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Finally used my telescope for the first time!


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Got my first telescope 3 weeks ago for my 53rd birthday, but couldn't get to use it until last night due to the poor weather. Finally managed to get an hour in last night from 8pm to 9pm in my back garden. The light pollution is quite bad out there due to street lights shining over the garden a bit from the back and my neighbours having all their patio lit up.

Anyhow, I am an absolute noob at this, and don't even know my constellations. I did try a few apps on my phone, but they were pretty useless as far as I could see. They didn't match what i could see at all, and they even put the moon nowhere near where it was! I have a planisphere, but again it wasn't much help. I guess one of the problems is that I'm surrounded by other houses even at the back and can't guage where the horizon is and that makes matching things up a lot harder for a noob like me.

Having said that, even I know what the moon looks like, so I spent quite a while looking at that and was impressed at the detail I could see through my 8" Skwatcher 200P Dob using the supplied 10mm eyepiece. I showed my wife and she was amazed. She said it was almost as if she'd visited the moon lol!

Even though I had no idea what stars I was looking at I was amazed how many I could see in a given bit of sky compared to what i could see with my own eyes. I can only imagine how great it would look at a dark site!

The one thing that I think will take a lot of getting used to is the fact that images are upside down and reversed left to right. I really had to concentrate on moving the scope the opposite way to what felt instinctive. I will probably get a RACI finderscope and Telrad to help with that and to help me having to spend so much time in un-natural positions, which hurt my back after a while.

Obviously things will still be upside down and inverted in the main eyepiece, so i was wondering whether any moon maps or star maps show things as they appear in a reflector, or is it just a case of having to work it out for yourself?

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May I suggest getting Stellarium for your computer or laptop it,s free and with the plugin you can see what view you will see thru the ep.A Telrad with an Raci is a great combination.I also use the star walk app and other people on here use sky safari,that,s a great scope you have and will last you for many years clear skies

Jonn

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The one thing that I think will take a lot of getting used to is the fact that images are upside down and reversed left to right. I really had to concentrate on moving the scope the opposite way to what felt instinctive. I will probably get a RACI finderscope and Telrad to help with that and to help me having to spend so much time in un-natural positions, which hurt my back after a while.

Simple solution, buy a star atlas and turn it upside down. The finder view will suddenly make complete sense.

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Hi congratulations on finally getting out, it has been a bit dire recently.

You have chosen a very capable scope that will keep you entertained for a very long time.

An excellent moon map which can be configured to match your scope's view is the Virtual Moon Map and it's free:- http://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualmoon/

HTH and good luck.

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Congratulations on your first night with the scope. Perhaps youshoud get a compass to find the direction of the horizons. If you have a tablet I can recommend the app called star chart. It is one of those that you just point it at a star etc and it will tell you what it is. It also has a red night vision screen to help keep your dark adaption.

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If you have a smart phone, or a tablet download either Skysafari or goSkywatch onto either or both of them. You should then be able to move the phone or tablet about the sky, and it should match up with where you are pointing it. This should help in identifying things better. You can also set them to show the stars and planets in night mode too so it doesn't affect you dark adaption.

Also, for identifying the constellations find the big mains ones first. As winter is on the way you'll see Orion in the night sky more and more, and Ursa Major is always visible, so get to know just a small handful first, and then slowly add the others in. For some of the more obscure one (Camelopadaris for example), you might not notice very well unless the sky is very dark, as some are quite dim and obscure, with not much going on in them anyway.

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I did try a few apps on my phone, but they were pretty useless as far as I could see. They didn't match what i could see at all, and they even put the moon nowhere near where it was!

I had the same problem with the apps not matching the sky and found that the apps worked better if I took my iPad out of its protective cover. Somehow it interferes?

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I had the same problem with the apps not matching the sky and found that the apps worked better if I took my iPad out of its protective cover. Somehow it interferes?

Yeah, any metal parts or magnets will interfere with the apps. Most all show quite an accurate show to match the actual sky, some better than other. Also, might depend on how good your phone or tablet is too. My IPad Air matches as close as possible what I see where I point it. I had a Blackberry Playbook with a similar app on, but that didn't work as good. Was out by quite a few degrees no matter what.

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Thanks for all the helpful replies. Haven't had the scope out again, but taken on board suggestions, and discovered why apps weren't working. My phone had a flip cover and the magnet in that was causing problems. Without it the apps worked quite well a d I could actually identify some constellations this evening. Particularly like the Star Chart app amongst the free ones.

