M106

i have been waiting for tonight all week, clear skies predicted and virtually no moon, slept all day so i could stay up all night, only to wake to cloud and clearskies changed from green to orange, and red for the rest of the week and my pentax adapter just arrived too. sigh...

got my first ever 'close up' glimpse of Orion Nebula this morning considering the moon was streaming down and the local car park had both sodium and halogen floods blasting into the sky, and Orion was skimming the horizon, i didnt think i'd see anything more than Orion's belt, but the nebula was there, a hazy white patch in the sky... Wasnt 100% sure at first, but after ruining my vision checking my atlas, yep all the stars matched, spent an hour and a half gradually freezing solid in the hope it would resolve a little better, but it wasnt going to happen cant wait to try again when the moon has gone and i'm out in the sticks; trip to north wales at end of the month is in order i think! exciting times for a newbie Scope: Star Watcher 200P dob w/ SkyWatcher Super 10mm w/ Moon & Sky Glow Filter Sky: [SW London] 100% Clear, Moon 97%, Light Pollution bad

Neoprene, along with 2 x 48W heat cables for the primary mirror and main tube body, and 2 x ~8w heaters for the secondary mirror and eyepieces; 12V PWM controlled (mains power for now, battery later) NB: this is a prototype design based on reading other peoples ideas, no idea if or how well it will work for avoiding fogging Waiting for heater components to arrive, for now just the neoprene...

Beautiful clear skies over London tonight, first test drive of my new scope is done; amazing view of the moon, large mountainous craters on the edge which i've never seen before, can actually tell that the moon isnt a perfect disc at all; very happy Going to try and spot M42 soon, its nice and clear to the naked eye, fingers crossed... However... while i can already see the potential of the mirrors, the eye pieces are absolute rubbish, significant color shifts on the edges of everything, and that doesnt inspire confidence for looking into deep space; will be getting a pair of new ones asap, X-Cel's probably, or starguiders, we'll see what my bank balance is like at the end of the month! Not especially disappointed though, all the reports i'd read had prepared me for rubbish eye pieces lol I would like more control over focus too, i bought a little device (not sure what its called) for my old refractor, which was essentially a focus with a very low gear, making focus very easy: i saw a version of the 200P with something similar built in, can anyone tell me what its called? And if there is one for 1.25" eyepieces? This looks interesting: http://www.365astronomy.com/Dual-Speed-1-10-Microfocus-Upgrade-Kit-for-Skywatcher-Crayford-Focusers.html Anyone tried it? Or have a better solution, 10:1 seems good though No photos yet, still need and adapter for my dSLR, and a decent low light 1080p cmos/ccd Scope: Star Watcher 200P dob w/ SkyWatcher Super 25mm & 10mm Sky: [SW London] 100% Clear, Moon 92%, Light Pollution bad

Great info thanks!

Will give that a go thanks! I'm waiting for a colliminator aswell, no idea when that will arrive, could lack of collimation be the cause of the color shift i'm seeing on the edges of the tree branches? Or something else?

I've roughly aligned it with a tree about 60m away, thats the furthest i can do at the moment, but i live at the top of a hill so later i will try aligning it with a skyscraper in london; but i think i'm going to order a cross hair eye piece to do it properly ...assuming the cross hair on the finder is accurate enough to be worth it? Not sure, seen lots of people saying its not great? Couldnt get a pin sharp image of the tree, it was pretty sharp, but with (chromatic aberration? Is that the right term.. colorful distortion around the edges), is that just down to the distance i was trying to focus on? Using the 25mm

Newbie deep sky enthusiast with a new Skywatcher 200P (sorry dob mob, didnt have the patience for unboxing shots) Here it is... feel like it should have a name? Was fairly easy to put together, although the spanners didnt fit the nut that holds the base, and the screw driver only properly fit the screws for the EP holder; thats pretty bad imo, and makes me wonder what else they may have skimped on... but given its one of the UK's favourite scopes, i'm hoping nothing to serious The tube itself is metal, i was expecting plastic (confusion from reading soooo many reviews and listings for 100 or more scopes lol), i think i would have preferred plastic too as i'm now going to have to consider condensation allot more carefully on those cold nights; no 5 minutes grab and go with this scope in the winter i think, we'll see! Question: Hot or Cold? Is it better to just let the scope cool down somewhere with dry air before taking outside, or would a heater be better? Heat cable should prevent condensation quite nicely, wrapped around the tube, but from the little i understand heat + astronomy isnt a good thing, maybe that only applies to the atmosphere high up where its visually more disruptive? Anyway here it is...name coming up eventually... Clear skys expected from 9PM monday night, fingers crossed for first light then; will see how my Pentax dSLR does shooting through it too (not expecting much there tbh, no tracking on this scope, although i might get some decent moon and sun shots one day)