Viewing on Xmas day for first time suggestions.

stebai (Steve amp Hayley) · #1 24-12-2008, 10:29 AM

Hi

I'm new here - but i must say it appears to be the friendliest forum i have ever seen!
This Christmas i have bought my wife a telescope - she has always been interested in this kind of thing in conversation - now i'm hoping she will find it equally interesting to actually be involved in. I did some research and although i had a limited budget (i didn't want to spend too much as i don't want it to turn into a foot spa kind of gift - sorry to anyone who bought a foot spa - it's not personal...) - the advice i got was to go for a low end donsonian, which i managed to acquire.
I picked up a Bintel BT-202 from a disinterested student (he had been given it as a present but used it only once or twice according to his dissillusioned parents..hmm do telescopes make good gifts..) for a smidge under $300. I felt pretty good about it, am i right to think this is a good starter scope?
Well its complete with 3 eyepieces, a fan, a redlight torch, starmap and i think a moon filter. I have since bought a copy of "Astronomy 2009" - should this be enough?
My REAL question is what should we hope to see on XMas night - is there anything we should specifically be looking for? I am told the moon is a good starting point - is it in a good phase right now? Please excuse my crass use of terminology, i really, really am new to all of this.
We live in around the Greensborough area in Melbourne, Vic. The road we live on is pretty dark (it uses the streetlamps that are cowled to prevent light going upwards (which i'm told is useful).
Oh well - i hope thats enough info and i really would appreciate any thoughts on the scope/things to look for issues.
If my wife likes it i believe the next step is a light pollution filter am i right?

Cheers and all the best to all that read my post - have a Happy Christmas.

Steve

iceman (Mike) · #2 24-12-2008, 11:01 AM

HI Steve

to IIS! What a great xmas gift for your wife! and at a good price too, well done.

The moon is a great place to start - unfortunately it's waning at the moment and is getting close to new moon - so you won't see it in the evening. It's a very early morning object at the moment.

You could view the Orion Nebula - it's a showcase object rising in the East after sunset.
Use the starmaps in your Astronomy 2009 book to help you find it.

Good luck and I hope your wife loves it!

bmitchell82 (Brendan) · #3 24-12-2008, 11:15 AM

OOOH The plathora of items to see

You have brought in what many of us would say is the best place to start, congratulations.!!!

Like mike said Orion is a corker, i have the 10" version of the scope you have and it shows up brightly and a member named daniel has the 8" dobsonian and said that its nearly as good in that too.

Easy to find use your map to find it. Also Peladies (7 sisters) is a excellent target. easy to find, my partner uses the astrisim is that its a Kite with the diamond and tale, I can see it from inner metro perth so you should see it easy.

Only one thing that you will need to look at is Collmination, this is the process of lining up the Primary mirror (at the bottom) and the Secondary mirrror (top) together to give crisp clear images.

The easy way of doing this is a laser collminator (be careful the cheaper ones have to be collminated aswell before use. or a Cheshire eye piece. Best practice is to utilize the benifits of both to give you a quick easy painless collmination. There are many threads scattered thoughout this forum on the practice, just use the search function.

Good luck and remember that if you need any help, just post a message and one of us will get back to you quick smart.

Brendan

stebai (Steve amp Hayley) · #4 24-12-2008, 11:33 AM

Thanks guys,

Collimation eh? - I just looked into the manual for the 202 and there is a handy section on it.. Bugger ... it says i may require the eyepiece you refer to. How much are they and is my scope useless without one? It seems that i can roughly align the mirrors (there are two?!?! - i can only see the one at the very end of the tube...) as there are plenty of diagrams in the manual to help.
Thanks for the viewing info too.. shame about the moon tho...

erick (Eric) · #5 24-12-2008, 11:46 AM

Hi Steve

It is going to be a glorious star-gazing night. Dress up warm for later in the evening and have your mozzie repellant handy - use a roll-on and not a spray else you might spray onto eyepieces and mirrors - eeek!

