Finally first light with the 10" dob

[Kirscovitch]

Finally after 3 months of sitting in the corner I got out the Z10. Earlier in the night I had the new C6N and VX mount out doing some imaging. I was in sitting on the couch warming up when I got a text from an old friend of mine wondering if I was still out. We were best friends in high school and as most friends do we drifted apart. He moved to the suburbs of New York a few years back and has returned for the weekend to visit family. I haven't seen him in at least 10 years.

He is a huge fan of astronomy and science in general and at one time worked for the Discovery Channel. Although he loves all things science and space, he has never had the opportunity to look through a nice telescope. I told him if he wanted to brave the cold to come on over and I would get a scope out. He agreed and instead of getting the VX back out and aligning it, I decided to finally get out the dob.

I don't know why I haven't taken it out earlier.... While waiting for him to show up I set up and started getting the telrad aligned. Not as bad as I thought it would be. Got pretty close by pointing at Polaris and going from there.

He arrived so the first view we got was of the moon. I myself was in awe at the view from the 10" with just a 25mm. He was like a little kid at Christmas. I switched out the 25 for a 9mm and looked agian. This time I was the kid at Christmas and he was speechless. These were the best views of the moon I have ever got.

Then we moved on to Mars. I was itching to get a view of it and I knew he wanted to see more. I can say that though not much detail could be seen we were both in awe. I must say that not having a tracking mount was a bit annoying at the time as I have never used a dob mount before but we had a good time talking astronomy. Had to keep looking through the telrad and swapping between the 25 and 9mm to keep the red planet in view.

At this point he was interested in what made the scope work. Even though he likes astronomy he has no clue on what makes a telescope a telescope. So I spent the next few minutes explaining how a newtonian scope works and I shined a light down the tube to show him how simple it was. I honestly still think he doesn't believe how simple the design is and how much you can see with just a couple of mirrors.

Finally after talking about the basics of telescope design I swung over and showed him Saturn. This was only the 3rd time I have seen it through a scope and first time with a big scope. I was amazed at the difference between a 5" and a 10" scope. The rings were sooooo much more defined than when I viewed them with the 5" SLT. Ended the session with a 9mm and a 2x barlow giving 277x. 

We spoke for a bit about the skies in NY and how he really needs to get a scope. I couldn't think of a better way to get first light on a new scope. I can't wait to get it out under dark skies and have the telrad fully spot.

[rory]

New scope used and an old friend re acquainted . Sounds a great evening .

[estwing]

Brilliant read sounds like a great night,clear skies!

[L8-Nite]

Clear nights with good friends make it all worth while. 

[Kirscovitch]

I can honestly say that for the short time I have owned a telescope, and for all the neat things I have seen so far with them, this was the best observing session I think I may ever have even though it was less than an hour and all we really saw were simple solar system objects.

[knobby]

Sometimes just sharing the view makes it that extra bit special :-)

Wasn't it that sidewalk astronomer bloke that said ' its the responsibility of scope owners to share them '

Something like that...

So true though

[Paul73]

Sounds like a great first contact.

Don't worry about the having to nudge to keep things in view. With a bit of practice you'll forget that you are doing it (or buy lots of criplingly expensive wide angle eyepieces).

Paul

[Kirscovitch]

Sounds like a great first contact.

Don't worry about the having to nudge to keep things in view. With a bit of practice you'll forget that you are doing it (or buy lots of criplingly expensive wide angle eyepieces).

Paul

For the short time I had it out I was rather impressed on how fast I was getting the hang of it. I am sure with a little more practice I will have it down pat and not have to think about it.

[Russko13]

Sounds like a great night! and even better that you reacquainted with and old friend