Skyliner 200P first light

[Choulais]

Hello all,

I observed up to recently in a Startravel 80mm (f/5) on EQ1 which was fine but limited due diameter. After reading a lot of posts here I decided to order the SkyWatcher 8' Dob (200mm f/6) from Steve@FLO.

Ordered on Sunday evening, the OTA came the Tuesday and the base the Wednesday, mostly speed of light . Thanks for that Steve.

Collimation looked fine and was confirmed by star test (but the turbulence).

I am happy having chosen this model rather than its big brother the 250PX as I can hardly move the whole stuff from my garage to my garden. Any additional kg would have been too much.

Then came the first clear night on 14/09 in Cumbria. Our sky is quite clear here but as said above I observe from my back yard so need to cope with some lights in the neighbourhood :?.

Observation last that night from 9:30pm to 1am and I used mainly the 10mm and 25mm eyepieces as well as the x2 barlow that came with my 80mm ST. Occasionally, I used also a 6.4mm Super Plossl bought earlier.

Just as usual with the ST (for setting the EQ1) I began by Polaris and surprised I discover for the first time its dim companion. I had mostly forgotten it existed as I never saw it with the ST! I take benefit to do a star test and was a bit disappointing not to see airy disks as clear as in the ST but soon realised it was likely due to turbulence issue (either sky conditions or scope cooling).

Then I began exploring the sky with a new (and big ) eye:

M13 looked big with a beginning of resolution under x48 and x120

Epsilon Lyra double/double was a bit disappointing as I hardly resolved it at x120 (turbulence again?)

Then I was able to see a distinct nebulosity for M57 rather than just guessing it was where it should be

Continuing, I discovered M57 for the first time and tried to look for the Cygnus veils but I was not prepared enough for this target.

I thus decided to switch to M31 and discovered for the first time its companions (M32 & M110)

Then a classic glance to the double cluster but looked less impressive than with the ST this time. The same feeling came again looking at the pleiades (M45). Need to spent some money in better eyepieces (for larger FOV).

Finally, I tried to follow Sept. mag issue (Sky at night or Astronomy Now don't remember which one) to find Uranus and saw its little bluish disk at x188 but tracking was hard again due to the eyepiece limited FOV and eye relief (actually I don't like this eyepiece it is really difficult to master).

Then ... I went to bed happy with the big Dob, dreaming to further clear nights equipped with better eyepieces (these actually arrived: Panoptic 24mm, Nagler 13mm, Radian 8mm but its another story).

Clear night

Choulais

[blinky]

Thanks for the report, sounds like you had a good night with your new kit. The extra aperature will let you see some amazing sights

[jordanclarke]

Good Luck