Newbie first light Skywatcher 300 and NEQ6

[marksward]

Two days in and two clear(ish) nights (southern hemisphere - New Zealand). Bearing in mind previously I've only used 10x50 post war binos (which I prefer to the 1990 minoltas!) so hard point of comparision is not really possible. And bear in mind I'm new to this so the laerning curve is very steep!

That over with, what FUN I've had!! The scope and mount came in 4 boxes, unwrapping finds everything well packed and protected. The mount is marked NEQ6 Pro, only difference I can see between this and the EQ6 Pro is the extension bar for the counter weights.

Everything fit together nicely.

Use:

Can only be moved around in two parts, mount (by bear hugging it!) and then the scope. Balancing for me needs all FOUR weights, though none are at the bottom of the bar.

Polar align - not done yet, don't have a power supply for the mount for a day of two hence manually sweeping the skies, so just been having fun.

Getting the finder scope and scope into alignment took some time, newbie error in using the moon to try to do it I think!

WOW the details of the moon I have seen though, have spent about four hours in two days observing, seeing more detail all the time.

Moving to Jupiter, never seen anything like it, good solid sphere, made out two 'lines' crossing it. Think I saw four moons of Jupiter. Two each side and two of them being closer together than the other two. Manually tracking a scope made for motor drive is a little 'clumsy' for me. Though I managed to get higher mag for a short while and was pretty overwhelmed.

Also managed Venus, not much detail seen as very bright, and struggled to keep tracking it manually to try out a higher magnification.

Then plenty of 'random' sweeping, like the detail though I'm sure the scope needs colminating, but also I'm no experienced observer and was discovering 'clearer' ways of observing things too.

Random thoughts:

Need a chair that doesn't sink in the grass when you stand on it

The bolts on the scope rings are hard to adjust to turn the scope round in the rings to bring the eyepiece to a reachable place.

The finderscope isn't the best in the world and leaves me wanting something better and something that STAYS in alignment between uses, one knock and I have to go through aligning it again.

Scope is well made and well finished. Smooth metal join and smooth paint finish. The supplied eyepieces feel cheap but seem to do a great job in bringing a clear image.

Cats can frighten the life out of you in the quiet of the night!

Mount is solid and heavy, it barely notices knocks and the scope settles very quickly.

I now know why a red light torch needs to be on my shopping list.

The difference between the 10" dob you saw a few weeks ago and the 12" scope on eq mount you ordered is not just 2"

The wife will remember the 10" dob was much smaller and would have 'just fit in the corner over there' !

[Doc]

Welcome to SGL.

Thats a nice big set up you have there.

Glad you enjoyed your first nights out with this scope. Your problems are basically the same every beginner suffers.

Practise makes perfect and the more you use the scope the more items you will find are required.

And a red torch is a must.

[marksward]

Cheers Doc.

yep I'm impressed with the setup. the idea being to buy the scope and mount I want, rather than upgrade. Leaves more time to find the other bits and pieces

Glad I've spent time with Binoculars though as I now really appreciate how much more I can see with the large scope.

Lots to learn though, musn't forget its about enjoying the viewing!

[kniclander]

you can paint a regular torch with red nail varnish

[Sam]

Thanks for posting that Mark, very interesting , you're going to get heaps of enjoyment out of that - My next major purchase will be that setup.

[thing]

Sounds good! Steep learning curve ahead!

[glennbech]

That's a serious first kit! My first was the 200mm and HEQ5 pro, and I was overwhelmed. If you plan on using it more or less from your house you could consider a mains supply instead of a power tank. I forgot to charge mine from time to time and lost valuable hours :-)

The mount will also probably be good enough for your needs for a long time. It's a perfect setup for some imaging gear later

[ngc2403]

:)

Sounds good! Steep learning curve ahead!

could not agree more

welcome to the forum, i hope you get good weather to enjoy that set up

ally

[marksward]

Cheers guys.

Got a couple of powerstations today (in NZ they double as emergency lighting/power, and are pretty much a must here anyhow) so have them on charge. Going to try the nail varnish on one of the lights and see how it goes. Was wondering if anyone does quick release bolts for the scope rings, the kind you get on mountain bikes. Would make sliding the scope round in the rings much quicker.