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Hello from CA

bizzidy

By bizzidy
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bizzidy

bizzidy

Posted
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Hi all,

This is my first post on SL and I thought i would give you a little background about me.

I am a new aspiring amateur astronomer and I have purchased my first telescope, a SkyQuest xt8 PLUS. I have been researching how and what to buy for a couple years by reading forums, attending a couple star parties and asking astronomers like you all here. I decided on a medium sized dob for the following reasons...

1. Bang for buck with regard to size of primary mirror.

2. Ease of setup and take down. I realized after my research that a complex or very large telescope may be an obstacle to my desire to get out and do viewing since I don't have a dedicated place to put and keep my telescope.

3. Ease of use by bumping it around the sky.

4. It will require that I learn the night sky since it has no intelliscope or GoTo feature. I fretted for a long time about this as having "tracking" capabilities would be really nice. This is especially true when kids are viewing and I have four going on five of them.

5. Overall cost.

I live in a medium sized city in the middle of nowhere and on the Bortle Scale my backyard viewing falls between 3-4. By driving a mile or more I can get closer to 2. This is all subjective based upon my unpracticed eye though.

The xt8 PLUS telescope comes with...

1. 2" Orion deep view lens for wide angle viewing

2. 10mm plossyl 1.25" lens.

3. Shorty Orion 2x Barlow lens.

4. Sun filter

5. 2 speed crayford focuser.

6. collimating cap

7. Starry sky software

8. 2" to 1.25" adapter ring.

After a bit more reading, here and elsewhere, it appears that some filters, and an eyepiece or two can really enhance my enjoyment under the stars. The list of accessories I have come up with are, in order of necessity...

1. Telrad sight finder.

2. moon filter.

3. Baader Hyperion Mark III zoom 2" Eyepeice. 8mm-24mm I think.

4. laser collimator

5. some sort of dob pod to raise up the height of the eyepiece.

6

7

8

9

10. and way down the list, a dobsonian tracking platform.

I would love advice from those of you who have traveled this path and can now give expert advice based upon years of experience. I have learned in my time on this earth that there is no substitute for experience. Thank you for reading, thank you for your input and thank you SL for running a great forum.

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Sirius Starwatcher

Sirius Starwatcher

Posted
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Hello and welcome to SGL you've been busy with your research Can I recommend that you purchase your telrad early on and at the same time two publications that will help massively with your star hopping. Turn left at orion and sky and telescopes pocket sky atlas. I would also suggest having a look at www.atmob.org for printable telrad atlas. Best wishes and good luck

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Owmuchonomy

Owmuchonomy

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Hi, very refreshing to see such an informed first choice has been made. You should get many years pleasure from your Dob. I endorse the suggestion to get Turn Left at Orion. It is a magnificent and inspirational reference text.

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swamp thing

swamp thing

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Hi and welcome to the stargazers lounge :)

I would recommend you use the scope for a while before worrying about accessories. Perhaps a red torch a star atlas and an observing chair of some kind would be my only recommendations. Oh and some warm clothes, you'll be surprised just how cold it can get doing astronomy.

A collimating eyepiece would be a good investment too. 

Don't worry about filters etc yet, just get out and enjoy the scope and the night sky :)

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Lowjiber

Lowjiber

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Welcome from Las Vegas.

I just returned from the Yuba City area... nice skies when you get about ten miles out of town.

Here are a couple of thoughts...

Move the laser collimator up to #1.  All that other stuff is useless unless you have a good collimation.

Moon filter?  Don't buy a cheapo "fixed" one.  Get an adjustable, polarizing filter.

The Baader Mark III is a good choice.  The only drawback (IMHO) to zooms is that the TFOV is somewhat backwards... the TFOV at 24mm is the smallest, and the TFOV at 8mm is the widest.  That bothers some folks.

Telrad?  Great, especially in your dark skies.  (I guarantee that you'll forget to turn it off after a session at least once.)

Get yourself an adjustable observing chair, and you'll not need a "Dob pod".

Clear, Dark Skies

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bizzidy

bizzidy

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Hi Lowjiber, Hope you enjoyed Yuba City.  Yes Chico is about the same, maybe a slight bit darker skies being further from Sactown and all.  There have been many who also recommend the laser collimator right off the bat.  I like the idea of being able to collimate in the dark (that is possible right)?  And I was told about a Vestil chair on amazon.  Looks like it would do fine. 

http://www.amazon.com/Vestil-CPRO-800LP-Ergonomic-Worker-Capacity/dp/B0052PJFCW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417059515&sr=8-2&keywords=vestil+chair

Happy viewing!

Matt

Hello to you all!  thanks for welcoming me. 

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Lowjiber

Lowjiber

Posted
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Hi Lowjiber, Hope you enjoyed Yuba City.  Yes Chico is about the same, maybe a slight bit darker skies being further from Sactown and all.  There have been many who also recommend the laser collimator right off the bat.  I like the idea of being able to collimate in the dark (that is possible right)?  And I was told about a Vestil chair on amazon.  Looks like it would do fine. 

http://www.amazon.com/Vestil-CPRO-800LP-Ergonomic-Worker-Capacity/dp/B0052PJFCW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417059515&sr=8-2&keywords=vestil+chair

Happy viewing!

Matt

Hello to you all!  thanks for welcoming me. 

Yup!  Yuba City was pretty neat after living in Las Vegas.  Right downtown, there is a large supermarket with chickens (about 40, if you count the chicks) running around in the asphalt parking lot.

Yes, you can collimate in the dark with a laser.  The thing about big Dobs is that they always need a little "tweak" when remounted... not much once you get everything tightened properly and are careful when moving/mounting the OTA.

I prefer a Hotech brand laser collimator.

Clear, Dark Skies

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