JonFaulkes Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Finally decided to buy myself a telescope after thinking about it for years. Decided on a Skywatcher Dobsonian with 200mm tube. Built it on Saturday and then couldn't get it to focus, cue sleepless night wondering what was broken.. Sunday, removed the eyepiece and adapter to see how the focus mechanism worked as when I turned the knobs, nothing moved externally. Click. Suddenly noticed the silver retaining bolt on the focusing tube thingy.. With it unscrewed, surprise surprise the eyepiece moved in and out..D'ohAnyway, tonight was reasonably clear so I took the Dob outside, left it for 40 mins and then turned it towards the rather bright object in the eastern sky..A quick focus, now working of course, and blumming hell. A science orgasm as the 4 galilean moons around Jupiter came into view. Extra focus and there are the storm cloud bands around the planet.Couldn't believe it. First night of viewing and I get a great view of Jupiter.40 years old and feel like a child again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtr42 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 welcome to your first WOW moment i guarantee theres more out there ,orions nebula is another oh my moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vantis Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 This is the scope i should be buying soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rory Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 hi jon, welcome to the forums. jupiter is a real beut eh. enjoy your scope,youve made a great choice . by the way,loads of us have made that mistake with the screw that keeps the focuser from moving,very common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro Imp Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 You lucky chappie, straight out and see one of the wonders of our solar system.Well done plenty more to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonFaulkes Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 hi jon, welcome to the forums. jupiter is a real beut eh. enjoy your scope,youve made a great choice .by the way,loads of us have made that mistake with the screw that keeps the focuser from moving,very common.Felt a bit of an idiot about that. Only clicked when I looked inside the focusing tube and there was no mechanism.. Therefore to focus, the eyepiece needed to move...I did read up a bit about scopes before a purchased, not least as it seemed too good to be true, but the reviews were all pretty solid so I took the plunge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Scunthorpe Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Gratz on the scope jon. Beautiful piece of kit Wait until your ounching the air after finding a little fuzzy grey patch, or is that just me who does that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesM Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Congratulations Jon on sorting out your scope and bagging a very impressive prize at the same time. Believe it or not we have all done daft things with our setups and I suppose it must be a right of passage sort of thing - though the trouble is I still keep doing it! :grin: The best one and most obvious was whilst viewing through the scope after setting everything up only to discover a very dark view of the night sky - hang on, blast I haven't taken the protective cover on the front of the scope. I'm getting to the age where I can blame it on getting older. Keep up with the observations and look forward to reading about your next discovery.Clear skiesJames Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Scunthorpe Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I hope your not pointing that im with stupid sign at me James But i have to admit, i have done the same thing, another of my favorites is trying to look through the finder without taking either dustcap off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul schofield Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Hi Jon and welcome to SGL. You will have many many more wow moments. Congrats on bagging Jupiter. Wait until you see Saturn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NGC404 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 "when I turned the knobs, nothing moved externally. Click. Suddenly noticed the silver retaining bolt on the focusing tube thingy.. With it unscrewed, surprise surprise the eyepiece moved in and out.."Been there. Done that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonFaulkes Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 I'm actually looking forward to the dark mornings so I can get to see Saturn, although the next step will be to show Jupiter to my 5 year old daughter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Scunthorpe Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 On the 24th of this month (Saturday night/Sunday morning), Venus, Saturn and Mercury all nicely rise in a line just before the sun. If weather permits i'm going to head out for this, maybe do a bit of a night session before hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom2012 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Finally decided to buy myself a telescope after thinking about it for years. Decided on a Skywatcher Dobsonian with 200mm tube. Built it on Saturday and then couldn't get it to focus, cue sleepless night wondering what was broken.. Sunday, removed the eyepiece and adapter to see how the focus mechanism worked as when I turned the knobs, nothing moved externally. Click. Suddenly noticed the silver retaining bolt on the focusing