My First Telescope... Finally a Dob

netwolf · #1 05-08-2005, 09:57 PM

Hi All,

I finally did it, got my first scope. Based on all the great information here in these fourms i decided on a Dob. I got it from Andrew's. I was going to get the 8" GS-680, but when i got there i saw the 10" was on special for 599 with 4 eyepices,a 2" GS eyepiece, 4 colour filters, binos, and a moon filter. To great a deal to pass up. My mates at work who having been in astronomy a lot longer advised me to go for a goto, but given my budget suggested i buy the biggest dob i could afford.

I chose the Andrews 6.5mm 10mm 15mm and 25mm eyepieces and a GS 2" 32mm eyepiece. I held of on the barlow for now.

I got it all setup in about 2hours. And perfect clear skies tonight, can not get much better than that. First stop Jupiter, or what i thought was jupiter... and i got dissapointed because i could not see any bands or the moons. Called my mate he asked me to to a collmination, so i spent the next 1/2 hour looking for a bright star.. dinner .. continued to line up one bright star in the north west ... when i finally got it i saw jupiter in all its glory.. doh... I wondered why it had not blinked. Jupiter with its 4 moons, 3 orange bands interlayed with white ones.

Now i have put up my scope for the night, its too cold..

What have i learned.. shoulda taken my laptop with me so i could see the skycharts. Moving a dob around is no joke.. need some wheels. An F6 is not great for detail on jupiter.. need that barlow...

I think ill go buy a small trolley to put the dob on..

My mates helped a lot and have lived with my constant questions for the last year.. so thanks to them to you know who your are..

Seeing Jupiter in all its glory was fantastic... a dream come true..

Clear skies to all..
And to all Clear Skies..

Regards
Netwolf.

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #2 05-08-2005, 10:07 PM

Wolfie,

Great to hear that you got to do some viewing straight away. Many of us in here can't do any coz of the weather.

Well done on the choice of scope, and finding Joop.

Also good to hear that you took a year and didn't rush in. Enjoy the skies!

TidaLpHasE · #3 05-08-2005, 10:07 PM

Congrats on the new scope, it sounds like you are very happy with it, and that does make the purchase even more worthwhile

Posts like this, explaining what you see, make me even more eager to get my first scope, i can't wait until i can see what all the fuss is about, gotta get me a good pair of thermals i think.

Keep your posts coming, it's these posts that make Ice In Space the first bookmark i click when i dialup

davidpretorius · #4 05-08-2005, 10:11 PM

well done, 10 days on and i still can't wait to play with my new 10" dob.

seeker372011 (Narayan) · #5 05-08-2005, 10:16 PM

congratulations on your new scope

netwolf · #6 05-08-2005, 10:44 PM

One thing to note, a Dob is not an easy setup and go device its no goto.. I spent 6months with some meade binos one of my mates sold me. And with almost weekly discussion with these guys around the office i learned a lot about Astronomy. I wish in someway post my first experience that i new the sky even better. Fidning things is not easy, it is an art to master but worth the effort. My mates told me goto, because they were concerned i would go away from the hoby if i did not see much. One of the guys has a ETX-90 and he can do a tour of the sky in about an hour with no hassles. I loved that idea but no budget for it. But i gues diffrent people have diffrent tastes. When i saw jupiter, all the effort was worth it. Even my wife was blown away by it..

So for the beginer who can afford it the ETX are excelent starters. If i could afford it, i would have got the ETX-105PE.. or even the 125PE if not for some negative reviews on its stability.

Also I would urge newbies to look over at the Cloudynight reviews and forums. This will help you vastly in understaning what to expect and what not to expect. The first thing my mate told me was not to expect to see, what i see in magazines.. Its one thing to gather light, its another to hold the scope steady long enought to gather more light. Some of the best photos are taken using small cheap refractors, on rock solid EQ mounts.

