New 'scope & First Light!

[Phil73805]

Hi everyone, today I took delivery of my new Orion US XT10i Dobsonian telescope. Astoundingly the weather cleared remarkably fast so that I was able to achieve first light tonight, on the night I got it!!! A first? I think so Well anyway, though I was very unsuccessful in aligning the 'object locator' (much more fiddly than they would have you believe and at least as annoying as polar aligning an equatorial) I know my way around the sky enough to be able to find a few objects. I haven't received all of the eyepieces I ordered, the 5mm & 8mm, so high power viewing is going to have to wait until another night. The eyepiece package I worked out is 5, 8 and 17mm Vixen Lanthanum super wide, long eye relief eyepieces and a Meade series 5000, 5 element super Plossl, 32mm 2" eyepiece with a 60 degree afov (Paid £199 for the Meade, have I paid too much?).

Having said that, after aligning the spotter 'scope first light was on Saturn, the view was spectacular even though Saturn was low in the sky after nightfall and even then it was so much clearer than the WO Megrez 110 that I tried to start with. What a view! I even tried using the 10 & 25mm sirius plossl eyepieces that came with the telescope and they weren't at all bad.

Over the course of the night I was able to find M13 which I viewed first at 37x and then at 70x. At 70x it was a breathtaking sight with averted vision individual stars were visible to the core. I must point out that this was in my very light polluted back garden with a full or close to full moon! I can wait to try out M13 with higher magnification at a dark site!

I then turned my attention to M57 which I viewed at 70x to start with. What a sight! Even with direct vision the ring was obvious but with averted vision more detail was discernable, I wonder how well it will stand up to high mag? I even tried my Neodymium filter but it seemed clearer without it.

I also split Albireo for the first time. The colours were crystal clear and a beautiful site to end the evening with. I did have a good look at Lyra, Arcturus and other bright stars and I have never seen them so bright and clear! I think I've found my perfect 'scope :love7: This 'scope travelled half way around the world to be with me and it came out of the box perfectly collimated! My only concern is that after one nights observing there is already dust/dirt and two strange markings on the mirror At this rate I'll have to clean it weekly! Is this rapid build up of crud normal?

Well that's all for now, I'll update soon

Phil

[geppetto]

How cool is that, clear sky when you receive your new scope. 8)

I get the impression that your pleased with it

Nice one mate, many more clear skies to you and your new scope.....enjoy

P.S. not a good idea to clean the mirror every week..

They do get dusty quickly but a mirror with dust sees more

than a mirror with scratched coating due to cleaning.

[Whippy]

Phil, try and get one of those cans of pressurised air, you should be able to just (ahem) blow most of your dust/dirt off your mirrors without damaging them.

Tony..

[Ant]

Be VERY carefull with the cans of pressurised air! They contain a propellant (I think thats what it is) which comes out in a liquid form.

The quantity of liquid is small but it makes a mess of whatever it touches - I learnt my lesson cleaning a toucam chip

[Whippy]

Really Ant? You would have thought pressurised air would be just that. No propellant needed. It's a crazy world we live in eh?

Tony..

[Phil73805]

Thanks all, if it comes down to it I can blow the mirror clean with my airbrush and compressor. It has a moisture trap so there will be no worries about the mirror. Having said that I think I will follow Geppetto's advice and not worry about it for now.

But seriously guys, have I paid too much for the Meade eyepiece? Everywhere I looked it was £50-£90 cheaper. On my reciept it says Meade 5000 SWA but this is not the SWA eyepiece. Should I be calling my vendor and saying 'er...excuse me old bean...'? I would appreciate any guidance.

Phil

[Whippy]

I certainly would mate! If you haven't got what you ordered, then let them know..

[Phil73805]

Thanks Whiplash, I spoke to my vendor and he apologised profusely. We'll sort it out when I go in to get the rest of the eyepiece set.

Phil

[Phil73805]

Ok then. Tonight, despite my concerns regarding a build up of cloud, I had a clear night to play with I set up the scope in my backgarden and after some pre-session testing and fiddling got the Intelliscope system aligned and ready to go. Now it turns out that my neighbours do not understand the concept of turning off the blumming lights :x and my own family think that 2am is social time for friends to come over and leave lights on so dark adaptation for the old peepers was a non starter.

Having said all that, I was able, with the help of the 'push to', to have a good look at a range of globular clusters, galaxies, double stars and a nebula. Overall, despite the frustration of the light pollution, the session was really inspiring and gave me a hint of what this scope was capable of from a darker site with clearer skies. The globulars (M13 and M92 :shock: ) and open clusters were amazing, the galaxies very faint (M82 I think, should have kept notes D'OH) or invisible and most nebula too faint to see with the moonlight and light pollution though M57 was as amazing as ever. However, my eyes have exceptionally good night vision and at a dark site I should be able to make out much more. Double star wise I had a good look at the double double in Lyra but was unable to split both elements with the stock 10mm eyepiece that came with the scope (120x), I can't wait until I have all my eyepieces to work with! I also spent some time with Albireo again, still a wonderful sight, and had a look at another double in Ursa Major, though I can't figure out which one It looks like a triple system in the Vixen SWA Lanthanum 17.5mm at 68x (Really really really must take notebook!!!).

If tomorrow night is clear I may well drive out to a dark site I saw on 'I see dark skies' off the A1 north of Stevenage and really go for it though perhaps I should wait for all my eyepieces before making the trip, not really sure...

Phil

[Phil73805]

er...hello? anyone home?

Phil