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M42 Orion Neb amazing!!


wesdon1

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My goodness i had first light with my new 8 inch dob last night and it was awesome! I had previously been using a 5.1 inch Newtonian Reflector, and upgraded to a 8 inch Reflector. Anyway, i looked at M42 Orion Neb and it was lit up like a Christmas Tree!! I could even see some faint colours in the Nebulae!! I was blown away! Then i swung to Planet Venus and after dealing with the glare, i managed to resolve it to it's roughly 50% Phase!! Colours the lot!! I was so happy with the difference in details and resolution with 8 inch aperture instead of 5!! I can't recommend the 8 inch SkyWatcher 200/1200 highly enough!! What a Telescope!! I also saw a Globular Cluster, as well as countless stars, and even got a look at Planet Uranus right by Planet Venus!! Amazing considering we had an almost full Moon and in my awful Bortle 8 Skies!!?? Truly blown away and i CANNOT WAIT for Moon-Less nights and to see Planets Jupiter, Saturn, Mars...etc etc etc!! 

 

Wes, Liverpool, UK. ( Bortle 8 ) 

SkyWatcher 200/1200 Dob. SkyWatcher 130/900 Newt Reflector. SkyWatcher Newt. Reflector 114/500. SW 25mm/10mm/3.6mm EP's. SW 2x barlow Lense. Filters etc. Home designed and built Dobsonian Mount. SkyWatcher EQ5 Deluxe Mount. SkyWatcher EQ2 Mount. SkyWatcher EQ1 Mount. Infinite enthusiasm...

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2 minutes ago, RobH2020 said:

 What does the violet filter do for Venus?

Attenuate the bightness and show some cloud detail in larger instruments; i.e. 6 inches or greater.

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1 hour ago, wesdon1 said:

My goodness i had first light with my new 8 inch dob last night and it was awesome! I had previously been using a 5.1 inch Newtonian Reflector, and upgraded to a 8 inch Reflector. Anyway, i looked at M42 Orion Neb and it was lit up like a Christmas Tree!! I could even see some faint colours in the Nebulae!! I was blown away! Then i swung to Planet Venus and after dealing with the glare, i managed to resolve it to it's roughly 50% Phase!! Colours the lot!! I was so happy with the difference in details and resolution with 8 inch aperture instead of 5!! I can't recommend the 8 inch SkyWatcher 200/1200 highly enough!! What a Telescope!! 

This makes me want to upgrade from the 150/1200 skywatcher!

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Hi Wes,

Nice report. It is pleasing to hear you managed an enjoyable session with the 8" dob. I to have a 200p and find it amazing for the money. Like you I view from very light polluted sky's, Around bortle 7-8 and am impressed what the 200p can find in these conditions. I have tried to mitigate the LP as much as possible by fully flocking the tube and using a dew shield to block out lateral light from my neighbors security lights and i did notice a difference in contrast when viewing. In mo opinion these were worth will fairly cheap mods which have increased my viewing enjoyment.

Venus looks stunning at the moment, As mentioned above I have been using a Visual Polarizing filer to view it and it has really taken the glare away and shows the phase with all its colour superbly!

Uranus is also a joy to see in the 200p - On a good steady nights viewing I have found it to be a stunning crisp green disc, i keep coming back to it whenever possible and really enjoy looking at it!

I also can see a shade of green in the Orion nebula and have recently been trying to split the E & F stars in the trapezium. I have managed both stars on one occasion but it is quite a challenge.

In summary the 200p is an amazing scope and very versatile, I have enjoyed many stunning targets with it and dont think I will ever part with it 🙂

 

Regards

 

Baz

 

 

 

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On 09/03/2020 at 19:29, RobH2020 said:

This makes me want to upgrade from the 150/1200 skywatcher!

