eye eye

[Nigel]

Ok so i think im finally gonna settle (i think) on the Skywatcher Skyliner 300P Dobsonian its 12" and no gaping hole or issue with build quality (from the look of it) so im happy, and it still swivles heeheehee, soooo i'd like recommendations on eye pieces, now that the scope costs half my budjet the other half (£500) can go on these wicked little things, i wanna squeeze out as much detail as possible for solar bodies and deepfield. Oh and im interested in imaging. Thanks

Im also thinkin of a William Optics Binoviewer (any personal reviews on this would be nice) which seems kinda handy saves me closing one eye and as copy and paste are coming in handy im gona try and stay dedicated to the FLO site i know skywatcher have there own range and thats cool , but sometimes a part from another company can be better

oh and to steve from flo, white telescope on white background ???? couldnt it be candy apple red ^.^

Thanks for reading

[John]

I've not used a bino viewer - can't afford pairs of Nagler eyepieces I'm afraid !.

For low power, wide field views a 30mm 2 inch eyepiece would be a good choice - the new Skywatcher Aero 32mm might be worth thinking about. FLO has a good deal on Hyperion eyepieces - 21mm , 13mm and 8mm for a 12" F/5 might work well (although the 21mm is at the new price now I think)

Oh, and get a good collimator as well - you will need it !.

John

[Nigel]

Oh, and get a good collimator as well - you will need it !. :) a good what what

[FLO]

oh and to steve from flo, white telescope on white background ???? couldnt it be candy apple red ^.^

Wouldn't that be great! We should offer a 'scope pimping' service

[Nigel]

oh and to steve from flo, white telescope on white background ???? couldnt it be candy apple red ^.^

Wouldn't that be great! We should offer a 'scope pimping' service

lol well i meant the background but urs sounds better :hello1:

[thing]

The only imaging you will be able to do with a Dob is the Moon. You need a driven mount to do astro imaging.

[FLO]

Here y'go

[Nigel]

sweet, lol un-expected, but yeah totally works, thx :thumbright: :thumbright: :thumbright:

[Nigel]

The only imaging you will be able to do with a Dob is the Moon. You need a driven mount to do astro imaging.

Noted, once i get to grips with 300p tho (learn the hard way) i'll prolly get another but with motor later in the year (i deffo need a hobbie)

[philsail1]

Nigel,

Yes, a nice choice with the Dob!

Eyepiece recommendations. Well you can spend as much as you want to on the very best - Naglers, Panoptics, Pentax etc - but normally a decent set of Plossls will give you excellent views through your Dob. I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice for those more experienced than I in the field of eyepieces.

Binoviewers. I have a pair of "Astro Engineering" (they are the cheaper version of Williams Optics) Binoviewers, and they are very nice to use - very easy on the eyes, and give fabulous views of Moon and Planets. You have to "collimate each eyepiece - just as you would adjust an ordinary pair of binoculars. Only takes a minute. Binoviewers, tend to lose a bit of light for viewing deep sky objects. (May be OK in your big Dob though!). I tend to use them with fairly low magnifications 25X eyepiece is typical. In some scopes you have to use a "Barlow 2x" (I think some binoviewers already come with a Barlow supplied) to achieve focus, which of course increases the magnification to 50x, though, you may have enough focus travel in your Dob to use them without the Barlow. Because the views are incredibly more pleasing, I use my binoviewers much more than the single eyepieces.

Best wishes,

philsail1

[MikeP]

Hi Nigel,

I believe you get 10mm and 25mm eyepieces supplied, so my advice would be to use them to start with to see the sort of view you get. Don't underestimate their quality, they are perfectly OK.

In case you don't know, your scope has a focal length of 1500mm so the supplied eyepieces will give you magnification of 150x and 60x.

As philsail1 says you can spend loads on eyepieces but initially it is important to experience what the different focal lengths bring to the table. If you are looking at DSOs, high magnification is not necessary and in many cases is counter-productive since they are either too dim to be worth magnifying or too big to fit into the smaller field of view you'll get with higher magnification.

I've got the FlexTube equivalent of your scope and use Pentax XW eyepieces. Unfortunately, they are expensive but they provide a very wide field of view and have long eye-relief, which means they are good for glasses wearers or wrinklies like me who appreciate ease of viewing. The 20mm and 10mm get the most use, along with a 32mm Meade 5000 which gives lovely widefield views.

The planets have been too low this year for me to see them (behind trees) but the moon has been a source of pleasure. Get yourself a moon filter though - with a 300mm aperture the light will hurt your eye. Magnification is useful here but the more you use, the more you will be nudging the scope to keep the features in view. You could probably make use of a 2x Barlow to give you 300x. These are OK http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=talbarlows&cat=70 although you can pay loads more if you want to.