Melbourne's sky glow is considerable, even if your local direct lighting is subdued. From Greensborough, you will be best looking North and East and happily there are things to see there. In your lowest magnification eyepiece (the 32mm or 26mm?) line up on the Pleiades (the Seven Sisters), an open star cluster that looks like a fuzzy patch in the sky. Then move to the bright orange star Aldebaran to see a huge orange star (it will just be a bright orange pin prick of light - all stars are too far away for us to see the disc of the star (except the Sun, of course)). Then swing across into Orion. You are looking for the Great Orion Nebula which is the fuzziness in the middle star of the sword (not the belt) - or the middle of the handle of the fryingpan, if you see it that way. Start with widefield, then try to push up to higher magnification and see some of the detail and the stars embedded in this huge glowing cloud of dust and gas.

To the west, the brightest object is Venus - you cannot miss it for an hour or two after sunset. Try that with your higher magnification eyepieces. You might find that you want to put the "moon" filter in place - it is bright. What do you see?

Then if you are quick after sunset, there is another bright dot down to the left and below Venus, but not as bright. Get the telescope onto that, both wide field and higher magnification - what do you see? This is Jupiter and its four main moons may be seen in a line (or sometimes they are in front of or behind the planet, sometimes all on one side).

Now, South may be very bright, but try to locate "47 Tuc", one of the most beautiful globular clusters in the sky. It will be fairly high to the west of south - check your map. It is beside the "Small Magellanic Cloud".

Go here:- http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html and download the Southern hemisphere, December edition - pdf usually is fine. That has a map and lots of targets with descriptions!

Let us know what you see!

erick (Eric) · #6 24-12-2008, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stebai

Thanks guys,

Collimation eh? - I just looked into the manual for the 202 and there is a handy section on it.. Bugger ... it says i may require the eyepiece you refer to. How much are they and is my scope useless without one? It seems that i can roughly align the mirrors (there are two?!?! - i can only see the one at the very end of the tube...) as there are plenty of diagrams in the manual to help.
Thanks for the viewing info too.. shame about the moon tho...

Yes Steve, just follow the manual's description for alignment by eye and you'll get it good enough to get started. Just hoping the previous owner hasn't got it way out of collimation. If things have worked loose, the most troublesome problem would be if the secondary mirror has rotated around the central axis so it is not reflecting light back towards the focusser. But easily fixed, because you can see through the focusser and work out what is going on.

ps. Tonight will also be good. Sneak a look at the sky tonight so you know where to point to tomorrow night and you can seem so knowledgeable!

erick (Eric) · #7 24-12-2008, 11:53 AM

pps, the second mirror (the "secondary") is at the top of the tube, tilted at 45 deg and facing the primary mirror. The light coming back from the primary and focussing down to a point bounces off this mirror and out through the focusser into the magnifying eyepiece. Look through the focusser with nothing in it at all and you will see the secondary mirror. Sometimes, holding a sheet of white paper inside the tube behind the secondary, and then further down the tube, blocking off the reflection of the primary mirror will make things clear.

JethroB76 (Jeff) · #8 24-12-2008, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stebai

My REAL question is what should we hope to see on XMas night

seeing as you have a new scope, probably cloud

Ian Robinson · #9 24-12-2008, 12:57 PM

Nothing but grey stuff here ....

NSW

erick (Eric) · #10 24-12-2008, 01:08 PM

Read the forecast, ye unbelievers, and weep for yourselves and rejoice for we Victorians!

Wednesday Night & Thursday Night - "A star-studded sky" - Low: 16°C - Wind: SSW at 4km/h

GrahamL · #11 24-12-2008, 01:13 PM

great stuff buying the wife a scope

I still use my small cheshire I got from andrews $29 and don't have any problems with it .

If a check of the collimation useing the info you have raises a few doubts drop back in here ..I'm sure somone will be able to help you out.

Ericks tip regarding putting something under the secondary really does remove the confusion of all those reflections that stare back at you when you look down the focuser draw tube.

cheers and merry x-mass

bmitchell82 (Brendan) · #12 24-12-2008, 01:37 PM

the other way you can make a quick collmination tool to assist you is get a 35mm film cannister the black ones with a grey lid, cut the bottom out of the tube and then in the middle use either a hot skewer or a fine drill piece to put a hole in the center.

