2nd Light with Mak 150 Goto

[Dazzyt66]

I've been eagerly awaiting a good clear night to fully try out my Mak 150 and heq5 GOTO mount. Having never had GOTO before it's a bit of a novelty but I've mastered a pretty quick setup using 1 or 2 star alignment. I'm ignoring full on polar alignment at the mo cos I haven't got round to any imaging yet.

Early this AM, Buxton, Derbyshire. The last night of our camping weekend saw a fabulously clear night albeit very dew full. Luckily I'd invested in a dew shield so it payed off.

My first 2 star alignment went well with Vega and Dubhe. I may stick with these cos they are easy!

First target; Jupiter. Outstanding is the only thing I can say. I used the supplied 2" 28mm ep to start with and was amazed at the clarity. Clear banding and 4 moons in FOV. Dropping to my 10mm Baader Ortho didn't do much but make Jupiter bigger but it was still the clearest I've seen it for a while.

Next Saturn; Stunning with the 28mm. I have never seen it so clear and absolutely not seen Titan before but there it was. The 10mm was even better. The GOTO both times dropped these planets almost in the centre of the finder and similarly in the ep. Great!

Mars; now hidden by trees!! Should've looked at Mars first!!! Note to self.

Time was ticking on, cold settling in and things starting to dew over but the scope stayed clear, so, 'Tour' button caught my eye. I rattled through a few items until I got to the Ring Nebula. OMG. Directly in the middle of the ep view, there it was!! I was hooked. GOTO rocks (although it feels very much like cheating!!). I then went on to other familiar Messier objects, each of them appearing without much need for me to adjust anything. I really can't wait to spend a few hours exploring further now.

Today, when we got back my Revelation 40mm camera ep had arrived so now I can hopefully get some cracking pictures that the Mak will deliver, both planetary and brighter DSO's. I can't believe I'm saying this but roll on a full moon cos I wanna see what this baby can do with Lunar - and I can hopefully get a pic of it!!!