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Review and First Light-Skywatcher Skyliner 200P

Dom1961

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Dom1961

Dom1961

Posted
Posted

Well...after planning on saving up for a SW 130P an Ad for a 200p popped up by Andy. I contacted him and ,with some funding from my Dad, bought it!! He brought it home tonight and it was a little bit bigger than I expected!xD

The OTA and the base are really, really heavy! But solidly built. After bringing it home from Merseyside I thought it would probably need collimating so using the laser collimator provided I managed to collimate it fairly easily. However after taking it outside and bringing it back in after the session I've noticed it loses collimation quite easily. No probs though, I'll get quicker after a while.  

So at 8 I took it out to cool it whilst I went to have a bath, came out at 9 just as it was getting dark and pointed the scope straight at jupiter with the aid or a telrad and the normal finder scope which was surprisingly easy! Peeped through the eyepiece and almost fell of my chair!! Although I was only using the stock 10mm eyepiece Jupiter was so clear! I could see the two main bands and two of the slightly fainter bands! And to the left were 3 of it's moons! (with a fourth appearing later) I was amazed at what I saw I looked at it for a whole hour. Nudging the dob was surprisingly easy! After the first hour I tried looking for some DSOs but to no avail:( I used starchart, pointed the scope towards where andromeda was supposed to be but nothing:( I guess It'll have to wait till another night. So went back to Jupiter and went slightly left towards the beehive cluster, the scope reveals loads more stars than my binos!  

Overall a great, clear night with a brilliant scope! If anyone is reading this and deciding whether or not to get this scope, GET IT! Even when I bought this 2nd hand it was as if it were brand new! It was so smooth and steady, thought I think Andy must have been an excellent owner. I just find it amazing how you're looking at something millions of miles away!!I LOVE IT!

So after I pay my dad back in 2 months I'm going to start expanding my eyepiece collection with some revelations. Seeing Jupiter has already made the scope worth it!!

Thanks for reading and thanks Andy for the amazing scope!!:)

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WakeyTiger

WakeyTiger

Posted
Posted

Great reading Dom, congrats on your purchase, you have many happy hours ahead of you matey!  

I've just sold my 200P (reluctantly), as I can't justify (or get away with) having 2 scopes, and I've gone for an EQ mounted SCT this time.. so the 200P is being collected in early May, sad to see her go.    I got many good images as well from mine, just by using a standard Canon Ixus camera, holding up to the eyepiece!  Don't be fooled into thinking you need expensive kit to get good shots (just turn off the flash) - and with a steady hand you'll be flying.

After a while, I flocked my tube, and modified the base into a 'lazy susan' bearing system, which worked really well.

I can also recommend the Microsoft Lifecam - as a cheap astro-imaging camera.  Get about 30 seconds of movie, then stack the images in Registax - a bit of Photoshop afterwards and you will be amazed by your Skyliner 200P Dob.

Anyway, enough of my waffling - clear skies to you!!

Matt.

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