First light with first scope

[Dann]

Hi everyone

I thought I would leave a little report about my first real night out with my shinny new 150P. It arrived on Friday morning and to my annoyance received a text telling me it had arrived, that was a long day of anticipation at work.

I had already spent a day and an evening at the weekend playing around with putting it together, trying to figure out bits and pieces, while waiting for a power supply to arrive. I can’t say the manuals helped much with that, apart from the assembly instructions I thought they were pretty terrible and only confused me further. Thank goodness for everyone on this forum.

Anyway, last night was my first night out and the first time I had used the Synscan handset. Polar alignment went quite smoothly, although I did cheat a little and rotate my nicely levelled out mount as I was a good 30 degrees from North.

The night before I had taken the mount out to practice and found it difficult to see anything on the polar scope besides the centre cross. I found it much easier to polar align properly last night when it wasn’t quite as dark and I was able to see both Polaris and the markings on the scope. It would be interesting to know how you guys manage this?

I chose to use a two star alignment and it seemed to work just fine, I’m not sure how much more accurate another star would make it? My garden faces out to the North East so Vega was an easy one to find and being a novice I used Dubhe as the second star as I knew where it was. I’m sure these weren’t the best stars to use for accuracy, I hear you’re supposed to use stars on opposite sides of the sky?

Alignment successful! I immediately wanted to get a look at Saturn as I know it’s on its way out and it disappears behind my house at around midnight at the moment. Although the GOTO basically found it for me I was very pleased with myself when I looked through and it was almost bang in the middle, a quick change of eyepieces and the addition of a 2x Barlow and it looked awesome.

I had deliberately lowered my expectations of what I might see but I was still taken back by it. I called my sister out to have a look and it was funny how, in her eyes Astronomy went from being a bit nerdy to the coolest thing ever within 10 seconds.

After 30 minutes staring at Saturn I thought I would give the 'Guided Tour' feature a quick go before packing up for the night. Although I’m sure it will be great with a clear horizon I managed to get a great view of the Lagoon Nebula otherwise known as 'The Garden Fence' and M31 by its lesser known name 'Tip of the Conifer Tree'

Just a couple of questions, a few times after slewing to a new object the eyepiece would end up in an uncomfortable place like under the scope facing the floor. I just carefully rotated the tube in the rings a little, is this ok or is there a more intelligent way of getting around that problem? What is the best thing to do with the OTA when I take it in for the night regarding moisture, should the cover be left off for a while for it to dry out?

A thoroughly enjoyable first night out and thanks to the guys at FLO and everyone here for all of the help.

Cheers

Dan

[JKB]

Great report and glad you had a good first light. As for Polarscope seeing I made up a little illuminator out of a 3/4 inch plastic T pipe connector. In the base of the T is a red LED and small 3v button battery. Turn on and push into front hole of mount. LED illuminates enough to see markings and still allows you to see Polaris.

Rotating the scope is the only real solution for difficult eyepiece positions. You could fit another pair of Rings to the tube either side of the mount rings so the scope doesn't slip when you rotate.

HTH

Cheers

[twotter]

Good to hear your first light report. The guided tour made me laugh

[NickK]

Hehe - glad someone else found it difficult to find an object they they'd seen an hour before because of a tree!

[DaBozUK]

I find good polar alignment with the cross hair is only really achievable in late evening while the sky is still partially light. Once dark, it's almost impossible, unless you rig up a light like the poster above.

Funny what you said about your sister's reaction to Saturn. I've had most of my family scream with surprise and delight when they see that tiny monochrome image of Saturn and it's rings casting shadow on the planet. It's so unimpressive visually compared to what they know Saturn to look like, yet it blows them away all the same (and me too every time I see it!)

[tomw28]

Sounds like a good night!

As for illuminating the polar scope, I shine a dim torch down the mount until I get the right angle to illuminate the reticule but still being able to see Polaris. Not ideal but it works...

Like you said, I love the reaction of people how have never looked through a telescope before when they see Saturn. They go from looking around embarrassed hoping no one see's them, to screaming like a small child within seconds! I like it as well how over the next few hours they start randomly smiling as they remember what they've seen. It's amazing how in the eyes of first time viewers, astronomy goes from being only for the geekiest people in the world, to one of the coolest things ever!

And I'll have to check out "Tip of the Conifer Tree", I've not seen that one before !

[Astro Imp]

Hi Dan,

Great report, glad you and your sister got a buzz.

I like your sense of humour re the guided tour, that will definitely come in handy in future when things don't go quite right.

When I have finished viewing I take my OTA into the garage and lay it on an old travel rug with the end cap off and the mirror end supported off the ground. This way it dries out and nothing drops on the mirror.

HTH

Keep enjoying your scope, good luck.