Nothing is imposible though see Iceman and his EQ platform, those early shots are fab.. Then look at the Amture in barbados shots.. thos are by far the best photos i have ever seen taken by an amature. But look at his mount.. rock steady..

Regards
Netwolf

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #7 05-08-2005, 10:52 PM

Wolfie,

Us dobbies enjoy the hunt! As you said, your mate can do the full tour of the sky in 1 hour! . . . then what? Go back inside?

It can sometimes take 1 hour to find 1 object with a dob, but when you eventually find it the satisfaction can't be measured.

I too would love a GoTo but I am enjoying the search for objects too much for now.

Trade up later, but for now, enjoy the hunt with us.

netwolf · #8 06-08-2005, 12:41 PM

when i got the scope home, I noticed two additional Eyepices supplied by GS with the scope. These are GS EP's I assume, one was a 9mm and the other a 25mm. My bad luck that i had picked the 25mm in my free choice of 4 from Andrews 500 series.

Regards
Netwolf

ving (David) · #9 06-08-2005, 12:44 PM

$599!!! i paided that for my 8"

congrats!

netwolf · #10 06-08-2005, 08:03 PM

ok onto day 2 of viewing and clear skies.. but as luck would have it my wife got a cold post last nights viewing. Hence was not keen on her hubby catching a cold tonight. But i got a good one hour of viewing in. Saw Venus, to bright to make out any details. Jupiter is a hard one to find, i got it in my finder but could not see it in the EP. Put the big 32mm 2" EP and found Jupiter finally, then worked my way down to the 6.5mm.. Wow fantastic.. clear prestine, no big red spot though.. working on the small EP's is a royal pain, but i finally got use to nudging the dob every 10sec.. Well thats all for tonight..

This is fun.. But I must admit i am geting tired of hunting for jupiter.. Can anyone explain why when its in my Finderscop i can not see it in the EP.. Does it need alignment.. I think maybe i need to use a bigger EP to get alignment first.. or invest in a Rigel or Telrad..

Regards
Netwolf

Edit: one more question for the pro's out there... is there a way to get the Dob to not move while viewing.. I mean to say lock it into a position.. Is there a mod perhaps..

davidpretorius · #11 06-08-2005, 08:27 PM

i usually align my finder scope each night. i grab a bright star with my 40mm or 25mm eye piece and center it and then jump straight to he finder to see if it is aligned. i then adjust the finder with the thumb screws, double check and i am right for the night!

asimov (John) · #12 06-08-2005, 08:57 PM

I'm with you Ken, Even though I don't own a dob, but all EQs...I enjoy the hunt more than anything! Yeah, if I wanted to be back inside watching TV after an hour's 'tour'..I'd get a goto as well!

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #13 06-08-2005, 11:22 PM

Wolfie,

With your 32mm in the focuser find a really easy target, say Venus.

Centre it in the Eyepeice.

THEN look into your finderscope. There are 2 adjusting screws on the finder. Adjust them so that Venus is in the centre of the finder.

Re-check the EP and then the finder.

Once you are happy that both are the same, go to a more powerful EP. Your 15mm should do.

Check Venus is again in the centre through the EP, then re-check and adjust the finder.

All done!

Now when you see Joop in the centre of your finder it will be in your EP.

It sounds a lot when broken up into instructions like these but it is a really simple thing to do each time. To me, it is like checking I have my seat belt on before driving off. It just becomes a simple quick thing to do.

p.s. This should be checked on all scopes regularly not just Dobbies.

As far as locking the scope, I'm sure we can invent a way to do it. Ask again if you can't find a way and one of us will work out a simple way to do it.

Do you want to lock Alt and Az or just one of them?

rmcpb (Rob) · #14 07-08-2005, 06:15 PM

Wolfie,

One of the best things to buy for a dobbie owner is a Telrad. Basically it projects a set of circles on the sky so you can zero onto your target. It, combined with a good finder scope will allow you to zoom around the sky after a bit of practice.

