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New skyliner 200P and a newbee user.


JPU

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Hi All

My brand new Skywatcher Skyliner 200P arrived yesterday and I have just come in from 2 hours worth of star gazing. Im not sure if I am disappointed or amazed!

Jupiter was pretty miserable and although the wife and I tried to be impressed by a slightly larger brighter circle than all the others, with two very faint bands the novelty soon wore off. In my heart of hearts I thought, gosh is this it? I then turned the scope to the crescent of the moon and boy oh boy, what a wonder. It was clearer than I could ever of dreamed of. We studied that for at least 30minutes and I know I cant wait to go back. However, eager to find something else, of we went scouring the universe for nebula or anything other than a white dot. Two hrs later, nothing, just more white dots and if you strain your eyes, even more white dots!!

I cant believe this is it!, please tell me I am doing something wrong! Please tell me tonight in South Wales star gazing is a waste of time.....

My rig is a standard off the shelf 200P with the two lenses that come as standard ,, a super 25 and a super 10? I dont have anything else!

Please can you advise me on what I need to get to suit my new scope as the moon image has me hooked.

Is it possible to see nebula, is Jupiter really that simple? Have I done something wrong? Is tonight a poor night for star gazing as there was scattered cloud.

Thanks is advance

JPU

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first get a Stellarium on your PC/Laptop that will help you greatly on navigating the skies.its a freeware astronomy program.as for your expectations.in my 10" dob Jupiter is only a size of a pea and nope it is not going to be bigger than that unless you get a monster size telescope and put it on the top of a mountain. :D

do not expect also nebulas and galaxies just show up that easy.Patience is the key here .the easiest to find is Orion Nebula(M42).start with that one.And nope you are doing everything correct,i think it is just the expectations, as everyone else has for the first time ,made you slightly disappointed.Dont be.it is your first scope and you are still learning.next time out you will be more confident and after that even more and as a result you WILL see more and more each time.To find any star,nebula or galaxy you need to know where they are and then learn the way to navigate your scope to them,by simply browsing over the skies in hope that you will see them will not work.Use stellarium or any other alternative program on your PC/laptop/ipad/tablet as your guider and soon you will see the results.There is a great book what i would suggest you to purchse:Turn left at Orion.that will explain you a lot.

Clear skies and enjoy your new scope. :)

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I have the 200P and it is fantastic. There is so much you can see with it. Having good eyepieces helps a lot. The ones that come with it are just really to get you started. Investing in good glass at the eye end is vital in my opinion. I have only a couple of better eyepieces a Hyperion zoom and a 13mm TV Ethos and they make the views of everything much better than the stock eyepieces.

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JPU,

Don't be disheartened. I have the Explorer 200p on an EQ5 mount and I've been using it regularly for just over a year. You need patience, good conditions and some practice to get the best out of your scope. Dark skies also make a huge difference if you're after faint DSOs. The Moon and Jupiter make good starting points though the quality of what you'll observe depends on the conditions. If the "seeing" is poor then the object will shimmer and you wont see much in the way of detail. On better nights, with good seeing, then you'll have more chance of observing detail - especially on planets where good resolution is required. Patience is helpful and often there are steady periods lasting a few seconds when the detail jumps out. Saturn is getting higher in the sky and I observe this for quite some time for fleeting moments of good clarity when washed out details suddenly become sharp. A good range of eye-pieces help and I have a limited selection which I use regularly. I find that a 5 mm is good for viewing planets (I have a 2mm which gives more magnification but I find gives fuzzier images). To get the best from your scope you'll also need to make sure that it's well collimated but I strongly suggest that you spend time getting used to using it before you delve in to this. Collimation isn't difficult but I expect that it would need to be fairly far out before you'll really appreciate the difference.

I tend to use my scope for DSO observing and astrophotography. You'll certainly be able to see all of the Messier objects with your 200p, depending on the quality of the observing conditions (periods close to a new moon helps) and practice. To see detail does require practice and familiarity with what you should expect to see - they aren't called faint fuzzies for nothing. There are lots of threads here on the brighter Messier objects and there is a variety of object types in the catalogue. It helps to have planetarium software to help you with star hopping. I use Stellarium though there are other options.

