Should it be this complicated?

[Apollo_95]

I am a newbie to astronomy but I cannot speak highly enough of the Skywatcher Heritage 130p Dob. Its perfect for a newbie. Set up time is 5 mins. All u need is a table to put it on. The red dot finder is bang on so there is no faffing about locating targets. 

[Richard Hather]

1 hour ago, Apollo_95 said:

I am a newbie to astronomy but I cannot speak highly enough of the Skywatcher Heritage 130p Dob. Its perfect for a newbie. Set up time is 5 mins. All u need is a table to put it on. The red dot finder is bang on so there is no faffing about locating targets. 

One of my work colleagues brought one in for me to setup as he was struggling aligning it.

I have to say I was impressed with it nice simple piece of kit and as you said can be setup in no time ?

[Swoop1]

I agonised over set up and storeage when I got my scope. In the end, I opted for keeping the OTA in the bedroom (finder left attached), the tripod and mount in the shed (counterweights removed) and the EP's and other ancileries in a repurposed cordless drill case in the hall. The tablet and star charts live in the living room. Once a decision has been made to observe, the map stuff is put on the chair by th door, the ep case is put by the door, the OTA is retrieved and put by the door. I then prepare myself (coat on shoes on hat on etc). Exit the front door with mapping and ep case. Retrieve the tripod and deploy in observing position, back in for the OTA which is placed straight on the tripod. All in all, from sitting in the front room minding my own business to eye at the EP minding ET's business- 15 minutes tops.

Since this routine was established I have acquired further kit (solar filter, camera mount etc.) so prep may take another minute or so as more stuff needs gathering. I have offset this by marking the counterweight bar with tape and removing the weights from the bar which stays on the mount at break down.

I have definitely got quicker with practice.

I don't have GoTo. I rely on following Stelarium or star charts. For me, that is more satisfying. I have also recently purchased a Telrad which I expect will make objecty locating easier. I am awaiting delivery of a larger finder scope (RACI type) which will also make navigation less back breaking.

[RAWBob]

I'm using a Celestron Omni 150mm (750 FL) on a CG-4 mount.  Getting it to a sensible spot can be a chore, and as the OP stated, finding anything can be even more of a chore.  Now I know that everything I see in the Newtonian is upside down I can at least go looking in the right direction.  Yeah, laugh, it takes a while for a real photographer to  get used to that little tidbit.  All I can say is don't give up.  I keep plugging away, and believe me, the guys here at SGL have helped immensely.  Every post I read I learn something new, so stick with it.  I'm still a newbie, but after a month of viewing and photographing stuff through the scope, I'm hooked.  It can only get better.

Bobn

[RAWBob]

On 5/17/2017 at 05:06, Tigaroo said:

Does help somewhat having an amazing husband capable of building this to store my equipment right next to the patio ! Spoilt rotten! 

Envious to say the least.

[MarsG76]

Like mentioned before, most people go through that, but you will find short cuts... for example initially it took me ages to setup and PA the equatorial mount for astrophotography than run all of the cables for all of the imaging gear. What I ended up doing is cabling everything I need to the tripod legs with cable ties, the power supplies, a power board, the USB cables, a USB hub etc... I ended up with only having to plug in one power cable and one USB cable to the laptop to have the electronics setup.

For the PA i stopped pulling apart my gear and kept it all together, I put some concrete plates into the grass with holes drilled into the center of each where all I had to do it carry and put the tripod legs of the already setup scope and tripod, into the holes and I was always close enough polar aligned for astroimaging.

Now I have living in the gym my whole life since I was a teenager so I don't have trouble carrying the 50 or 60kg of already setup unit out of the house into the concrete plates out in the back yard, but alternatively all one would need to do is have the EQ head already PA'd and than add the counter weights and telescope to the mount once its already outside. This save a lot of setup time.

My next step is setting up a permanent telescope hut/observatory with the scope already setup on a pier.

As time goes by, you will find your way.

As far as observing, you will have good and bad nights... like with everything in life, also it is a learning process but it is for those good nights that we hold out for... and with experience you will have better and better nights with your telescope.

 

 

[DavidJM]

On 17/05/2017 at 11:06, Tigaroo said:

Does help somewhat having an amazing husband capable of building this to store my equipment right next to the patio ! Spoilt rotten! 

Is that a telrad added to your dob? Does it affect the balance in any way?

[rockystar]

@DavidJM I've got a telrad and quite heavy EPs on mine and only when It's pointing near horizontal do I need to screw the handles really tightly. You can also get a couple of magnets to place at the other end, for counter balance - I've not fine this yet

 

[DavidJM]

9 minutes ago, rockystar said:

@DavidJM I've got a telrad and quite heavy EPs on mine and only when It's pointing near horizontal do I need to screw the handles really tightly. You can also get a couple of magnets to place at the other end, for counter balance - I've not fine this yet

 

Thanks for info, hadn't thought of magnets☺