Juicing up a 10 or 12" dob

[simmo]

Got the scope. WOW!

First thing to note. Please do not look at the moon when its full. Ow. My brother doctored the eyepiece out of a welding mask and then it was ok to look at.

Putting it all together we (family) took it out to the balcony to have a look and I started to adjust the finderscope. After using some street lights to get somewhere close:
- picked the brightest star
- set in the low powered piece
- hey presto jupiter and co.
My kids were quite amazed as everyone else too. Conversation circle for them is going to way different tomorrow. It was hard getting them back to bed.
Got on stellarium to check that what we were looking at was Jupiter cause we thought it couldn't be that easy. But sure enough it was.
After that we looked for the closest cool object on stellarium as well. The neb. in orion and found it no worries so big thanks Allen and vaztr for that one.
I'll set to work in the next couple of weeks and see if I can "juice" up my scope a little. I'll check back with the results, send some photos and some idea of how much it costs.
This has to be one of the coolest things to do and even my brother commented tonight why hadn't we taken it up earlier.

All regards
Simmo

[Jen]

Wooohoooo happy viewing

[louie_the_fly (Stew)]

Originally Posted by simmo

Got the scope. WOW!

After that we looked for the closest cool object on stellarium as well. The neb. in orion and found it no worries

The Orion nebula group is what got me hooked when I was a high school lad. So easy to find, and I still look at it regularly and think "wow".

[simmo]

Hello Again,

It's been several weeks now since I got my scope and I'm still hooked after the initial sparkle. The weather here in Perth has been great and the moon's been hiding so there has been quite a few chances to get out on the scope.
With the festive holidays I've become a bit of a web junky during the day reading up on as much as I can. Both of these combined has been great cause it's given me some time to reflect on the the comments you guys left and to find out what has worked or been needed to get started comfortably.
So here is what I've done so far.
I took what wavelandscott said and tried to just enjoy the scope I have without adding too many things so far. I haven't been dissapointed yet.

What I needed first is what nearly everybody suggested and that was an adjustable height chair. Luckily my next door neighbours were getting rid of their computer chair so I snagged that one for free and it works almost perfectly. (*almost - not quite low enough at horizon and not quite high enough at straight up but still better than a sore back!) I find that I can sit quite comfortably and really get a good look at what I'm observing.

*Important Edit - please see barx's warning 2 posts on concerning Aeroguard!
Next I tried to go out one night and totally got eaten alive by mosquitos so aeroguard was the cure for that. (I think my blood donations have provided for many millions of offspring).

My brother had an IPad with app so that was good for starters but I needed some charts when he's not around. I looked online and was about to buy when I spotted "Cartes du Ciel". It was free so that came aboard. It is challenging at first but you get used to it if you play long enough. I've found it great when used with stellarium. I can zoom around stellarium, find something for the night and then go to cartes and print the chart off for the night. Cartes has some cool options like being able to change the amount of stars seen to the naked eye so it can suit the area you live in (city vs country and in between). You can zoom in and print off what will be seen in your finder and again to see what will be closely around the intended target(great for hunting and referencing with the eyepiece). Also has a picture of the object so that you can somewhat recognise it.

Next I needed to see the chart at night. Went to woolies and BCF but due to mining boom we are being ripped off over here (apart from telescopes). $37 compared to $20 you guys are getting over east. So remembering barx's trick I cellophaned my wife's el cheapo torch that she's had since the '90s. Works a treat.

Next was lens cleaner. My wife is keen to share the views and so is her eyelashes (please, not to seem sexist so has mine, I saw what you all did to the guy that said that girls shouldn't get\lift dobs!) With just one look the lense (plossl) became unusable with oil that nicely deposited itself right in the middle. It was easily fixed with a lense cleaning kit from the local camera shop.
So far that is all I've needed to get through the first month of viewing.
So $ value it equates to
Chair - free
Aeroguard - $6 (and that was at a allnight servo) Edit - please see further posts concerning this product!
Stellarium - free
Cartes du Ciel - free
Torch - $2 (in the nineties)
Cellophane - $1 (a lot left over)
Lens cleaner kit - $20 (can get cheaper stuff, or just add spit and rag)
All this has added up to a great nights viewing in comfort. I'm sure though as the season changes there will be a few more things to add but so far so good.
As far as the gadgets are concerned I haven't forgotten about those either but they are a bit more about personal tastes of how much can you spend and what will you be likely to be looking at.

