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I'm officially smitten

rev_dom

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rev_dom

rev_dom

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Not sure where to post this, but...

I got my new Skywatcher 200p last week (a present on a significant birthday), and last night was the first clear night since I got it. So I took it into the back garden (with lots of light pollution), set it up as well as I could, pointed it at Polaris (one of the very few things I can actually identify so far), waited for it all to cool down, and then, with fear and trembling, pointed it towards Jupiter.

I was expecting to see a tiny little disc, with virtually no details. I was expecting what was there to be blurry (I haven't braved the necessity of collimating the scope, yet). I was anticipating a faint disappointment, despite knowing that what I saw wouldn't match up to the Hubble images we're so used to seeing. I was hoping not to be so disappointed that I'd want to give up.

I wasn't expecting what I saw. Wow. Even through the lowest magnification eyepiece, just wow. And with the Barlow and 10mm, triple wow.

I spent three hours just looking at Jupiter. And I didn't want to stop when I did.

I even managed to take my first ever picture - not going to get into astrophotography properly for a long while, but can take snaps in the meantime. My profile picture is the snap I got.

I'm totally smitten.

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Night Hawk

Night Hawk

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Welcome to SGL. I'm still amazed at the clarity you can see Jupiter and it's moons with the 200p. I just can't wait for the clouds to clear here in the midlands, as I've ony had it out once in 10 nights.

Cear skies

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DRT

DRT

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Welcome to SGL and the wonderful world of astronomy!

I had my first look through my new 200P last night too and was also impressed with the views of Jupiter. I only went down to my 8mm eyepiece as it was a little blurry at that magnification. The 13mm gave a stunning view :grin:

I stayed up late and also had a lovely view of Saturn quite low in the west just after midnight. The 200P showed more detail than I have seen on Saturn with any other scope so you have that to look forward to. My first sight of Saturn is one of the most memorable experiences I have so I hope you enjoy it when it happens.

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ronin

ronin

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Jupiter is good, and when it was around M42 - Orion nebula.

In a while M31 will appear but the scope is in a way too big for that, you will see just the central bulge only.

M57 in Lyra wil be another that is steadily getting better and that also brings Albireo into view.

You will get M13 soon, half way up one side of Hercules.

The problem then to an extent is What next?

It is a question that appears here often.

When all the easy, obvious and fairly simple ones have been ticked off, it is then time to sit down and start thinking, and planning.

There are 7 clubs listed for Essex, although I guess the Hertford Club may be one of the closer, and getting there is easy along the A414, to the south is Loughton. Also the SGL Essex Clouddodgers, they may be a bit further away from Harlow.

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belfieldi

belfieldi

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Hi and welcome to SGL,

I remember well, my first view of Jupiter through my 200p and WOW was my thought as well :laugh:

The 200p is a great scope and you'll have plenty more wow moments to come (if these clouds ever go away!! :sad: )

Ian

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pipnina

pipnina

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Jupiter is good, and when it was around M42 - Orion nebula.

In a while M31 will appear but the scope is in a way too big for that, you will see just the central bulge only.

M57 in Lyra wil be another that is steadily getting better and that also brings Albireo into view.

You will get M13 soon, half way up one side of Hercules.

The problem then to an extent is What next?

It is a question that appears here often.

When all the easy, obvious and fairly simple ones have been ticked off, it is then time to sit down and start thinking, and planning.

There are 7 clubs listed for Essex, although I guess the Hertford Club may be one of the closer, and getting there is easy along the A414, to the south is Loughton. Also the SGL Essex Clouddodgers, they may be a bit further away from Harlow.

Don't forget M16! Right in the middle of the milky way.

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xtreemchaos

xtreemchaos

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hi mate and welcome from south wales,the 200p will never stop amazing you its a real time machine,out of all my scopes "and ive got a few" its the one id never let go.jupiter is wonderful,venus is nice at the moment it looks great through the 200p you must put it on your list.i wish you clear skys.charl.

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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What I started out doing was hunting down all the Messiers. As I was nearing completion of that list, I started out on the Caldwell list and Herschel 400 list. The Brightest 100 Planetary Nebulae list is also great. These can be seen under more light polluted skies because they respond well to UHC and O-III narrow-band filters. The Lunar 100 is also great for urban skies. Going through these lists throws up new challenges, and keeps you hunting for new stuff rather than revisiting old friends in the skies (that is fun too, of course, I tend to mix "hunting" with "browsing"). It also expands your list of old friends.

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Beulah

Beulah

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The 200p is a very loveable scope. Normally labeled as 'entry level' - but I seriously think it's enough for a lifetime's enjoyable ownership. :) I had many happy years exploring the skies with mine.

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-Aldebaran-

-Aldebaran-

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Which 200p do you have? The explorer 1000/fl on eq-5 mount or the skyliner 1200/fl on dobsonian mount? I'm guessing the former if it included a little pre obs setting up? The 200p is a great intermediate level scope with ample aperture for both planetary and deep sky observations, Saturn was my first "on the hit list "subject and the view didn't disappoint! It's always a good factor to never over estimate what you may see especially when there are so many wonderful Hubble images floating around, having that frame of mind opens up many wow moments. My first view of M13 was one of them wow moments!

Jupiter is a great subject now, high in the night sky, although teasing as much magnification out of the scope as you can on it always seems the natural thing to want to do, you may not always get a pleasant view, try easing down a little and you get a much crisper detailed view, if somewhat smaller.

Grab yourself a copy of "Turn left at orion " by Guy Consolmagno and will give you plenty of targets to hunt at night and a clear example of what the subjects may look like in realistic terms.

Happy hunting and clear skies!!

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rev_dom

rev_dom

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Thank you all for your welcoming responses - this is clearly a great community! I've been thinking about joining a local group, too, so thank you ronin for your suggestions - the Hertford one looks very good. My only concern with such groups was that they might spend all their time talking about gear and stuff, and never actually doing any observing (I used to be in a photography club a bit like this...) The Hertford group looks good, though!

Thank  you, too, Aldebaran, for your suggestion: a kind friend bought me a copy of 'turn left' for my birthday too, so when I've finished marvelling at the simpler-to-find stuff, that'll be my next set of targets. I want to spend some serious time observing the moon, too, which this book has a good section on.

Now I've just got to wait for these never-ending clouds to clear...!

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-Aldebaran-

-Aldebaran-

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I haven't given the moon much of my time yet, but there is a common misconception that the moon doesn't hold many surprises, as alot of people have seen it throughout their lives, and one crater is pretty much the same as the next right? Quite wrong! I recently purchased a 6.7mm widefield eyepiece and i intend to spend a long time getting acquainted with our lunar neighbour soon

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Astro Imp

Astro Imp

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Thank you all for your welcoming responses - this is clearly a great community! I've been thinking about joining a local group, too, so thank you ronin for your suggestions - the Hertford one looks very good. My only concern with such groups was that they might spend all their time talking about gear and stuff, and never actually doing any observing (I used to be in a photography club a bit like this...) The Hertford group looks good, though!

Thank  you, too, Aldebaran, for your suggestion: a kind friend bought me a copy of 'turn left' for my birthday too, so when I've finished marvelling at the simpler-to-find stuff, that'll be my next set of targets. I want to spend some serious time observing the moon, too, which this book has a good section on.

Now I've just got to wait for these never-ending clouds to clear...!

For Lunar observing I find the Virtual Moon Atlas a great help,

http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualmoon/

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CVB

CVB

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I with you with the "WOWS!!"  Just got my first telescope in May and am facinated! Found an astronomy group that meets once a month at the local library. I'm hooked!

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