Beginner's School-boy Errors...

[patomlin76]

Would anyone like to share some school-boy errors with their new scope, to let other beginners be aware??

I felt compelled to write this as earlier this evening, desperate to see something with my new Skywatcher 130p, decided to spot the moon through phases of thick cloud... All was well and I had some lovely views of the lunar surface.

However after bringing the scope in, I then decided to dismount everything for another day. Taking the large counterweight off first is not a good idea. Slightly shocked to see the scope fall backwards about 20 degrees and come to an abrupt stop!

Hopefully this hasn't affected anything as the view in focus was very sharp, and I look forward to viewing more tomorrow...

[Tinker1947]

Read the manual, you need to switch the tracking on with Goto mounts as its default is off..

[paul schofield]

I had the 130p, and to adjust declination I used to turn the dec t'bar all the time. 2/ when I first looked at Jupiter, I had not focused on it properly, and I thought the big dark circle in front of it was one of its moons woops. Anyway I could go on but won't. Amazing how quick you learn in this hobby, not going to tell about the time I. No that's all folks.

[steelfixer]

Biggest error I commited was to walk round the back of my pier mounted scope.

I can tell you this the weights did not move very far and I still have a groove in my forehead to remind me not to do it again.