Six months in...

[Girders]

In the hope that it may help/reassure anyone starting out now...

I've had my little scope for just over six months now, and after a fair bit of frustration, poor weather and a little more expense than planned, in the last two weeks I've finally got to where I wanted to be.  It's been a bit of an up and down journey but my main goal was always to get decent views of Jupiter and Saturn and with some helps from the forum I got there.

Big learning points along the way...

• My 4.5 inch tabletop mini dobsonian (Skywatcher Heritage 114p Virtuoso) is as small a scope as I'd consider for starting out.  I'd nearly gone for the Heritage 100p and although it's not a huge difference I really wouldn't want anything with a smaller aperture.
• I've only recently added go-to with the skywatcher wifi adapter.  It's handy but not essential for me.  Tracking on the other hand, for me anyway, is a must for any future upgrade.  Sharing viewing sessions with my wife (and at times my 4 year old daughter) without tracking losing objects while taking turns caused no end of frustration.
• Don't get frustrated if seeing conditions and planetary positions conspire against you.  For months Jupiter was a bright white blob with 4 moons for me.  It's only recently that I've been able to see the bands and a glimpse of the great red spot.  But it's not that I'm doing anything better or differently, or that there was anything wrong with the scope.  I just had to wait... and wait... and wait until things fell into place with timings, positions and conditions.
• Take the time to work out and note which eyepieces/combinations work well.  I now know that for my scope my 6mm with 2 x Barlow is my default option for planetary viewing (giving 167x magnification).
• Smartphone adaptors are great for the moon and really let my little girl be involved, but they are a bundle of frustrations for planets and stars.  It's really tricky to align them correctly for smaller targets - and even fixing them using the moon before switching fails more often than not.  I've had some success but not with any consistency.

Even at my low points I've never regretted getting involved.  I reckon I've spent £150 on my scope plus £100 or so on a couple of eyepieces, barlow and power cables plus £60 for the wifi adapter.  So just over £300 for about 30 hours of hands on scope time (did I mention the weather's been bad?).  I can live with £10/hour - especially as I know I'll get many more hours in the future.

Anyway, six months later and I'm still here, still learning, and still getting set up when the sky allows.  And I've got what I was hoping for.

(The pic of Jupiter is slightly better than it was in the scope, but Saturn was much clearer/sharper visually.)

Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way.

 

[Sunshine]

Amazing!! this hobby is an excersise in patience like no other hobby i can think of other than bird watching maybe.

 And if it will reassure you, ive been in the hobby for two decades and am just now imaging for the first time, you beat me to imaging jupiter, i will be looking to do that tonight, so score one for you sir! love the images!

[Floater]

You’re doing it right. ?

Have fun.

[Eastman]

going on strong?,  nice picture of Jupiter!