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Hello at last!

Recretos

By Recretos
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Recretos

Recretos

Posted
Posted

Hello everybody. 

I am Andrej (Andrew - internationally), but online I am mostly Recretos. :) I live in Slovenia (central Europe, next door to Italy). 

I have finally decided to buy my first scope (Skywatcher N150/1200 dobson), and I am now waiting delivery this coming week. It was also with help and advice from many posts on this great forum.
I always wanted a scope since I was a kid, but never got one from my parents. And when I got my full-time job at 19, I had other priorities. Now at 27, its about time I fulfilled my dream of looking far into the universe, and far back in time. :) I had a look through a telescope before, through a Meade 8" SCT, but it was only twice, first 16 years ago, and last time 14 years a go at a school astronomy night. But I basically cant remember the views anymore, so.... 

The decision what exactly to buy took me whole 6 months. I first had to set straight what my budget is. That was set at around 280€ max. Perhaps to 300€ if really necessary, but that was about it. My girlfriend was not happy at all about this purchase, since she is not really into the universe, but she softened a bit when I proposed to her when I was showing her the Orion nebula through binoculars (20x50mm Bushnell, great view). ;) 
I also knew I wanted a new scope. I wasn't even looking at used ones, despite perhaps landing a good deal with some patience. But after 6 months I was waiting no more. I then had to figure out the whole refractor/reflector debate. That took a month on its own. I eventually went for a Newtonian since I am most interested in our galaxy and what lies beyond it, and not as much in just planetary observing. And also given my limited budget, I wanted the most bang for the buck. And I quickly realised that you cant really beat a good Dobson setup at that.
So when I knew what I want and how much I can spend for it, I had to decide what specific hardware to buy. Of course I read all the horror stories about collimation for beginners, and for a while i really was starting to get sceptical about the newtonian. But after watching a few YouTube video guides, I felt confident and went ahead with a reflector. 
After reading many reviews (and price tags :) ), I kinda knew I am going for a Skywatcher dobson, since I am all for visual astronomy, and not really interested in astrophotography. Then I was torn between the 6" and 8". And no amount of reviews did any good. I really wanted the 8" badly, since it was perfect for my needs and what I was aiming at. And lets be real, who can say no to an 8" lightbucket. But the price was beyond my budget. I did some math, and I could get a 6" dobson for 255€ (incl. shipping), or an 8" for 330€. The 8" was in my extended price range, but I eventually went for the 6" for two reasons. 

First reason is of course the fact that since I bought the cheaper 6", I had 50€ left of the budget for accessories. First being a collimation laser and a 2x barlow, with a few € still to spare. And eventually I will also get a 8-24mm zoom eyepiece and a 32mm wider angle eyepiece, and that's about it. And a filter or two. So basically I rather spend the extra money on accessories, since I have no doubts that the whole package will keep me entertained for many years to come, in which I can save up for a bigger/better scope. I just wanted something simple to start with and to learn the basics before going bigger. I am a complete novice nonetheless. 

The second reason is a bit less straightforward. I wanted the 8" for all its light gathering power. But I soon realised that perhaps I might have an "extra inch" of aperture in my backyard. Not literally of course, but let me explain (because this post is not long enough already :D ).

I live on a hill, 1050m (3.450ft) above sea level. I have generally very low light pollution and hardly any skyglow above the low horizon. On the light pollution map ( https://www.lightpollutionmap.info ) I am in the class 4. 
ss.jpg

What I am also highly aiming at, are days with fog down in the lowlands, reaching up to 950-1000m altitude. Those days are usually in late autumn and during winter, and some in early spring, when there is a large and/or persistent anticyclone over central Europe. These are the days, or I should rather say nights, when all lights in the valley are invisible thanks to the fog, and I can pretty much get the light pollution conditions down to a class 2 (https://www.handprint.com/ASTRO/bortle.html). Those are the nights I am aiming at the most. Below is an image from my home during the day, when the whole lowland region is covered by fog, and it produces some of the most darkest skies around during the night. And since these conditions are in strong anticyclones, that also means dry, clear, calm skies seeing-vise, pretty much making it an observation heaven for backyard astronomy. There is around 10-30 such days per year, but its ok, given its in the backyard and I just take the scope outside and I am good to go, and when I am done I can be in bed sleeping in like 5 minutes. :) I had some of the most amazing views of the sky in such days, using just my binoculars. But its very good pretty much any day of the year.
The last trick is of course my altitude. At 1050m above the sea level, I don't have to deal with the pollution and particles and sometimes moisture pooling found in the lowest 1000m of the atmosphere, especially in summer, during the days or weeks of high pressure and subsidence.
4.png

All in all that's pretty much why I guess the 6" aperture should be enough to begin with, and should give some nice views. I will upgrade after a few years to something as big as i can handle. Given that I will always be in my backyard, a bigger scope would not really be a problem as far as portability goes. Might even build a permanent storage outside someday. 