Collimation - I decided to go down old school road and buy an astrosystems dual sight tube/cheshire and autocollimator for extra precision. The catseye looks great but just too steep in price and lasers don't seem to be able to do the whole job and have their own collimation problems according to some threads (*might be not be totally true, please elaborate if experienced for greater good of sharing knowledge). Astrosystems imports to Australia and has a deal for both items + shipping. I'll report how that goes and how easy it is to use for a first timer.
Couldn't resist the eyepiece bug either. Old school again. After reading some reviews on orthos being very bright with good optics in a dob I decided to go with some from UOptics. I know this is probably against the trend in regards to wide fields as they have a smaller field of view than the plossls I have with the scope. The plossls to me seem wide enough to my small experience and have delivered good results. I would be happy to keep them for the future but my curiosity has gotten the best of me! I chose the 12.5mm and 18mm so that I could barlow them if it comes to that. I wasn't sure about sizes below that as the eye relief supposedly gets smaller and harder to use with non-tracking dobs. All this is heresay scattered on the web but I'm keen to see how they go and like I said somewhere on the thread I like a challenge! Again I will report back on how those go too. Aside they might not be around for much longer according to some sites so maybe an investment too? I'll see... Probably won't stop here and will have too seek out a wide field in the future and probably a planetary just to kill the cat curiosity. Oh, I forgot they have nine lives, Darn!
In the foreseable future though my next tasks are to put the az alt circles on and hunt down a good camera case to put all of my stuff in cause the cardboard box that came with the scope is already overflowing with goodies. Both of these are pretty inexpensive and will probably be very helpful. I think definately the alt az circles as I try to narrow in on harder DSO's. Apart from that I think this will do for now as from now on I'll save my money for the next scope upgrade.
This last section can be ignored if you don't have the money for them. The scope and eyepieces are good enough by themselves. If anything it is definately the things that bring you the most comfort that have been the most valuable so far.

Regards and clear skies
Simmo

[Jen]

Good on ya simmo happy observing you never know what Santa could bring you

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Just a couple of things Simmo.
Be VERY careful with Aerogard around optics. DEET eats optical surfaces so don't use spray, only roll on and keep it away from the face area near the eyepiece and your hands.
Bintel do nice cases with pluck foam that I found really useful.

Malcolm

[simmo]

Wow! Thanks barx, That's something I would never have guessed. I just looked at the bottle I have now and the type of areoguard I'm using is the spray type and from what I can gather using chem data actually contains picaridin as a substitute to DEET. Ingredient list of Aeroguard bottle - water, alcohol denat.(methylated spirits if I'm right),picaridin. I found this link to the info. -

http://www.picaridin.info/

My brother recommended Off! and I'm not sure if that has DEET ( haven't used it yet or seen an ingredient list) but I have just seen a website that referred to it having it as one of its components. So buyer beware and check your bottle hey!
My heart did a backflip when I read your post and it is some great info Barx. Phew I had visions of my telescope melting in front of me! I will still be careful with the spray and probably change it for roll-on just in case picaridin has the same effect!

Cheers Simmo

P.s Jen I'm not sure i've been good enough this year!

[simmo]

http://www.outdoors.org/publications...-repellent.cfm

Just found this site too. If you scroll down it claims that picaridin does not eat plastics or synthetic materials. Will take it with a pinch of salt but at least my heart has slowed a little now!

Off to the beach with my wife to have tea now and a little stargazing.

Regards
Simmo

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Simmo
I have heard stories on newcomers at astro camps spraying aerogard and basicly wrecking very expensive refractors. Best to be safe. Best protection is long pants and sleeves.

Malcolm

[Shark Bait (Stu)]

Originally Posted by barx1963

Simmo
I have heard stories on newcomers at astro camps spraying aerogard and basicly wrecking very expensive refractors. Best to be safe. Best protection is long pants and sleeves.

Malcolm

Almost happened to me earlier this year with my new dob. I heard the spary can just behind me and must have given a look that could kill. He stopped spraying instantly. Luckily no damage done and shared a couple of jokes afterwards.

Great update Simmo. Glad you are getting some scope time.

[naskies (Dave)]

I don't know if it's a tropical mosquito thing, but our mozzies up here can quite happily bite through multiple layers of clothing - e.g. jeans *and* thermals

Aeroguard, however, does work very well. I usually take care by only spraying it well and truly away from any equipment - many metres away and downwind.

[simmo]

Hello All,

An update on the Repellants. Nipped down to the local stores to do a little research. This is a list of what I found.

Products containing DEET:-
Aeroguard - all "tropical strength" products - aerosols, liquid spray and roll -on
Coles brand repellant, not sure about woolies.
All Bushmans products - they have it in big writing on the front

DEET is N,N-diethyl-m toluamide, though DEET also is expressed often as N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide and N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide if you are looking for the chemical name. Aeroguard/Coles does not name it as DEET but rather as its chem name.

Products containing Picaridin:-
Aeroguard - all low allergy/odourless types
OFF! - all products including Tropical strength just the percentage of picaridin increases/decreases.

So anybody reading please take it as you will and use precautions as you find fitting! Please read the bottle too hey!

Personally I wouldn't mind testing or seeing a test done to clear up whether picaridin is safe for optics as well. Maybe one of the companies could clear it up for us. I'll send a message through to one of them and see if they bite. Alternatively does anybody have already redundant/non-usuable optics that could be tested?

Maybe a new sticky could be created for this forum for clueless beginners like my self! Could save a lot of heartbreak as well not to mention stop people turned off for life. Would be a shame. If this had happened to me I would of. I sold my collectable two stroke road racing bike to fund this telescope which had been my pride and joy. I still get a tear when I think of it but no regrets still!

Aside from that had a good night last night and scored the first of many galaxies I hope. I can totally see what you meant Louie about the Orion neb too. Every time I see it I reckon it gets better and can see something that wasn't there before. Last night it just looked huge! Truly an astonishing thing to look at and considering it's so far away.

Naskies maybe kevlar could be your only solution to combat what seems like SAS trained mozzies!

Regards and clear Skies!
Simmo