My goodness definitely do! I am so pleased with the difference in details, light gathering etc! You could even sell your 150/1200 to ease the financial hit of buying the 200/1200. Cheapest i've seen the 200/1200 Skywatcher dob is at Rother Valley Optics, for £289, as of 16/03/20. Maybe even buy used, just make sure it's optics are pristine. I've since seen Planet Mars, and i'm itching for Saturn and Jupiter to be higher in sky later in the year as they looked awesome through my smaller 4.5 and 5.1 Newtonians, so i absolutely cannot wait to see them with my new big 8 inch! 

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On 10/03/2020 at 10:09, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Hi Wes,

Nice report. It is pleasing to hear you managed an enjoyable session with the 8" dob. I to have a 200p and find it amazing for the money. Like you I view from very light polluted sky's, Around bortle 7-8 and am impressed what the 200p can find in these conditions. I have tried to mitigate the LP as much as possible by fully flocking the tube and using a dew shield to block out lateral light from my neighbors security lights and i did notice a difference in contrast when viewing. In mo opinion these were worth will fairly cheap mods which have increased my viewing enjoyment.

Venus looks stunning at the moment, As mentioned above I have been using a Visual Polarizing filer to view it and it has really taken the glare away and shows the phase with all its colour superbly!

Uranus is also a joy to see in the 200p - On a good steady nights viewing I have found it to be a stunning crisp green disc, i keep coming back to it whenever possible and really enjoy looking at it!

I also can see a shade of green in the Orion nebula and have recently been trying to split the E & F stars in the trapezium. I have managed both stars on one occasion but it is quite a challenge.

In summary the 200p is an amazing scope and very versatile, I have enjoyed many stunning targets with it and dont think I will ever part with it 🙂

 

Regards

 

Baz

 

 

 

Hi Baz! Thanks for your reply! I will take your excellent advice to improve further my viewing with the 8 inch dob! I also saw hints of blue and green in M42, but i have not yet tried to split E & F in the Trapexium, i shall give it a go too! I was sure i saw Uranus in the 8 inch, but Venus was very distracting! lol. I shall go at it again soon! I bettre hurry though! It's setting earlier and earlier every night now! 

Wes, Liverpool ( Bortle 8-9 ) 

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On 09/03/2020 at 18:49, Philip R said:

Add a UHC or O-lll filter for M42 and a #47 (violet) or variable polarising filter for Venus and enjoy.

Hi Phil. Thanks for the advice, i shall do that soon my friend! 

Wes, Liverpool ( Bortle 8-9 ) 

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8 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Definitely a fun read your report was, its like Christmas all over again, discovering a new scope. Wait till you see M13 in that dob, have loads of fun!.

Hi, thanks for your comments! I was indeed like a kid at Christmas with the new dob! lol. i'll seek out M13 during next session thanks! 

Wes ( Bortle 8-9 )

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I think you have aperture fever 😱

Best get those tablets out 😀 

The 8" is a sweet spot, great aperture for drawing in those photons but still a manageable size for setting up and transportable. Will give you many years of pleasure. Great bang for buck. Like you I love my 8"  ,such a usable scope.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/03/2020 at 10:09, Barry-W-Fenner said:

I have tried to mitigate the LP as much as possible by fully flocking the tube and using a dew shield to block out lateral light from my neighbors security lights and i did notice a difference in contrast when viewing. In mo opinion these were worth will fairly cheap mods which have increased my viewing enjoyment.

I'm up for doing some simple mods to my 150p version of this scope... 

What does adding a dew shield do, given the scope is effectively a 1.2 metre dew shield for the primary? Does it just move the end of the tube a bit further away from the secondary? What length shield did you go for?

Did you reckon it was worth flocking the whole tube then rather than just the area behind the secondary?

Thanks for any tips!

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1 hour ago, RobH2020 said:

I'm up for doing some simple mods to my 150p version of this scope... 

What does adding a dew shield do, given the scope is effectively a 1.2 metre dew shield for the primary? Does it just move the end of the tube a bit further away from the secondary? What length shield did you go for?

