Order placed

[Jack123456]

Hi

I finally placed my order for a Skywatcher explorer 150p on an eq3-2 mount.

I can't wait to get it, i am really excited

unfortunatly it won't arrive for about 10 days, but that gives me plenty of time to get even more excited!!

[Doc]

Nice scope and mount, I'm sure you will love it.

[Astro Imp]

Hi Jack,

As you can see from my sig. I have the same scope and I love it, already had a lot of fun with it and seen some amazing sites.

Bet you're like a kid just before Christmas

You do know that we are now in for about three/four weeks of overcast skies and it's all your fault

Enjoy your scope and let us know how you get on.

[Jack123456]

Yeah, I'm sorry about all the cloud

[BAZ Senior]

That will pass, enjoy your new scope when it comes, and let us know how you get on.

[smudgeball]

Ya see if you'd ordered a SCT it would have arrived straight away with bundles of clear skies

I don't know !

[Simms]

I got one of these back in January as my first scope and it really is great fun... HOWEVER..

Now the `fun` begins, you`ll outgrow your eyepieces sooner rather than later, so continuously look on the `for sale` forum for different ones to buy - then you`ll want the drives - so a 2nd hand set of them or new ones from FLO, then you`ll have the need to polar align better so you can take some shots - order up a polar scope... and so on and so on...

ITS A GREAT HOBBY THOUGH! Pity M42 isn`t really visible now as thats a great sight to cut ones teeth on!

[Jack123456]

I have already invested in some reasonable quality EPs that i got for a little cheat 3" reflecter i got.

I am well aware of the upgradability which is the one of the reasons i plumped for that one.

Thanks for your encouragement.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!

[Astro Imp]

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!

Didn't your mum ever tell you that patience was a virtue

[Jack123456]

I have just got a call telling me my scope is in.

I'm now off to go get it

[Crunchard]

Have fun with the unboxing

[Jack123456]

I had great fun unboxing it:D it only took an hour and a half!!!!!

The strange thing is... the first little box i opened was empty. I hope it wasn't full of clouds:o

The man in the shop was even kind enough to give me a copy of the Phillips guide to the night sky for free.

[Adamski]

Ten days is a very long time to get excited. I only had to wait 3 days and it was horrendous, Iwas checking out every van that turned in the street.

[Crunchard]

I had a couple of empty boxes in my last purchase - think they use them as cheap space fillers!

Let's hope you (we all) have clear skies ...

[sbooder]

Good luck with the new scope.

[Jack123456]

Thanks everyone.

Just taken it out for a little while, when i got. home from work.

Setting up wasn't too bad.

I had a look at saturn, which tbh, wasn't any better than with my 3" reflector. (I am putting it down to rubbish conditions)

A couple of things i noticed...

1) even though the slow motion controls are huge, i still had trouble finding them in the dark. (i guess i will get used to fining them with time)

2) Working out which knob moved the scope in which direction was a little tricky. (I guess i will get used to that too)

3) A small stool is a wonderful tool as sometimes the EP would be at a comfortable height, but sometimes quite high. (Would this be because of the scope not being set in the rings at the right angle? Is there a particular way to have it so that it is comfortable in all directions?)

The finder scope was really easy to allign and collimation was pretty much spot on out of the box.

All in all, i am really pleased with it. I just need to have a lot more practice:D

[sbooder]

Did you collimate the scope before using it?

This may also account for Saturn not being any better than your 3" frac baring in mind that Saturn dose not get that much better in a 6" newt than a 3" frac as the two are comparative on planets. It is DSOs that should come to life in the Newt.

[Jack123456]

I had another clear night last last, so i took it out again to have another "play".

I had collimated it when i got it, but only with a homemade cap (a spare dust cap with a small hole drilled in nthe centre)

After setting up with rough polar allignment, i looked at some bright stars to get used to how the mount worked. It seems i have alligned the fineder pretty well, and with a stroke of luck managed to put the finder in so that the crosshairs are allinged with each axis. I found this made the finder quite easy to use.

i moved the tube around in the rings to try to find the most comfortable position for viewing in all direcions, and found that with the EP 180deg from (opposite) the mount.

I then went on to look at some things..

Firstly, M13. Wow, what a difference from my 3" newt! before, i had only seen a small faint round smudge, but now it looks much bigger and brighter and it kinda looked a little "speckly".

I then turned to M51. I could make out 2 distinct bright balls, with a fuzzy patch around them. Previously, i could barely see a faint oval fuzz.

Finally, i had a look at some doubles.

Albireo looked as lovely as it always does.

I then turned to Ras Algethi. A double that i had looked for a few times but had always eluded me.

I managed to split it, but only just at 167x power. As it moved across the EP, it seemed to split and join up again in front of my eye. I guess this is an effect of the seeing. (correct me if i'm wrong)

So, to sum up... I am very pleased with my new purchase, and will try to use it as much as i can!