My New Upgrade.

[bsmk89]

I have just today upgraded my first scope which was a Celestron Astromaster 130eq (Which served me well) for a new Meade Lightbridge 12inch Dob and i only have a few things to say.

Firstly, i am very impressed with the build quality of this scope and how sturdy it feels as a whole and as individual pieces. Once its in place on the mount it is very smooth and stable the only mod i'm looking to make at the moment is fitting some casters to the base for easy movement. The 2 speed focuser is a godsend when trying to focus on those faint objects and its all new to me so i'm buzzing.

Secondly, WOW! The eye piece i got with the scope is a 2 inch Meade Wide angle lens (28mm i believe but i'm not 100% of the angle) and i was so blown away with what i could see tonight, it makes looking through my other Celestron lenses appear as if i'm looking through dirty perspex.

So far tonight i have seen from my back garden (just outside of a small town):

M36

M38

M37

M45

M34

A very Faint Andromeda Galaxy 

and a lovely bright Orion Nebula.

This scope has certainly rekindled my love of space and i cannot wait to take it to a proper dark location and see what shows up there.

Until then, thank you for reading. 

From one excited, amateur astronomer to you all.

 

P.S Any tips on mods/eyepieces/anything else then please do share. 

[John]

Congratulations on the 12" Lightbridge - it's a big step up from the 130 Celestron !

With mine the supplied eyepiece was the Meade 26mm QX I seem to recall which was a 2" eyepiece which had a 70 degree field of view. I found I needed to rack the focuser out a long way to get it to focus but maybe thats changed now.

Wide angle eyepieces certainly do help with tracking objects with manually powered dobsonians but you need reasonable quality ones so that the stars remain looking more or less star like across the field of view with the F/5 Lightbridge 12". The Maxvision eyepieces seem to do pretty well at this for their prices from the reports on the forum.

Enjoy the scope - it's got loads of potential !

[deepspacehunter]

Like I always say.....

HAPPINESS IS A 12' DOB   !!!!!

Mark

[nicks90]

Congrats on your new scope - just dont take it to a dark site too quickly.

enjoy your light bucket from home for a while - as when you take a 12" to somewhere DARK, the views that you once thought were amazing in your back garden suddenly become utterly rubbish!

I also went from a 130 celestron to a 12" dob (skywatcher) and spent weeks thoroughly engrossed in my yard. Blown away by M13 etc!

But after taking it to a dark site, I can very rarely be bothered to get it out on a night when I'm at home. M13 is still brilliant, but compared to the unbelievable views you get somewhere like Kielder.... hmmmmmmm

Personally i reckon the difference in views between dark and light polluted locations is much much much much greater with a larger aperture....so you set up at home and look at an object and constantly go "hmmm, new i should have driven to xyz this evening"

[Daniel-K]

I have just today upgraded my first scope which was a Celestron Astromaster 130eq (Which served me well) for a new Meade Lightbridge 12inch Dob and i only have a few things to say.

Firstly, i am very impressed with the build quality of this scope and how sturdy it feels as a whole and as individual pieces. Once its in place on the mount it is very smooth and stable the only mod i'm looking to make at the moment is fitting some casters to the base for easy movement. The 2 speed focuser is a godsend when trying to focus on those faint objects and its all new to me so i'm buzzing.

Secondly, WOW! The eye piece i got with the scope is a 2 inch Meade Wide angle lens (28mm i believe but i'm not 100% of the angle) and i was so blown away with what i could see tonight, it makes looking through my other Celestron lenses appear as if i'm looking through dirty perspex.

So far tonight i have seen from my back garden (just outside of a small town):

M36

M38

M37

M45

M34

A very Faint Andromeda Galaxy 

and a lovely bright Orion Nebula.

This scope has certainly rekindled my love of space and i cannot wait to take it to a proper dark location and see what shows up there.

Until then, thank you for reading. 

From one excited, amateur astronomer to you all.

 

P.S Any tips on mods/eyepieces/anything else then please do share. 

aahhh very nice welcome to the truss tribe just wait till you point it at a Glob.  as john says the maxvisions EP by explore scientific are very good. infact there one one for sale on here and ABSD for £40 a 16mm. http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=91015

get yourself a telrad and a decent star atlas http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/131301388252?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108

you may need to add some  sort of counter weight to the rear to help with balance issues the LB comes with. no a big issue really just use some of the ankle weights joggers ware and strap them to the bottom.

flocking if it aint already done 

[bsmk89]

Thanks for all the welcoming replies.

I currently have my eyes on a couple of EP's that have been recommended in the Eyepiece discussion forums. Also i'm making a shroud to pull over the truss section just to block out that extra bit of light that creeps in (mainly for when i'm in the garden with the glow of the street lights.

Haven't yet had any issues with the balance but that was something i was made aware of, especially if i want to attach my dslr to the viewfinder. 

But like i said overall im blown away by the performance.