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Hi there Bioboybill.

Nice scope you have chosen. If you can hide in your garden, or even cover your head with a dark blanket, and view objects higher in the sky than lower down or towards the horizon, your eyes may better adapt to the darker condition from behind a hide or under blanket. Sounds daft, but it works. I also sometimes use a utility tent, check my gallery?

As for a darker site, you wont believe your using the same scope, the difference is amazing for the better.

From my  garden I prefer to use the standard finder scope, but keeping BOTH EYES OPEN? you'll see the effect, when whatever your looking for aligns with both eyes, then back to the scope and view through the eyepiece. I find a Telrad works better for me from darker skies, and their 5 mins away in my car, but about 50 mins drive, and I'm in the wilderness.

As for the eyepieces, the BST Starguiders are a much more comfortable eyepiece to use instead of the supplied 'Super' eyepieces. I bought the BST Starguider 8mm to use instead of the supplied 10mm. I had to buy the rest.

Whatever you use, consider a 6mm or a 12mm + Barlow, to get the 200x power your scope is easily capable of producing, even under your light polluted sky.

Any eyepiece in my signature, works well for my eyes. The BST's have 60° afov!

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4hrs to elan...51/2 hrs Llyn peninsula...skye next year...er...12hrs!

Hi there Bioboybill. Nice scope you have chosen. If you can hide in your garden, or even cover your head with a dark blanket, and view objects higher in the sky than lower down or towards the horizon, your eyes may better adapt to the darker condition from behind a hide or under blanket. Sounds daft, but it works. I also sometimes use a utility tent, check my gallery? As for a darker site, you wont believe your using the same scope, the difference is amazing for the better.From my  garden I prefer to use the standard finder scope, but keeping BOTH EYES OPEN? you'll see the effect, when whatever your looking for aligns with both eyes, then back to the scope and view through the eyepiece. I find a Telrad works better for me from darker skies, and their 5 mins away in my car, but about 50 mins drive, and I'm in the wilderness.As for the eyepieces, the BST Starguiders are a much more comfortable eyepiece to use instead of the supplied 'Super' eyepieces. I bought the BST Starguider 8mm to use instead of the supplied 10mm. I had to buy the rest.Whatever you use, consider a 6mm or a 12mm + Barlow, to get the 200x power your scope is easily capable of producing, even under your light polluted sky.Any eyepiece in my signature, works well for my eyes. The BST's have 60° afov!

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......I also have a few Plossl eyepieces, TeleVue, Meade, Revelation, and  although the eye-relief is short on the higher magnifications,  meaning that your eye-lashes may sweep the eyeglass? their  still a good de-facto eyepiece, for the Moon and Planets.

The ones I` really favour at present are dirt cheap £15 or less? and I would easily throw away my 10mm Skywatcher in favour of any one of the Revelation GSO Plossl EP's, Their that good to my eyes.

I will build/want to build  a full set of Plossl eyepieces, and I always wanted a Meade set from the outset, but  at present, I'm struggling with Televue,  as I cant get used to their 8mm, my Japanese Meade EPs should be good, but these Revelations are just fine.

At the end of the day, its not always the price, or even just the renowned build quality of  some EP's,  to me its the visuals I receive that's more important to me, and I don't need to spend a fortune to achieve good results.

I have just received a 6mm Delos, untested  as yet. I will compare it to my WO SPL and any other 6mm  EP's I own, including my 12mm BST+ Barlow ( I'm interested in a  6mm or any combination to achieve the 6mm?)  and apart from the wider field of view, If I don't like it, then it will find a new home! its that simple. But I won't know unless I try for my self, or try someone else's, but I'm not an astro club member to-date!.

The rules have changed in our favour when purchasing on-line, but the Starguider retailer on ebay has always insisted you try before you buy ( your  payment is  fully refundable, no question ) so there is no doubt or issue if those BSTs are not suitable for you? Some retailers I'm sure still don't know the new rules?

Dark skies to you.

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Hi and welcome to the dark side with your nice new scope. You should go along to a local Astronomical Society and talk scopes, eyepieces and observing targets until you fall asleep. There is Cleveland & Darlington near Thorpe Thewles, Stockton-On-Tees and Sunderland Astronomical Society Washington Tyne & Wear. Both are not that far and just off the A19. Enjoy your new adventure.

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....The rules have changed in our favour when purchasing on-line, but the Starguider retailer on ebay has always insisted you try before you buy ( your  payment is  fully refundable, no question ) so there is no doubt or issue if those BSTs are not suitable for you? Some retailers I'm sure still don't know the new rules?

