for my newbie lack of names for things. Me thinks it's now about time I start an observing log. :) Next time I'll have more details, promise, at the moment I'm still a little star struck!
So, initial impressions of the LB are: Awesome! Had no problems transporting it and putting it together. When I was considering getting the GSO I thought transporting it wouldn't be an issue, but then my housemate offered to drive his mum's 4wd up there instead and I'm sure the GSO would not have fit without removing seats or something, so being able to take the LB apart was great! The secondary cage sits well in the base in the boot and the mirror box belts up perfectly on the back seat. :) Putting it together could not be easier, after a few goes I'm sure you could do it in the dark. You could use an extra hand mounting the secondary cage up onto the trusses but I've done it myself, it's just a tiny bit fiddly to hold it and screw it in at the same time. I marked 2 of the truss poles near the seam so that the scope would go back together exactly the same way I had it set up at home and Collimation was out by only just a tiny bit, a half turn on one screw fixed it up (this is just using a sight tube, I'll be VERY interested to learn by how much my collimation is really out by ;) )
The mirror cover is the only thing that's a bit of a pain, it's worryingly flimsy, I'm cautious not to leave it anywhere anyone might step or sit and also it is recessed for the 3 mirror mounts to fit into almost perfectly which is impossible to line up in the dark, I don't need any lights to put it away in my shed, except to put the cover back on, which is a little annoying.
I guess another thing I would change if I could would be the red dot finder, it's supposed to be the 'premier' one but the 'switch' which you have to turn to turn on and off is really annoying, it really takes too much effort to use AND the battery cover is a screw cap on top of the switch so if you don't grab the switch properly you can end up unscrewing the battery cover instead. The switch is also perfectly round and MARKED in white to indicate what setting it is on, which is COMPLETELY useless in the dark, there is no other feedback to the position of the switch, the only way to make use it is off is to bend over again and look again to see if it is off?!? pretty annoying... I know this isn't really a fault of the LB but I reckon just a regular toggle switch would be much easier and simpler, even if it was 3 way for off/low/hi. seriously, who would actually use 7 dimmer settings??:screwy: And I can't really see myself using the different red dot 'shapes' that you can switch through either, it's a bit of a gimmick imho... Anyway, it does the job I guess, but it's gone on the list of things to mod eventually :)
For the longer term. I'm still very much thinking about equatorial mounting this scope. Has anyone had the same thoughts? Has anyone converted a dob to equatorial mount here? The alt bearings on the LB look so nice and well machined, they are almost begging to be bearing mounted, something like this http://www.jimsmobile.com/images/ngt125.jpg
So it was excellent, the only other thing I could have asked for was some company! My housemate got too cold and bored (he likes having a peek but isn't into it enough to brave the elements that long) So i'll still be really keen to come down for a star party somewhere ! :)
Anyway, sorry about the leangthy post! :P