Newbie with 10" Dob - questions on EP & courses

[Groove (Grant)]

Hi everyone, I am new here (first post) but have been reading the odd forum thread over the last couple of months, while I was looking to purchase my first scope. Like most people, I have always been fascinated by science, planets, and the stars. After many years, I finally decided to do something about it.

I was originally looking to purchase something similar to Celestron 130ST for ease of goto function and portability (as I live under the bright city lights of Brisbane and would need to travel a little to darker skys). I was also looking at Cassegrain goto scopes but could not afford the hefty prices for decent sized one.

Several weeks ago I attended a local urban observers group on the north side of town and found the people very helpful, and I had my first taste of viewing through several of the members large dob scopes. WOW!! It wet my appetite for more!

I then visited Sirius Optics (local shop), and chewed the ear off the poor consultant for over an hour, and he was friendly, knowledgeable, & most of all very helpful. I was surprised that a 10” Goto Dob was within my price and size range, as I had originally dismissed dobs due to being heavy and too large to move, and the fact that I would need to set up by myself. I say 'myself' as my wife does NOT share my enthusiasm for sitting outside in the cold for hours looking at small white dots.

Anyway I went back the following day, and purchased the telescope, and have just set it up. Unfortunately it has been very cloudy up this way so have not had chance to test it out fully, and learn how to use it competently.

My questions are:

1 – Before I buy any additional eye pieces or any filters, would I be best advised to purchase 2” eye pieces and filters to suit? Just I don’t want to buy 1.25” if 2” ones are better. I would like to start out buying which ever I would get the most use out of.

2 – Does anyone in Brisbane area know of any beginner or introduction to astronomy courses? I know tafe used to offer one last year but no longer does. I did a quick google and could not find anything. I will however be making myself a regular visitor to a local astronomy observers group (wife permitting..)

Thank you for any assistance.

Regards
Grant

[big_dav_2001 (Davin)]

Hi Grant, welcome to IIS

EP's seem to be a pretty hotly discussed topic here, and being far from an expert myself, I can only offer my own experience. I use a variety of EP's from the Baader Hyperion range, they're a good 2" eyepiece but will also fit a 1.25" focuser. They offer a nice 68 degree FOV, and a nice flat field. Also because they fit a 1.25" focuser, you are able to use 1.25" filters which are often much cheaper than the 2". They'll set u back bout $120 each, but in my opinion are well worth it.

Davin

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Welcome Grant,

Good choice of scope, before spending more money on eyepieces consider the options you would like to do for the future (visual or Astro-photography or both). You have so far made the right decision and gone the right path to a long term enjoyment of astronomy.

Education wise are you interested in future path or a matter of interest. Swinburne offer 6 week online course in beginner astronomy online, although when I started my University course I noticed that the University here offers Astronomy 101 and Planetary Science 101 which is open to the general public limited by number of enrollments. Maybe your local Universities can produce the same courses.

[Gem (Grant)]

Unless you're really keen on the moon, filters can wait till later.

[Stu Ward]

I'd stick with the eyepieces you got with the scope until you better understand what you are looking at and what you enjoy the most.
Then make an informed decision based on your preferences

Stu

[Groove (Grant)]

Hey guys!! Thank you for the great advice, it has been noted!

Yes - I think I will need to experiment and learn to use the scope well with the 2x plossl EP's (that came with the scope) - before I know what I really like. I looked up the Baader Hyerion and see that they have a great reviews with FOV 68 deg, and good eye relief. Im sure this would happen – but all in good time.

Davin - where would you suggest getting these EP from for $120 ish? The places I looked up on were all around the $200 mark.

The 6 week astronomy short course is the sort of thing I'm looking for. I only want a beginners introduction – so I can understand things without appearing silly - but wish it was somewhere local to actually attend. Will keep on the look out as suggested! If all else fails, then an online course it is..

Cheers
Grant

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Actually I use Baader even though my future is more Astro Photography but I strongly suggest not buying these straight away because if you decide to do only visual then you would be better getting Naglers or other high end lenses.

I find the Baaders are very good general lenses still producing good results.

I purchase mine for US as they were at the time way cheaper than Aus, not sure now.

[Groove (Grant)]

At this stage I am only into visual, as I do not own any photographic equipment (besides a basic pocket point n click). But who knows what the future holds. Photos do look great and obviously bring out more then the eye can ever see directly!

Anyway I didn't think that my scope was able to do any astrophotography due to not being an EQ mount?

Cheers
Grant

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

True that are not specifically design for it, but I believe some people have been able to place a DOB onto a EQ6. I personally use a EQ Platform but they have their limitations. You can you a field de-rotator.

But first see what happens visually, all these option can be considered in the future.

[big_dav_2001 (Davin)]

Hi Grant,

Like Malcom, i bought mine online from the US, it turned out a lot cheaper than buying in Aus. I bought mine from these sites:

ttp://www.telescopes.com/telescope-eyepieces/125-inch-eyepieces/baaderhyperioneyepieces.cfm $139 + postage

http://www.optcorp.com/productList.aspx $129 + postage

Seems like their prices have increased slightly since i bought mine, but still cheaper than many local suppliers (no offence intended to IIS members representing local suppliers )

Theres also a couple of E-bay 'stores' which sell them for about $130.

Good Luck and clear skies

Davin

[Groove (Grant)]

Thanks for that!

As I am heading a couple of hours west of Brisbane (the weekend after next) for 4 days and it has very dark skies, I thought I might purchase some inexpensive eyepieces to experiement with.

I just purchased Orion 6x 1.25 plossl eyepieces (6.5mm to 40mm) & 6x filter set (with a bonus 2" 28mm plossl) all in aluminium case.

I am now hoping for clear skies and very much looking forward to discovering the wonders of the sky with my own scope!

Cheers
Grant

[big_dav_2001 (Davin)]

Ok great, that's a good little set for someone starting out and it should be all you need for a while.

Although as far as filters go, you'll probably only need a moon filter and possibly a UHC filter or equivalent for visual Astro, colored filters are mainly used in astrophotography, although they're a good investment if your future interests take you along that path.

Good luck, hope you get some nice clear skies while your away

Davin

[Groove (Grant)]

Finally - got to test out my scope for the first time last night. Was not the best seeing conditions but at least the heavy cloud cover of the last week had disappeared. (It doesn’t help viewing that I'm only few kms away from city centre)..

I managed to collimate the scope correctly, and also managed to get the finder scope cross hairs accurate enough that when I aimed at a star, it was in my field of view using a 6.5mm EP. I was extremely happy with this as I was able to find things again as they moved quickly out of view.

Like most beginners, I saw Saturn, rings, and moons for first time using my own scope! And I also was able to make out the Alpha Centauri A & B! (my first binary star system!). Viewing real estate from my suburban deck is also very limited, so only have access to sections of the sky.

Will try and get the 'goto' system working next time if there is enough clear sky to look at. Am yet to attempt alignment of SynScan.

Can't wait for clearer skies!