So I finally got my 12" Deluxe GSO Dob!
Opened the door after work and there were 2 hefty packages just waiting for me to open them!
Opened the OTA box first, hmmm...... about as big as I thought it would be.
(Very large) I lifted it out of the box, and it felt suprisingly light for it's size.
Assembled the base in about 30 min , everything was a nice fit, no screws missing.
I took a quick look outside. omg it was a stunning night in Adelaide
There is one street light directly in my drive but oher than that, my suburban views arent too bad. I can see a lot of the milky way, omega centauri with the unaided eye.
Well I practically scoured down my dinner, and bolted outside to set up!
My previous scope was a 6" refractor, and having never looked through anything bigger, I thought the views would blow me away!
The collimation was fairly bad out of the box, but a quick adjustment set it reasonably good . My first object was the Moon of course! It was razor sharp, with a nice neutral colour. Next was Jupiter, and to be honest it wasnt any better or more detailed than it was in my 6". The seeing was prob a 6 or a 7 btw.
On the other hand, double stars were stunning in my 22mm Panoptic. They look very much like jewels in the sky.
I looked at Omega centauri, and it definitely had more detail in it around the core, but it was nothing to write home about.
I finished off with some nebulas that I usually look at and, all in all, I found the 12" to be good, but to be honest I was expecting more from it
Well the next night was another perfect night, with no cloud, perhaps a 7/10.
I put my scope in my sedan, and it went in surprisingly well. Off I headed for Mount Crawford. About a 15 min drive from the city. The skies were quite dark, although the city glow was still quite evident. Still miles better than my backyard.
Now I looked at the same objects I described earlier on, and they were much more detailed than in suburbia. Some of the nebulas blew me away. Very 3d like. Omega Cent was stunning. I found all sorts of galaxies that I never even knew were there!
After this day, I was very satisfied with my purchase. I didn't find it really too heavy to carry around at all, the optics are very nice
and it was on special too!
BTW the next night was another stunner
Where's this supposed curse you get when you buy a new scope?
I tried posting a picture using [IMG]c:/my pictures/.....[IMG]
but it wouldnt work, any suggestions???
Also can any Adelaidians suggest any favourite dark sites?
Mark
).
L.
