My 200p arrived and my first night

[Davidswift9]

Just finished viewing the skies in South Walea uk with the 200p skyliner which arrived today.

Wow! Absolutely loved it. Was just casually browsing the brightest lights with no clue what i was looking at until big jupiter appeared and I could make out two moons, one blueish, one appeared redish. Was stunning. I quickly shouted to my partner who was equally in awe.

I also think I saw venus or maybe mars. It was definatly a planet and was bright in the sky.

Going to get into this big, every night I can. My images appear upside down, no idea why lol. Is there any must have pieces of equipment that i need? Id be willing to spend odd piece here and there maybe fifty pounds each.

[triton1]

All images in a Newtonian reflector appear upside down and left to right

[DRT]

Congratulations, David, you have a great scope

When I first got mine I had a set of Celestron X-Cel LX eyepieces and they were all great with that scope. The only one I didn't have was the 2.3mm as the magnification would have been too high to give a clear view. The 5mm struggled on all but the clearest, darkest nights. These are £64 each but you can pick them up second hand for £40-£50. I picked mine up from a range of places including here, Amazon, Ebay and FLO. You could also find them on Astronomy Buy & Sell or another astronomy marketplace site.

There are a few other ranges of EP that would suit your scope but others will have to advise as the Celestron's are the only ones in that price range that I have tried.

Good luck and I hope you get clear skies

[oldpink]

I also think I saw venus or maybe mars. It was definatly a planet and was bright in the sky.

most Likely Mars, Venus is very low and unless it was  near sunset or sunrise it would have been the Orange bouncing blob we call Mars

[David55]

The 200p pretty much hits the optimum price/performance point. The lenses that come with it are ok to start with but can easily be improved upon with a wide angle, say a 32mm Panaview and a high magnification lens, say a Williams optics 6mm SPL. But the best thing to get is a Rigel systems Quikfinder or equivalent so that you can align your scope towards what you want to see very quickly. It transformed my viewing and is so important if, like me, you find it difficult to get your brain around the upside down left right view of the dob.

Also, if you have a smart phone, download one of the free inclinometers. If you are also using a software programme which will tell you the elevation angle of an object, it is easy to set the scope to that angle for a particular object using the inclinometer and then move left and right to find what you want. Works for me most every time.

[David55]

Oh, by the way. Don't. Forget to look at Saturn. It is in the south eastern sky about 25 degrees elevation and easily visible after about 10pm these nights. Once you've seen the rings......

[Astro Imp]

Congratulations on your new scope, you will see some amazing sites with that.

As you seem to have only a little knowledge of the night sky I would recommend you download Stellarium, a free planetarium program that will help you find your way around. http://www.stellarium.org/

Good luck and enjoy.

[cockney]

you do get very good views with the 8" and with you being in wales which i mite add was on the sky at night program for the best views of the night sky in england,yeah im jealous. me sat there at night with me street lamp to keep me warm . does it have the synscan system ?