8 inch OTA on a basic EQ mount

[ronny_shri]

@Cosmic Geoff @Dave In Vermont @Louis D ? OMG!!! I get what you guys are talking about. But that was some elaborate explaining done by dave there.  Gave me chills. 

I will check out the local law and see what I can do. 

Thnx again guys . Always at my rescue .

PS: is there any way to attach my celestron 40az to my OTA . its just laying around and i have a shortage of space. And is there any other use for it as in with supplement to my new telescope somehow? 

Any reply is always appreciated

[Louis D]

25 minutes ago, ronny_shri said:

PS: is there any way to attach my celestron 40az to my OTA . its just laying around and i have a shortage of space. And is there any other use for it as in with supplement to my new telescope somehow? 

Sure, there are tube rings which allow other OTAs to be piggybacked onto a scope, but a decent quality 50mm finder scope would be better because it has more aperture and a shorter focal length yielding wider views to complement the main scope.

[ronny_shri]

hello experts

i have a little confusion. i just took my telescope on my roof to observe the sun. i have a badder solar filter (not the full aperture one, but the one which has a small circular film at one side) and i'am able to see the sun properly with it when i place it in front of my eyes. but as soon as i put it on my 8" OTA, after adjusting and aligning , all i can see is that thin film brighten up. as in it is dark throughout the time iam adjusting the telescope to align with the sun and i guessed it is brightening up only because it is aligned . the thing is , i cannot see anything more than that!! except the bright film, but no sun in it.  what am i doing wrong?? if i try to adjust again, the film goes dark again. :'( 

@Louis D @Dave In Vermont @Cosmic Geoff

 

2. when i place a white paper in front of my eyepiece holder (without the eyepiece), why am  i getting a partially eclipsed image?

[Cosmic Geoff]

I don't know why your Baader filter is not working, but will make some more general comments. I have never been enthusiastic about looking at the sun through a filtered telescope, unless it is a purpose-built H-alpha telescope or has a professionally made solar filter fitted over the front end that can not possibly become detached.  I prefer to observe sunspots using the projection method (for which you should not use an aperture greater than four inches.)

If you are using a small diameter front-end solar filter, you might as well be using the smaller telescope which I understand you have.

A safe way of aiming your telescope at the sun is to put a piece of white card behind it, stand to one side and move the telescope till the shadows become perfectly round. Some people advise that your keep your finder capped for safety, which you should probably do in your case, but if the finder is at the back of the scope it will helpfully start projecting a small white circle on the card (or your hand) DO NOT LOOK THROUGH THE FINDER. 

You should be able to see the sun via the filter using the same focus you used at night. If you still have difficulty I would suggest using projection with the small aperture. Safer for the eyes, though there is some risk of over-heating plastic eyepiece parts.

FYI there have been no sunspots for the past several days, but there is a small one today.

[Louis D]

11 hours ago, ronny_shri said:

hello experts

i have a little confusion. i just took my telescope on my roof to observe the sun. i have a badder solar filter (not the full aperture one, but the one which has a small circular film at one side) and i'am able to see the sun properly with it when i place it in front of my eyes. but as soon as i put it on my 8" OTA, after adjusting and aligning , all i can see is that thin film brighten up. as in it is dark throughout the time iam adjusting the telescope to align with the sun and i guessed it is brightening up only because it is aligned . the thing is , i cannot see anything more than that!! except the bright film, but no sun in it.  what am i doing wrong?? if i try to adjust again, the film goes dark again. :'( 

@Louis D @Dave In Vermont @Cosmic Geoff

 

2. when i place a white paper in front of my eyepiece holder (without the eyepiece), why am  i getting a partially eclipsed image?

Not quite sure, but based on your description and my recent experience during the solar eclipse and my filtered ST80, I'd say you're really close to being aimed directly at the sun, but are off by less than a degree.  Try sweeping the telescope around where the sun should be based on the shadow your scope casts on the ground.  The shadow should be minimized when it is aimed at the sun.  I found I was close after minimizing the shadow, but was still off somehow, so I had to sweep around a bit to finally find the sun in the eyepiece.

[ronny_shri]

 @Louis D @Dave In Vermont @Cosmic Geoff @domstar @John @Stu @Ricochet

Finally!!!!!!!! after a long time. had clear sky last night, so i assembled my setup as soon as possible . and although the orbit of moon is pretty shy these days from here, i was lucky to get an hour or so of decent seeing of the moon. and i was BLOWN AWAY by the brightness and clarity at first glance!!!! i had a 25mm kelner extra wide field , a 17mm kelner and a 12mm normal eyepiece , plus the two i got with my celestron 40 ( 9mm and 25mm) , along with 2x 3x and 4x barlow. so i started playing around, and for the first time use, i would say "MONEY WELL SPENT"  .  

suddenly i noticed a star in the background to the right of the moon, and so i put on the high power eyepiece, to my amusement IT WAS SATURN  !!!!!! .. i was able to see one of its moon along with the ring structure which i could easily make out .  it was a breathtaking moment for me. sadly my cellphone and camera were already dead from the shots i was taking of the moon so i could not shoot it. but what an experience !! 

