Bit of a new scope story

[mbo (Pat and Kirk)]

Thought I might share my beginners tale.
Thursday Night - Many weeks of meticulous research have come to a head, though budget estimates have red shifted, products have at last been chosen. Plan Finalised. Shopping list printed, Andrews Communications address entered into car navigator, they will have my GSO 12" delivered from the warehouse and waiting at the shop. A mate has a boat lined up to buy at The Entrance, the wife and I will go along for the run, we can wander down to Greystanes in the morning, grab our opticals, and dawdle north to collect the boat. Time to sleep and dream of Andromeda.
Friday Morning - Head out the door, phone rings, Andrew's have bad news, they were checking over my new scope and the mirror has a water mark on it, no more 12"'s in stock, they were great to deal with, I could tell they made a lot of effort, but they were unwittingly entwined in the inevitable fate of all of my most carefully considered plans - they never work.
OK, we go to Sydney anyway, my mate says he has another boat to look at in Blacktown. I hammer my mobile phone's Internet for option B (not calling them plans anymore), check these forums, someone says they have seen a review article on Dobs - Meade vs Skywatcher vs GSO, in a British Astro mag, we waste some time trying to find it in newsagents along the way (It's a pity I'm not into cookery or dirt bikes). A deal is struck for a boat in Blacktown and we head on into find Bintel in Glebe. Unfortunately Tom Tom car navigator maps have missed the last 27 changes to traffic flow in central Sydney since April and it sends us into a sort of endless loop. The Loop is finally broken by one of our patented 'R turns' that always seem to make Sydney siders honk in appreciation. The bloke at Bintel is very helpful and knowledgeable, the rare sort of salesman who really wants you to go home with gear that you will be happy with. Selecting our scope was easy, we asked the bloke what was going on behind the event horizon in the middle of the showroom, he informed us that it was the Bintel 12 inch Dob, it was greedily raking in all available light.
We Now Own A Scope!, Back to Blacktown to hook up the boat, then while away the afternoon westbound traffic as head for home. Rains all the way back to Dubbo as seems traditional when a new scope is involved. Home at 1:00 a.m., put it all together, admire it and collapse.
Saturday - Wife wakes early, I sleep in, awake to the sound of her delivering telescopes 101 (what not to poke) to our kids. Many visitors see the scope during the day, all are in agreeance that "It's big!". I drop in the collimator, ready to apply my arduously googled expertise, decide it looks pretty good, then decide it looks miles out, then decide to leave it alone. We carefully balance the scope on it's fancy adjustable pivots, carefully choosing a typical load of eyepiece and barlow. Pop it back together and it's swinging like a set of scales, then we take off the front dust cap ...
Took the scope out the back about 5:00 pm to align the finder and generally try things out. Roughly lined the scope up towards power poles I can see over my back fence, probably about 250 meters away. Loaded up the 32mm Bintel eyepiece and took a squiz, saw a power line crossing the field of view so focused in. My Deity!, I can see the individual strands of wire twisted in a helix around the cable!, nice and clear. Call everyone outside to take a look, all suitably impressed. Follow the wires to an insulator on the pole, centre it in the scope, twiddle and fiddle with the adjusters on the sight scope. Pick a new target to test the aim (studiously ignoring Venus, out of bounds till my wife can get outside to peek too), find something that looks like a lump on another power wire, set the cross-hairs on it, check through main scope, it's a gullah sunning itself in the last available light, he's a bit off centre though, more twiddling, mmm, he flew away.
First Light! - Way ahead of schedule the clouds are blowing away! The sun is just fading, Kirk and I look in on Venus with the 32mm on, it's distinctly a ball, actually more like a flat tyre, it had a squared of edge on the bottom. We see mars higher in the sky, stars are starting to peek out all around. There is a bit of confusion about where Saturn is, I consult Stellarium and pass on navigational data to Kirk (my wife, her real name is Kirsten, and no Alex, she prefers Admiral) suddenly she jumps back from the scope, sort of shocked, didn't expect it to be that recognizable in a 32mm eyepiece. We pop on the 15mm and everyone gets their first look at Saturn, kids on step ladders, all oohs and aahs, this is the moment that all the concerns and doubts about what we would be able to see, and what we should buy, dissolve, we can see more detail than we expected in a 15mm standard issue lens, the rings, though edge on, look magnificent, we can see them curl around the back of the disk, a thin but distinct dark strip divides them from the body of the planet. There are colour graduations on the planets surface. The night turned out to be great, the skies were clear after the rain and I could see the milky way better than I have for weeks with the naked eye. Kirk had the top rated find (on degree of difficulty) with the butterfly cluster, the butterfly shape was quite apparent, though it reminded me more of a bee. Venus in higher magnifications surprised is with how large it was (always thought it would be just a dot) and how distinct it's phase was, it looked like a tiny moon just past half way in it's phase. We checked out Mars but it was a bit too tiny to see anything significant. I found a gorgeous cluster south of the Southern Cross, but I'm not yet sure which one it was. I split the alpha centauri double for fun. We believe we found M7, a big cluster with a lot of straight lineish star patterns in it. By 9:30 Kirsten was starting to go bleary from the long couple of days and headed off to bed. The instructions were to wake her if Jupiter turned out to be pretty special. I woke her up. I checked it out in every eyepiece combination I could, I couldn't believe the sight. It stood out to me like it was 3D. The banding was distinct, the four moons bright and clear, the 15mm with the 2x Barlow let me even glimpse the swirls between the bands. I thought I saw 6 moons! till I checked with Stellarium and found two were stars in a flukey alignment (HIP1127 and HIP968, about mag 8.6). I've got a 9mm Nagler coming via ebay, and I can't wait to point it at Jupiter. Try as I might I couldn't find any of the nebula in Sagittarius, but that will hopefully improve when my navigation improves. (and I get the Telrad fitted). When the moon rose I still had the barlowed 15mm on so I swung it over. Again, stunned. The texture and detail blew me away, it looked almost like a clay model, big smooth flat basins and an incredibly rough and mangled top end, a couple of craters were sitting just at the edge of the shadow line and they appeared to sort of hang out into space, black shadows in their depths, and amazingly intricate detail in their sunlit rims. this was when I noticed the seeing deteriorate, a weak mist was rising over the town and the moon started to look sort of liquid, like a perfect reflection in an almost still pond, it was a very beautiful 'aberration'. The dew finally beat me (How do you keep the stuff off eyepieces!) but it was a very special night for us all.
Thanks to everyone here who has helped me, it's a fantastic forum.

