First Light with 8 inch dobsonian (starsense)

[Neutrinosoup]

FINALLY a cloudless night in South Scotland (Bortle 3….my garden)

—> First time I’ve used a Dobsonian/Reflector, plus my 13 year old daughter out with me in the cold.

—> Saturn with rings nice a clear using a 4.5mm Delos eyepiece and one big moon (Titan?)

—> Jupiter with several cloud bands & Galliean moons

—> Pleiades & several star clusters

—> Andromeda, just the fuzzy core but I didn’t need to use averted gaze like I do with my 4 inch apo.

—> Uranus - tiny bluish circle, noticeable  bit bigger than the surrounding stars but not by much (if I am right? Starsense help)

 

Pretty cool……does make me want to get the 12 inch starsense dobsonian though!! I’m not sure what andromeda would look like at that size of scope……

Thanks

NC

 

 

[Mr Spock]

Nice first light 👍 You picked up some fine targets there. Plenty more to see though 

[RobertI]

Nice first light. Plenty more to see with that 8”! 👍

[Mandy D]

@Neutrinosoup don't forget to point your scope at the Moon. It is pretty incredible to see through an 8 inch and can stand a lot of magnification on a clear night. Then there is the Sun, too with a suitable aperture filter.

[Neutrinosoup]

Can I ask what Andromeda looks like through a 12 inch and 14 inch dobsonian? (Bortle 3 skies)

 

[Stu]

10 hours ago, Neutrinosoup said:

Can I ask what Andromeda looks like through a 12 inch and 14 inch dobsonian? (Bortle 3 skies)

 

Andromeda is a bit of a weird one really. It is huge, roughly three degrees long by one degree wide, so to see it all you actually need a widefield refractor. Under a dark sky with a scope that fits it all in, it is a wonderful target.

Big dobs by definition have longer focal lengths; even an f4 16” scope has a 1600mm focal length versus say 700 ish for a 4” refractor. Put even a 31mm Nagler in the dob and you get a 1.5 degree field of view, so you won’t fit it all in. Compare that with over 3.5 degrees for the frac example. What you do get is close up views which should show you the dust lanes but I think there are better targets for large dobs. Globular clusters in particular benefit from the added resolution and can be quite spectacular. Smaller galaxies are excellent too, under dark skies of course.

[John]

I agree with @Stu, Messier 31 looks better with a smaller, wider angle instrument or even large binoculars. 

When I had my 12 inch dob I spent many happy hours searching out smaller galaxies and galaxy groups though. 

Andromeda (the constellation) looks great with the naked eye of course 😉

 

Edited January 6 by John

[Captain Scarlet]

It is very cool to easily see dust lanes in M31 with the 12”. And some deep-sky objects within M31 are also possible, such as globular clusters, though you need experience and patience to get those (I haven’t got any yet). Its satellite galaxies are also quite bright, M32 and M110.

Magnus

[John]

8 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

It is very cool to easily see dust lanes in M31 with the 12”. And some deep-sky objects within M31 are also possible, such as globular clusters, though you need experience and patience to get those (I haven’t got any yet). Its satellite galaxies are also quite bright, M32 and M110.

Magnus

I never found the dust lanes too obvious with my 12 inch. I see them more clearly with my 4 inch F/6.5 refractor and the 31mm Nagler under a really dark sky - 3.8 degree true field 😁