Yet Another Newbie!

[Redscouse]

2 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

You must have been a good 45 year old boy for santa to bring you such a gift :-) 

Welcome to SGL

 

Indeed!  

After owning it for less than 10 days I sent her a link via whatsapp whilst she was in work saying "I need this" (The HEQ5 Synscan). Her reply had me jumping for joy when she said "ok, i'll order it when I get home". Then she came home and I asked her if she'd clicked the link, which she hadn't. Ok, reality set in here.
She clicked the link studied it for a few seconds, looked up at me and I believe her words were; "Yeah, you can buy that yourself!".
At least she never said no, I'm happy with that!  

[michaelmorris]

As far as upgrading your eyepieces, I would hold off on the decision for a few weeks/months and get to learn your scope, what eyepieces works and which don't.

Welcome to SGL

From my experience buying sets of eyepieces tends to leave you with a few ones you never use and hence tend not to be particularly good value for money.

FLO's field of view calculator can be very useful in eyepiece buying decision making process.

http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

For what it's worth, your have quite a 'fast' scope (i.e. it has low focal ratio).  This means that it will tend to show up aberrations in cheaper eyepieces more readily that a slower scope such as long focal length refractor or a Schmitt Cassegrain (SCT) design.  The result of this is that you should notice more of an improvement when upgrading from stock eyepieces than would someone with a faster scope.

Personally, in recent years all my eyepiece upgrades have been to Televue eyepieces and I've never been anything but impressed with them.  Whilst a new Ethos eyepiece can cost well over £500 each, you can pick up nice secondhand examples from their range of their excellent Plossl eyepieces for £50 to £60 each.  Try either SGL's own For Sale section or UK Astronomy Buy and Sell - both tend to be pretty reliable.

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/

I hope this helps

[Redscouse]

Hi Michael, 

Thanks for your input. Yeah, I'm probably going to hold off with the expensive eyepieces for now. I'm going to grab the Celestron set from FLO this week. I figure this will give me a range to test out that's not too expensive and find what suits me best. I'm hoping to grab the HEQ5 in the next few weeks so the eyepieces will keep me busy until that arrives and hopefully by that time, I'd have a few favourite eyepieces to enjoy the DSO's a goto will help me find.

[Redscouse]

Stopped by FLO today to collect this little set. (Note to self; No more eyepieces until you figure what you like best!) 
Came out of FLO looked up and saw nice blue skies. Yep, I'm on I thought. Jumped in car, dashed home only to find it overcast and raining here in the bay!
I swear those gods of astronomy are conspiring against me!  

The good news is, even Barlowed, the new set doesn't have either of the existing EP's I already have. Bonus!  
(however I do now have two Barlows & two moon filters)

[JamesM]

Hi Pete and welcome to the forum

Clear skies

[Redscouse]

Thanks James.

[ronl]

Hello Pete and welcome to SGL, hope you enjoy your time with us.

Clear Sky's.

[Redscouse]

Thanks Ron.  

[Phil73805]

On 15/01/2018 at 16:54, Redscouse said:

Stopped by FLO today to collect this little set. (Note to self; No more eyepieces until you figure what you like best!) 
Came out of FLO looked up and saw nice blue skies. Yep, I'm on I thought. Jumped in car, dashed home only to find it overcast and raining here in the bay!
I swear those gods of astronomy are conspiring against me!  

The good news is, even Barlowed, the new set doesn't have either of the existing EP's I already have. Bonus!  
(however I do now have two Barlows & two moon filters)

An excellent set that I am still using almost ten years after buying them! Welcome to the forum!

[Redscouse]

Thanks Phil.  

Had clear skies last night for a couple of hours so popped out with the scope and tried all the eyepieces and was oddly surprised when my favourite turned out to be the 32mm. I assumed I would favour somewhere around the 6/8mm. (I'm sure you have all heard that before from newcomers.  ) 

 

As a side note, popped a collimation cap in today and spotted this on the primary. Any ideas how to remove it please ladies and gents?
I thought of using a tickle stick (or whatever the proper name is) as it looks like a bit of dust/dirt rather than a scratch. 

 

Edit: Apologies for bad image. this is cropped so you could see without zooming the image. 

[martinl]

Just leave it alone for now. Compared to the big black blob covering the center of the mirror it is miniscule and will not affect the views whatsoever. When next you have reason to take the primary out you’ll probably find it is easy to blow off with a rubber bulb.

Optics can be surprisingly dirty before you notice anything at the eyepiece...

[Redscouse]

4 minutes ago, martinl said:

Just leave it alone for now.

