a first for me

[kamikaze1100]

beautiful dark clear skies last night so i decided to get the scope out....

as i am a newbie i have no clue what i am doing and i'm at the very bottom of the learning curve but i did manage last night to view jupiter (a few times!) and orion's nebula which was pretty darn cool, i tried to see the andromeda galaxy as well but failed, i think it was more down to getting dewed upon at that point as i had been out for three-four hours by then!

oh yeah had a look at vega, but i really think i need to sort out the sticktion probs on my skyliner 200p, i have some silicone shock oil for my r/c car which i recon if i put just one spot on each of the 'pads' i recon will sort it!

so next on the list of things to do is to flock ma tooob and look into some better eyepieces

[earth titan]

Excellent night out then:-)

Be careful putting oil on those pads. You need a bit of stick or the scope might not stay on target.

Someone told me shoe polish works best, but I'm not sure.

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Sounds like a good night, Im looking forward to getting to see Orion again, not had a night clear enough to stay up until dawn. Well.. Not had a night clear enough for a while to warrent going out at all.

[Islander]

Try some Turtle wax on the bearing face rather than the teflon pads.

[Stargazer33]

Sounds like a good night.

You may have seen M31 without actually knowing it. It doesn't look like most of the pictures you will see; just a grey smudge! It is only long exposure photographs that bring out the colour/structure. There is a thread on here somewhere about how to find it. I will see if I can find it later and post a link. But for now, back to work - lunch break over!

Clear skies.

[kamikaze1100]

yup it was a good night for it.... clear skies and minimal wind

i really don't think i did see andromeda, i was using skeye app on me phone so i knwe where to look for it but my finderscope was dewed right up and so was the secondary mirror at that point

i bought three rolls of that black flocking stuff to do the lining thang i will prolly do the draw tube as well and blacken the secondary mirror edges and then i just have to improve the stiction problem as it was quietly driving me up the wall trying to find stuff!

i have polished the contact surface that the teflon pads slide on and it did improve it a little so that is why i thought if i just put a tiny amount of silicone oil on the pads it should be just about right (in theory???)

was an eye opener tho' when i found orion's nebula i wish i could get more magnification so i could see it better again i'm right at the bottom of the curve so i am sure i'll be firing a load of questions about eyepieces soon

[kamikaze1100]

o.k. so i tried a little silicone oil and it's made it a smidge better but still has a bit of stiction going on which may get better as i have only used it a couple of times so far!

[Stargazer33]

You will probably find as with most things that the more you use it the easier it will be to move. Presumably the pad will wear a little with use which should free it up a bit.

Making a simple dew shield for your finder scope will help keep the dew off a bit longer. Most on here use a piece of one of those foam camp mats. I suspect even a piece of rolled up cardboard would work for a while. Being an SCT/Mak owner, I don't know if dew shields work on dobs!?!

[kamikaze1100]

whoo hoo i just bagged myself an O-III filter so hoping for another clear night so i can see what it does!!! Also i forgot to say i improved a kinda dew shield for just the tube with a thin blanket i keep in the back of my car ( tied it around the whole tube to try nd stop it getting soakin' it sorta worked!)

[hwsoderlund]

whoo hoo i just bagged myself an O-III filter so hoping for another clear night so i can see what it does!!! Also i forgot to say i improved a kinda dew shield for just the tube with a thin blanket i keep in the back of my car ( tied it around the whole tube to try nd stop it getting soakin' it sorta worked!)

I am not sure the blanket thing is such a good idea. A wet telescope tube is not really a problem in itself, and the blanket will probably just keep the scope from cooling down to ambient temperature quickly. What you really need is one of those camping mat dew shields that somebody else recommended. It extends the length of the tube and prevents the secondary from dewing up. Even if you keep using the blanket I still think you will need a shield like that, otherwise the secondary is still very close to the "outside" air, and will dew up just as quickly as without the blanket.

[kamikaze1100]

I am not sure the blanket thing is such a good idea. A wet telescope tube is not really a problem in itself, and the blanket will probably just keep the scope from cooling down to ambient temperature quickly. What you really need is one of those camping mat dew shields that somebody else recommended. It extends the length of the tube and prevents the secondary from dewing up. Even if you keep using the blanket I still think you will need a shield like that, otherwise the secondary is still very close to the "outside" air, and will dew up just as quickly as without the blanket.

i had let the tube cool to ambient temp before i drove to the viewing spot... i sat it outside in the garden for about 35mins before i set off, also i had all of the windows open in the car on my way to the spot! Only really tied the blanket around to try nd stop everything getting sopping, it did kinda work

[kamikaze1100]

can't wait to see what this O-III filter is gunna do for my nebula viewing

[hwsoderlund]

can't wait to see what this O-III filter is gunna do for my nebula viewing

Check out the Veil nebula in Cygnus. It will blow your mind if the conditions are right and the night is dark. It blew my mind when I first saw it with my UHC filter. Perhaps with an OIII it can be even better. Tonight you will have the moon to compete with, unfortunately, so the Veil may have to wait.

[kamikaze1100]

Check out the Veil nebula in Cygnus. It will blow your mind if the conditions are right and the night is dark. It blew my mind when I first saw it with my UHC filter. Perhaps with an OIII it can be even better. Tonight you will have the moon to compete with, unfortunately, so the Veil may have to wait.

not down ere in deepest darkest cornwall, all i have to contend with is cloud cover ( again just for a change!! )