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PaulM

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  1. PaulM

    Pocket Sky Atlas book

    By PaulM,

    Looks good full index of constellations, objects by type and the charts are very detailed. Charts are organised in 8 ascention sections each by when visible in the evening, midnight and morning so all in all very logically set out.
    Has a telrad finder symbol for star hopping which is a nice touch
    Was hoping it would contain what to view guides etc but there is no such info but can get this elsewhere to plan observing sessions
    Hope the pictures are useful as I never came across any when researching which sky atlas/guide to buy







  2. PaulM
    September - what I have observed with comments and rating out of 5 stars by constellation for this month
    Hercules
    M13  ***** Quite open globular cluster, can make out individual stars around the edge and center, looks to be thousands of stars and seems very dense almost nebulous at the center. Best in 15mm EP and 2x Barlow
    M92 **** Dense globular cluster, can distinguish individual stars around the edge, nice in the  8mm EP and barlow
    Lyra
    Epsilon Lyrae **** - double double Nice to view and easy to distinguish the binary stars
    M57 ***** Ring Nebula. Easy to locate and you can see the ring clearly and also see the red and green. Very nice object to observe, cannot see center star
    Cygnus
    Alberto *** Double star. You can clearly see they comprise of a bright yellow and a dimmer (but bright) blue companion
    Vulpecula
    M27 ** Dumbell Nebula - very faint and hard to distinguish but you can just make out the dumbell  shape and cannot see any colour but looks brownish
    Ursa Major
    M81 & M82 *** Can view both galaxies as fuzzy hazes with brighter centers at the same time using the 15mm EP.  M81 (below M82) looks bigger and looks to be edge on.
     
  3. PaulM
    Having done a few nights observing with my new 200P Skywatcher I've found its too low for comfortable observing
    So got a 9x50 right angled finderscope which had made things a lot better with positioning the scope as had the Telrad finder but the focuser was still too low for comfort having to crouch down all the time so went to the local garden center on the way home and bought a water butt for £10 which has worked a treat and had a good session observing Jupiter before the clouds inevitably rolled in 

  4. PaulM
    First night with the new 8" 200P Skywatcher
    Well after lots of cloudy nights finally managed to get a few hours observing with the new 8" 200P Skywatcher dobsonian
    Firstly what is the 200P like to observe with - well after collimating it when it arrived I tested this on some bright stars and all looks good when viewing the stars when slightly out of focus, its bulky to move around but manageable as one piece. The finderscope is painful to use, you need to strain your neck to view low lying objects and its even worst viewing directly above so have ordered a Sky-Watcher 9x50 Right-Angled, Erecting Finderscope, it also stands a little too low so will have to get a base for it to stand on when required. Optically its fantastic - beyond expectations for the price.

    First target was Jupiter and I took the opportunity to perfectly align the finderscope. It was still twilight and Jupiter was low looking South above nearby roof tops. Could clearly see the four Galilean moons all were quite close to Jupiter, Jupiter itself was clearly a disk and two bands could be observed on the disc. Very pleased with what I saw. I first used the BST starguider 60 degree 15mm EP and then the BST starguider 60 degree 8mm EP to observe - very crisp images and was able to keep Jupiter and all the moons in view for a good time even with the 8mm.
    Next I connected up the ZWO ASI120MC-S camera and attempted to view Jupiter with no success - couldn't get an image up at all
    The moon was visible low in the sky to the left of Jupiter so with the camera still attached and using Firecatpure I could clearly observe the moon through the camera on the laptop - amazing - childhood dream come through viewing using a laptop !!!
    After playing around with the settings in Firecatpure (mainly gain and exposure) I could clearly observe many features on the moon and also through the BST Starguider 2x short barlow lens. I had also downloaded the ASICAP software from the ZWO camera website and managed to take better and larger images through that compared to Firecapture. ASICAP also has an auto function for gain \exposure which was very useful - maybe I need to get more familiar with Firecapture?
    Next was Saturn - again no luck getting any images from the camera so viewed this through the BST starguider eyepieces and barlow and wow! Despite it still being twilight\getting dark and close to a waxing gibbous Moon and low in the sky and above some local roof tops Saturn could clearly be seem as a orange\yellow disk. The rings clearly defined and the cassini division visible. Titan was to the upper left of Saturn and clearly visible. Spent a good half hour observing Saturn in awe.
    As the moon was close to Saturn I spend a little more time observing with the camera and getting some more images and playing with the settings
    Looking around the sky I decided to concentrate on Lyra as it was high up and away from the moon
    Could clearly observe the "double double" that is Epsilon Lyrae, have to say the clarity of the 200P telescope and eyepieces was impressive - could clearly make out the separate stars
    M57 ring nebula - clearly observable as a ring structure was very impressed with what I saw
    Finally to end my session I looked behind me and decided to view M31 and could see the bright center surrounded by a very light haze, no structure could be seen and was to be honest a little disappointing , hopefully I will make better observations of M31 later in the year when the moon isn't around and also when I view from a darker location
    Overall a great first night of observing and was very very impressed with the 8" 200P Skywatcher, the BST starguider EPs and barlow lens less impressed with the ZWO ASI120MC-S camera