What this does is center your eye in the focuser draw tube. there should be a mark on the bottom mirror, line that hole up with the bottom circle and thats good enough for now.

Something that i could suggest is getting in contact with a local amature group. They will definately help you out with any questions you have.!

erick (Eric) · #13 24-12-2008, 01:56 PM

Steve, I work at Bundoora. Happy to drop around one evening after work in Jan (after 5th) to check the scope out and show you what it can do. Send me a Private Message if you wish. Eric

stebai (Steve amp Hayley) · #14 24-12-2008, 02:43 PM

Thanks ever so much guys (and gals - they might be here too!)

Eric - thanks so much for the offer. I will see how we go over the next fortnight or so and if we are struggling i might pm you about some help.
All the info was fantastic (i'm not going to be able a sneak tonight tho sadly - so me and my lady are going to be discovering together - well she'll go first - it is her scope after all ! ! !)

Thanks again - it seems i bought a decent scope which is a relief.

Kind regards and thanks
Steve

erick (Eric) · #15 24-12-2008, 03:16 PM

Yep I had a great first year with a 202 before I upgraded.

stevoggo (Stephen) · #16 28-12-2008, 08:23 PM

Hi Steve,
I am also called steve...I also bought a secondhand bintel 202 dobsinian for Christmas (It was my wifes present too me but i chose it.. )Actually bought it off a guy on this website...thanks Morton...
Tonight is the first clear night i am going out ....Thanks to all the posters i will take your advice and have downloaded a star map.
thanks to you Steve, for asking the question so i and others can learn a bit.
Orion here i come....
Hi to all...

Kevnool (Kev) · #17 28-12-2008, 08:39 PM

Hi Steve

to IIS i hope you enjoy your stay with us and pick up some valueble information along the way, Any questions just ask here.
Let us know how your first light go,s with your new scope....cheers Kev.

stevoggo (Stephen) · #18 28-12-2008, 10:32 PM

Hi guys, don't want to steal your thunder...or thread Steve...sorry,
But i had a great first night viewing.
I thought the backgarden would be Ok as i live in a semi rural area, but there is one streetlight..that lights the whole place up like a floodlight.
Anyway still had some fun,
Took your advice, started at Pleiades, onto Alderbaran and finished up with Orion and his Nebula.
Also looked at Venus, as the sun had barely set and it was the only star we could see, It was very bright, used the moon filter and saw it as a half sphere.
The highlight for me was Orions Nebula, amazing looked to me like a stags head with the small cluster of four stars in his eye...

Also amazed at how fast things are moving when you look close!
I believe I will always be a dabbler, but this was a lot of fun.
Next time I need somewhere darker!!..
I need to find more nebulars and I think a galaxy would also be cool to look at!!
Year 2009 is the year of astronomy after all!
Thanks again everyone, especially steve who started this thread..
See ya
Steve

Kevnool (Kev) · #19 28-12-2008, 11:46 PM

Hi Stephen glad you had a great night you saw a showcase object there with M42 The Orion Nebula .........You just wait till you look south at tuc 47 and Omega Centaurus they will make you say WOW ..
By the way next time you look into the heart of the Orion Nebula count the stars again reaaly closely and you may see the six of them,Its called the Trapezium..........Cheers Kev.

bmitchell82 (Brendan) · #20 30-12-2008, 11:15 AM

Yes there are the 6 stars, when i was out on saturday seeing was brilliant, no wind, the stars where barely flickering, to pop Eta carina i could see the ploomes that come off the 2 stars in a 5mm ep and to boot even more i could see some darker lanes within these ploomes! Also got a look at Saturn and its moons, Ghost of jupiter, herchals splended double, and beside that is a nice little open cluster and bucket loads of other nice things! its just simply wonderful to be among people that really know what they are talking about. there is no other substitute!