Keep looking up

netwolf · #15 07-08-2005, 07:09 PM

Dragons, thanks i worked out the finderscope alignement now thanks..
As to locking it, i guess locking a dobie does defeat the purpose. But its anoying when i am changing eyepices that a slight nudge and u lose the object from FOV. So just for switching from big to small EP's i want to lock the scope in both directions.

Rob, yeah i was looking at the Telrad myself.. saw a discussion here about other options to Telrad's like the Rigel.. I am looking at the ones with a Flip mirror so you dont have to bend over the scope to look through the Finder scope. It would be nice if the finder scope had a Rightangel EP or some such.

Thanks for all the advise guys.
Regards
Netwolf

jackenau · #16 07-08-2005, 09:17 PM

Gee, I have had my dob for less than 12 months and not having much to compare it with, but would have to say it is pretty easy to setup, and the views are really "beyond my expectations".

Is the basic dob with no fans etc for cooling, but is pretty well, wheel outside, let it adjust to the conditions and start viewing. (Good ep's make all the difference)

Perhaps it is just me, but I believe the eps, etc also need a bit of cool down time.

However, I pretty well find it good as a point and go scope, regardless of its size and viewing conditions. (You are either going to see something or it will be distorted dependant on a lot of factors).

A lot of expectations, or over expectacions come from expecting to see, what is based on views from people with either superior equipment or views that have been posted from alternate sources.

I have learnt, not to over expect, more so, to relish in each viewing experience and learn from those experiences. (Half the stuff maybe more is of stuff, I have no idea what I am looking at, but over exceeds my expectations and once I can master these Planetarium programs etc will reinforce what I am looking at).

Having bought a couple of crap scopes in the lead up time to my current dob scope, I would have to say it has all been worthwhile. (But I am more than happy with the views of a Dob type scope).

Persistance for perfection.

Learn and grow, is what it is all about.

Ken M

rmcpb (Rob) · #17 08-08-2005, 08:38 AM

Wolfie,

Before you go into the right angle spotter brigade have a go at using the spotter scope with both eyes open. I do it and its easy to bring the object into the spotter scope with the bare eye then fine adjust the position with the spotter scope. The Telrad can be used the same way and its ultra quick even if it means you have to get up and down a bit throughtout the night. Exercise is good for you and keeps you warm

davidpretorius · #18 08-08-2005, 09:28 AM

from one new dobbie owner to another. i have had mine two weeks and would have racked up 30+ hours of viewing. from aligning the finder each night, i can now quite confidently have a look in the sky, point my finder and scope in the general area and then look thru the finder to lock onto target. i then look through one of the larger ep's 30 or 40mm.

sometimes i am squatting near the base of the unit, lining the scope up and then looking thru finder.

As an example, with my wife as an observer, i put my self under pressure in showing her things as quickly as possible. I was very happy with how quick i could now line up clusters and galaxies in all points of the sky.

I find that the hunting down of an object is fun, my next task is to try and track ie keep it in view. The actual lining up is no more tedious than wheeling the scope out from the garage

asimov (John) · #19 08-08-2005, 02:49 PM

I do the same as Dave described, but for faint objects I go that little bit extra, After centering/aligning in your low power EP I bung a 7-5mm EP in then align the finder. In my experience this needs to be done on every observing session. It's my 1st operation done before I start observing & only takes a couple of minutes.

netwolf · #20 08-08-2005, 08:04 PM

Ok I have aligned my finderscope, normally i do not remove this from the main tube for storage. So it should stay aligned for now. Once i aligned it finding Jupiter as a test was simple. But then the clouds rolled in.. Got a quick look at the moon, can not wait for half moon and full moon. Gave the wife a quick look and she was amazed.

Tried to get the challenge object for this month, but the clouds rolled in. I think I will invest in a Telrad, are there any better or cheappear alternatives. I have heard of this Rigel, but the opinion seems to lean in favour of Telrad..

Regards
Netwolf