First go with a Dob.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Last night Daltoner (very nice guy) popped round to see if we could sort out the problems he was having with his Dob. which I think he got off Akyra, but I could be wrong. It turned out that his problem was the tension screws on the Crayford focuser (nice focuser by the way) on his Celestron Starhopper. We spent a couple of pleasant hours chatting about stuff neither of us knew a lot about, but it was great fun. I think we're both going to have a bash at a star party sometime soon.

Once we had the focuser working, which didn't take long, it became apparent that I was a bit out of my depth with finding stuff. Lining the finder 'scope up helped, so after five minutes trying to get Vega in the main 'scope the finder was aimed properly and we were off.

The ring nebula turned up, as its easy to find, and was a nice sight from the backyard observing site. The yard was nicely lit by surrounding streetlights and the neighbour's house lights so we had no trouble seeing what we were doing, which was nice. :?

After the ring, I tried and failed to find M27, even though a few feet away my goto was quietly whirring away pointed straight at it. M31 was also up high enough to have a bash at, but was behind a tree. At this point the beauty of the Dob. design became obvious. We grabbed a handle each and walked to a spot where Andromeda was visible. No polar alignment, no nothing, just plonk and look, it was so easy. Getting M31 in the finder was esy as it showed up as a fuzzy blob, then we could see it through the 'scope as it lazily drifted across the FOV of the 40mm ERFLE EP, and fairly whipped across the 20mm (I think) Excell.

I've almost decided to either buy one of these things or Dobberise the Skelescope, now that should be fun.

We ended the session by popping in the house for a drink, where he was terrorised by my chick and her sister who had been watching TV and, apparently, having a wine drinking contest. :shock: I don't think he'll be coming back, poor lad.

Kaptain klevtsov

[barkis]

Sounds like you fellers had a good night. You should have a a drink before the observing session, you may have found more objects

It's good when names become faces, and that's the good thing about star parties.

If you are going to have one in Leeds, giz a shout, it aint that far to travel

Ron.

[Daltoner]

Yea it was a great night! 2 dark nights in a row, could never have imagined it!

The ring nebula my first ever DSO! not bad eh!

Big thanks to the kaptain, has helped me no end. I'm sure i'll be up there again sometime soon.

M27 looked great on the screen and i'm glad to see it has come up so well! :shock:

Big thanks for the 2" eyepiece! Made a huge difference tonight

It's a shame we couldnt find it in the DOB!

Had another go and manage to find Andromeda floating above my house. Pretty certain I had the old DOB pointed at the Ring nebulabut it failed to show up. pretty certain ive got everything steady at the moment just waiting for the collimation to go so i can be back in panic mode!

Like the Kaptain said the ease of moving a Dob is unmatched. Problem lies in being a rookie at finding things. Kind of feels like im missing out on alot hehe.

Hopefully will be able to put a few more faces to names the longer im on the board, and a star party sounds a cracking idea!

Just a final big thanks to the kaptain for inviting me to his house much appreciated and maybe i'll be able to return the favour. my sites great its daylight all the time. no need for torches!

Anthony

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

If you are going to have one in Leeds, giz a shout, it aint that far to travel

Ron.

Ron, if you're ever up this way, feel free tp pop in. You're welcome to doss on the floor, stay in the B&B round the corner or slum it in the posh hotel up the road. Either way, pop in if you like. If I'm in, you're welcome to come and play, if I'm not, well you do the math.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[The Warthog]

After the ring, I tried and failed to find M27,

I'm pretty good and trying and failing to find DSOs, but I find M27 by projecting a rectangle on Cygnus, going from the left side of the cross to the crossbar, down to Albireo, and filling in the other two sides of the rectangle. I can always find M27 by doing a search around the corner of an imaginary rectangle opposit the crossbar.

Hope you can figure out what I just wrote, because I can't. :insects1:

[blinky]

Have you got a copy of 'Turn left @ Orion'? If not then get a copy. Makes it very easy (well OK easier) to find some good objects by giving you star hopping directions and nice simple diagrams.

I am also getting quite tempted by a big dob, no more polaraligning sounds good!

[trevboyd]

I'd second the suggestion of getting a copy of "Turn Left @ Orion" - the instructions and diagrams are very simple and clear, and I found M57 and M27 fairly easily the first night I tried. Only £18 on Amazon, the best £18 I've spent in a while!

Trev

[Daltoner]

Sounds like a decent book, not badly priced either.

If it can help me find anything then it will indeed be a verygood book!

