Newbie Introduction

[Rez]

Hello Everybody,

I am new here, my name is Robert and I am a 39 year old guy from Melbourne Australia.

Today I obtained a BinTel BT-202 Premium 8" Dobsonian and put it to work right away. I managed to get a good view of the moon, in partial phase (Waxing Crescent 14% of Full) which allowed me to see all of the moon and what I consider to be spectacular views of craters casting shadows in the lit area.

Impressed with the moon I went on to look at several stars however I was not in a very dark area and although I was able to see some bright objects I think I will get more satisfaction when I take myself off to some dark sites.

To be honest I do not know what I will be able to actually see with my new telescope however I am excited at the prospect of finding out.

Fortunately "Arthurs Seat" , a small mountain on the Mornington Peninsula, is close by which will provide me with a good oppotunity to put my new scope through it's paces.

This is the first real telescope I have owned, as a kid I had numerous Tasco refractors, but I realise now what toys they were compared to my new 8" Dobsonian.

When I started looking at telescopes, I was intially tempted by a Celestron PowerSeeker 127mm Reflector on an EQ mount. I then considered a 6" Dobsonian. However after a little reading I came to the conclusion that I may outgrow a 6" too quickly. Starting with a $225 AUD price for the Celestron, moving to a $399 AUD price for a 6" dobsonian, I actually ended up with a $549 8" dobsonian.

I have included a photo of my telescope below.

http://rjk.melb.org/images/stories/bintel-8-dob.jpg

[Dennis]

Hi Rez

Welcome to IIS, welcome to astronomy and welcome to a life long enjoyment of the cosmos.

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman (Mike)]

Rez, nice to see you here. How did you find us?

The 8" dob is a great starters scope and will bring you many years of enjoyment if you don't get aperture fever

Pointing at stars themselves usually won't show you too much of interest. Get yourself a planisphere, red light torch, sky atlas of some kind, and hunt down those globular clusters, open clusters, galaxies and nebula.

Also don't forget to get up early to catch Saturn before daylight in the north-east - if you've never seen Saturn before, the view will blow you away!

[GrahamL]

welcome rob ,your scope will show you a lot
the large and small magellenic clouds are an easy point for your
new scope over the next couple nights when the moon sets
lots to see in there .

take care

[acropolite (Phil)]

Hi Robert, good first choice there, 8 inches is a very good compromise between size and aperture. This Site will give you a printable skymap for the southern hemisphere and a list of suitable targets for this (and future) month(s).

[RB (Andrew)]

G'day Robert,

Congrats on your new scope, you're off to a great start mate.
You'll have lots of fun with the Dob, an excellent choice.

Hope you'll enjoy your visits here at IIS.

[ving (David)]

g'day rob, hey thats the scope i have

congrats and welcome aboard

[chunkylad (David)]

HI Rez

Congrats on your purchase, and welcome to IIS. Your Dob will give you many hours of hassle-free viewing while you learn your way around the sky.

There are some great sights to be seen at this time of year. To add to those already mentioned: the Pleiades open cluster (use your longest f/l eyepiece for this on - the one with the biggest number on the side), and M42 in Orion (the Orion Nebula). These together with the Globular cluster 47 Tucanae, will really open your eyes.

Have fun

Dave

[mill (Martin)]

Congrats on the new scope.
And now you have to do some mods to the scope to make it smooth.
http://astronomy.concreteairship.com....htm#build-dob
http://www.dbaastronomy.com/DSH%20up...ods%20fixs.htm
And collimation.
http://skytonight.com/howto/diy/3306876.html
But first of all enjoy the scope without the mods and see if you need them

[astro_nutt]

Hi Rez and welcome to IIS...also congrats on your new scope...
I brought an 8' dob as my first "real" scope..it does provde enjoyable views on many celestial wonders
Enjoy!!

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

Welcome Rez! Great choice of scope! Like others have said, get yourself a plansiphere and some basic charts/guides and a red torch. And a pair of low power binos. To start with, from personal experience, I can highly recommend the Southern Sky Guide, <$25 from Bintel. Enough in there to keep you observing for your first year or more with the scope.

[WadeH (Wade)]

Hello Rez and .
Your scope looks great and will enable you to see all sorts. From here on is a terrific time of the seasons for viewing. Look forward to hearing more from you.

[mickoking]

G'day Robert and welcome A 200mm Dob is a fantastic choice, you will have a ball. It may even be all the 'scope you may ever need

[anj026]

Welcome Robert

Wise choice going for the 8 inch and also wise choice joining the forum. When the weather prevents observing there is a lot of fun and a lot to be learnt here at Ice in Space.

regards

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Hi & welcome Rez.

There is an Astro club in your neighbourhood. The Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society. Some in here are members. I'm sure they'll be in touch with you in here.

[Wombat_In_Space (Darren)]

Rez
It is nice to have another person in the area, great choice on scope.

[Ric]

Hi Robert, glad to have you on board. It sounds like you have got yourself a great scope, you will be amazed at what you can see.

It's quite amusing to see how many people started off their hobby with a Tasco refractor.
That was my first weapon of choice as well when I was a wee lad.

cheers

[norm]

G'day Rez,

Welcome aboard !

[Rez]

Hi Everyone.

Thankyou all for the warm welcome.

I was referred to this site by someone on Cloudy Nights Forum.

I am keen to join the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society and have emailed them enquiring about membership.

Again thankyou all for the warm welcome

Rez

[johnno]

Hi Rez,

Welcome to the forum from me as well

I am sure you will get lots of good advice,and friendship,

Regards.John