In short, buy a moon filter and a Barlow and depending on your skies, a light pollution filter. You should get quite a bit of change out of £100. Try to join a society and / or go to a star party and have a look through the more expensive eyepieces so you can see what you'd be getting for your money.

Mike

PS Also worth getting a star chart and a red dot finder - I use these http://tinyurl.com/bb7mkh and http://tinyurl.com/c2fbhv

[Doc]

And don't forget a stool or chair of some sort. PITA standing all night.

[John]

Oh, and get a good collimator as well - you will need it !. :) a good what what

It's a device that helps you ensure that the mirrors in the scope are correcly aligned with each other which they need to be to ensure good images. The solid tube scopes are better for keeping their alignment (collimation) than the open truss tube types but it is something that you will need to learn about and a collimator will help you do it.

Here is one:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=SWCheshire

Don't underestimate the size of a 12 inch dobsonian - they are very big and pretty heavy. Mine has to be moved in 2 parts which is not difficult but needs some care and planning.

John

[philsail1]

"Don't underestimate the size of a 12 inch dobsonian "

I like that John - it sounds very "Darth Vaderish!"

Seriously though, I found lifting the 8" Skywatcher Explorer Newt onto it's HEQ5 mount quite a hike, so I can see why 12" ers tend to be Dobsonion scopes.

(I would love to have a look through one!).

Regards,

philsail1

P.S. sorry for drifting off Nigel's subject.

[Nigel]

Me is happy, i did get a little a head of myself and just wanted to get in my mind some names to remember for the eye pieces (hence the question) but as recommended will stick with the supplied lens for a time, this is like using a microscope but backwards, its like we are the cell lookin out instead of the body lookin in (funky).

I've got the FlexTube equivalent of your scope and use Pentax XW eyepieces.

i find any that usually has an 'X' in it is generally expensive and im not gona look at the prices of those yet dont wanna be scared off hehe =)

im short-sighted myself so gigs go on =( no fair, anyway,

will look round for the red dot finder just coz that site looks dodgy as hell and there no encryption so others if lookin can see details being entered......

star chart i agree is a must but i can never make out the patterns id be better off with a fully certified japanese vcr and program recording times lol

i have computer chair which isnt being used right now so i guess thats my out door chair for now

bac to collimation, im happy about this coz when i had my old tasco (first post here http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,37708.0.html ) i had to set it up manually it had 3 hand adjusted nuts at the front for the 2nd mirror used to spend about 5 mins gettin it just right, but its all about 'Alignment'

"Don't underestimate the size of a 12 inch dobsonian " now i think about it i think he is Darth

philsail1 = (I would love to have a look through one!). and drifting is good =)

maybe someday we can all have a star gazing night

this looks a beast tho http://www.firstlightoptics.com/prodimages/skywatcher_mak_newt_astrograph_sgl.jpg

hmmmm and i have to get a pc build out the way with (and that aint cheap) so i can use it in conjunction with the scope takin pics on the usb cams listed on the flo website which i was happy in finding i was really hopin that puttin a slr/dslr wasnt the only way to take pics :sunny:

thanks for the help all

[scotastro]

My suggestions would be a polarising moon filter as you can "dial in" the amount of filtering to suit the Moon's phase - works for Venus too.

A 2" low power 32mm wide angle as some objects look better when you can see more of it (eg Andromeda Galaxy and Orion Nebula). I you go too high in magnification (above 300x) the objects will go through the field of view too fast to really study them.

A right angle erect image finder (maybe later) makes locating the fainter DSOs easier when reading from a star map.

Mike

[Nigel]

My suggestions would be a polarising moon filter as you can "dial in" the amount of filtering to suit the Moon's phase - works for Venus too.

presume these filters attach to the top of the filter?

A 2" low power 32mm wide angle as some objects look better when you can see more of it (eg Andromeda Galaxy and Orion Nebula). I you go too high in magnification (above 300x) the objects will go through the field of view too fast to really study them.

again bac to the tasco scope (my only point of ref) that was a common problem the moon filled the eye piece i was like a moth to a flame , brighter the better, absoltly screwed me up in a dark room tho could on see thru one eye but by the time i got bac to the scope the moon for absolutly no reason moved =) so trackin was somethin i picked up, thru my bedroom window, no wi want the early 90's back

A right angle erect image finder (maybe later) makes locating the fainter DSOs easier when reading from a star map.

noted

[Nigel]

with re: star party

here in liverpool all i can find are to long dead websites for Astro society =( me thinks the moon isnt shiney enuf :)

[David Galvin]

with re: star party

here in liverpool all i can find are to long dead websites for Astro society =( me thinks the moon isnt shiney enuf :D

Nigel, I do not really understand what you are saying here as I am a little long in the tooth but I can assure you that members of the Liverpool A.S are very alive and kicking and do get out and about despite our light polluted skies. :-)

http://www.liverpoolas.org/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,20/board,14.0/