First Light With the 12 inch Dobsonian.

[Geoff Barnes]

Finally! Just got back indoors from my first decent go with the new Skywatcher 12 inch, and Ooooh! ?

Everything is sooo much brighter than the poor old 4 inch frac. Jupiter almost too bright (might need a filter for him), 2x barlowed the supplied 20mm plossl to give the best views at 150x, thought I spotted the GRS, but will need better quality EP's I'm sure to improve the views, along with better viewing technique too.

It took a bit of searching but I finally found Omega Centauri, yay!!! I tell you what, there's a few stars in there! It more than filled the 20mm EP and although a little faint I could see countless thousands of tiny, tiny stars. Again, better quality EP's will surely improve the views.

Generally cruising through the Milky Way was mind boggling! Brilliant diamonds against a jet black background, just spellbinding!

Time to start saving, I fancy the Lunt XWA 100 and 110 degree eyepieces from APM, they seem to be very reasonably priced for outstanding quality. 

 

[Stargazer McCabe]

9 minutes ago, Geoff Barnes said:

I fancy the Lunt XWA 100 and 110 degree eyepieces from APM, they seem to be very reasonably priced for outstanding quality.

An excellent first evening Geoff. I have the Lunt 20mm and 9mm and the APM branded 13mm 100* eyepieces... Thoroughly recommended. They work a treat in our Flextube... 

[Susaron]

I do use the ES 5.5mm, 9mm and 20mm from the 100 deg series with my ES12'', the 20mm for searching of diving in Virgo "Soup" of galaxies. The 9mm is a globular cluster smasher and also valid for planetary views. The 5.5mm is mainly used on planetary nebulae.

If the dob has not tracking those extra degrees give you the perfect time needed to change the eyepieces without losing your target.

[Geoff Barnes]

I was using the scope manually tonight but it does have the Synscan Goto, I just haven't got round to programming it properly yet.

All in good time. ?

[John]

Excellent report Geoff - 12" of aperture gives serious observing potential with literally thousands of DSO's within your (light) grasp. It should provide excellent solar system views too

[Mark at Beaufort]

Great first light Geoff. I had a life time ambition to view Omega Centauri and eventually saw last month in a 17.5" Newt and a 13mm Nagler from California. The GC must be at a  decent height above the horizon from Melbourne so with a nice eyepiece it will 'blow' you away. 

[swamp thing]

On 06/06/2018 at 14:42, Geoff Barnes said:

 

Everything is sooo much brighter than the poor old 4 inch frac.

Yeah.......

Your going to find that buddy.  

Welcome to the dob mob 

[Geoff Barnes]

Thanks. It would look even brighter if it wasn't for the  near constant rain, hail, cloud, and fog we'v been plagued with lately.  Roll on springtime!

[estwing]

another happy Dob owner..clear skies!

[niallk]

Nice report! Enjoy all that aperture 

[Eastman]

On ‎06‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 15:42, Geoff Barnes said:

It took a bit of searching but I finally found Omega Centauri, yay!!! I tell you what, there's a few stars in there!

Great first light Geoff, That must have been some view at Omega Centauri with that big 12"dob. 

[Geoff Barnes]

Hi Eastman

Yes it was a staggering sight! It's a shame I haven't seen a big star cluster before so I had nothing to compare it to.

Hopefully all future globs will not be a let down.

I'm really looking forward to viewing some  galaxies to be honest and think I have the right tool for the job!

[Stu]

2 minutes ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Hopefully all future globs will not be a let down.

Well, to be fair they don’t get any better than Omega Centauri but globs always look much better with more aperture.

Just the start of many amazing views I’m sure.