First month with my first telescope

[Eye]

Hello. After doing some Binocular astronomy for a couple of months, I bought my first telescope. SkyWatcher 250PX 10" Full Tube Dobsonian. I bought the scope shortly after the new year and I've used it for about a month now. Unfortunately I didn't really think about collimation when I bought the scope, so I don't possess a collimation EP of any sort and as a result haven't collimated my telescope. Cheshire collimation EP is at the top of my list and I will be buying one as soon as I can.

I have unfortunately not done much DSO observations yet, as I find the stock finderscope to be really annoying to use. I'm going to be getting a RACI and a Telrad in the future, which should eleviate this problem. Only DSO I've observed was Orion nebula, it looked great but it didn't look much better than it did with my 10x50 Binos. Maybe that's an issue with the EPs or just atmospheric & sky conditions. Anyway, most of my time at the telescope has been focused on lunar and planetary viewings, and oh boy did it deliver. The best session I had was this morning, which pushed me to make this thread while the memory is still fresh.

I took my telescope out to cool at ~4 AM, I knew that it would be an incredibly clear morning and that I could possibly catch Mars & Saturn for the first time. Fortunately I live in an area with almost no light pollution, unfortunately trees obstruct a large part of the southern sky from where I live, which makes it difficult to view certain objects, specifically Mars & Saturn. I went out at around 4:30 AM ready to start observing, first object I decided to go for was Jupiter, it feels as if I've observed Jupiter a hundred times, but the view still amazes me. Today was the best view of Jupiter I have had so far, previously I could only see a hint of banding and Jupiter was mostly just a creamy disc. But today I could see clear, vibrant red bands, I observed Jupiter at 120/180/240x magnification but I feel that 120 is enough for me. I could clearly see four of Jupiters moons. I kept observing Jupiter for quite a while, I switched it up and tried observing the moon with my 25mm EP but it was just way too uncomfortable to view, so I went back to observing Jupiter.

At around ~5:20 AM I decided to try to view Mars, I could easily spot it between the tree branches. Mars was impressive, but after viewing Jupiter with so much detail I have to admit it was a bit disappointing, but from I've read 120-240x magnification with a 10" scope is pretty low for observing mars. In hindsight I wish I had given Mars more time, I spent about two minutes observing before trying to find Saturn.

Saturn wasn't as obvious as Mars or Jupiter, but I managed to find it. Remember how I said that trees obscure a lot of the southern view from my garden? Yeah, that became a huge problem trying to observe Saturn. Saturn would often sneak behind branches or trees which made finding and focusing the planet difficult. Fortunately it didn't take long before Saturn entered an opening between two trees and became visible. I started using 120x magnification, and wow... I don't think any other words can do it justice. Saturn is probably the most impressive object I've seen so far. I jumped up to 180x and then 240x magnification and it made Saturn even clearer. I could clearly see the rings of Saturn and I could clearly see where the rings ended and the planet began. I wish I could have increased the magnification even further.

I really enjoy using my telescope and I can't wait until I get a better finderscope to make searching for DSO less of a pain. If there's anyone on the fence about jumping in to the hobby, just jump in! You'll not regret it.

[Knighty2112]

Good report. Sounds like a good location from to observe, apart from the trees to the south. Did you ever manage to locate M31 (Andromeda galaxy) at all with your binoculars? With your 25mm EP you should be able to see it OK, although with any scope it does require hunting around for a little for than with binoculars. Might be worth getting a larger EP like a 32mm to give a wider view through the scope to locate DSO's better with.

[Eye]

54 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

Good report. Sounds like a good location from to observe, apart from the trees to the south. Did you ever manage to locate M31 (Andromeda galaxy) at all with your binoculars? With your 25mm EP you should be able to see it OK, although with any scope it does require hunting around for a little for than with binoculars. Might be worth getting a larger EP like a 32mm to give a wider view through the scope to locate DSO's better with.

Yeah, Andromeda was my go-to object to view with my Binoculars. I've searched for it a bit with my telescope, but using the stock finderscope is a real pain and I didn't manage to find it by scanning around with my 25mm EP. I'd like to get a 2" 32/38mm EP in the future for DSO. But my priority is a Cheshire and then upgrading my finderscope to a RACI and get a Telrad, that should make finding DSO much more enjoyable.

[Size9Hex]

Great report.

Good to hear that you're planning to get a Cheshire. My 250px collimation was ok but not brilliant on arrival. Not so bad that (as a person new to the hobby) I realised it was bad, but nevertheless, collimating it improves the performance noticeably.

