A noob in need

[Schorhr]

Hello Scoper,

I am glad to hear that your first-light was so successful. Many have a lot of problems when getting started :-)

If you think that view was nice, you'll be blown away with better eyepieces ;-)

Later at night Mars becomes visible, and Saturn rises in the morning again too. Not as high in the sky, so medium magnification is best, but you should be able to see it's rings easily.

Here a few things you should try:

Orion nebula. It will blow you away and is easy to find.

hχ Perseus (next to the "W" - Cassiopeia)

Andromeda galaxy

...In the spring a lot of galaxies (M101, M57) and Nebulae become visible again that are amazing in 8", of course it does not hurt to point at them now :-)

[Scoper]

Hello Scoper,

I am glad to hear that your first-light was so successful. Many have a lot of problems when getting started :-)

If you think that view was nice, you'll be blown away with better eyepieces ;-)

Later at night Mars becomes visible, and Saturn rises in the morning again too. Not as high in the sky, so medium magnification is best, but you should be able to see it's rings easily.

Here a few things you should try:

Orion nebula. It will blow you away and is easy to find.

hχ Perseus (next to the "W" - Cassiopeia)

Andromeda galaxy

...In the spring a lot of galaxies (M101, M57) and Nebulae become visible again that are amazing in 8", of course it does not hurt to point at them now :-)

This is great information, just what I need, what sort if eye pieces should I go for? Im so bloomin excited, lol

[Charic]

Scoper............just brilliant matey, Glad your enjoying the new telescope. Two things, aligning the scope with Moon is fine, but Moon moves. If you need longer, align with Polaris. You can view that all night without really moving the scope. As for the Moons brightness, Leave the Dust cap on the telescope, but remove the one smaller cap that is inbuilt on the dust cap, It stows over the other raised  cap (which is fixed) This reduces the amount of light, It also reduces the aperture of the telescope, but is fine for lunar work. Maybe a Moon filter is required. But keep enjoying the views. You've also mentioned how good the supplied lenses are. In fact Sky watcher lenses are ok, but there' s better to behold. Get yourself an 8mm BST?

[Schorhr]

Hello, that depends on your budget :-)

A 2" Wide angle overview eyepiece and something around 200x comes to mind for planets and moon (and small DSO).

El Cheapo solution

2x Barlow (13-20gbp) ---- Color fringe, reduced contrast

30-32mm Plössl (10-30gbp) ---- A bit more visible field

Better budget solution

6mm 66deg eyepiece, 200x @ 1200mm FL -> 27gpb shipped ---- stunning wide angle views for the price

32-38mm Erfle (Depending on your sky and eyes around 6mm exit pupil probably) -> around 50-70gbp --- will show a large 70deg aFov, not sharp to the edge but good.

Good solution

BST Explorer or HR Planetary eyepieces for high-mag, starting at around 40-50gbp

Explore Scientific or similar wide angle eyepieces, 120-200gbp and up ;-)

I'd go for the budget solution, as a beginner and at f/6 the cheap eyepieces work well, their resale value isn't too bad either. BST Explorer/HR Planetary are best-budge overall though! Sadly not available in 2"/30+mm.

The ES are great while supplies last. As you can see you can easily spend more on eyepieces then your telescope ;-)

If you go for a eyepiece with higher magnification, please keep in mind that depending on seeing conditions and how close the planets are to the horizon sometimes you can't go over 150. 200x is Possibl in a lot of nights though and stunning. 250 or 300x is much less frequently possible, seeing (air turbulances) will cause the planet to be blurry and dance around.

The 25mm Eypiece you have is OK-ish, can be upgraded later.

The 10mm is not as well so it should as well be replaced sooner or later.

BUT:

Observe with what you have first. A lot of things are possible.

Many deep sky objects work better at low magnification anyway.

Have fun! Keep us posted :-)

[Reeny]

Plossls are good - I was using my 12mm and 9mm Revelations last night.

But consider getting yourself a matching set of BST 60 degree Starguiders (at £49 each)

or go down the slippery slope and get some MaxVision 68 degrees (the 28mm 2-inch plus the 16mm will be around £80 and £60 delivered)

Giving you 43x mag / 75x mag / plus 150x magnification if you Barlow the 16mm

I say slippery slope because you will need better quality EP's for the higher magnifications around 200x.

