plan b, finally bought my first scope !!

[mikebee]

After weeks of agonising over what to buy within my budget, I had convinced myself a used 10" dob was the way to go, however continuing problems with my arthritic right knee coupled with a small amount of common sense telling me that one of these might just be too cumbersome for my frail ageing frame, together with the fact that my second choice a preowned skywatcher 127 mak with loads of goodies on an eq4 (I think) mount entered the frame & was duly purchased. Got it all home late on tues night & just before midnight managed to point it in the direction of saturn with the help of my trusty iPhone & star walk app, after what seemed like a lifetime of twiddling, headscratching & more tweaking, yippee there it was, smaller than my little finger nail but am image I don't think I will ever forget, since then other commitments & cloudy skies have got in the way but thanks to amazon my copy of " turn left at orion"  arrived & kept me occupied. A new moon & the promise of better weather are not too far away so brace yourselves for the flood of questions that are bound to ensue, once I have been let loose outside again, happy nights, mike b.

[ghostdance]

Hi mikebee

New here myself...that first view of Saturn is pretty heartstopping isn't? I pretty much danced round the small nook we call a 'garden'. Made my night & day seeing Saturn...seems to be a big wow moment for a lot of us, & I can see why! 

A 10" Dob? Nice!   Wallet & significant other willing  one day I may step up to a 8"...

I look forward to reading your  future posts   

Steve

[knobby]

Cracking little scope, great choice.

must admit though when I saw the thread title, I thought Ben Drew had joined the forum :-)

[Lorne]

Congrats on your new scope

Saturn is one of my favourite views too, love spending time on it when I get the chance.

Don't discount getting the 10" Dob in the future though, you can easily fit castor type wheels to the base to make it easier to move around

L.

[Charic]

After weeks of agonising over what to buy within my budget, I had convinced myself a used 10" dob was the way to go, however continuing problems with my arthritic right knee coupled with a small amount of common sense telling me that one of these might just be too cumbersome for my frail ageing frame, together with the fact that my second choice a preowned skywatcher 127 mak with loads of goodies on an eq4 (I think) mount entered the frame & was duly purchased. Got it all home late on tues night & just before midnight managed to point it in the direction of saturn with the help of my trusty iPhone & star walk app, after what seemed like a lifetime of twiddling, headscratching & more tweaking, yippee there it was, smaller than my little finger nail but am image I don't think I will ever forget, since then other commitments & cloudy skies have got in the way but thanks to amazon my copy of " turn left at orion"  arrived & kept me occupied. A new moon & the promise of better weather are not too far away so brace yourselves for the flood of questions that are bound to ensue, once I have been let loose outside again, happy nights, mike b.

'TLAO'  & Stellarium is all I can use at present, so I'm happy your far enough South and enjoying the darker nights. I still haven't had the perfect opportunity to see Saturn, to date since owning the scope. But I've seen the GRS on Jupiter and a  transit shadow of the Moon Io over the surface. Problem at present is that its too light outside to even need a torch of any kind! so the 8" Dobsonian is resting (hibernating?) till the darker nights return. But I can still share in your agonising, I'm still undecided in my new purchase of binoculars, the search goes on?

[Astro Imp]

Hi Mike,

Most of us have plenty of wow moments and that first view of Saturn is usually near the top for most of us.

It doesn't matter how good the images are taken from Cassini or earth based telescopes there is nothing quite like seeing these wonders "live" with your own eyes from your own back yard and trying to tease out extra detail.

Good luck with your future observing.