Did you reckon it was worth flocking the whole tube then rather than just the area behind the secondary?

Thanks for any tips!

Regarding the dew Shield, I primarily purchased it for lateral light blocking.  Both of my neighbors have security lights which come on regularly due to foxes in and out of the gardens. Without the shield the contrast was getting washed out quite noticeably when the lights came on while at the eye piece. Not to mention it was quite distracting.  With the shied it has blocked a considerable amount of this unwanted light. The only disadvantage is the added weight. Recently the front of the scope has started to drop slightly with the shield on so this is something I might have to look at. From a Dew perspective I have never had any problems with this from my location fortunately.

I am sure I have read on here somewhere that ideally you want 8 to 12" in length for a light shield to be effective, this should assist in blocking out unwanted light traveling back up the inside of the focuser.

Flocking wise. I purchased two rolls with the intention of doing the whole tube. I dont know if this is better than just doing the area behind the secondary and around the primary to be honest. It was just my preference to do the entire tube while all the components were removed.  I definitely noticed the increased contrast after applying this, The whole inside of the tube is now pitch black,  It took me about 6hrs to do the tube over 2 nights trying to do a nice job.  As mentioned in a previous post The ring Nebula was clearer after the flock was applied but I dont know if that was down to seeing conditions, The flock or a bit of both.

 

Hope this helps in some way, As mention I have been doing these fairly inexpensive modifications to try and combat light pollution as best as possible. It has become my Nemesis, Along with cloud 🙂

Regards

Baz

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On 10/03/2020 at 10:09, Barry-W-Fenner said:

Hi Wes,

Nice report. It is pleasing to hear you managed an enjoyable session with the 8" dob. I to have a 200p and find it amazing for the money. Like you I view from very light polluted sky's, Around bortle 7-8 and am impressed what the 200p can find in these conditions. I have tried to mitigate the LP as much as possible by fully flocking the tube and using a dew shield to block out lateral light from my neighbors security lights and i did notice a difference in contrast when viewing. In mo opinion these were worth will fairly cheap mods which have increased my viewing enjoyment.

Venus looks stunning at the moment, As mentioned above I have been using a Visual Polarizing filer to view it and it has really taken the glare away and shows the phase with all its colour superbly!

Uranus is also a joy to see in the 200p - On a good steady nights viewing I have found it to be a stunning crisp green disc, i keep coming back to it whenever possible and really enjoy looking at it!

I also can see a shade of green in the Orion nebula and have recently been trying to split the E & F stars in the trapezium. I have managed both stars on one occasion but it is quite a challenge.

In summary the 200p is an amazing scope and very versatile, I have enjoyed many stunning targets with it and dont think I will ever part with it 🙂

 

Regards

 

Baz

 

 

 

Hi Baz, sounds like good viewing! I also use a 200p and got interested by what you say about a filter for venus. 

 

I had had some nice views of Venus recently and am easily able to see the phase, however the brightness washes out any detail and I get significant chromatic abberation (possibly atmospheric)

How much difference has your filter made and was it expensive?

Thanks, Mike

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2 hours ago, miguel87 said:

Hi Baz, sounds like good viewing! I also use a 200p and got interested by what you say about a filter for venus. 

 

I had had some nice views of Venus recently and am easily able to see the phase, however the brightness washes out any detail and I get significant chromatic abberation (possibly atmospheric)

How much difference has your filter made and was it expensive?

Thanks, Mike

Hi Mike,

This is the filter I purchased from FLO

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-neutral-density-filters/variable-polarising-moon-filter-archived.html

 

Having the 1 to 40% contrast adjustment really helps to take away all the glare on Venus to show the phase. From a detail perspective, There isnt to much to see on Venus, But it does help to see the yellow and white disc better.

I have read that it will be a benefit on Mars and Jupiter also but I havent had the opportunity to see these yet. It really helped take the glare from the moon also when it was full.

Regards

 

Barry

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