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Dark Vader

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Posts posted by Dark Vader

    Beginner 6" or 8" Newtonian (dso, portable and size concerns)?

    in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice

    Posted · Edited by Dark Vader
    Picture won't load

    Here's my Skywatcher 8" Dob. It stands 52" high and the base measures 20.5" diameter. It fits nicely in a spare corner.

    It's quite heavy but much easier / better to move in 2 trips. The base has a strong handle, and I can carry it with one hand although your experience may differ.

    Take the OTA off the base, move the base, put the OTA back on the base - job's a good un! 

    Hth

    Andy

    ......for some reason the picture won't load...... 

    Short vs Long Cheshire collimators

    in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice

    Posted

    I have the FLO premium one. Have only really used it once and assumed it had to go in up to the hilt, as it were. 😃

    The thought behind that was the eye hole would be nearer to the height of the supplied EP when looking through it.

    I don't know if I'm using it correctly... I can see the secondary, primary clips and cross hairs through it so shouldn't be far wrong.

    Andy 

    • Thanks 1

    Completely new to this

    in Welcome

    Posted

    1 hour ago, vhscar said:

    Thank you Michael, was just looking at this:  Sky-Watcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian  

    Is that the same sort of thing ?  ( mind you it does not have legs )

    Hello and welcome.

    I took delivery of a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p last week. From order through FLO to delivery was just over 4 weeks. Given the shortage due to C19, that's pretty good IMO.

    Ive managed to get out once with it so far and I can tell you the views through this scope are astonishing. This is a cracking bit of kit. Very big though...

    Andy

    Shared first light with the 200p

    in Observing - Reports

    Posted

    1 hour ago, RobertI said:

    Fantastic first light report and so glad you got to share it with your son. Lets hope he's got the bug too! Those 8" dobs work so well.

    Yes it is is possible to barlow a zoom - I recently bought a Baader 2.25x barlow which works brilliantly with my 8-24mm zoom, and a snip at £39!.

    Thanks, I think he has...

    I just paid £39 delivered for the Starguider zoom and I'm hoping it turns out to be a bargain. It should give me all the magnification I can use, especially barlowed.

    • Like 1

    Shared first light with the 200p

    in Observing - Reports

    Posted

    Thanks Des, I think you're right but it was a close one...I had to keep lining up the views for him without really knowing what I was doing. I've taken him out a few times with the binos and he enjoys that too. The recent Mercury Venus conjunction and of course comet Neowise were def. the best of them.

    Shared first light with the 200p

    in Observing - Reports

    Posted

    Looking out to the SE around 10ish I saw the 2 gas giants up in a clear sky, with a good forecast on CO I put the new dob out to cool. 

    As I turned to fetch the OTA, my 9 year old son had escaped from his bedroom (should have been asleep by then) and was watching me set up the scope. 
    "Can I do stargazing with you?" he says. I told him not to expect too much as I'm not used to moving it around and finding stuff yet. Also, I had little confidence my finderscope alignment was any good...turns out it wasn't!

    I found Jupiter in the raci finder - scope was nowhere near it! Couldn't get the scope view to clear the garden fence. I'm hoping for a better view when the water butt stand turns up. 

    He pointed out that he could see the moon coming up through the trees so I found that and waited for it to clear the branches. As it climbed higher, I put the supplied 25mm EP in, focussed and the first wow moment of many came along. Beautiful crisp detail, the rays around Tycho and Copernicus nice and clear and some lovely views of peaks and craters around the top.

    I told him to sit at the eyepiece - the wow moments started coming fast at that point. That look of wide eyed excitement as he looked up having seen the craters and mountains alone was worth the time and money.

    Then I put the 2x Barlow in, refocused and was blown away by the clarity of the view. I briefly put the 10mm into the Barlow just to see what it was like. So much detail visible. He asked me if it was normal to see what he called "a slight wobbling, like looking over a heater." I explained it was caused by the atmosphere.

    I noticed Mars just clearing the trees to the East, checked it in the 10x50 bins and told him we'd have a look when it got a bit higher. Went back to the 25mm, found it, just looked like a reddish disc. Popped the 10mm in and the wish could have been father to the thought but I'm sure I could make out the phase and some slightly darker shadow detail on the surface, and a point of light that, when checked on Sky Safari, had to be Deimos. 

    I tried realigning the finder on Mars, got it central but then Barlowed the 10mm and although still central in the finder had disappeared from the EP. Couldn't find it again without going back to the 25mm and starting again. There must be a knack to it... experience will no doubt make things like that easier. 

    By this point, young un was tiring (it was gone half past midnight) and we called it a night.

    1st impression - This scope is a beast, even better than I'd hoped. Even though Jupiter and Saturn were obscured by trees and the fence and I still have little idea what I'm doing, that was brilliant. Mind = blown.

    I've ordered a 21-7 Starguider zoom. Can't wait for that to turn up... I assume its possible to Barlow a zoom?
    Another question - can I turn the eyepiece on the raci finder to the same angle as the main eyepiece, and how do I do it without breaking anything?

    TIA

    Andy

    • Like 9

    Dobsonian crouch?

    in Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice

    What did the postman bring?

    in The Astro Lounge

    Posted · Edited by Dark Vader
    Fat fingers....

    Postie turned up with this little lot last Tuesday. Delivered it to Vader towers one box at a time an hour apart, despite Mrs. V saying "are you sure there's only 1 box, we're expecting 2?" No, he says, then comes back later looking a bit sheepish! 🤣

    Due to work shifts etc. I only got the time to put it all together yesterday pm. Fits nicely in the corner I used to keep some of my guitars in.

    Primary tweaked today, little dot is in the hole etc.

    Andy

    20200731_173854.jpg

    • Like 9

    Bresser Binoculars

    in Discussions - Binoculars

    Posted

    It should still be possible to get them into conditional alignment with a bit more "tweaking". I had a pair of Strathspey marine 10x50s (2nd hand from the Bay) that I swear the delivery company must have played football with en route! The rooftop test showed 2 very different images. I got them pretty close using the rooftop in daylight, then a star test. Arcturus x 2.... 🙄 

    I got them even closer using the defocused right eyepiece method but still not quite there. All the adjustments were to the right side prism so far as that was the side that looked out on the roof test, so I did a small adjustment to the left and it was spot on. 

    As stated earlier, it is a tedious process - 1/8 of a turn on the screw, check and repeat if necessary - took me just under an hour.

    I'll still be sending mine off to be collimated properly but until then at least they are useable, if only for my IPD.

    Good luck

    Andy 

     

     

     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

    Finally taken the plunge...

    in Discussions - Scopes / Whole setups

    Posted

    Aargh, my replies notifications had turned off...

    Good shout on the zoom EP, it's not something I'd thought about. I'm hearing that the standard 25 and 10mm included aren't the best and the BST range are well thought of towards the "cheaper" end of the money pit I just jumped into 😀

    At this point I'm still looking for tutorials on collimation by Cheshire. Most of the YouTube stuff seems to be oriented towards lasers. I'm sure it will get easier with a bit of practice but it's the main thing I've had difficulty understanding so far. I've seen Astrobaby's guide highly recommended and have read it to a point where its beginning to sink in 🤪

    Red torch and hip flask sorted 👍

    Thanks everyone 

    Andy

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