First night with the new 8" 200P Skywatcher

[PaulM]

Well after lots of cloudy nights finally managed to get a few hours observing with the new 8" 200P Skywatcher dobsonian

Firstly what is the 200P like to observe with - well after collimating it when it arrived I tested this on some bright stars and all looks good when viewing the stars when slightly out of focus, its bulky to move around but manageable as one piece. The finderscope is painful to use, you need to strain your neck to view low lying objects and its even worst viewing directly above so have ordered a Sky-Watcher 9x50 Right-Angled, Erecting Finderscope, it also stands a little too low so will have to get a base for it to stand on when required. Optically its fantastic - beyond expectations for the price.

First target was Jupiter and I took the opportunity to perfectly align the finderscope. It was still twilight and Jupiter was low looking South above nearby roof tops. Could clearly see the four Galilean moons all were quite close to Jupiter, Jupiter itself was clearly a disk and two bands could be observed on the disc. Very pleased with what I saw. I first used the BST starguider 60 degree 15mm EP and then the BST starguider 60 degree 8mm EP to observe - very crisp images and was able to keep Jupiter and all the moons in view for a good time even with the 8mm.

Next I connected up the ZWO ASI120MC-S camera and attempted to view Jupiter with no success - couldn't get an image up at all

The moon was visible low in the sky to the left of Jupiter so with the camera still attached and using Firecatpure I could clearly observe the moon through the camera on the laptop - amazing - childhood dream come through viewing using a laptop !!!

After playing around with the settings in Firecatpure (mainly gain and exposure) I could clearly observe many features on the moon and also through the BST Starguider 2x short barlow lens. I had also downloaded the ASICAP software from the ZWO camera website and managed to take better and larger images through that compared to Firecapture. ASICAP also has an auto function for gain \exposure which was very useful - maybe I need to get more familiar with Firecapture?

Next was Saturn - again no luck getting any images from the camera so viewed this through the BST starguider eyepieces and barlow and wow! Despite it still being twilight\getting dark and close to a waxing gibbous Moon and low in the sky and above some local roof tops Saturn could clearly be seem as a orange\yellow disk. The rings clearly defined and the cassini division visible. Titan was to the upper left of Saturn and clearly visible. Spent a good half hour observing Saturn in awe.

As the moon was close to Saturn I spend a little more time observing with the camera and getting some more images and playing with the settings

Looking around the sky I decided to concentrate on Lyra as it was high up and away from the moon

Could clearly observe the "double double" that is Epsilon Lyrae, have to say the clarity of the 200P telescope and eyepieces was impressive - could clearly make out the separate stars

M57 ring nebula - clearly observable as a ring structure was very impressed with what I saw

Finally to end my session I looked behind me and decided to view M31 and could see the bright center surrounded by a very light haze, no structure could be seen and was to be honest a little disappointing , hopefully I will make better observations of M31 later in the year when the moon isn't around and also when I view from a darker location

As I was putting the telescope back into the conservatory I noticed Mars was now visible as it had appeared from behind some roof tops so had a quick peak and couldn't get a good image and it was shimmering away probably due to being so close to the roof tops so Mars will have to wait for another night

Overall a great first night of observing and was very very impressed with the 8" 200P Skywatcher, the BST starguider EPs and barlow lens less impressed with the ZWO ASI120MC-S camera

[John]

Great report !!

M31 can prove a little dissapointing even with my 12" dob. Seeing the dust lanes is rather challenging and needs a really transparent sky.

Personally I prefer M81 and M82 and there are pleny of others that your scope will show even if they are just small patches of light in the eyepiece.

It's worth checking out Mars when you get a chance - some of the surface details are starting to show now that the dust storn is calming down.

 

[PaulM]

6 minutes ago, John said:

Great report !!

M31 can prove a little dissapointing even with my 12" dob. Seeing the dust lanes is rather challenging and needs a really transparent sky.

Personally I prefer M81 and M82 and there are pleny of others that your scope will show even if they are just small patches of light in the eyepiece.

It's worth checking out Mars when you get a chance - some of the surface details are starting to show now that the dust storn is calming down.

 

Did look at Mars - report updated !!

[bingevader]

I'm glad you had such a good first night, here's to many more!

I've always been very pleased with the views of the Andromeda galaxy through the 8".

But then I do have rose tinted, fuzzy blob loving spectacles.

[MarsG76]

Great report on a great first night...

 

[MarsG76]

1 hour ago, PaulM said:

Next I connected up the ZWO ASI120MC-S camera and attempted to view Jupiter with no success - couldn't get an image up at all

Targeting planets can be a daunting task in the beginning on small sensors when comparing to the much wider field of view of an eye piece... you literally have to have the planet smack bang in the middle to pick it up on the sensor....  I find that a flip mirror with a illuminated eyepiece make the job much easier....

 

[PaulM]

21 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

Targeting planets can be a daunting task in the beginning on small sensors when comparing to the much wider field of view of an eye piece... you literally have to have the planet smack bang in the middle to pick it up on the sensor....  I find that a flip mirror with a illuminated eyepiece make the job much easier....

 

Thanks didn't know you could get these flip mirrors, would either of the below options be suitable?

£70    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BST-Starguider-1-25-Telescope-Imaging-Flip-Mirror-with-1-25-eyepiece-T42-ports-/382532734434

£100   https://www.firstlightoptics.com/diagonals/vixen-flip-mirror.html

 

[MarsG76]

9 minutes ago, PaulM said:

Thanks didn't know you could get these flip mirrors, would either of the below options be suitable?

£70    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BST-Starguider-1-25-Telescope-Imaging-Flip-Mirror-with-1-25-eyepiece-T42-ports-/382532734434

£100   https://www.firstlightoptics.com/diagonals/vixen-flip-mirror.html

 

I have the vixen and the Orion which looks identical to the BST... and the Vixen is built much better and operation is smoother... go for the vixen.... just realise that the vixen goes into 2" focusers.

 

[Waddensky]

Congratulations on your first night with the 200P! Nice report of your experiences. It's really difficult to see structure or details in M31 and the galaxy is really huge so at too much magnification the bright, fuzzy core is all you see. As John said M81 and M82 might be nice targets to try next. M51 is also wonderful.

[Special K]

Great first light report!

[Eastman]

Congratulations with the new scoop, and great first light report.

You've got yourself a great scoop, enjoy.

[Paz]

Great report,a very productive session!

[Stu]

Excellent session! I’ll echo the comments about M31. Often disappointing, I think my favourite views are in a widefield scope (3 or 4 degrees fov) under a dark sky so you really start to see the full extent of it, plus M32 and M110 of course.

Just check whether those flip mirrors are useable in a dob, I thought they were designed for a refractor. You might not have enough inwards focus in the dob.

[BiggarDigger]

Nice report!  The 200p dob yields an amazing bang for the buck.  Sure, the mount could be improved, but by saving money on the mount you get optics well above what you might otherwise expect.  It does what it does very well and I've had many a "wow" moment with my 200p.

To help with viewing, I built a water-butt stand for mine.  There's several threads in the forums here (I'm on a mobile device just now so less easy to search and find you a link).  My stand includes 4 adjustable kitchen unit legs and a plywood shelf onto which the dob base fits.  It raises the whole scope by 20 inches or so.

I echo the comments about M31, but even if you're a little underwhelmed by it, bear in mind that you're looking at hundreds of billions of stars and the light entering your eyes started it's journey before the evolution of mankind.

Good luck with seeking out many more wow moments.

Clear skies,

Richard