tube thingy.. With it unscrewed, surprise surprise the eyepiece moved in and out..D'ohAnyway, tonight was reasonably clear so I took the Dob outside, left it for 40 mins and then turned it towards the rather bright object in the eastern sky..A quick focus, now working of course, and blumming hell. A science orgasm as the 4 galilean moons around Jupiter came into view. Extra focus and there are the storm cloud bands around the planet.Couldn't believe it. First night of viewing and I get a great view of Jupiter.40 years old and feel like a child again!Excellent choice regarding telescope mate! I had a similar idiot moment when I first tried mine. Instead of making your mistake, mine was having both, 1/1/4" and 2" EP adapters in and wondering why it was focussing properly! Haha I too felt like a complete idiot! Luckily enough the kind people on this site helped me to understand what I'd done wrong!I got mine in September but only got to see Jupiter for the first time on bonfire night! And it is indeed a "WOW" moment! Got to see the 4 moons and 3/4 bands! Can't wait to see it again! Hurry up and clear up! HahEnjoy mate!Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom2012 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Finally decided to buy myself a telescope after thinking about it for years. Decided on a Skywatcher Dobsonian with 200mm tube. Built it on Saturday and then couldn't get it to focus, cue sleepless night wondering what was broken.. Sunday, removed the eyepiece and adapter to see how the focus mechanism worked as when I turned the knobs, nothing moved externally. Click. Suddenly noticed the silver retaining bolt on the focusing tube thingy.. With it unscrewed, surprise surprise the eyepiece moved in and out..D'ohAnyway, tonight was reasonably clear so I took the Dob outside, left it for 40 mins and then turned it towards the rather bright object in the eastern sky..A quick focus, now working of course, and blumming hell. A science orgasm as the 4 galilean moons around Jupiter came into view. Extra focus and there are the storm cloud bands around the planet.Couldn't believe it. First night of viewing and I get a great view of Jupiter.40 years old and feel like a child again!Excellent choice regarding telescope mate! I had a similar idiot moment when I first tried mine. Instead of making your mistake, mine was having both, 1/1/4" and 2" EP adapters in and wondering why it was focussing properly! Haha I too felt like a complete idiot! Luckily enough the kind people on this site helped me to understand what I'd done wrong!I got mine in September but only got to see Jupiter for the first time on bonfire night! And it is indeed a "WOW" moment! Got to see the 4 moons and 3/4 bands! Can't wait to see it again! Hurry up and clear up! HahEnjoy mate!Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rakanishu Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Such a wonderful scope, I have the same.Cant wait for Saturn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caelus Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Suddenly noticed the silver retaining bolt on the focusing tube thingy.. With it unscrewed, surprise surprise the eyepiece moved in and out..If it makes you feel better, I've had the same scope since February and I didn't even notice that screw was there! After reading your post I had to go and look at my own scope to see what you were on about! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cantharis Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Saturn will be at opposition April 28, when it will be a magnificent sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welrod50 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Welcome aboard Jon Jupiter is a great sight with good seeing conditions and as has been noted already, wait until you spot Saturn and the Orion Nebula (to name just two). Many more 'wow' moments to come.I'm nearly 37 and giggled like a 5 year old when I first saw Saturn!Priceless Clear skies.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendiddley Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Glad to hear about your first WOW! My first sight was saturn which was OMG! - you'll love saturn when you see it next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonFaulkes Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 Since my wife doesn't read this forum...What's the next thing I should look to buy? I've got the generic 10 and 25mm eye-pieces that came with the scope but should I buy some better quality ones? Do I need a collimator to check the scope is working as it should be?Eventually, I hope to get a DLSR to connect to the 200P but that might have to wait until the next budget year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Scunthorpe Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Id say a collimator should be first, then maybe a Telrad if you think you'll get on with it. Ive not really had chance to use my Telrad yet, but from what i have, it seems pretty good. I would keep hold of those EPs at the moment, there not great, but there not bad either, I bought the Celestron Xcels, at £70 a pop they're not cheap, and i've never really been able to tell the difference, maybe i should compare the xcels with the stock EPs next time i'm out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmojaydee Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Grats on the scope also welcome to THE forum, all the help and advice is right here, so any question is not a stupid one, because most, if not all of us are amateurs learning as we go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.