Kon

It is reassuring to read that many off you put it down to conditions. Moment of truth will be tomorrow night if i see a similar effect. I was trying to be prepared so not to miss a good seeing conditions as predicted.

I agree, it is slightly off. I will try check and collimate at 45 degrees. Thanks for the suggestion.

Both days it was horizontal on its base. It could have been. i did not check in the dark. I need a red light. My 15mm EP and 25mm were both focusing without any issues and it was actually left on the Dob rack but it was the 8mm EP that was giving me issues, thus why i checked collimation; at first i though that seeing conditions might not be great for high magnification.

Hi, I have a SW 200P Dob and I was out observing last night, orion and its nebula, and pleiades. I have to say i am very new to the hobby. I had seen the same targets a few weeks ago with great detail. Using my 15mm BST the stars looked sharp but when I switched to my 8mm BST i could not get a good focus on the stars (previous viewing of these targets with 8mm gave very nice sharp views) so i suspected that the collimation might be out (I only had the telescope for 1 month and I had only done 4 viewings). Last night it was around -3C (my telescope was cooled down for 40min). Getting back in the house after my session, I thought I would have a quick look with my chessire collimator and it appeared to be out of collimation. I thought i would collimate it the next day....so i was getting ready to do so...I checked today again and everything looked to be collimated (see photo after the telescope had warmed o/n; sorry no photo from last night). My question is, have other members here noticed that at freezing nights their telescopes go out of collimation due to the mirror getting too cold or the OTA itself? Do you collimate outside at such cases and ignore the indoors collimation? Or you do not bother getting out? I am asking since I plan to do some more viewing tomorrow night and it is predicted to be rather cold.

Fantastic, thanks for sharing with all of us! I will probably have a go at it myself. Would these dimensions also work for an 8" Dob?

Impressive details!

That's impressive amount of details! Well done!

Nice amount of details, and the shadows bring a nearly 3d feeling to it.

Looks amazing!

My favourite nebula. I love the colours, very subtle.

Very nice considering it is a smartphone capture. Did you track for the 32s?

Last moon of the year, and what a year it has been! One shot with my DSLR through the 25mm EP of my 200P Dob. I wish you all Happy New Year and lets hope for great seeing conditions....my telescope had frost during the observing tonight!

Impressive amount of details!

As a total beginner, I bought myself an SW 8" Dob. I leave in rather dark skies (rural Wiltshire), but I have managed impressive views of Orion Nebula (do not expect the colours you see in photos), I have picked some nebulosity in Pleiades, I have seen M31 and the list goes on for DSO; I saw Mars with some details (but it is quite far now) and the conjunction but due to the weather the viewing was not the best. With patience I managed to see Neptune. It is a very capable telescope. I quite enjoy the hunting and learning of the sky so the GOTO was not a big deal for mel; I am enjoying reading and learning from 'Turn left at the Orion'. Bear in mind it is a large telescope and heavy to bring downstairs as a whole assembly; I was also contemplating the 10" but due to storage I would have regretted. I am in my 40s and I can lift the whole setup without issues to bring through my sitting room French doors to the garden. I have managed a few moon shots through the EP and plan to get an adapter for my DSLR (I am aware of the limitations of the DOB for DSO photography). You may also want to get advise from FLO and also pricing seems much cheaper: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html Good luck with your purchase.

Not sure what telescope you have, but from a dark sky you can make out some of the nebulosity in some of the stars.

My first light with my SW 200P Dob and an attempt to take some moon shots using my DSLR (hand held. no adaptor yet) on Christmas Eve. If I remember well, this was the 8mm BST EP with a variable moon filter. I hope with practice i can get some better shots.

This time of the year the Orion nebula is impressive and both EPs will show it nicely and I think it will definitely get him really interested. The pleiades is another target easily located. If you are in dark skies then the M31 will be a nice visual. My 5 year old son was very impressed with these targets earlier this week. We also took some moon shots through the EP and we had fun together matching them to the annotated book that I have. I am sure he will love his telescope.

I think the backorders outstrip the supply, but that's true with many industries at the moment. I ordered my SW 200P Dob back in end-September and was delivered to me this week (FLO made me aware that there was a 45-60 days wait). If you are ordering from FLO their estimated delivery is pretty good.

I finally received my Skywatcher 200P DOB from FLO after a 3 month wait. This is my first telescope ever and I got some great advise from this forum on EPs and books. The weather has been crap but I managed to get a break in the clouds and have a quick play. Seeing the moon and its craters up close was amazing. My 3 and 5 year olds were also amazed and screaming their heads off! Once they went to bed, I had a quite time and managed a bit more moon observing before the clouds covered it but it cleared near the Orion constellation. OMG!!!!! Seeing the nebula through the 15mm and 8mm BST EPs was out of this world! I know it is described as a smudge but I could get a lot of details out of it (not the bright red colours that you see in photos) and it covered the FOV nicely on the 8mm EP. I am at bortle 5/4 skies. Looking forward to some proper clear skies.

Very nice! It looks almost 3D popping out of the paper!

I managed to see 4-5 last night when I got a break from the clouds. I managed to get one at the edge of a photo while trying to shoot Pleiades on my dslr.