Brief story and a Q from a noob

[torr (James)]

Hi folks.
I've playing with my 8" skywatcher (sw600) a bit over the last few weeks.
Finally sus'd out collimation (yeah). Have been using a 35mm film canister and deluxe laser from A.O.E which has gotten it very close, just waiting on my Orion collimating eyepiece kit an see if i can do better, although a star test on sirius shows it very close at *168 magnification.
I'm amazed the view quality after collimation , never would of thought a brand new scope out of the box would require such.

The knowledge base in these forums is incredible, so far many questions have been answered .

Tonight has been exceptional viewing, NGC5139 visible to the naked eye was gorgeous through my 10mm super plossl , first time i've seen it
I wonder if it could get any better in a quality EP

Highest magnification I can get is 168* with my 6.3mm plossl.
Saturn still appears smallish, I swear it was bigger in a mates 70mm tasco refractor 20 years ago , dont think i can see the Cassini division hmmm.
Oh well my 2* Tele Vue barlow will be here next week.

EP's I have so far are 40mm 25mm, 10mm, an 6.3mm
Ok ok I wont buy any more cheap EP's ,But still, I've been happy with my viewing, but I think it could be better.

Can someone recommend what one do to there scope when they have finished for the night, placed it in the shed dripping with dew.


Thats it for now

Regards

Torr

[Ric]

Hi Torr and welcome to IIS, glad to see you had a great night out and that you are getting a lot of good info from the site.

I bring my scope in and keep it in the back room at the moment, still working on an observatory. I usually wipe any excess dew from the metalic parts such as the tube then point the tube facing down and allow the corrector lens to dry naturally before putting the covers back on the next day.

Cheers

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Torr

Great first experiences - and well done for knuckling down and getting grips with collimation. it's a must-have skill for all telescope owners, but especially for newtonians.

Saturn is fairly low for us right now, and requires steady seeing to see the cassini division clearly. The rings are also closing up (ring-plane is more edge on), making it even more difficult to clearly see the CD.

I just put my wet scope back in the shed, it dries out the next day. Just leave the covers off and cases open.

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Welcome to IIS Torr

Saturn is a great target, I still go for it each session if it is up. As Mike has said it is quite a long way north for us so we are looking through lots of atmosphere so the views this "season" have been not so good but that only makes the good times more special. The Cassini Division is a challenge this year as the angle of the rings is closing, I usually only manage to see it at the ends of the rings if that makes sense this year. Last year it was no problem to see it all round.

As for the cold, wet scope I just cap mine and bring it inside. When it is warm I open the ends to allow any moisture inside to escape and when it is dry cap it again. Eyepieces are treated the same, I lay them out on the table and next morning cap them and put them away.

Cheers

[torr (James)]

Cheers for that guys.
I'll just leave my scope in the shed to dry out and cap it the next day.

[renormalised (Carl)]

.....Saturn is fairly low for us right now.....

That's why you guys should pack your gear and move north up around my way for awhile. Saturn rides pretty high up for me