woohooo It has arrived!!!!

[ZL4PLM (Simon)]

Well not quite arrived cos I had to collect it!!!!!!!!

I took delivery of my 12" LX200GPS yesterday

huge alu shipping box with it .. def not hand luggage !!!

this is a dream for me .. I wanted to own a large scope since I was a teen.

Now its reality!

I watched carefully yesterday as the previous owner showed me how to set it up ... will take a while to reproduce it!

Aim is to build a pier and alittle house in the garden

Woohoo! I am in business!!!!!



But I think I need to find an astro mentor in christchurch .. so many questions hahah!

rgds

Simon

[mick pinner]

congratulations Simon, l'm sure you will love it.

[DeanoNZL (Adrian)]

Well done Simon,
We needed someone to drag the north island weather south
Enjoy...

[ZL4PLM (Simon)]

Adrian

I love the canterbury plains weather..

19c out .. no clouds .. warm breeze!



Ill stick with my dark skies and clear nights!

lol!



rgds

Simon

[gbeal]

Yes, from another Mainlander, congrats. If you need any advice e mail me.
Gary

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Contrats! From someone who regrets selling theirs - you'll have a ball with it. They're a great scope.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Yeh I also had one Simon and wish I had it back to look through while I image with the Astrophysics, as good as the AP is for imaging, 12" is better than 6" as they say ...at least for deep sky viewing

You will love your new scope, here is mine under a Sirrus dome and ready to image - I sold it in 2006 after 4 years of faithful viewing and imaging:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike20...55284140/large

Have fun

Mike

[allan gould]

Great scope - hope its all you wanted and expect.

[ZL4PLM (Simon)]

well Ive just had a v enjoyable evening !

After setting up the scope and playing with the colimation of finder and main OTA I finally managed to see what I was finding in the finder scope !!!


So first thing was simply to point at the moon!

wow! v impressive and lovely .. hard on the eyes though!

very bright!

lovely features .. ok im hooked!

after some frustrating hours of trying to align the LX200 on the right stars with the polar mount I was close but not close enough ....

Anyway on my hunt round the skies brighter objects I fell across Saturn!

awesome! rings side on ... very thin .... 3 moons clearly visible!

Some problems fighting the dew .. def need to get the heater organised!!

so ... partially successful!

I think I need someone to show me exactly HOW to line up the correct way the tripod and polar alignment .. this is still puzzling me!!!

Anyone close to west melton like to demonstrate for me!!!!

Supply of coffee/tea of course

So .. pretty pleased .... I can see how this drives you to be a nocturnal!!!

lol!

rgds

Simon

[Robbie]

Congrats Simon a very nice scope,
Set up and drift is daunting at first but once the "penny drops" its easy.
Visual observing is fun but when you strap a laptop and a camera to the scope things get really entertaining and interesting. The orion dew heater is a good choice and easy to fit, yeah get yourself a shed and a pier because hell hath no fury like a woman getting up at 4:30am to drag a 100 kg telescope back into the house.
Enjoy yourself!!!!!

[g__day (Matthew)]

Well done! Mastering new gear always takes awhile. A pier, a wedge a astrolab - you'll certainly find these make life easier!

Once you get alignment and tracking mastered, then focus and collimination will probably occupy your interest. I think you'll find a host of sights that this scope will be able to delight you on!

Well done,

Matt

[White Rabbit]

http://www.petesastrophotography.com/

Check out the website above, it has a tutorial and simulator for drift alignment, polar alignment. This is how I figured it out. I was pulling my hair out trying to get my mount aligned properly. It would have driven me to drink if I wasnt already there .

Nice scope, I'd love a 12" on a mount, thinking about saving up for the servocat system for my mead 12" dob. That would be sweet.