My 8" Bintel Dob is about to arrive!

[Blackant (Ant)]

Just gave the local freight company a call after checking TNT's website and they have two large packages that they're gonna drop off for me between 2:00 and 3:00 today

Not sure what I'll be able to look at under a full moon with the wind kicking up tonight but I'm gonna find something

Regards

Ant

[Jeeps (Sam)]

Make sure you give us a thorough review

cheers

[erick (Eric)]

The Moon!

Saturn, Jupiter. Split the double stars at Alpha Centauri and Alpha Crucis. Try to find Neptune. Then search out open star clusters - the Jewel Box (NGC 4755), NGC 6231 in Scorpius, IC 2602 (the Southern Peliades) before it gets too low in the south. Look for the "Five of Diamonds" beside IC 2602. Just "above" it this evening. You may find a glimpse of the Eta Carina nebula (look early) and Omega Centauri globular cluster if you peer hard against the moonlit sky. Get up early tomorrow and look at the Peliades, Venus and try to see the Trapezium stars in the Orion nebula. Lots to see!

[stephenb (Stephen)]

Good luck with it Anthony. Make it an enjoyable evening. And don't forget to give us all a review afterwards, both of the scope and the evening's viewing.

[Blackant (Ant)]

Thanks everyone, just finished getting it altogether, and I can't wait to use it. My 3.5 year old Liam is pretty excited too as you can probably tell from the attached photo

Not surprisingly it has clouded over, I could blame it on the new telescope but it's probably more realistic to blame it on living in tasmania

The upside is that when the sky clears I've got pretty amazing dark skies in my backyard. I think there pretty dark anyway, on a good night when I go outside it only takes a minute or so of adjustment and i can easily make out things like the coal sack and the magellanic clouds with the naked eye

I'll definitely write a review and let you know how I go with it once I've been using it for a while. I've been stargazing for years, but only with a pair of 10x50 and 15X70 AOE binos and the occasional use of a 4.5" york skyrover.

I can imagine looking at the size of the scope it's gonna be a bit of a step up

Kind regards

Anthony

[renormalised (Carl)]

It might need to be collimated first up, but once it's done, the views should be pretty good

[CoombellKid]

Originally Posted by Blackant

I can imagine looking at the size of the scope it's gonna be a bit of a step up

Kind regards

Anthony

I remember when I got my first 8" reflector, upgrading from a 60mm
refrector on a wobble mount and a pair of 20x60 bino's. It opened the
window on what you can observe. Haven't looked back since... $10-12k
later

Enjoy and congrats on the new scope. One thing my lil blokes used to
love is seeing Jupiter or Saturn (especially the latter) in a wide field
ep (a low powered one) where a few stars were also in the field of
view. That last until about age 6 when the play station takes over.

Cheers,CS

[rmcpb (Rob)]

You will absolutely love that scope. I still use mine most because I'm a bit lazy and only use the 13" on "real" observing nights as it takes more time to set up. Suppose life is good when an 8" is your grab and go

[Blackant (Ant)]

Thanks guys,

Just got back inside from giving it a go. Shocking conditions, really high cloud layer to the point where I couldn't see any stars at all, and only just make out the moon and jupiter through the haze

As it's forecast for rain/snow/drizzle for the next five days or so I set it up anyway and had a quick look at the moon before it totally closed over. Did a quick check of the collimation with my Orion tool and pretty amazed it still seemed to be in collimation after it's trip from Sydney.

WOW , even through the haze and an almost full moon it was impressive. I've never used a filter before and it made a nice change being able to pick up a bit more detail and not staggering around half blind after staring at it through binoculars for a while

It was easy to carry through the house and set up too which was a definite plus, not too heavy or cumbersome at all. Looking forward to some good weather

Kind regards

Anthony

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Congratulations. I used an 8" for 6 months before getting the 12" (which you will want soon!) Had lots off fun with it, found heaps of faint fuzzies. I live in Colac so am very familiar with the weather conditions you are having, just keep getting clouds every night.

[hulloleeds]

Originally Posted by barx1963

Congratulations. I used an 8" for 6 months before getting the 12" (which you will want soon!) Had lots off fun with it, found heaps of faint fuzzies. I live in Colac so am very familiar with the weather conditions you are having, just keep getting clouds every night.

Hah, I've had an 8" for about a week and am fairly certain that the 12 is coming in a matter of weeks

[Spanrz (Brett)]

Originally Posted by hulloleeds

Hah, I've had an 8" for about a week and am fairly certain that the 12 is coming in a matter of weeks

Yep all about the size huh!

[Blackant (Ant)]

Originally Posted by erick

The Moon!

Saturn, Jupiter. Split the double stars at Alpha Centauri and Alpha Crucis. Try to find Neptune. Then search out open star clusters - the Jewel Box (NGC 4755), NGC 6231 in Scorpius, IC 2602 (the Southern Peliades) before it gets too low in the south. Look for the "Five of Diamonds" beside IC 2602. Just "above" it this evening. You may find a glimpse of the Eta Carina nebula (look early) and Omega Centauri globular cluster if you peer hard against the moonlit sky. Get up early tomorrow and look at the Peliades, Venus and try to see the Trapezium stars in the Orion nebula. Lots to see!

Thanks for those target's Erick, 'cause I'm used to using binoculars it didn't even occur to me that an 8" telescope would make looking at faint stuff still worth it with a bright moon.

I had a clear night on friday, and searched out Omega Centauri and wow
Even with the bright moon I could make out it's speckled appearance and multitudes of stars, not surprisingly a big improvement on what I see through binos

I was so excited I went down the road and knocked on the door of a guy I'd met on the bus who said that he was interested in astronomy but had never looked through a telescope before.

He came back down with me and we ended up checking stuff out till past midnight when the clouds started coming in

The weather's deteriorated now though, with rain looking like it's set in for the next few days so I'm using the opportunity to finish off my denver observing chair. Here's hoping it works considering my dodgy DIY skills

Maybe I should let someone else test it for me

Kind regards

Ant