  5. PaulM
    After my experience with the standard finderscope on my 200P Sky-watcher and you having to either bend over the scope when looking low or crouching down on the floor when almost high vertically I ordered a right angled finderscope (https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/skywatcher-9x50-right-angled-erecting-finderscope.html)
    Now fitted I can see its going to be so much easier pointing the scope and its also the "right" way around so up is up and left if left
    With the finderscope fitted it was time to see where best to fit the telrad finder I had bought
    I had read other had fitted these and used 2" or 4" risers so the finder sits higher on the scope so I decided to get a 4" riser
    I tried a few locations before fitting the telrad finder in the only location that's suitable and as its only stuck on with adhesive strips I've also cable tied it down
    Sorry about the pictures there not very clear



  6. PaulM
    As I ultimately was to get images of what I observe I acquired the following book from FLO
    Making Every Photon Count 
    read the first few chapters - is very good so far and aimed at the absolute beginner
    I also bought 2nd hand Turn left at Orion
    Ok book - pretty basic diagrams of the constellations and star maps\objects of interest (all in sketch form) but good enough to find objects of interest and there is info about them 
  7. PaulM
    Well being new to all this and doing much research and reading up I knew I would need to check the collimation of the telescope so bought a collimation cap for this
    With the instructions provided with the telescope it was pretty straight forwards to do and as I have also watched a few youTube videos and read some how-to's so I knew what to expect and do
    So firstly fitted the collimation cap and check things - things were not ideal (see attached image)
    So using the instructions the first thing to do was alter the secondary mirror (the one that direct light into the eyepiece) which was straightforwards so I could see the three tabs on the edge of the primary mirror (in the attached image you can only see two)
    Once this was done it was time to adjust the primary mirror. There are three holding screws and three allen key bolts, the allen key bolts move\adjust the mirror and the holding screws hold it in place. So following the instructions I attempted to loosen the allen key bolts with no luck using the smaller provided allen key - I had to go into the shed and get a much smaller allen key that would fit. So by adjusting things I got the central circle lined up and tighted up the screws.
    All in all 20 mins to read through the instructions and do the adjustments - now I have done it once its will be more straight forwards next time

  8. PaulM

    Useful websites

    By PaulM,

    After doing my usual research\looking around the web I have bookmarked the following useful web sites I will keep this blog entry updated as I come across other useful websites;
    Light polution web sites
    I've used the first website to shorlist a few locations within an hours drive or so from my home for dark sky viewing
    http://www.nightblight.cpre.org.uk/maps/
    http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html

    Interactive Observing Tools - such as Jupiter moon tracker \ Neptune triton tracker
    https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/interactive-sky-watching-tools/

    Star maps with planets \ moons of Jupiter
    Choose the different charts from the Charts drop down menu to view the different maps\views
    https://in-the-sky.org

    Darksky weather forecast
    https://darksky.net/forecast/53.4029,-3.133/us12/en

    Clear outside - provided First Light Optics
    This is also an android\iPhone app - I have downloaded the Android app and it looks and gives the the same information as the website
    http://clearoutside.com/forecast