Dave

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My brand new Skywatcher Skyliner 200P arrived yesterday and I have just come in from 2 hours worth of star gazing. Im not sure if I am disappointed or amazed!

Hi welcome to SGL....I felt the exactly the same, is that it.....I can't be doing this right....my scope's faulty....etc...etc. Soon found that with a little more time, confidence in my kit and ability, initial disappointment faded. Unfortunately I think we've chosen the worst period of UK weather to get involved in this wonderful hobby.......I can only get better.

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the first thing you need to get your head round (at least i found anyway) is that once you move away from planets and the moon and onto deep sky objects , they are for the most part small and often faint , some very very faint.

so ideally you want a dark a sky as possible ,the further from street lights the better. dark adapted eyes. you need to give your eyes plenty of time to adapt and let your pupils dialate to thier potential,which should take about half hour to forty five minutes without looking at bright lights. seeing conditions play a big part too. clear sky is not always a good sky .

experienced astronomers i find will say a particular objects is " quite bright" but i soon learnt their description of quite bright is compared to other objects they've seen. they are not bright to the novice ,at least thats what i found.

also second above advice regarding "turn left at orion" and stellarium , once youve viewed one or two nebula/galaxies ,youll understand the "faint fuzzy" saying. although some are reasonably easy to target. as mentioned m42 ( orion nebula) is a fantastic starting place, easy to locate and easy to view. m81/m82 are bright as galaxies go ,so they should be on your list early on if you want to experience distant galaxies. and open/globular clusters are some of the easiest objects to view, some are amazing sights.

lets us know how you get on.

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I was the same moon was awesome but everything else was a tad dissipointing in the first week ,

so i soon invested in 2 good quality eyepieces and it makes a HUGE diffrence to the ones that come with it,other people on here will say get used to the scope and then invest mayeb you should , but i rushed and bought a celestron xcel lx 7mm and an 18 mm celestron 2nd hand off here, it makes the planets looks much more detailed i saw the red spot first time with the 7mm :)

maybe also invest in a barlow too

I am new to astronomy and have only had the scope 2 months, Some nights are dissipointing on conditions, but on the good still nights ( cold or not ) make sure you are out there and you will be amazed by this scope.

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Wife and I have had our 200P for just a few weeks now, and at first, like you I was initially disappointed with what could be seen. But perseverance, despite our terrible weather and cloud, is the key. Whilst still using the supplied Eyepieces plus a 6mm wide angle (and now a Baader barlow) we have found that a really 'good' night is rare at present. Cloud seems to know when the scope is out...and Jupiter is not that big, but when the conditions are right, it is very clear and lovely. I have found that it takes time to even get to know how to look through the EP.

As an ex professional wedding photographer I have a lot of experience of using lenses, so realise that it will take time and practice to get the best out of the 200P. 'Turn left at Orion is a must', not only drawings as seen in a Dob, but also lots of background info. on what you are looking at.

Don't despair, just get out as much as you can....we are, and learning our way around the sky and hoping for some good viewing conditions.

Things I now realise that are really important..... set up the scope and leave it for 30 minutes before trying to view. Lots of warm clothes. A folding table for the book and torch etc. is good. Save up for some quality eyepieces. (and maybe a Nexstar 4SE so my wife and I can both look at the same time) :rolleyes:

Have you an Astronomy club/society you can get to? a lot of interesting/knowledgeable people to be found there.

Good viewing...

Frank

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Hi All

Thank you all for your replies. It definitely looks like I need to invest in some new eye pieces and many of you have suggested various different types. I took a look at the Celestron X-Cel LX eyepiece 7MM (£69.00 from FLO) but unfortunately not in stock. I also looked at the Baader Hyperion Zoom Eyepiece (£189) in stock but out of budget!

So can anyone recommend another good starter for me and I don't mind having to buy 2 but I would have to keep the combined price down to below £100. If you think I should wait and save a bit longer then that is what I will do. However if I can improve significantly on the stock eye pieces I have with the 200P with a budget of £100 then please let me know.

Thanks for all you advice in the previous posts.

JPU

PS "Turn left at Orion" is on order!

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This will cost nothing... Stay up until 1 ish, let your scope cool for about an hour... Aim about 20 degrees up and about S.S.E.

Saturn is up :D

And another vote for the BSTs, cracking EPs

All the best

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