Finally First Light with my 12" Dob

[Richard Hather]

As the title suggests I've had my 12" Skywatcher Flextube for almost 2 weeks now and I finally got a good observing session last night.

I did have a telrad I wanted to attatched before hand which was very easy to attatched not to mention to align much more convenient then the Finder scope that was included.

I started of by observing Saturn/Jupiter, jupiter was sufficiently placed to show some nice detail belts were showing some lovely detail and the moons were clearly visible.

There was a bit of heat from the day which caused the image to shimmer but still plenty of detail to observe.

Onto Saturn and this is where I had my first problem, the issue was the weight of my EP and with Saturn being so low made it very difficult to keep the scope balanced.

The seeing was lovely on Saturn though the gap between the rings clearly divined and the Cassini division beautiful ?

DSO time now I decided for my first target to be a planetary nebula it had to be the M57 Ring Nebula.

I started off at Vega then Aimed the finder inbetween sheilak and sulafat.

I couldn't believe it through my Es 20mm the ring was clearly visible with a hint of colour possibly blue.

I popped in my Ethos 13mm and baader UHC filter combined and I could clearly see the ring directly and see a distinct blue colour around the centre simply breathtaking ?

I was pretty cocky after finding my first target through star hopping so I decided to go for a couple more this time 2 of my favourite globs M13 and M92.

M13 was again easy to find and revealed pinpoint stars and was brighter and more detailed then I think I've ever seen this lovely glob.

M92 was a little more difficult to find but eventually I had it in my eyepiece I was very impressed with the shape of the cluster and of course the amount of stars observable another one to tick off ?

In conclusion 3 DSOs bagged and some lovely views of our giant neighbours a perfect first light.

Apart from the weight issue with my heavy eps this will have to be resolved help on this issue of course welcome.

Clear skies ???

 

[Racey]

Richard, if tightening the tensioning handles doesn't work for you @Mrs Racey and I occasionally use a few carefully placed magnets, with a thin strip of rubber between them and the base of the tube opposite the focuser when the 40mm 2" "grenade" is being used...

first4magnets has an excellent selection...

[Richard Hather]

I will have a look at those as my dob has tracking no need to push the scope anywhere or nudge it there's no tension handles so no option there.

[Racey]

3 minutes ago, Richard Hather said:

I will have a look at those as my dob has tracking no need to push the scope anywhere or nudge it there's no tension handles so no option there.

Cheat... ? 

?

[alanjgreen]

Nice one Richard! Always feels good to get off to a good start.

Head off for the "veil" next... (you wont be dissapointed & its easy to locate at the edge of cygnus)

Alan

[alan potts]

Nice report we are having a very up and down weather period,  two days ago it was 34, yesterday was 18 and today a bit warmer but rain on the way

[John]

Good 1st light report Richard

I use a counterbalance system (magnetic knife rack plus a couple of iron weights) on the bottom end of my dob. Always needed when the heavy Ethos / Pentax XW's are in the focuser and the viewing angle drops below around 50 degrees or so. Both weights required with the 21mm Ethos or 31mm Nagler on board !

 

[scarp15]

Lovely report and nice conditions for observing in. Were you just using the Telrad Richard, therefore the finder scope not attached? I used to find that the finder scope contributed to balance issues and I got along absolutely fine with just the Telard (on a 2" riser). Another suggestion, though this costs / saving for, would be to in time consider replacing the quite heavy stock focuser. A Moonlite CR1 is a single speed focuser that is very light and incredibly smooth, easy to install with the correct installation blocks / kit.

At lower angles, the scope may tend to sag a little, so an additional counter weight as mentioned might occasionally assist.

[rockystar]

2 hours ago, alanjgreen said:

Nice one Richard! Always feels good to get off to a good start.

Head off for the "veil" next... (you wont be dissapointed & its easy to locate at the edge of cygnus)

Alan

think it might be a bit tricky in our skies, but @Richard Hather if you do spot it, give me a call, I'll be straight round

nice report, I can't get to saturn with my dob from the garden, house in the way

 

[Richard Hather]

4 hours ago, alanjgreen said:

Nice one Richard! Always feels good to get off to a good start.

Head off for the "veil" next... (you wont be dissapointed & its easy to locate at the edge of cygnus)

Alan

Thank you Alan I will journey there next time I'm out maybe tonight who knows ?

[Richard Hather]

4 hours ago, John said:

Good 1st light report Richard

I use a counterbalance system (magnetic knife rack plus a couple of iron weights) on the bottom end of my dob. Always needed when the heavy Ethos / Pentax XW's are in the focuser and the viewing angle drops below around 50 degrees or so. Both weights required with the 21mm Ethos or 31mm Nagler on board !