    Telescope - Field of view tool
    Useful for seeing what the FOV is for selected celestrial objects though a combination of different telescopes\eyepieces\barlow\reducers
    https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/
  9. PaulM
    Since getting the telescope (a week ago) I have had no luck really with getting some observing in as there has been 100% cloud cover 
    But one evening early on before it got too dark I managed to view Jupiter and its 4 moons low in the sky with the new BST Starguider barlow lens and eyepieces
    At the same time I setup the viewfinder so it was dead on using the 15mm eye piece 
    Well what can I say compared to my 4" reflector Jupiter looks great. Could clearly see the four galilean satellites and banding on Jupiter despite it still being light and early evening. The clarity and crispness of the view was very very good - better than I expected if I am honest and was very pleased
    I also liked how easy it was to guide the telescope using the little handle under the scope to follow Jupiter and keep it within view, unfortunately clouds appeared soon after I began viewing Jupiter and then it disappeared behind some houses for the evening
    In anticipation for a break in the clouds I got the laptop out and connected up the ZWO ASI camera in preparation for viewing the moon and Saturn
    An hour or so later the moon was viewable and again through the BST Starguider barlow lens and eyepieces the moon looked fab - very clear and crisp.
    To view the moon I had to move the telescope out of the conservatory into the garden - this was the first time I have had to move the telescope property - its a bit of a stuggle but managed to relocate it and in the future will remove the telescope tube from the base and move both seperately so I don't trip up or put my back under any strain walking and carrying it all at one
    Once in the garden I pulled up a garden chair and small table and put the laptop on the table and attached the camera to the focuser and started up the Firecapture software and after aligning the telescope via the view finder on he moon was seeing a white smudge so after focusing I managed a clear and crisp image on the laptop and watch in excitement as the section of the moon I was observing slowly glided across shimmering away. Using this camera you do not get to see a large section of the moon (certainly not the whole of the moon) but for me the camera will be about imaging planets but was happy to be able to mount the camera, use the software (changing the gain \ exposure and other setting) to get a good image. I also did come capture but these were saved in the default SAT format which I couldn't view\playback so after the moon disappeared behinds clouds for the night I adjusted the setting in Firecapture to save movies as AVI and images as JPEG for next time.
    So overall a good but short session viewing Jupiter and its moon and our very own moon and getting familiar with the ZWO ASI camera as well as the eyepieces and guiding the telescope. As I have been doing much reading up I was appreciative of what I was seeing using the 8mm and 15mm eyepieces and the barlow lens, whereas when I was using my 4" I use to randomly change eyepieces not knowing what to expect to see haha !
  10. PaulM
    In preparation for my first nights viewing (been cloudy since I bought the telescope) I readup on how the ZWO camera is used and supporting software
    Firstly went to the ZWO website (https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/software-drivers) and downloaded the following onto my Windows 10 laptop;
    ASI drivers ASICAP software - to capture images with the camera At the same time I also downloaded FireCapture (http://www.firecapture.de/) as this seems to be the most populate software for working with ZWO ASI cameras  - I could be wrong though !!
    Unpacked the camera and plugged it into the laptop (via USB lead) and fired up Firecapture - it gives you the option of ZWO camera on startup and all seems to be working ok - getting an image from the camera
    I also after watching some tutorials on the Firecapture site setup default folders to capture to and played around with some of the other settings\icons etc
    So happy that the camera works and the laptop\software is setup and ready for my first observations
  11. PaulM
    While waiting for the telescope to arrive I went and bought the the following;
    Telrad finder - looks like a nice piece of kit and looks useful to star hopping as I plan to view deep sky objects (DSO) and the dimmer planets not visible to the naked eye BST Starguider 2x short barlow lens BST starguider 60 degree 15mm eyepiece BST starguider 60 degree 8mm eyepiece Rigel Aline Collimation Cap
  12. PaulM
    The 200P Skywatcher 8" Dobsonian telescope arrived in two large boxes, one containing the base, tools and screws etc and another containing the actual telescope\tube and accessories (viewfinder \ eyepieces)
    Assembly of the base was straight forwards and all the tools required were provided - allen keys \ screwdriver - overall took around 20 mins and due to its size is a little cumbersome for a single person but not an issue - once built seems sturdy enough
    Telescope was very well packaged (thankfully) so took this out and mounted it onto the base with ease
    Fitted the eyepiece adapter and viewfinder and was done
    I will be keeping the box the telescope\tube came in as I plan to travel to better viewing locations in North Wales
    All in all 30 mins to unpack and build
    Its a bit bulky and cumbersome to move around and pretty heavy but manageable
     

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