This is now too long and with too much information. I just wanted to say hi, and to describe where I will be observing and why I decided for the 6" dobson. Let me know if the post is too long, and I will shorten it. 

Looking forward to many good debates on this forum, and you can bet that I will have many questions in the years to come (And don't worry, I know how to use the search function, before opening a new question thread). ;)

Kind regards,
Andrew

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Sunshine

Sunshine

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Welcome to SGL! and WOW!! that vista is perfect for observing! regarding scope purchases and girlfriends/wives they always do soften up after you show them the wonders of the night sky, and if not, i've tried these before and they work great!

Screen Shot 2018-03-04 at 10.31.14 PM.png

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Relpet

Relpet

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You live in a beautiful country, Andrej.  About ten years ago I spent some time in the region around Lake Bled, which must be one of the loveliest places on earth.

I hope your new fiancée will become as captivated by the night skies as you are because I don't think this is the last time you will have to make a promise!

Best wishes and welcome to SGL.

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ronl

ronl

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Posted

Hello and welcome to the community, great location you live in, you will get

lots of pleasure and enjoyment from your new scope, see you around the forums.

Good luck and Clear Sky's.

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Recretos

Recretos

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Thank you all very much for the warm welcome. Its much appreciated. :) Very glad to be around. 

I have recieved my scope, and it took me around 15 mins to assemble everything. I live on a farm, so fiddling with tools and everything mechanical is in my "nature", you could say. :)

Later at night, when I got home from work at 11.PM, I finally went for a test drive. I left the scope out on the balcony for about 40 minutes (at 2-3°C), with the small opening hole on the cap open (didnt want to uncover the whole tube), and under a slight angle, with the mirror at the bottom facing into the wind (it was windy), so there was an active air flow in the tube upwards. I was observing also from my balcony, since all the grasslands around the housr are under half a meter of snow. :D I just wanted to do a quick test run anyway, for which the balcony worked fine.

I switched between 25&10mm EP's, and I just glided around the sky. Both eyepieces seem very good to me, but I dont have any experience with any other EP, so upgrading in the future should make even better views. The viewing conditions were not good, with very restless/windy atmosphere, and with frequent and very thin but noticable upper level cloudness. 

I still got to see a big bunch of stars, bright and dim, two double stars aswell (I think), and these views alone were better than expected. Movement of the dobson mount is very intuitive and I quickly got the hang of it. Just have to fine tune the movement friction.

I also did a star test on Spica, using both 25mm and 10mm. The collimation seems actually good to me, and I was able to focus stars into tiny spots. But I have a question here I will write at the end, since I never did a star test myself and I never did collimation (obviously :) ). I am waiting for my laser to arrive, and will likely have to collimate the laser first, and also mod the laser barrel to be a tight fit into the focuser without screws. 

I then noticed Jupiter was rising, but it was still rather low, and behind high level clouds. It was better when it came higher, but the 10mm (120x) eyepiece was still just a blur, thanks to the bad seeing. I did tho use the 10mm view to fine tune the finderscope, for which I also have a question.

The 25mm (48x) view of Jupiter was better, and I was actually surprised that it is much bigger at this magnification then I expected to see, not to mention the 120x. A view worth all the money I payed for the scope. And it was in bad seeing, so it can only get better I assume.

Now for the questions. I used the search option, but the results were inconclusive.

1.: Is it possible to focus the finderscope? The image in the finderscope is very unfocused, even with my glasses on. I have seen lots of tips for focusing 9x50 finders, but none for my 6x30 type. I can spin the front and back black parts, but I am basically just unscrewing it.

2.: The star test on Spica. When I was focusing fully in and out, I saw no airy disc whatsoever. It was just a big circle, donut shaped, with of course visible shadows of the secondary and the spiders (and the focus tube when going in). Was the seeing to bad to see diffraction rings, or was I doing something wrong? Was the seeing too bad? I did read a few guides, but they all show diffraction rings, except for some youtube videos, like the one below, which actually shows what I also saw. 

3.: Storage. When I was done, I didnt know what to do with the scope, if I should leave it outside or bring it in. I was hesitating to bring it in because it meant a 20°C difference and instant condensation/dew on the tube. I still decided to bring it in and I just let the condensation dry off on itself. Is this actually more harmful to the scope than leaving it outside (under roof of course, when weather is dry only)?      I looked into the tube, but the mirror didnt seem to have any condensation on its surface, which was good I assume. 

4.: On the tube cover, I noticed there is a small opening like 2" in diameter, offset away from the secondary. Is there any special purpose to this hole? Like a cooling opening of some kind?

Kind regards,

Andrew

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Eastman

Eastman

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Posted

Hello and welcome Andrew,

Nice scope you bought and I envy youre location. Nice dark skies!

Now about your questions.

1 and 2 I leave for the experts

3: I Always bring the scope back indoors, moisture will have a effect on the metal parts in time. 

4: The small hole is ideal for Lunar obsevation and the Sun(with proper Sun foil!!!!, you need less foil ). You don't need to gather all possible light with these light strong object. It's off center because of the secondary mirror.

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