I don't believe that BST's, Baader Hyperions, and lesser eyepieces will be able to match the MaxVisions.

It could mean you will be looking for TeleVue glass in the future.

So my vote is for at least 4x BST's and a decent barlow

25mm = 48x / 15mm = 80x / 12mm = 100x / 15mm x2 = 160x / 12mm x2 = 200x / 5mm = 240x

[Scoper]

Scoper............just brilliant matey, Glad your enjoying the new telescope. Two things, aligning the scope with Moon is fine, but Moon moves. If you need longer, align with Polaris. You can view that all night without really moving the scope. As for the Moons brightness, Leave the Dust cap on the telescope, but remove the one smaller cap that is inbuilt on the dust cap, It stows over the other raised  cap (which is fixed) This reduces the amount of light, It also reduces the aperture of the telescope, but is fine for lunar work. Maybe a Moon filter is required. But keep enjoying the views. You've also mentioned how good the supplied lenses are. In fact Sky watcher lenses are ok, but there' s better to behold. Get yourself an 8mm BST?

Ha ha ha I thought that was just a spare holder, oh my lol, Thanks for the info big time, and will be looking at a 8mm BST via Google

[Mikea]

OMG OMG OMG that was awesome.

Lastnight I had a quick looky with the 8" Dob for the first time, the scope was aligned ok so no collimation was needed which was a good start, I then preceeded to get the finder scope in the correct position for spotting and got that done easily by lining it up with the moon etc, I then looked at the moon properly with the supplied Super 25 Wide Angle Long Eye Relief eye piece and holy ploppy pants what a lovely view, I was in no way prepared for the amount of light that was coming into my own eys, it was a bit like close up flash photography.

So I then decided to use the Super 10mm eye piece, well I nearly fainted, that was awesome, Im sure I saw Wallace & Gromit waving at me, lol, but seriously that was crazy the amount of detail I have seen already, so I turned my attention to a bright dot above the moon and slighty to the right, Google Sky Maps said it was Jupiter, so I had a look again with the Super 10mm and could not believe my eye's, I am looking at another Planet whilst I am in my back garden, I even saw the cloud formations as thin lines on the surface of Jupiter and two bright dots either side which I am guessing are the moons of Jupiter.

This is my first ever look through a scope and it has blown me away, I can see why you guys buy all the gear and spend hours outside.

A big thank you to all the people who helped me make the right choice of scope.

MERRY BLOOMIN XMAS.

I love it when people write about their first experience of looking through a proper scope. I don't believe I've ever read about a holy ploppy pants moment before, but I understand what you mean and love your enthusiasm!! Hope you have many more happy hours standing outside in the blooming freezing cold!

[Reeny]

here you go

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Skys-the-Limit-Astro-and-Optical/1-25-Eyepieces-/_i.html?_fsub=2

[Schorhr]

Sunglasses.

[Astrosurf]

I've not done imaging with a Dob but I hear it's possible for solar system objects and very bright DSOs like globular clusters. Have a look here:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-201-0-0-1-0.html

Best of luck!

EDIT: I've just noticed this thread runs to two pages, doh! I so love your enthusiasm. That's what it's all about.

I use Baader Hyperions and love  them but they are a bit pricey. I bought them because I have lousy eyes and wear glasses so the eye relief is better. You can also buy fine tuning rings to increase the mag of the Hyperions:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-hyperion-finetuning-ring.html

And the Hyperions:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-hyperion-68-degree-eyepiece.html

Alexxx

[Charic]

Scoper......post 33 from Reeny. If you choose that site, make sure you comminicate with Alan, the sites owner. He will allow you to purchase more than one lens if you so desire,for comparison purposes, on the grounds that if your not satisfied, you may return a lens or lenses. Unfortunately, you will like these lenses? 

[Charic]

Astrosurf.........and I thought mine were basic(my gallery) I`m quite impressed now 

[Astrosurf]

Astrosurf.........and I thought mine were basic(my gallery) I`m quite impressed now 

Was that the Dob images?

[Charic]

Astrosurf.......In my gallery yes. Nikon D5000 with T-Ring & Adaptor and I think I had to use the 2" adaptor too.

[Astrosurf]

I hope my link helps!