Give the DSOs some patience. Many of them get better the longer you look,

Glad you are enjoying the new scope :-)

[laudropb]

Very nice report. Viewing Saturn for the first time is always a stand out moment.

[Eye]

4 hours ago, Size9Hex said:

Great report.

Good to hear that you're planning to get a Cheshire. My 250px collimation was ok but not brilliant on arrival. Not so bad that (as a person new to the hobby) I realised it was bad, but nevertheless, collimating it improves the performance noticeably.

Give the DSOs some patience. Many of them get better the longer you look,

Glad you are enjoying the new scope :-)

That's good to hear! I think my Collimation is good, but how do you tell if it's good?

Astronomy isn't a very popular hobby in Sweden, so when I bought my telescope it came boxed with a SkyWatcher 2013(or 14, can't remember.) calendar.. Would time effect collimation on a scope or is it just moving/bumping it which would effect it?

[baggywrinkle]

That's a good report and you give us a good idea of the frustrations of owning a new scope and the realising 'Oh one more bit needed.....' most of us have been there.

Keep on with it and things will improve, your eyes will learn to see more.

I had a 300mm truss tube dob' and it did require regular collimation so get the collimator. I used a laser one and then found I needed to adjust that too....all a learning curve.

[mdstuart]

Next try M3 the globular cluster with your scope. At high power that will nearly match Saturn in wow factor.

It's behind the Plough...

Mark

[spike95609]

Excellent to see another happy 250px-er! When my scope first arrived it wasn't badly out of collimation but need a fair tweak all the same, unless you've been phenomenally lucky to have it bang on I'll imagine you'll notice a considerable improvement when you do it. I did have trouble with the finder scope to start with, which took me by surprise because I'd spent a year star hopping with 15x70 binoculars and thought I had that sussed. I think the problem is that it's hard to tell what magnitude star you're looking at in the finder scope, the brightness of binoculars makes them stand out quite obviously, but everything's a bit on the dim side through a finder scope. I persevered though, my brain became tuned in to it, and I don't have any problems at all now. Other than dew fogging it up all the time - stars look very dim then!

[Size9Hex]

On 25 February 2016 at 13:03, Eye said:

That's good to hear! I think my Collimation is good, but how do you tell if it's good?

Astronomy isn't a very popular hobby in Sweden, so when I bought my telescope it came boxed with a SkyWatcher 2013(or 14, can't remember.) calendar.. Would time effect collimation on a scope or is it just moving/bumping it which would effect it?

Other folks with more experience might give you a better answer here! I'd suggest to assume the collimation on your new scope is not good, unless you've checked it and confirmed that it is good. I'd guess moving/bumping is the main problem, although I've seen some more experienced folks say that the collimation can drift a bit as the temperature changes too (metal components expanding/contracting). I check my collimation with a Cheshire, and when I'm under the stars I occasionally defocus a bright star and check it looks circular. I'm no expert in that last technique though - I need to read up a bit more about it myself!

[todd8137]

I agree get a telrad and some telrad charts 

pat

[happy-kat]

You can make a collimation cap from an old 35mm plastic film canister. Drop a small hole say 2mm dead centre in the cap put cap back on and put  the lot into your focuser and check collimation.

[Piero]

Great first report mate! Planets are lovely targets although your telescope will show you much much more!

Proper collimation is crucial on newton telescopes. 

Check this guide by Moonshane 

High magnifications requires perfect collimation and very good seeing. The secondary mirror doesn't generally require adjustment, but its always worth checking the collimation of the primary mirror after the telescope has cooled down properly. After this you can test the collimation on a bright star using a high power eyepiece. If you defocus you should see a set of bright concentric discs, the Airy discs. The seeing must be good though. 

Looking forward to your next report.

Piero

[bomberbaz]

On 27/02/2016 at 10:44, happy-kat said:

You can make a collimation cap from an old 35mm plastic film canister. Drop a small hole say 2mm dead centre in the cap put cap back on and put  the lot into your focuser and check collimation.

however do remember to cut the bottom off the canister also 

[bomberbaz]

If i were you i would get the telrad before the RACI if there is a que.  As you are used to panning around with bins you will find this so easy and dso finding will become a piece of cake

[happy-kat]

Lol yes a bit of a booper need to see through it, or perhaps hole the case and dispose of the cap, still easy enough to do

[BGazing]

It takes Saturn 30 years to orbit the sun, so it is as convenient to observe as ever (summer evenings are so pleasant). In about 15 years it will either be summer mornings or winter evenings, I reckon the former for me, I will be pushing 60 with time to spare and less need for sleep :).