First Light!!!

[markthg]

Hi all,

 

Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place and for any spelling mistakes that follow as I currently cant feel my fingers!

But I have hard first light!!!!

Initially it didn't start well, some idiot (me) had left the red dot finder on after setting it up last wekend, thus one flat battery leading me to randomly pointing and hoping to no avail

 

THEN CAME ALONG JUPITER!  I couldn't miss her SO I have just spent the last 1.5 hours in awe of the bands and all four moons!!  Bit disappointed I couldn't get my imager to see what I was seeing through the EP, I need to read up some more as I must be doing something wrong.  Seeing was a little rubbish at times and the odd cloud now and again got in the way, but hey I've seen Jupiter and her moons!

Any how, who cares, I'm hooked!

 

Right, I'm off to set fire to my sofa to warm my hands and feet up on.

Clear skies all.

[Guest]

Hahahahaha that brought a smile to my face brilliant report lol

So glad you are proper hooked, Jupiter is a sight to behold however.....double it and add 10 and thats how you will feel the first time you see Saturn majestic......

I too am waiting for first light AGAIN as when i got my SW SD 150p i too was in awe except my mates 130p seemed to yield a sharper image of the king....after a total

dismantle and measurement i have not only realized that whoever at SW collimated mine also never had a tape measure on them either.

My elliptical was a full 4mm too far up the tube.... !!!!!!

I have since cut a new hole for my GSO focuser, realigned EVERYTHING, flocked the tube and carbon warped the OTA as i am not a fan of the red colour.

So now i have a true aligned and 99.9% collimated system i cant wait to try

Happy days Mark, so chuffed your proper happy with your scope.

Hope you have warmed through.

Lee.

[Fan dobie dozy]

Hi Mark, I also managed to get my new scope out of the house for the first time on Thursday night - fresh out of the box, uncollimated and still at room temp - pointed it at the the huge slice of moon showing just above my neighbor's house, and wow! ............ Can't imagine what results I will get once I set her up correctly and start following best practice re viewing.

I also need to refill my piggy bank and treat myself to some decent eyepieces (and maybe a catapult to take out my neighbor's security lights!!)

enjoy!

Peter

[markthg]

17 hours ago, LeeRich said:

Hahahahaha that brought a smile to my face brilliant report lol

So glad you are proper hooked, Jupiter is a sight to behold however.....double it and add 10 and thats how you will feel the first time you see Saturn majestic......

I too am waiting for first light AGAIN as when i got my SW SD 150p i too was in awe except my mates 130p seemed to yield a sharper image of the king....after a total

dismantle and measurement i have not only realized that whoever at SW collimated mine also never had a tape measure on them either.

My elliptical was a full 4mm too far up the tube.... !!!!!!

I have since cut a new hole for my GSO focuser, realigned EVERYTHING, flocked the tube and carbon warped the OTA as i am not a fan of the red colour.

So now i have a true aligned and 99.9% collimated system i cant wait to try

Happy days Mark, so chuffed your proper happy with your scope.

Hope you have warmed through.

Lee.

I checked the collimation on mine...well I used the defocus a star method and got a perfect donut so all is good

Gutted yours is giving you so much trouble, when all done though i'd like to see a pic of it? Then jump in your car and come and fit me a new focuser

 

 

[markthg]

12 hours ago, Fan dobie dozy said:

Hi Mark, I also managed to get my new scope out of the house for the first time on Thursday night - fresh out of the box, uncollimated and still at room temp - pointed it at the the huge slice of moon showing just above my neighbor's house, and wow! ............ Can't imagine what results I will get once I set her up correctly and start following best practice re viewing.

I also need to refill my piggy bank and treat myself to some decent eyepieces (and maybe a catapult to take out my neighbor's security lights!!)

enjoy!

Peter

I have a neighbour who leaves their damn bathroom light on all night!

[brantuk]

Great first light - made me smile too lol. Our neighbour leaves a light on all night as well - plus there's two other security lights that are on/off all night. It's better observing on the front drive where at least I can angle away from steady street lights. Best thing though is to join a local astro club and get off to their observing sessions with your scope. It's fun, you learn a lot very quickly, and highly recommended.

[markthg]

13 minutes ago, brantuk said:

Great first light - made me smile too lol. Our neighbour leaves a light on all night as well - plus there's two other security lights that are on/off all night. It's better observing on the front drive where at least I can angle away from steady street lights. Best thing though is to join a local astro club and get off to their observing sessions with your scope. It's fun, you learn a lot very quickly, and highly recommended.

Yeah I am hoping to join my local club shortly, two to choose from.  Plus I didn't want to turn up having never used the scope before...don't want to look like a complete newbie

[Guest]

2 hours ago, markthg said:

I checked the collimation on mine...well I used the defocus a star method and got a perfect donut so all is good

Gutted yours is giving you so much trouble, when all done though i'd like to see a pic of it? Then jump in your car and come and fit me a new focuser

 

 

Glad yours was all good pal. I have posted a thread in the scopes/discussion area. Modded 150p  some pics there for you. ? 

[Linda]

2 hours ago, markthg said:

Yeah I am hoping to join my local club shortly, two to choose from.  Plus I didn't want to turn up having never used the scope before...don't want to look like a complete newbie

Luxury, two local clubs. I don't know any local observers near me.

[Pondus]

Great first light report. Always interesting and fun to read these kinds of reports .

 

Rune

[triton1]

Great report it,s amazing when you see it for the first time what! Hang on a mo your just down the road from me and you can see Jupiter all I can see is cloud

[markthg]

18 minutes ago, triton1 said:

Great report it,s amazing when you see it for the first time what! Hang on a mo your just down the road from me and you can see Jupiter all I can see is cloud

It must be a Corby thing John!

You in any local groups? 

[triton1]

No I,m not at the moment alas I had to let the car go.There is one in Barton and I think they use an observing site around geddington but I,m quite content viewing from home.

[Astro Imp]

Great report Mark, it's amazing what you can see with fairly modest equipment from your own backyard.

I see you have a sense of humour, that'll be tested to the full when you're dying to get out and are frustrated by our wonderful British weather.

Good luck and continue to be amazed.

[triton1]

The thing that really blew me away was seeing the Cassini division then actually seeing four of saturns moons,I would really like to see my namesake but I don't think I have enough aperture or dark enough skies.John the Moderator on here I think managed it with his 12 inch.Mmmmm who said size doesn't matter.

[TractionMan]

Congrats on first light! Sounds like you had a blast! Hope you get many clear nights and awesome sessions!