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Congratulations on a great first light! I am very glad that you got on well in the end and that you enjoyed it!

For the dew, there are always some dew heaters...and other gear too. My advice is use what you have for a while before running out and buying everything...

Dark Clear Skies to you!

[gmbfilter (Geoff)]

Wow totally green with envy.
New scope and clear skies
and a nice drive around Sydney
Thanks for the report

[madwayne (Wayne)]

WOW ! What a great write up. Well done on your scope and this brilliant little essay. Your enthusiasm and joy are there for the Ice in Space community to see.

I'm guessing on that cluster near Crux, but I'm thinking it is probably the Jewel Box NGC4755.

Well done.

Wayne

[astroron (Ron)]

Great Little story there Pat I am glad that you and your wife enjoyed your first nights of what I hope will be many more memorable astronomical nights, with your new Telescope under the sky's of the Southern Cross

[mbo (Pat and Kirk)]

It was a long blab, thanks for letting me get away with it!, it's great when you know that some people are on you're wavelength .

[mbo (Pat and Kirk)]

Scott, yea, spent all the cash now, how would a (miniature) hot waterbottle work in the eyepiece bag?
Geoff, yep, it was good, that's the main reason I wanted to do a write up. I love a nice drive, more so if it's 'unplanned', you'll get your turn
Wayne, yea, I was looking for the jewel box, and I'm going to call it that till proven otherwise!
Ron, I'm still a bit gob smacked at what you can get now for the money, wasn't like that 15 years ago (when I last looked), also what info you can get for free!, and mostly, we were born with great skies.

[Suzy]

It felt like you didn't take a breath in your post. Great fun read. Congratulations on your big scope!

[GraemeT (Graeme)]

A great story, Pat, and a pleasure to hear from someone who has done his research before committing to a purchase. Although I am also a rank newbie and still get a thrill from finding Mercury in the evening glow, and the Jewel Box, I like to think that just by reading through the posts on these forums, I should be able to make relatively wise decisions on purchases without having to post another oneliner "What scope should I buy?"
Are you far out of town in Dubbo? I took my scope there a few weeks ago while visiting my daughter, and even on the outskirts of town, the seeing was miles better than I can get in Sydney.
I wish you many years of astro discovery and dark skies!
Cheers
Graeme

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Originally Posted by mbo

It was a long blab, thanks for letting me get away with it!, it's great when you know that some people are on you're wavelength .

Hi Pat and Kirk (and the kids, neighbours, mates and the boat.....)

What a fantastic read, sums up the ups and downs and ins and outs of buying a new scope...beautifully.

Don't worry about the length of the post, I am notorious for waflling on about all manner of things when the mood takes me (all the time)....

