First night, first light.

[Dreadz]

Took delivery today of my new skyliner 250 and in less than 1 hour it was assembled and ready for alignment.

Checked collimation using the method set out in the instructions included with the scope and it was spot on. Popped in the premium cheshire I bought with it just to double check and it was seemingly way off?? Couldn't see half the mirror clips no matter how I oriented the cheshire!!?? (Any advice on that would be appreciated)

Regardless, not wanting to fiddle straight away I didnt adjust anything, thinking I'd be better off waiting to do a star test to see what that showed. Given the weather recently I didn't really know when that would be so when I looked outside and saw clear patches of sky I jumped at the chance. Grabbed the scope, got my daughters wrapped up warm and out we went.

Aligned the finder scope and had a good look at the moon although even after the scope acclimatised the seeing wasn't great. Dodging the clouds I turned to Jupiter although it was still relatively low in the sky so wasn't fantastic through the 10mm ep but could see bands on it's surface.

Put the kids to bed after my daughters both had an extremely excited look through our new "huge telescope" and rushed back outside.

Did some fine tuning on the finder scope and tried a star test. Seemed spot on, concentric ring around dark spot on both sides of focus so really cant figure out what I was doing wrong with the Cheshire?

It looked like the clouds were going to ruin my fun so had another good look at Jupiter and the moon when all of a sudden the clouds lifted again and I found myself under a big patch of clear sky - hallelujah!

Pointed the scope at the pleiades. First thing that struck me was how many stars were visible through the finder scope, even with the LP and first sight through the 25mm ep was a total wow moment. After scanning around pleiades for some time I was forced to change target.

Swung round to cassiopeia and eventually tracked down M103 open cluster. Unfortunately the clouds were now getting thicker and more abundant so quick scan of the moon and Jupiter again, which by now were much higher in the sky which resulted in more visible detail and despite wishing I could stay out for another 3 hours I packed up a very happy man.

This scope is amazing. I will no doubt be buying some better ep's as soon as funds allow but I genuinely couldnt be happier with this scope. Its a true light bucket, even with local lp interfering! Can't wait to take it to a dark sky.

Thanks again to all of you who helped me make my choice and thanks to FLO for processing my order so quickly and making me an extremely happy man

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[Dreadz]

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[astrorabbit]

Very lucky to get out on your first night after purchase! Glad you had fun, there's so much more to see too! Even in the light pollution of London I just love how many stars become visible through a scope, makes me even happier knowing that my neighbours sre probably wondering what on earth I'm up to, and little do they know what they are missing out on

I'm afraid I use a laser collimator so can't help with the Cheshire. I'm sure someone will get you running on gas with it on here though.

[Pig]

Hiya Dreadz,

Its great that you managed to get out on the first night with your scope, a very positive omen   I was also lucky enough to have the same happen to me with my first scope and I haven't looked back since. I am sure you will have many great nights to come.

[Qualia]

Great stuff, Dreadz. A 10" f/5 is just a dream of a scope. Just about perfect for everything and I'm sure you're going to have many fascinating times with her. I really hope you can get her out to a dark site soon, especially with Leo on its way and the supernova in M 82. Look forward to many more reports

[Mr Spock]

250 is a good size and can do most things. Sounds like you are already having a great time with it

[Astro Imp]

Great report mate, good to get the little ones involved too.

You have plenty to look forward to.

Good luck.

[TractionMan]

Great first light report! Very unusual to be able to get first light the same day/night that the scope was delivered. You'll have lots of fun with that shiny new piece of astro kit!

[AndyWB]

Checked collimation using the method set out in the instructions included with the scope and it was spot on. Popped in the premium cheshire I bought with it just to double check and it was seemingly way off?? Couldn't see half the mirror clips no matter how I oriented the cheshire!!?? (Any advice on that would be appreciated)

I've just spend a couple of months (yes, months) trying to get the collimation on my 250px nailed. I found that I couldn't see the mirror clips with the Cheshire either - I had to use a collimation cap, which gave a wider view of the secondary. Also, one clip was always obscured by the focusser tube when I was doing this.

I followed Astrobaby's guide - http://www.astro-baby.com/collimation/astro%20babys%20collimation%20guide.htm - using the Cheshire/sight tube for steps 2 and 4, but the collimation cap for 3, as I couldn't see the clips otherwise.

Now, as to why it took months to get right, well, I'd a rotation error on the secondary that I was adjusting out with tilt. It turned out that the secondary holder had dimples in it from the grub screws used to adjust it. This made the screws 'return' to their original location very easily. I made a couple of plastic washers, inserted them, and I could modify my rotation again! It was dead easy then. It just took a while to figure out the problem...