First light....ish

[ahernep]

First off, I've been lurking with an occasional post here for a while. After finally deciding to buy my first scope a few months ago I finally settled on the Skywatcher 200p Dob.

Being in Singapore we don't have a great selection (i.e. none) of astro shops around so more or less online only. Unfortunately as I just missed out on stock I had to wait and it ended up being 2 months from placing the order to receiving the scope. During this time obviously there were some of the clearest nights I've ever seen in Singapore, of course that might have been mostly because I was looking up a lot more!

Finally the scope arrived and I was delighted! The scope itself comes complete with only the finder to attach and the base is simplicity itself to assemble, just make sure you leave the bolt holding the base to the rocker loose enough!! Since I had 8 weeks to kill waiting for the scope I also had a telrad sitting in a drawer so put that on. So far so good, lined up with a corner of a building and roughly lined scope with finder with telrad. I also checked collimation out of the box and it needed a bit of a tweak.

First night with the scope set up and things are not looking too good, a few stars out but mostly cloudy so I just use the opportunity to align the scope, finder and tetrad more accurately, a nice simple task. I then notice that Jupiter is out so I point it over and low and behold, a spectacular view even through the hazy sky I can make out a coule of bans and the food moons easily. Unfortunately it does not last long before he drops below the roof line...still though, pretty good for the first night with a poor sky pointing out my apartment window!

So drags on the saga night after night of cloudy skies, the clear outside app shows nothing but red for the next week and in my depression I decide to go for some beers (Ok, I'd have gone for beers either way!). Arriving home a little unsteadily at 1 am as I'm walking in I notice a bright star showing and think, could it be, could it really be? Time to check sky map...yes it is, it's Saturn making an appearance. Quickly go upstairs and grab the scope, dragging it out in 2 parts and quickly setup, within minutes I'm looking at the rings of Saturn in all their glory, sharp and clear divide and all. I'm pretty sure the sky is not that clear, I can't see much else but still the view is amazing.

Then, back to normal....clouds rolling in and it another couple of weeks when I open clear outside and see green, really it's actually green! Of course by the time late afternoon rolls around they have gone to orange but still, it's not red. Of course then the inevitable happens and I get stuck working late so by the time I'm free I don't have the energy to pull the scope apart and move it even downstairs (though I really should be going across the road anyway to get away from the light a little more). Anyway, I say what have I to lose and I'm also eager to get to know what I can see in any given sky so it's a bout the best I've had for a while, may as well stick the scope out the window at least. Finally, my first couple of DSO's!! M13 and M92 begin to give up their secrets. Even with the local LP being what it is and not being able to get fully dark adjusted I can make out the faint smudge's easily enough, even in the finder scope. Trying a little averted vision with my stock 25mm I can begin to make out the individual stars, amazing...I start to push the magnification up to see if I can't compensate a little for the bright skies, it works a little up to 8mm in fact but that's as far as I can push it. It defiantly helps and again with averted vision I can see a field of twinkling stars. Is it visually astounding, not especially, pretty but not astounding. What it is though is conceptually astounding, I'm looking at 2 clusters of millions of stars, M13 and M92, 25 & 25 thousand light years away respectively. The immensity of it all is staggering and really puts it all into perspective.

So, all in all...am I happy? Absolutely. Is the 200p Dob a good scope? Absolutely. Is Singapore a star gazing haven? Absolutely not

Onwards and upwards, the more I get to know the skies and the viewing quality on any given night the more inclined I will be to hop across to the field across the road where I'm sure the viewing will be better, I've just been slow to do it so far given the poor nights that we've been having. I also must look into wheels for the base and a good bag solution for the tube to make it more transportable on short notice.

Here's to more clear skies folks,

Peter.

[DRT]

Great post Peter and congratulations on your new toy

I was looking at Saturn last night and it never ceases to give me that wow factor. To think how narrow and how far away those rings are boggles the mind when we can see them so clearly. I also had M13 in view using my CPC1100 and Ethos 21mm for the first time in that combination and actually had a "Wow out loud" moment - absolutely stunning.

Best of luck with the 200P - I had one a couple of years ago and loved it.