[BWBlackett]

Anthony,

I too had great problems trying to find things with my Dob but, as I said on another post, get yourself a free copy of Stellarium, a red dot finder and a 30mm 2" eyepiece (From FLO). Use Stellarium to do some star hopping in your mind, then do it for real using the red dot finder and 'daa naa' the DSO will magically appear in your 2" eyepiece.

I've been doing this for a couple of weeks now and I can usually get 75% of what I am looking for in the FOV first time.

Good luck,

Brian.

[Helen]

A red dot finder changed my astronomy experience completely! Before I couldn't find anything and got very frustrated (and gave in), after... well, the joy of finding things for yourself beats goto any day

Helen

[PeterW]

You need a a 'proper finder' as well as a zero-power/laser one. My 9x50 Orion Right-angle-correct-image one works well. Then you can get nearly-there AND zero in the SAME WAY UP as the charts!

A copy of the Observers Sky Atlas is invaluable for a range of objects, prints enough starts to allow easy planning of star-hops.

I used to find M27 hard to find but I now have a mentel map to get there.... start at Sagitta, go to the end star of the point, go beyond it slightly and then go 'up' and you should catch a nice column of starts that ends just to the left of M27 (looking through the finder). Now it is nice and simple.... pity the same couldn't be said of other objects!

Cheers

PEterW

[BWBlackett]

Sorry Peter I disagree - I would never go back to an optical finder on my Dob, it just confuses things too much. You look atthe sky with your eyes and see one set of stars, then through the finder you see another then through your scope you see yet another.

With the red dot finder you you put the dot on the object you want to see and there it is in your scope.

It is even better for finding things you can't see - like I've said before I use Stellarium to locate an object e.g. the Ring Nebula in Lyra, I can see that it is about 1/3 of the way between the two bright stars at the bottom of the constellation. So I move my Dub until the red dot is pointing 1/3 of the way between the stars, then hey presto looking through my 30mm eyepiece I can see a little grey smoke ring, it may be slightly off centre or just outside the field of view so a little searching my be required, but with practice you get a lot more accurate. I can then step down to my 10mm eyepiece to get a better view.

I found that with an optical finder I was getting too confused by the other stars that appeared and the fact that the image was the wrong way round.

Red Dot Finder £15 from FLO - best thing I ever bought (after the 10" Dob!)

Brian.

[Daltoner]

I think Bw im having the same problem you had. I've been trying for a few of the messier objects, and although i know where in the sky they are when it comes to using my finder all i can see is a mass of stars and i havent a clue which is which. Can get very frustrating sometimes when im staring in the part of the ksy i wnat to look at but for some reason just ant get it all to fit together hehe. Will definately purchase the finder. Its worth a try at least.

Thanks for the help guys

[tom.yates]

Glad you sorted the problem and had a good night, And if any of you guys gals want to sort a night out with the scopes near Leeds manchester let me know im up for it.

[The Warthog]

With the red dot finder you you put the dot on the object you want to see and there it is in your scope.

That presupposes that you can see the object, which I can't in my LP skies. I have a RDF on my refractor, because I use it for looking at bright objects, like planets and the Moon. On the reflector, I have both finders, the RDF for bright objects, and for getting myself in the general area of a dim object, and the 7x50 RA finder for zeroing in on the thing. I had a problem of too many stars, once, at a dark sky site, but it doesn't happen here.

Still, if it's working for you, go for it!

[supernova]

A red dot finder changed my astronomy experience completely! Before I couldn't find anything and got very frustrated (and gave in), after... well, the joy of finding things for yourself beats goto any day

Helen

Very well said Helen I could not agree more. :salute: :thumbup:

goto

[vemarstar]

Sorry Peter I disagree - I would never go back to an optical finder on my Dob, it just confuses things too much. You look atthe sky with your eyes and see one set of stars, then through the finder you see another then through your scope you see yet another.

With the red dot finder you you put the dot on the object you want to see and there it is in your scope.

It is even better for finding things you can't see - like I've said before I use Stellarium to locate an object e.g. the Ring Nebula in Lyra, I can see that it is about 1/3 of the way between the two bright stars at the bottom of the constellation. So I move my Dub until the red dot is pointing 1/3 of the way between the stars, then hey presto looking through my 30mm eyepiece I can see a little grey smoke ring, it may be slightly off centre or just outside the field of view so a little searching my be required, but with practice you get a lot more accurate. I can then step down to my 10mm eyepiece to get a better view.

I found that with an optical finder I was getting too confused by the other stars that appeared and the fact that the image was the wrong way round.

Red Dot Finder £15 from FLO - best thing I ever bought (after the 10" Dob!)

Brian.

I agree i have a 6inch reflector and the red dot finder is a good extra to have on the scope , but it depends on what object you are looking for some messier objects can be seen through the normal finder like the ones in auriga.