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18" Dob not really first light

webboid

By webboid
in Observing - Reports

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webboid

webboid

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Unable to wait till the Moon was gone I set up my dob in the back garden this afternoon. It took just 20 minutes. I collimated it to the best of my knowledge, took a few photos & waited for darkness.

As sun set & a few stars started to come out from hiding around 5 pm I could not wait any longer. I put in the 24 pan & pointed the telrad at Vega. No matter how much I tried to achieve focus, nothing. Just a grey disk. Panic began along with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Wait a minute I forgot to take the lid off the mirror box. A lesson well learnt thank goodness. Vega was very bright with the expected diffraction spikes. 

With hardly any other stars visible I hunted down M57. The sky was far too bright as it was hardly dark but I was able to make out the ring & the hole. Next up M31 & 32. More than a core but again the sky was grey not black yet. Astro dark was more than 30 minutes away. Final target was M15 & surprisingly resolved stars.

The weather suggested clear till 9 pm so I had some tea & returned just after 6 pm. The sky was beginning to get a thin shroud of cloud & the Moon was not helping. The stars slowly began to fade & a frost was forming on the light shroud.

I contended my self to try out all my eyepieces to be certain they all came to focus on the only remaining target. The full Moon. Temporary blindness & every eyepiece worked great.

Considering the size of this scope it manoeuvred extremely easily & smooth. It's a keeper.

More to come. 

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webboid

webboid

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Thanks for the comments folks.

As I suffer with light polution at home I will exclusively use this at dark sky sites only. The whole experience was something else. Especially when an astro friendly neighbour looked over the fence & said it's huge.

Daily checks of the long term weather looking for a clear window close to new Moon is now mandatory. 

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stevetynant

stevetynant

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I'd give yourself a spring project of a small circular patio at the back of the garden- it'll make home viewing much easier and the barbeques will make the wife very happy. Scope looks amazing - really jealous your going to have a great time together. 

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swamp thing

swamp thing

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. As I suffer with light polution at home I will exclusively use this at dark sky sites only. The whole experience was something else..

What an excellent idea Paul. You won't regret that decision I can assure you.

Just wait until you experience driving s big Dob st a dark site............ The hobby simply doesn't get any better than that.

Nice shroud BTW you buddy did a great job :)

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webboid

webboid

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Thanks Steve my friends wife did an excellent job & included a pouch for the secondary, a cover for the UTA & a neat storage bag.

I can use just the, now small, 12" dob in the garden as it has shown me many galaxies on good nights & join my observing buddies with their 14", 18", 20" & 24" dobs from our 21.6 SQM dark sky site. Observing till dawn if the sky allows. Can't wait.

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webboid

webboid

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Oooh! Mirror-envy! Congratulations Paul, it looks a real beauty. Best wishes for future sessions, but you do know that you've condemned all of us to three months solid cloud now, don't you?  :Envy:  :Envy:  :Envy:  :evil:

Thanks DeepSkyBagger. I was worried about a long spell of cloud in proportion to the aperture but my weather predictions for clear skies tell me Saturday will be clear where I usually observe from. A proper first light me thinks  :smiley:   

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