First scope that is child friendly

[Schorhr]

Great to hear it arrived!

If the scratch influences the mechanical flextube mechanism or allows moisture to enter you should contact the shop where you got it :-)

Yes, the telescope gives amazing views even with eyeballed collimation :-)

Even better then my smaller telscopes at 80-200x... But boy, does the contrast increase when collimated on the moon or the planets! :-)

Even with a simple DIY collimation tool.

Clear skies!

[happy-kat]

Simplest tool is a cap with a hole in middle, this is what I have for mine.

[AlexB67]

Hi astroJon, glad it arrived on one piece.  Regarding the scratch  I would think if the trusses move in and out okay, even with my one it is not the smoothest and depends on temperature a bit, as long as it feels solid  when fully extended it should be fine. That said, if you should decide you are going to sell it, which I doubt you will, you could argue for a replacement, since it will affect sale value perhaps.

If you got a film canister, yes it is the old trick, but who has them these days in the digital age :0), Make your self a collimation cap, or order yourself one of these to begin with for collimation if you feel it needs refinement.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/rigel-aline-collimation-cap.html

The cap is a bit hard to work with to centre the secondary and not designed for that as such for real precision work,  but enough to do  decent job I find with this scope for visual use. If you want to splash out a bit more and want a sight tube to make for better and more precise collimation I suggest check with us before buying, because many are too long and a bit heavy for this scope to sit solidly in the focuser, and get a good view through it of the secondary can be problematic.

I can recommend a short version such as this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Skys-Limit-Cheshire-Collimator-Newtonian-Telescopes-short-/380641200932

that sits well, but you may find it hard to use and focus on the cross hairs as the only draw back, I find this anyway, and so does my missus but we can just about manage, but we both wear specs. One way to find out before buying would be to do a small test.  If you buy the coli cap with a small hole first, hold a needle behind it, and see how close you bring it towards you and keep it in focus when looking through the hole, if you can do that, you'd be fine with it I think. If not you may have to think about an alternative.

In the mean time just enjoy the views, seems this one came delivered in collimation or near enough potentially, they don't always, but you'll find out in due course.

Good luck

[AstroJon]

I'm sure the scratch is purely cosmetic, it is actually not on the extending tubes after all but rather the metal rail that attaches to the base that allows the scope to move up and down. To be honest I don't think I will ever move the scope down enough to reach the scratch. I certainly have no intention of selling this scope anyway so I'm fine with it.

Thanks also for the advice regarding collimation tools. I am certainly no expert but after reading various articles it certainly appears to be collimated enough that any difference can't be detected by my eyes at least.

I just need to wait for clear skies now. Thank you everyone for all the comments and advice, these forums really are a wonderful source of information

[AstroJon]

Rather incredibly, I saw (partially) clear skies just as I was thinking about going to bed. Good opportunity to test out the scope

First stop was M45, although the conditions weren't great it looked impressive, lots of lovely bright, sharp blue stars. I then sought out M31, a little tricky as it was almost straight up and I had to use my best estimate to find it. I eventually did, appearing as a fairly large smudge. I then looked for M57, not thinking I would have much luck as it was getting a little low down and pointing towards street lights. Using the 25mm eyepiece I thought I had it but wasn't certain, the 10mm clearly showing a faint doughnut shape.

I then noticed Jupiter was poking through some clouds so that was my next target. Considering it was low down with clouds in the way it was very impressive. Switching to the 10mm clearly showed 2 cloud belts, hopefully it will look even better higher up with no clouds in the way.

Finally, I had a look for M15, I've never actually seen a globular cluster before but having checked stellarium I was pretty sure where to look. This time I was almost pointing the scope straight at a street light but there was a definite small smudge, the 10mm just showed a larger smudge but no individual stars. I'm assuming this was M15 at least as I can't think was else it could be.

The red dot finder does take some getting used to but it certainly does work. I will need to be careful moving the telescope up and down, I lost M15 for a while as I tried to nudge the scope to centre the view but ended up almost jolting it. The scope does however move sideways very smoothly. Can't wait for a proper clear night to spend a few hours with this but for a first light in not ideal conditions I am very pleased I do agree with the comments about the 25mm being better than the 10mm, but I didn't think the 10mm was bad and did give lovely views of Jupiter.

[Schorhr]

Sounds very good so far!

:-)

Yes many of the dense star clusters still look like a smudge in the 5"; Especially in mediocre conditions.

Under very dark skies outer stars will be visible, if not sometimes if you look at it indirectly /peripheral vision.

Yeah the 10mm is surely usable, but contrast (and some more magnification) does not hurt... plus wide angle eyepieces (60-70 degree apparent field of view) help keeping things in the view.

If Up and down is an issue, try loosening the axis a bit but make sure you center the telescope well, then it's easier... but get's an issue again if you have very heavy AND light eyepieces.

Overall it seems like a great observation night... quite a few objects for a first (second) light! :-)

[Siriusmeg]

Glad to hear you are getting on so well with it - next thing you know, you'll be buying another scope for the children to use, at least that's what I had to do

if you fancy getting out to an astro-club, look at www.cnaag.com - based at Chipping Norton, and we often run very child-friendly observing sessions.  My daughters appeared on Sky at night a few months ago with their 150 dob

[AstroJon]

The thing is, if I had to buy another scope for the children to use I would probably choose this one! I noticed Jupiter was high and bright this morning so I told the children that if they were quick getting dressed I would show them it. A couple of minutes later we were all outside lookimg at it Looked the same as last night really but still very nice. They weren't as impressed as I hoped they would be but the big pile of birthday presents waiting to opened probably had something to do with that...

I think this is a great scope for kids to use, it is literally a case of picking it up, extending the tube and popping an eyepiece in and setting it on the floor means it is an ideal height for them to look through.

I can see what you mean about contrast and magnification, I do think I need a good planetary eyepiece at some point. I do however think the 10mm could be good for viewing the moon.

[happy-kat]

The moon is lovely through it