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First night with new 8" dob

Bribrum

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Bribrum

Bribrum

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Tonight was my first night with my new 8" dob. I can not believe how good this telescope is. 

Im a complete novice and after struggling away with a cheap eq mount scope I took lots of advice off the good people of this site. 

Not really knowing the sky well I worked which star was Jupiter and let the scope acclimatise. (Most important that bit)

then I got comfortable and looked through the scope. To my amazement I could clearly see Jupiter and the bands. And then realised I could easily see the 4 moons. 

I was shocked at how quick it moves through my line of vision but found it easy to nudge along. 

Anyone thinking about this scope all I can say is ...go and get it. I can also recommend First Light Optics. Great quick and really helpful 

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Bribrum

Bribrum

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Thanks Faulksy 

first time I have seen it and it's beautiful. I really need to think about Barlow lenses etc

jupiter was small but well detailed the scope is so easy even I can use it

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cletrac1922

cletrac1922

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Great to hear

 

Have a 10" collapsible dob, and get many ours of enjoyment out of that

Find it quicker and easier to use when doing presentations for schools and scout/guide groups

Nothing worse when trying to do a 2 star alignment with my ED80 on a EQ5 mount, and having 20+ 5-7 yo's yapping around your heals asking

Mister, can I have a look

Find it easier to use a laser pointer, to spot with, and just lay along the dob adjacent to spotting scope, and then do final alignment using spotting scope

Good idea to align crosshairs on your spotting scope, first up

Use a distant street light, or a house on a distant hill to do this

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Bribrum

Bribrum

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2 hours ago, cletrac1922 said:

Great to hear

 

Have a 10" collapsible dob, and get many ours of enjoyment out of that

Find it quicker and easier to use when doing presentations for schools and scout/guide groups

Nothing worse when trying to do a 2 star alignment with my ED80 on a EQ5 mount, and having 20+ 5-7 yo's yapping around your heals asking

Mister, can I have a look

Find it easier to use a laser pointer, to spot with, and just lay along the dob adjacent to spotting scope, and then do final alignment using spotting scope

Good idea to align crosshairs on your spotting scope, first up

Use a distant street light, or a house on a distant hill to do this

 

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Stu

Stu

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20 minutes ago, Bribrum said:

Thanks everyone 

I'm shopping now for a few lenses inc a barlowe

Don't get too hung up about a Barlow, they are not always the best thing to invest in. Going for the highest power is also often a recipe for soft views. Less is more.

x150 to x200 is a useful planetary range, with the planets so low currently the atmosphere is the limiting factor. In your scope which I assume is a 200mm f6, that means eyepieces in the 8, 7 and 6mm should work well for planetary viewing.

Im sure plenty of members will help you spend your budget if you tell us what it is :).

Glad you are enjoying the scope.

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laudropb

laudropb

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Congratulations on your successful first light. You have made a very good choice for a first scope. As Stu says high magnification is not the be all of planetary observing. I can seldom go above about 180x because of sky conditions. What will make a difference is experience. The oftener you look and the more time you spend observing will start to bring out the finer details, especially in moments of good seeing.

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Chefgage

Chefgage

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3 hours ago, Stu said:

Don't get too hung up about a Barlow, they are not always the best thing to invest in. Going for the highest power is also often a recipe for soft views. Less is more.

x150 to x200 is a useful planetary range, with the planets so low currently the atmosphere is the limiting factor. In your scope which I assume is a 200mm f6, that means eyepieces in the 8, 7 and 6mm should work well for planetary viewing.

Im sure plenty of members will help you spend your budget if you tell us what it is :).

Glad you are enjoying the scope.

I have the same scope as the OP. I have a 4mm eye piece that came with a very cheap telescope. With this eye piece. I get very good views if jupiter, plenty of detail including the GRS and moon transists.

So might be worth investing in a 6mm or 4mm.

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Stu

Stu

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14 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

I have the same scope as the OP. I have a 4mm eye piece that came with a very cheap telescope. With this eye piece. I get very good views if jupiter, plenty of detail including the GRS and moon transists.

So might be worth investing in a 6mm or 4mm.

A 4mm will give x300 which in the U.K. would likely be too much. The views would likely look larger but not show any more detail and may lose some due to lack of contrast. 

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JOC

JOC

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I've essentially got a 200P, and get cracking views with a Meade 15mm 4000 Plossl x2 Barlowed to 7.5.  You don't need a Barlow - it just happens to work really well with the Meade, but I can confirm above that around 7.5mm appears to hit the sweet spot in these telescopes.

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BGazing

BGazing

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4 hours ago, Stu said:

Don't get too hung up about a Barlow, they are not always the best thing to invest in. Going for the highest power is also often a recipe for soft views. Less is more.

x150 to x200 is a useful planetary range, with the planets so low currently the atmosphere is the limiting factor. In your scope which I assume is a 200mm f6, that means eyepieces in the 8, 7 and 6mm should work well for planetary viewing.

Im sure plenty of members will help you spend your budget if you tell us what it is :).

Glad you are enjoying the scope.

Can't remember where - but I do remember reading that Barnard's favourite magnification for observing through a 40in Yerkes refractor was 180x.

Not sure if true, would suggest a 107mm eyepiece...

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Charic

Charic

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I think branding, cost and what you desire from an eyepiece is dependent on the end user,  and until you have tried some, its hard to fathom out what you really need, what is essential, what you must have (at least one eyepiece) and what you may desire?

Branding aside, what I have found  is that my (2")32mm, 12mm, 8mm and 6mm are most often used in that order, depending on the conditions, but most if not every eyepiece will get used during the session?

Using them all (EP's) at least one of them in my collection should provide a suitable, if not decent image, depending on the seeing, but the 6, 12 & 32mm are based around my scopes focal ratio and entry pupil of my eye (estimated by an optometrist ) which goes someway to explain why they work so well for my eyes on an f/6 scope!

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estwing

estwing

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14 hours ago, Bribrum said:

m a complete novice and after struggling away with a cheap eq mount scope I took lots of advice off the good people of this site. 

I still can't understand why anyone would recommend an eq mounted scope to a beginner for visual 

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Stu

Stu

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1 minute ago, Charic said:

..even a seasoned astronomer, not worth the time, just for visual work.

For beginners I do agree, they are more complex/confusing than necessary. I use manual alt az mounts a lot, but regularly now use a Vixen GP to give me simple tracking for planetary, solar and lunar observing, more relaxing than nudging all the time.

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Astro Imp

Astro Imp

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Well done on your choice of scope.

I'm really pleased you had a successful first light, Jupiter was the first planet I saw when I started out and that experience got me hooked.

I already had a collection of Celestron X-Cel LX eyepieces when I purchased my 8" Dob and find they work very well for me. As mine tracks there is no need to nudge but you may benefit from eyepieces with a greater field of view.

Continue to enjoy a very fine scope.

Good luck and clear skies.

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