Skywatcher Explorer 150P - AZ4 First Light

[lonick]

30 years after giving up amateur astronomy for girls and beer my first look through a telescope owned by me and wow what an experience. 

After much umming and ahhing I went for the above telescope and mount as I live in a light polluted area of Edinburgh and much of my viewing will be away from home and I wanted a pick up and gaze set-up.

So telescope turns up yesterday and of course the clouds are thick, so yesterday was a no-go. Now today all day at work its a beautiful clear sky until at 4pm when a light haze turns up but I did not have to worry it stayed clear.

I'd taken the sensible option of putting the kit together a few times yesterday and collimating the scope, very little needed straight out of the box, what's all the fuss about? When I got home, fed the cat, out comes the scope and first light is under-way. I went with the moon but i could not see it. Where was it? Had i gone blind? No, the spotting scope was not lining up with the main mirror. One handy street light later and for the first half hour all you could hear from me were little oohs and aahs of joy. Trying the stock 25mm and 10mm eyepieces, the 25mm is good the 10mm not so much so but then again i sure the moon may not be its prime target, i did not try the barlow.

After many of my neighbours had joined me in looking up at the moon, good job i'd bought a Baader 0.9 moon filter, if not half the complex would have been blind, the moon was that bright, i just spent the next half hour just star gazing. No chance of deep space Messier spotting where i live, so just some general gazing at the stars. It was great and i must admit a small tear came to me as a memory of my father and a young me so many years ago doing the same thing.

The telescope itself, great so far, i'm so looking forward to taking it out of town and to a dark sky or darker site. The best thing about it, the wife may well have been more impressed than me. This is the start of a beautiful friendship.

[Uplooker]

Well done, lovely first light report, long may it continue.

Ian

[spaceboy]

I'm really chuffed for you. I do like my 150p / giro setup. Can leave me a little wanting for aperture under darker skies but thats aperture fever and no reflection on the scopes performance.

I think the 150p hits the perfect balance between being able to swing it around in one hand while carrying a mount or ep's in the other but still giving you views that are worth staying out of bed for.

[wheresthetorch?]

Nice report. Don't give up on the idea of deep sky though - even from light polluted areas there's plenty you can see, such as the Pleiades, Hyades, Double Cluster, etc.

[Jim Steele]

Nice report, I'm really wishing I had a az mount for grab and go.

Should see some really nice sights away from the city.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Great report! As another SGL member said,there are plenty of bright DSO's,Open Clusters etc to be seen from Urban sites-I know from first hand experience.I've just got a new Tal refractor on the steel legged AZ4 mount,but after a week of owning them,I've STILL got to experience first light,due to these terrible winds we are experiencing at present.I often observe from my allotment,and my greenhouse is now minus ten panes of glass,due to the horrible weather.There's no way I'm going to chance my new 'baby' while conditions are like this!    I returned to active observing after 30+ years,so your comments certainly strike a chord with me.Enjoy your return to the astronomical fold,and nice that you have shared the experience with your neighbours! Clear skies.