Sounds like good advice to me. 
Thanks Martin. 

[Redscouse]

Strange reading back through this thread. 
Makes me laugh really. I mean what was all the fuss about collimation! 
Us newbies hey, must keep you lot entertained for hours!  

I'm still surprised I favour the 32mm EP. Caught me off guard that did. 

[Demonperformer]

Hi, Pete, & welcome to SGL.

You already have what you need to get started in AP ... a camera, a lens and a mount. Widefield shots are a great way to get some experience in the dark art before investing hundreds (thousands) or pounds. Enjoy.

[Redscouse]

35 minutes ago, Demonperformer said:

Hi, Pete, & welcome to SGL.

You already have what you need to get started in AP ... a camera, a lens and a mount. Widefield shots are a great way to get some experience in the dark art before investing hundreds (thousands) or pounds. Enjoy.

Thanks  
I have taken a few shots already on my EQ2 mount with the DSLR. I have a nice one of Orion nebulae as a screen saver on my phone. (posted it in this forum somewhere). Since I started this thread I've moved onto an HEQ5 and have a ToupTek camera (although haven't used the camera yet.) 
I was out last night for a good few hours. First time using the mount outside and was quite an enjoyable evening. I managed to see a few 'fuzzies' that I'd been searching for with the EQ2 and never managed to find. Went to bed a happy chappy!  

Both photos; Single shot; Unprocessed; 10 seconds; ISO6400; 

Andromeda. (can't figure out if that's another fuzzy in the bottom left corner)

Pleiades.

[Geoff Lister]

On ‎09‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 15:41, Redscouse said:

I'm still surprised I favour the 32mm EP.

Welcome to SGL. I bought the same eyepiece set, as it was offered at a discount when I purchased my Skywatcher Skymax 127. I agree; the 32mm is my weapon of choice for GoTo alignment, and for general observing, and I probably spend more time looking through it, than the combined time with the rest of the other eyepieces. I have added some more cut-outs in the foam base, to take:- Cheshire, red/white torch, a couple of spare 3V CR2032 cells for RDFs, a couple of small Allen keys, UHC filter, T adaptor for my DSLR, and T to 1.25" extension tube (with a 1mm hole centrally in its cover to make a collimation cap).

Geoff

[Redscouse]

On 13/01/2018 at 18:12, Charic said:

Once your familiar/accustomed to collimation, you'll wonder what the fuss was about!

Never a truer word spoken! 

[pblackwell]

Hi Newb,

Dude, Ive recently upgraded from the same telescope and mount as yours which I had for 2 years, except it had the motor drive so was the 130M.

My strong advise to you is to not run before you can walk. Take time to enjoy your telescope, I find it a little gem and I will keep mine!

Buy the motor drive to go with the EQ2 mount and a simple cheap T-ring adapter to go with your camera so you can take some basic astronomy pictures.

Learn to use your kit and enjoy what you have. Give it some time so in a years time you still know you are still into astronomy b fire spending a lot of money. Then, like I did, after a while do some proper research and then upgrade.

Simples bro. Any questions shoot away!

Enjoy!

P

 

[cletrac1922]

Hi Pete

Welcome from land down under

Hope you enjoy your stay with us

 

John

[Redscouse]

20 hours ago, pblackwell said:

My strong advise to you is to not run before you can walk.

Buy the motor drive to go with the EQ2 mount

b fire spending a lot of money. Then, like I did, after a while do some proper research and then upgrade.

Thanks P. Appreciate it.
I have to admit though, it may be a little late with that advise my friend. I'm already out the blocks round the track and left the stadium! 
I purchased the HEQ5 pro goto a few weeks ago, along with a few more scopes, couple of cameras, ep sets, filter wheel, power supplies.. and my kit list gets longer every time I look around the internet!  (see my sig)

As for the 130P. I'll always keep hold of that one. My wife bought it for me and is what got me started in this hobby. I love that scope. 

15 hours ago, cletrac1922 said:

Welcome from land down under

Hope you enjoy your stay with us

Thanks John.
I very much enjoy SGL. Since joining I've spent many hours here trawling through hundreds of posts, learning a bit of stuff along the way. 

[swag72]

Hi Pete and welcome to SGL - This is a great place chocked full of helpful and knowledgeable people - I hope you enjoy your time here  

[Redscouse]

Thanks Sara. 
It is a great place indeed! As you rightly say, full of great people.

Clear skies! 
Pete. 

[gingergeek]

Hi there dude and welcome to SGL, kick back and relax. The site is full of experienced/knowledgeable people that can help you get started