*New Scope* - Finalizing ??

[gnomus]

Just now, Astro_Rob said:

Haha @gnomus Looks great but my budget is a bit tight. Just to clarify were you being serious or joking? 

Perfectly serious - 

No - its very easy to go mad in this game.  I do think a nice widefield low mag eyepiece would be helpful.  I have the Luminos, which is supposedly 82 degrees (compared with the Ethos 100 degrees!) but I think there are nice eyepieces by Baader (Hyperions - 68 degrees) and Explore Scientific (82 degrees again) that are not too bad price-wise.  Your focal length will be different to mine (I am just over 6 feet f/l) so your 'magnification' will likely be slightly different.  But certainly the objects we have been finding have been large enough (I guess we haven't the skills yet to find the small ones!) 

[gnomus]

8 minutes ago, Astro_Rob said:

Also because my Dob will have no motor will it be able to support the luminous without dipping?

I don't know.  It balances perfectly in our scope but we have a significantly larger and heavier mirror than you.  I assume you have ways of adding weight at the mirror end if you need to?

[gnomus]

Incidentally, the first purchase you have to make is a Star Chart if you don't already have one.  We use the Sky and Telescope one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sky-Telescopes-Pocket-Atlas/dp/1931559317  We also found a 'beginner guide' like this quite useful: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Left-Orion-Consolmagno-University/dp/B00E28D530/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459597026&sr=1-2&keywords=turn+left+at+orion+4th+edition No point getting that £650 eyepiece if you can't find anything to look at!  Speaking of which I am about to fit a Telrad finder to the end of my scope - terrific bits of kit http://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html.  

Before getting the 14.5" we had thought about a 10" http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-250px-flextube-dobsonian.html or 12"  http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-300p-flextube-dobsonian.html scope from the Skywatcher stable - I assume that the Orion will be very similar in spec to one of these.

Apologies if you already know all this .....

[rockystar]

I have the 8" Skywatcher version, and from a good site I get some cracking views of galaxies and nebulae, however, they are often just fuzzies, so be prepared to get the awe from finding it and observing something millions of light years away - there are lots of very interesting views up there.

I find the pocket atlas invaluable, along with a red head torch if you don't have one.

Have a look at the SWA 70° 22mm from Skywatcher, it's a cracking eyepiece and not too expensive - you may have sessions where this is all you use - I used to have one but have just upgraded to a ExSci 82.

As for collimation, I have both a laser for in the field (make sure the laser is collimated - the only thing I find is that it is sometimes too bright to see down the tube properly, so one with variable brightness would bee good) and a Cheshire for checking it inside during cloudy night maintenance sessions.

Have fun, you've got a great scope there. :-)

[ollypenrice]

2 hours ago, gnomus said:

I am very new to Dobsonians so am not an expert - but perhaps my beginner thoughts would be helpful.  We got our scope only a couple of weeks ago.  It is  a little larger than yours.  It was supplied with a collimating cheshire type thing.  We did collimate with this a couple of times but we were never very 'certain', how accurate we had been.  I decided to get a Howie Glatter laser and a Tubelug.  This was very easy to use and gave a very positive indication when everything was set right.  It wasn't cheap though, but I believe that one has to be careful with laser colimators.  A wise man told me that you needed to check that the laser itself was well collimated before using it to collimate the scope.

As to eyepieces, that same 'wise man' suggested a wide field £600 per shot eyepiece.  We drew the line at that one but perhaps some cheaper widefield eyepieces should be considered?

Good luck - we have been having a great time with our new toy.

What kind of crackpot would advise you to buy £600 eyepieces?

lly

More seriously this is a very good scope and will keep you going for a long, long time.

Even more seriously, this scope is indeed begging for a 21mm TeleVue Ethos or 26mm Nagler. The great thing about the ultra wide field EP is that it allows you both to magnify and to see the extended object in full.

 

[gnomus]

9 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

What kind of crackpot would advise you to buy £600 eyepieces?

...

 

One day (soon) I am going to add up exactly how much the 'Sage of Saint-Cyrice' has cost me.  I'll need some counselling that day, that's for sure.

[Astro_Rob]

1 hour ago, gnomus said:

Incidentally, the first purchase you have to make is a Star Chart if you don't already have one.  We use the Sky and Telescope one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sky-Telescopes-Pocket-Atlas/dp/1931559317  We also found a 'beginner guide' like this quite useful: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Left-Orion-Consolmagno-University/dp/B00E28D530/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459597026&sr=1-2&keywords=turn+left+at+orion+4th+edition No point getting that £650 eyepiece if you can't find anything to look at!  Speaking of which I am about to fit a Telrad finder to the end of my scope - terrific bits of kit http://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/telrad-finder-astronomy.html.  

Before getting the 14.5" we had thought about a 10" http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-250px-flextube-dobsonian.html or 12"  http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-300p-flextube-dobsonian.html scope from the Skywatcher stable - I assume that the Orion will be very similar in spec to one of these.

Apologies if you already know all this .....

Thank you @gnomus. I think the 12" and the expensive eyepieces are a tad out of my reach for now. After all I am just a beginner and I don't want to go too crazy and I have been saving up for a long time - 15 years old ?. Thanks so much though, that star guide looks good also, I might invest in that!

[Astro_Rob]

12 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

What kind of crackpot would advise you to buy £600 eyepieces?

lly

More seriously this is a very good scope and will keep you going for a long, long time.

Even more seriously, this scope is indeed begging for a 21mm TeleVue Ethos or 26mm Nagler. The great thing about the ultra wide field EP is that it allows you both to magnify and to see the extended object in full.

 

Thank you Olly I will research those now!

[ollypenrice]

1 minute ago, gnomus said:

One day (soon) I am going to add up exactly how much the 'Sage of Saint-Cyrice' has cost me.  I'll need some counselling that day, that's for sure.

Quite right, Sir, quite right and indeed you will. Fortunately we offer such a service at rates which can only be described as remarkable...

Olly

[Astro_Rob]

19 minutes ago, rockystar said:

I have the 8" Skywatcher version, and from a good site I get some cracking views of galaxies and nebulae, however, they are often just fuzzies, so be prepared to get the awe from finding it and observing something millions of light years away - there are lots of very interesting views up there.

I find the pocket atlas invaluable, along with a red head torch if you don't have one.

Have a look at the SWA 70° 22mm from Skywatcher, it's a cracking eyepiece and not too expensive - you may have sessions where this is all you use - I used to have one but have just upgraded to a ExSci 82.

As for collimation, I have both a laser for in the field (make sure the laser is collimated - the only thing I find is that it is sometimes too bright to see down the tube properly, so one with variable brightness would bee good) and a Cheshire for checking it inside during cloudy night maintenance sessions.

Have fun, you've got a great scope there. :-)

Hi rockstar, thanks for your suggestion on EPs, this community is so supportive and the people are Great! Thanks!!

Update:

Rockstar that EP looks stunning, that is actually a really good EP and I might actually buy that! Only £86!