Dark skies to you.

I think they all know the rules by now - they have been in place since 2000 and were reviewed and upgraded in 2014. Even if they don't buyers are still protected. The seller has no choice.

I think we have to move away from the implication that a particular supplier is offering a special deal here. What is being offered reflects what all on line traders have to offer. Some even offer more than the statutory requirements :smiley:

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Understood!  and no, its not a special deal, as you mention, but its still a  a nice comfort factor to have in advance, prior to any purchase. 

A recent vendor outside of astronomy, said If I wanted to return their item, it had to be in its original un-opened packing, so that they could re-sell it?

I chose not to order.

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I have just received a 6mm Delos, untested  as yet. I will compare it to my WO SPL and any other 6mm  EP's I own, including my 12mm BST+ Barlow ( I'm interested in a  6mm or any combination to achieve the 6mm?)  and apart from the wider field of view, If I don't like it, then it will find a new home! its that simple. But I won't know unless I try for my self, or try someone else's, but I'm not an astro club member to-date!.

Although you haven't tested the Delos yet, what do you  feel gives better results out of the 6mm WO and the 12mm BST + barlow?

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Although you haven't tested the Delos yet, what do you feel gives better results out of the 6mm WO and the 12mm BST + barlow?

The William Optics are nice EPs. To be truthfull, I bought my 6mm on advice given to me by rwilky. I have not been dissapointed.

That said, if there was a BST Starguider in 6mm, I would not have required the WO-SPL?

I needed an eyepiece to match my scope statistics, f/6 200x so any 6mm will fit, but having the comfort afforded by the Starguiders, field of view, eye relief, It would have been nice to maintain the sequence with the EPs I have.

The 12mm+Barlow will work, although more glass in the light path will reduce the light by scatter/absorption, not that I detect any problem.

I will maintain the Starguiders, and eventually decide on a Plossl set.

I dont need two sets with only one scope, but my dream was to build a Plossl set, but then discovered the 60° ED Starguiders. The full set allows me to frame my targets due to the different powers of magnification, even though each EP is still only 60°afov.

The Delos is 72° so Im keen to check out that on a 6mm, whereas on my other 70°Panaview, even the Moon is small . If the Delos proves to be a winner, as long as the eyerelief if not too extreme, or the afov too wide, then it may be a keeper. So many decisions to make.

As for the best result, I'd need to go back out and re-assess again, but I dont remember there being any negative issue with the WO, and any eyepiece on its own is better without the additional layers of optical glass, but then the Delos and a few others, I believe, have a Barlow lens in-built!

I'd have no issue , owning both a 6mm and 12mm of the same brand, whereas you can double an eyepiece set by purchsing just a Barlow to suit your needs, but say you had a 3mm, 6mm and 12mm eyepiece and a 2x Barlow! Only the 12mm would get any justice! Why Barlow the 12 when you own the 6, and Barlowed or using the 3 alone is probably too much for some scopes. A Barlow does hold some eye-relief too.

I'll be re-testing my eyepieces when the situation allows. For my scope, I need a good 6mm.

If The Delos does well, things may change in the ocular department?

Lastly, my eyes are no longer 20/20 vision, yet I dont wear glasses as the scope. My eyes will be the determining factor as to that looks good, and feels right, not the £ sign attached to any particular EP type.

Also note, If I had an f/4. something scope, by design, I would have thought that the Delos would be a no brainer, Ive yet to see.

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I watched an interesting youtube video today about choosing new eyepieces. The fella on it suggested that you should definitely upgrade from a 10mm eyepiece supplied with a telescope as the improvement would be great, but not necessarily a 25mm. Would people generally agree?

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I watched an interesting youtube video today about choosing new eyepieces. The fella on it suggested that you should definitely upgrade from a 10mm eyepiece supplied with a telescope as the improvement would be great, but not necessarily a 25mm. Would people generally agree?

In general, most telescopes are supplied with  an eyepiece that works just fine, sometimes two are supplied, one for high power (10mm maybe ) and a lower power  ( 25mm).

But there are other eyepieces out there that are far more  comfortable to use, meaning they have better eye relief ( the distance your eye is from the eye lens), better field of view ( wider fields of view ) and for less than a tenner to over 500 notes, the choice is yours?

Most folk  will upgrade their 10mm after reading threads like this, and some will buy another 10mm at some stage, but with the extras already listed.

My replacement for my Skywatcher Super 10 was an 8mm BST Starguider.

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