PS: i realized that i need better quality high power eyepiece i guess to get a better and clearer image , or should i go with a digital eyepiece or make a diy webcam eyepiece.. i would love to here what you guys have to say... journey begins .

here are some of the shots i took with afocal photography using the eyepiece i have mentioned and a LG K10 smartphone. the editing is poor as i used basic cellphone editing functions.. any suggestions there are also welcome .  

[Louis D]

Good to see you're able to observe with your new scope.  Enjoy these first few months of excitement as you discover lots of new targets.  I remember being almost giddy seeing nebula, GCs, OCs, planets, the sun in white light, etc.

[Dave In Vermont]

Excellent report! And excellent luck on your part for getting Saturn (and the Moon Titan) as a wonderful bonus!

Your first pictures? Those are great for afocal shots and a camera-phone! I think you're well on your way to some marvelous sights and scenes with your great telescope.

Pease do continue!

Best Wishes -

Dave

[Stu]

Brilliant news Ronny! Your pictures are excellent, looks like the scope is performing very well.

How did you find the mount? Stable enough?

[ronny_shri]

@Louis D any suggestions ?? what should i look at next, what do u think will be good to look at through it next? and how will nebulae look , how to knw iam looking at the right thing?

@Dave In Vermont thnx alot dave, yea i hope to see the universe from a different perspective .

@Stu the mount is stable i guess (using in alt-AZ config), though i have to make sure each time that iam not touching the scope as it produces those irritating vibrations which takes about 20 sec to go away and so does the object in sight .   ... 

 

PS: guys, pls tell about the digital eyepiece and the webcam idea... which is better? and/or a high powered eyepiece ?? which will yield the best result for clear planets and better zoom capabilities ?

 

thnx again, you guys keep me enthusiastic. 

[domstar]

Great to hear your report and excellent photos. Glad to know it's all working out for you. Keep the reports coming.

(sorry I'm not the one to advise you about equipment)

[Louis D]

4 hours ago, ronny_shri said:

the mount is stable i guess (using in alt-AZ config), though i have to make sure each time that iam not touching the scope as it produces those irritating vibrations which takes about 20 sec to go away and so does the object in sight .   ... 

Yeah, that's pretty bad.  It's mostly a function of the design of the mount.  All I can suggest is adding anti vibration pads or Sorbothane pads under each foot of the pier.  However, that will mostly damp out high frequency vibrations.  I'm pretty sure you're seeing low frequency vibrations from the tube swinging on its axes, not from tiny vibrations.  The Dobsonian mount excels at damping those low frequency vibrations.  Hopefully you will get your counterweights soon so you can use the mount equatorially.  Unfortunately, I didn't see any slow motion controls on that particular mount.

4 hours ago, ronny_shri said:

any suggestions ?? what should i look at next, what do u think will be good to look at through it next? and how will nebulae look , how to knw iam looking at the right thing?

Off the top of my head, you could look for the double-double in Lyra as well as M57, the ring nebula in Lyra.  There's also Albireo in Cygnus.  There's the Andromeda galaxy in Andromeda.  Also check out the double cluster in Perseus.  In the wee hours of the morning, the Orion nebula is spectacular in Orion.  You might be able to see M15 (a globular cluster) in Hercules right after sunset.

Most nebula look like fuzzy patches of light, but M57 looks like a smoke ring and the Orion nebula looks like a bird with wings outstretched.  Andromeda looks kind of like a cigar with two fuzzy patches nearby.  You're only seeing the core from most observing sites.  There are lots more open clusters to look for.  Stick with those on the Messier list as they are pretty easy for beginners.  Globular clusters look fuzzy until you get up above 150x to 200x, then they start to resolve into stars.

Install Stellarium and see what's up at different times of the night.

[ronny_shri]

@Louis D sir, i got the counterweights today . please tell me now how to proceed? my current location is in bangalore, india. what to do next?

[John]

11 minutes ago, ronny_shri said:

@Louis D sir, i got the counterweights today . please tell me now how to proceed? my current location is in bangalore, india. what to do next?

This Youtube movie shows how to set up a basic equatorial mount: