First light report 27/9 - Present.

[Tom2012]

Hello everyone! How are you all?

Really sorry its taken this long to produce my first light report.

Opened and assembled my 200p on the 25/9. Really simple assembly, although I did manage to put the piece that holds the eyepieces back to front!! Don't ask! Haha

Anyway enough of the boring stuff lets get on to the interesting part!!! I didn't manage to get out on the 25th or the 26th due to complete cloud cover in our area. The 27th though was a different story! About half 8 I took the 'scope tube off the mount, carried the mount outside, reassembled the tube back on to the mount and left it for about 40 minutes to cool down.

After a debacle of a time using both the 1.25" and the 2" eyepiece mounts at the sae time and wondering why I never got to see anything (some of you may remember my post!) I focused the scope on one of the stars in Ursa Major just to see if it collimation was good, and it was! Excellent I thought, get straight into viewing! So I turned the scope 180 degrees to the moon. I used the 10mm eyepiece first. WOW! It was amazing, well and truly amazing! I could see so much detail from individual craters, to craters within craters. I think I noticed about 3-4 in one! That massive one in the southern polar area is massive. I thought it looked impressive through my 15x70 bins but through the 200p it's something else! After spending a good 10 minutes just browsing at the moon (and witnessing how fast it more through the sky!!!) I swapped the eyepieces over for the 25mm EP. Through it I noticed it was more of a overview, if that makes sense? Sort of see the moon as a whole and not just specific areas. It was still very impressive to view.

Altogether on my first outing I only got to spend about 25 minutes before, yes you guessed it, that thick blanket cloud came over and ruined a brilliant nights viewing!

The next time I got to view anything was a good week after. We had a ton of rain that week, places got flooded and everything so I didn't get as much time as I'd have like, but that's just the way it goes!

The next time I was out, I ain't remember the date, was a bit more expansive. I found the double in Cassiopeia! Absolutely brilliant! Too look up and just see the 5-6 individual stars of the constellation to seeing doubles in, is amazing stuff! I was we'll impressed with that! I did find it hard to view because my viewfinder wasn't set up properly!!! More about that later!

After viewing that brilliant double in Cass, I turned my attention again to, Ursa Major. I was trying to find DSO's in there, with absolutely no look at all! After consulting a astronomy app I found that there was another double in there! (I can't remember the name, sorry) again, brilliant viewing! After viewing the doubles for a while I went on to try and find, yes, Andromeda! With no properly setup viewfinder it was a hoard job to find! Luckily Andromeda Beta (the orangey looking star) was just at the top of our house. So I lined up with that and went from Andromeda Beta, up 1 bright star (again first the name. My memory today is awful!) and there it was! Little smudge with no features or anything! I put it down to the LP in the area! I find it amazing that the light coming from Andromeda is 1-2 light years away and we are just seeing the light that was ejected from it between 6-12 million years ago!

My last viewing was with a specific purpose. To get the viewfinder set up properly! Took me a good 30-40 minutes to get it centred but slightly down from the crosshair. I focused on Andromeda Beta, constantly checking to see if it as still in the centre f the main scope, kneeling down twisting the little nobs, check the main scope, kneel down... It was a long drawn out affair! Haha with nothing at a long distance away like a fece pole, or a distant tree, it says the only thing I could focus on. After about half an hour I had got the object n the centre of the viewfinder but about 2-3cm below the crosshair. I thought to myself, leave it at that for now and get some viewing done! So I used the viewfinder to find Andromeda.

Now it says time to see if the last 30 minutes had been wasted or been a success. Aligned andromeda 2-3cm under the cross hair, had a look through the viewfinder, boom! It was in the scope!!! Happy with that I thought! Just about to view other objects and... You ready? Yes!! Clouds came over and I haven't been out since! That was last Thursday I think! Luckily, it i supposed to be clear tonight so I'm hoping t get some done tonight!

My main objective throughout the winter is to get a good view of Jupiter over the course of the coming months and see the changes I detail (hopefully) and how the moons rotate around it.

Thank you all for reading! If you got bored half way through, I apologise! Haha A lot if it wouldn't have been possible without your help!i thank you for Ali have learned off this site and from all that kind people out there who have answered my seemingly silly questions!

Thank you.

Tom.

[Mike73]

I find it amazing that the light coming from Andromeda is 1-2 light years away and we are just seeing the light that was ejected from it between 6-12 million years ago!

Great attitude to have when viewing DSO's Tom, it may be a faint fuzzy but if you stand back from your scope and just think about what you've just seen......well...its just mind boggling!

[Tom2012]

Great attitude to have when viewing DSO's Tom, it may be a faint fuzzy but if you stand back from your scope and just think about what you've just seen......well...its just mind boggling!

Thanks for reading Mike! I often just look up without the scope or bins and just think to myself that they're up there ready to be found! With Andromeda I look up there and think I wonder how many people actually know that right in that place there's another galaxy? It really is interesting stuff!

[Moonshane]

great report! you'll be treated with great views of Jupiter this year as it seems to have a good path across the sky.

the Andromeda galaxy is actually 2.5 Million light years away (approx) and you are seeing it as it was that period ago. really incredible as you say. many other galaxies are much further away, this one just happens to be the most obvious one with the naked eye.

[Tom2012]

great report! you'll be treated with great views of Jupiter this year as it seems to have a good path across the sky.

the Andromeda galaxy is actually 2.5 Million light years away (approx) and you are seeing it as it was that period ago. really incredible as you say. many other galaxies are much further away, this one just happens to be the most obvious one with the naked eye.

It is amazing isn't it? Always looks as good as the first time I witnessed it!

I've been trying to find some of the galaxies in Ursa Major too but had no luck as of yet! Thanks for reading and taking time to reply.

Tom.

[Astro Imp]

Great report.

Glad you enjoyed your first outings.

The Ursa Major galaxies are not in the best position for viewing at the moment, wait for February onto early summer when they will be higher in the sky.

A good guide of what to see when and how to find them is Turn Left at Orion.

[Tom2012]

Great report.

Glad you enjoyed your first outings.

The Ursa Major galaxies are not in the best position for viewing at the moment, wait for February onto early summer when they will be higher in the sky.

A good guide of what to see when and how to find them is Turn Left at Orion.

Hello Astro Imp! Thank you for reading and your reply. I have Turn Left at Orion! Just need to have a good sit down and read. Some Good stuff about all the different telescopes.

I'm hoping its going to be clear tonight and have a go at the Ring Nebula! That'll be interesting!

Thanks again!

Tom.

[cotterless45]

Neat, had the 200 Dob out last night, before the clag came over had beautiful views of M57 (ring) and M27 (dumbbell) with a 15mm SW Panorama. Then onto the double cluster,M52 and NGC7789 ( Caroline's Rose), then a quick look at M15 and then back inside as clag arrived.Superb grab and go scope, you won't need anything else, unless you're into old school!

Nick.

[Tom2012]

Superb grab and go scope, you won't need anything else, unless you're into old school!

Nick.

Exactly why I like the scope. My girlfriends dad has a 130eq I think and he has to polar align it before each use. Takes too much time for the limited amount of time I have!

Did you get good views of your subjects with your 200p? I'm hoping to get out for a few hours later and try find the ring neb!

Thanks for reading and replying.

Tom.

Some good views you got there! Not seen them yet but hopefully soon!

Exactly