 

Good to know it can be sorted I will look at making one have you got a photo of how it looks just so I can refer to it thanks john ?

[Richard Hather]

3 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Lovely report and nice conditions for observing in. Were you just using the Telrad Richard, therefore the finder scope not attached? I used to find that the finder scope contributed to balance issues and I got along absolutely fine with just the Telard (on a 2" riser). Another suggestion, though this costs / saving for, would be to in time consider replacing the quite heavy stock focuser. A Moonlite CR1 is a single speed focuser that is very light and incredibly smooth, easy to install with the correct installation blocks / kit.

At lower angles, the scope may tend to sag a little, so an additional counter weight as mentioned might occasionally assist.

Thank you I do have the finder scope and telrad on the scope I will try it without and see if it makes a difference.

I will certainly look at upgrading the focuser and of course I think counter weights are a must with the heavier eps.

[Mrs Racey]

23 minutes ago, Richard Hather said:

Thank you I do have the finder scope and telrad on the scope I will try it without and see if it makes a difference.

Richard, worry not. Ours balances with a Telrad, a dual finder bracket (as @Mrs Racey still likes her RDF), a 9x50 finder scope and most eyepieces. It's only the big grenades that require the counterweights. And 6 60mm outside diameter ring magnets counteract our 40mm. 

And those can be attached and removed without trace in seconds...

[Richard Hather]

3 hours ago, rockystar said:

think it might be a bit tricky in our skies, but @Richard Hather if you do spot it, give me a call, I'll be straight round

nice report, I can't get to saturn with my dob from the garden, house in the way

 

I will try and view it next time I'm out and you will have to call round next time I'm out and have a look at Saturn ?

[Richard Hather]

2 hours ago, Mrs Racey said:

Richard, worry not. Ours balances with a Telrad, a dual finder bracket (as @Mrs Racey still likes her RDF), a 9x50 finder scope and most eyepieces. It's only the big grenades that require the counterweights. And 6 60mm outside diameter ring magnets counteract our 40mm. 

And those can be attached and removed without trace in seconds...

Do you have a link we're I could buy these ring magnets there's a few choices and I want to get something that's been tried and tested ?

Thank you for your help I appreciate it ?

[rockystar]

3 hours ago, Richard Hather said:

I will try and view it next time I'm out and you will have to call round next time I'm out and have a look at Saturn ?

looking good again for tonight, early start tomorrow though

 

[Richard Hather]

18 hours ago, rockystar said:

looking good again for tonight, early start tomorrow though

 

That's a shame lee I had another few hours out last night Jupiter and Saturn were pretty goog again and I tracked down a couple more globs M3 and NGC 5466.

I didn't have it all my own way though the pinwheel galaxy and the Veil proved to hard for me to see.

Im sure I was in the right area but the sky was particularly bright last night didn't get dark enough to really see the constellations until 12:00.

Bring back the darker skies ? 

[Richard Hather]

I purchased 4 magnets from first4magnets and they work a treat no more balancing issues ?

Thank you everyone for helping me out ?

[elliot]

On 24/06/2017 at 02:20, Richard Hather said:

I purchased 4 magnets from first4magnets and they work a treat no more balancing issues ?

Thank you everyone for helping me out ?

Hi @Richard HatherCan you let me know which ones you ordered?  Just about to do the same. My Altoids tin full of nails isn't heavy enough

I'm thinking a pair of these my do the trick. Built in rubber protection!  https://www.first4magnets.com/rectangular-magnets-c35/79-x-53-x-12mm-thick-x-m6-thread-rubber-coated-mag-pad-10kg-pull-p3807#ps_1-1765

 

Cheers, Elliot.

[Richard Hather]

https://www.first4magnets.com/circular-ring-magnets-c37/ferrite-magnets-t138

I bought 4 which is enough to also have a heave Es 20mm and 2 finders ?

[elliot]

thanks.  that's linking to a bunch of them.  can you remember the size?  Thanks so much.  e

[Richard Hather]

I got the 60mm ones and they work fine there are bigger sizes but 4 of these do the job nicely ?

[elliot]

perfect...thanks

[elliot]

Unfortunately 4 x 60mm weren't heavy enough to balance. They're magnetty enough (cool word eh?) so I think I'll wait until Lidl/Aldi are doing wrist/ankle weights and put the magnets in them. 

[rockystar]

22 minutes ago, elliot said:

Unfortunately 4 x 60mm weren't heavy enough to balance. They're magnetty enough (cool word eh?) so I think I'll wait until Lidl/Aldi are doing wrist/ankle weights and put the magnets in them. 

don't suppose you've weighed them? I'm probably going to be looking soon