The 200p has landed!

[cuivenion]

Well we picked it up from Sheffield today. Just need a clear night to put it through it's paces. £156 for the scope, celestron 32mm plossl and an eq5. Pretty happy!

[todd8137]

Great news any new scope is great and the 200p is a great scope

Pat

[JemC]

Congrats on the new scope, I think you will enjoy it, I know I enjoy mine when its not cloudy

Regards

[cuivenion]

Cheers, looking forward to it. I might be be being dense but it looks like it might have come with a polarscope too. There's a capped lens at one end surrounded by dials, the other is just capped and empty. I'll have to check the manual.

[JemC]

Yes the eq5 comes with built in polar scope

Regards

[JemC]

That is unless the person you bought it from has removed it for some reason

if they have, FLO sell them for £32

[cuivenion]

Nice one. Dec just needed adjusting so I could see through. Nice surprise thought I'd have to shell out for one.

[JemC]

Hi

When you come to use the polar scope you might find that its best if you have some kind of low power light/torch that you can shine over the top of the opening, this helps you to see the diagram in the polar scope when aligning.

[cuivenion]

Thanks, would a red torch be OK, or does it need to be a normal one?

[JemC]

Use red, normal one will ruin your night vision

I believe you can buy one that clips on like this,

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/polar-illuminator-for-eq3-2eq5-mounts.html

But see how you get on with torch first, can be a little tricky, at times it feels like you need 3 arms

Regards

[cuivenion]

Cheers, I'll give the torch a go, can't be any worse than trying to focus on a planet with a webcam without a tracking motor.

[JemC]

If you are after tracking motors, more money to spend   ABS have them at the moment for £65

[JemC]

Ooops

My mistake not ABS...Astroboot

[cuivenion]

I know but I'll have to curb spending for now, Also splashed out on a half decent barlow and a couple of webcam adapters recently. The AP side of things is mainly messing around rather than getting really serious about it. I want to see what sort of pictures I can get with the PS3 Eye and I'll use the Logitech for Planetary shots when the mood takes me. I mainly want to get a better look at the Messiers Ive been finding.

[JemC]

I know what you mean, its surprising how all the little bits add up and how quick it can eat your money,

Be interesting to see what you think of the views through the 200p  I know I was quite pleasantly surprised.

Regards

[cuivenion]

I'll report back when the clouds part.

[Caldwell14]

I'll report back when the clouds part.

Do you know something the rest of us don't!

[cuivenion]

Forecast for early evening is good here, but then thats when everyone has their house lights on, tends to get a bit darker after ten in my area.

[Caldwell14]

As it happens my scope is outside cooling as I type

[Caldwell14]

Good luck with the scope BTW, a very solid buy

[knobby]

£156

[Dave Lloyd]

A lot of scope for the money.

[cuivenion]

Thanks guys, only had chance for 1/2 an hour or so before the clouds rolled in. Had time for a quick look at the Pleiades and the Ring. The 32mm Plossl is very sharp with a nice wide view, I was missing an eyepiece like that. The main difference I noticed was the much higher level of contrast than the 130p even at simliar magnifications. Having never used a finder scope before I struggled with that so I just put a red dot finder on it and was able to locate objects again. The difference between the mounts is like night and day I really like the sturdiness of the EQ5.