NP101is First Light

[Allan]

I have been patiently staring at my new TeleVue refractor for about 3 months now. Unable to look through it because I have been waiting to pick up a mount. Well finally everything came together last night for my first session with the telescope.

I bought a DiscMounts DM4 from Tom Peters in the US. He seems to be the Al Nagler of the mount world, and after dealing with him to buy the DM4 I can see why everyone likes him so much.

Some time ago I bought an Orion Atlas tripod from Astromart and an 8" pier extension. When I put them together, I wasn't that impressed with the appearance. All the components were a different shade of black. So I stripped it all back and powder coated it in a nice satin black.

So I spent about an hour yesterday putting the setup together, which included balancing and adjusting the friction of the mount. The entire setup weighs 20kg, so I can carry it outside and be up and running quickly. The Nagler Petzval design helps with this also as it cools down quite fast.

Fortunately the clear skies held out for a good first observing session last night. I had a quick look around first with the 21 Ethos at a few targets and was really impressed with what I saw. I did a star test on Sirius at high power and it looked very good. I noticed only a tiny bit of colour on Sirius when I was looking for it. The other point I noticed early was how well the scope focused. It came to focus as if flicking a switch, and I found there was no need to roll the focuser back and forth to find the best point.

I spent a couple of hours on Jupiter, Mars and Saturn. I didn't buy the scope intending to use it much on planets, but it still put up a good show. There was plenty of detail to be seen, but it obviously didn't have the brightness or image scale that the 12" has.

I had a great time viewing the moon, and while again I couldn't see the small detail that comes from a bigger telescope, there was plenty to keep me interested for a long time. I can see this being a good scope to do a lot of lunar observing with. Out of interest, I put the moon at the edge of the field in my 31 Nagler, and it took a little over 20 minutes to drift to the other side of the field. The 4.8 degree field of view is one of the main reasons I chose this scope, so I can cruise the sky.

[Amaranthus (Barry)]

Nice report Alan. Is the main purpose for rich field viewing then? It would make a wonderful astrograph too!

[glend (Glen)]

Nice setup Allan. As you noticed at Bretti through my AR102, the big dobs have no competition in some respects, even on planets, but the ease of use of the refractor is a big plus, and of course the astrophoto aspects. I've just sourced a DSLR and adaptors for my refractors.

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

Very Nice ....Compact and neat .....

Col....

[Allan]

Originally Posted by Amaranthus

Nice report Alan. Is the main purpose for rich field viewing then? It would make a wonderful astrograph too!

I decided to buy the refractor because I wanted to do more observing. My 12" is pretty easy to setup, but still takes 10 to 15 minutes by the time I finish aligning it. Then there is the pack up as well. Some nights I don't feel like going through that, especially if there's cloud around. I can carry the refractor outside and be up and running in a minute. Plus it is nice to have an imaging scope up my sleeve if that time comes.

I almost bought a TSA102, but in the end the appeal of the wide field viewing was the reason I settled on the NP101.

[MortonH]

Very nice setup

[Kunama]

Very impressive scope and mount combo Allan.

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Nice one Allan.
Look forward to seeing it in operation at Bretti soon (hopefully).
And I hope all goes well with your career-path change (so to speak).

[Allan]

Thanks everyone. Allan, I was waiting for your rocket to blast off.

I will be at the SPSP to give the telescope a run under dark skies, so looking forward to that.