I am impressed with just how well you did on the first night of it. I mean, seriously...WOW. You got, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter some clusters, etc etc etc. Don't peak too early now!

One of the things that really helped you a lot giving you outstanding views is that you ended up buying your scope from Bintel whom I know expertly collimate their scopes before you take them home. This is why you got such great results straight out of the box. A great reason to buy from them.

Also impressive is your skills as beginners, even with fatigue riding shotgun. I would be stoked to get such great results from what you guys saw. PLUS having such a great conjunction of planets in the evening sky meant you bought the scope at the best possible time.

With the Sagittarius and Scopius stuff, take a look around 8-10pm STRAIGHT UP and where you see the snakey looking scorpion, look a little east and you will see Sagittarius looking like a teapot (short and stout). If you have the dark skies you should have, you will see with your eyes quite clearly the fuzzy "blobs" of the nebulae and globulars and star clusters that abound in this fabulous area. Target these with your finder and prepare to go OOOOH and AHHHHHHH and COOOOOOL - A LOT!

Keep up the fun posts and keep having a blast. Thanks for such an entertaining read, like Suzy said, take a breath next time....

Great to have you on board.

Cheers

Chris

[Moon (James)]

Great story Pat.
If Kirk lets you, borrow her hair dryer next time there is a dew emergency. If not, just wait till she falls asleep before you attempt to steal it.
Keep the stories coming.
James

[mbo (Pat and Kirk)]

Originally Posted by Suzy

It felt like you didn't take a breath in your post.

Hey, it felt like I didn't take a breath for those two days!, it also helped to keep the word count down

Originally Posted by GraemeT

Are you far out of town in Dubbo? I took my scope there a few weeks ago while visiting my daughter,

I'm in town, about 1 Km from the eastern city edge, but it's still pretty good, security lights from an industrial estate wash us out a bit to the north, but east and south are nice and dark. You'll have to say g'day when you come up next time.

Originally Posted by Screwdriverone

One of the things that really helped you a lot giving you outstanding views is that you ended up buying your scope from Bintel whom I know expertly collimate their scopes before you take them home.

You're right there, I can't fault them, I wish I could remember the sales guys name?

Originally Posted by Moon

Great story Pat.
If Kirk lets you, borrow her hair dryer next time there is a dew emergency. If not, just wait till she falls asleep before you attempt to steal it.

Kirk's hairdryer has mostly been used to defrost the fridge! If she used it on her hair she wouldn't be able to fit through doors!, and besides, she says to tell you she'll be right there de-dewing too.

[erick (Eric)]

So maybe you are going to keep the scope?

[mbo (Pat and Kirk)]

Originally Posted by erick

So maybe you are going to keep the scope?

Tut tut, don't tease Dobby, he's part of the family now .

[erick (Eric)]

Now, you hopefully didn't spend all your money? Next step is power (power supply or suitable battery), plus a heater controller plus heater strap for the eyepiece. Maybe heating on the Secondary mirror as well. Oh, and a heater strap or two on the finderscope as well!

And has anyone mentioned adding an Argo Navis telescope-pointing system?

Keep your "cooling" fan running all through the session (check no vibration is seen in the image). It can help prevent dew formation on the primary mirror which will happen in very humid conditions.

[shelltree (Shelley)]

What a great story, it was very exciting to read. Congratulations and enjoy the new scope!

[mbo (Pat and Kirk)]

Eric: Yes, we had the hairdryer out last night, but I can see there are a few weekend projects coming up. Add a plywood box to transport the scope on roof-racks, doubling as a dew hutch / base camp. I'm going to have a go at building one of these. trolly to and cover so I can keep it in the shed (It's in the office now, and a tad bulky). Observing chair etc.
Please, could you stop your avatar waving that Argo Navis under my nose!

[GraemeT (Graeme)]

Pat,
The only problem I can see with the tracking platform is that at our latitude, the angle would need to be c.55 degrees and at that angle, the normal dobson mount would fall off. Those mounts originate in the USA and Europe where they are closer to the pole and a latitude of 60 deg. North equates to a platform angle of only 30 deg.
Cheers
Graeme

[mbo (Pat and Kirk)]

Hi Graeme, I think you're misinterpreting how the mount works, from what I have read the platform tilts a maximum of +- 10 degrees (that's why it only gives around 80 minutes tracking). Some more info here and here. The design can be altered to suit any latitude.

[bartman (Bart)]

Very well written!!!!!!!
Love the Humour and sights you saw.
I didn't have such a great story to tell when I bought my scope!
Still having trouble trying to get good shots of Jupiter and Saturn....
Collimation I think......
Bartman