First spin with my scope!

[pvaz]

ok, so the poor image of mars wasn't my scopes fault or the weather, in Jan next year will I be able to see it well with the eyepeices I have or should I think about getting a new/better one than the supplied ones for it since this only happens every 2/3 years?

Well we need some more experienced people to give us the answer.

Right now, when it comes to mars, I'm just the nerd that been reading a lot. I only toke a peak at it once and came to about the same conclusion as you. Now I'm waiting till jan to find out how it looks.

[Sunwind]

one thing I noticed about mars compared to the moon, is that mars moved across the view very fast, I thought that my scope was falling down cause the handle was too loose or something but it's just that it moves so fast across the sky, compared to the moon where I could have it in the view for a few minutes easily

[hamit]

hmm thats the problem with a Dobsonian? thats whats making me think twice about buying a Dob for a auto tracking version?

[Sunwind]

hmm thats the problem with a Dobsonian? thats whats making me think twice about buying a Dob for a auto tracking version?

depends if you are serious about photography and can't afford to spend £1k on a motorized mount for the Dob OTA or something like that, otherwise from what i've read the manual tracking isn't a problem once you get used to it, i've only been out a couple times with my scope thus far, plus it's my understanding that you get more aperture for your money with dobs so a 10" scope on an auto tracking mount will set you back a few thousand I think(?) whereas a 10" dob is much much cheaper. but i'm no expert so don't go purely on what I say.

[hamit]

yeah true, I guess its also much more fun trying to track the planet/star etc. yourself? I mean, if you wanted to have all the work done for you, might aswell google search!

[Astro_Baby]

Its why I like a powered EQ mount. The mount can have the hassle of tracking while I get a look.

Welcome to the nightmare that is clouds by the way

[Sunwind]

ok, so the poor image of mars wasn't my scopes fault or the weather, in Jan next year will I be able to see it well with the eyepeices I have or should I think about getting a new/better one than the supplied ones for it since this only happens every 2/3 years?

anyone with experience with this scope got an answer for me?

[alfi]

hi

if you have the money, a set of good eyepieces makes a big difference.

i have bought a set of 3 2" TS eyepices, cheap, but nice lowpower wievs, and bright to, because of the simple construction.

but my favourites is my 7mm, 16mm and 28mm nirvana / uwan eyepieces, they are impressive, 82 degrees wiew, and really wellconstructed. cost a little more, but worth the money if you can.

and a ok 2" barlow, and you will have most mags cowered.

alfi

[Sunwind]

hi

if you have the money, a set of good eyepieces makes a big difference.

i have bought a set of 3 2" TS eyepices, cheap, but nice lowpower wievs, and bright to, because of the simple construction.

but my favourites is my 7mm, 16mm and 28mm nirvana / uwan eyepieces, they are impressive, 82 degrees wiew, and really wellconstructed. cost a little more, but worth the money if you can.

and a ok 2" barlow, and you will have most mags cowered.

alfi

is a wider FOV eyepeice always better?

does this sound good? "They yield the widest possible fields-of-view, consistent with pinpoint edge-of-field sharpness and contrast. Compare their unparalleled 60° apparent field-of-view to any Plössl on the market today."

[pvaz]

The FOV affects the area you see in the sky. low FOV (under 50º) gives the sensation your peaking through a straw. Wider FOV (say 66º and above) it's like your looking through a small round window, you can look to one side, then to the other, you won't feel so "trapped".

Wider FOV means a more complicated design, and quality costs money. The very best widefield EPs cost over 500 GBP each, such as the Televue Ethos with it's record 100º FOV. There are decent much cheaper EPs such as the Skywatcher Nirvanas and the William Optics UWANS with 82º, but still over the 100 GBP barrier each.

I went for some Agena SWAs for around 50 USD each, with 70º and I'm pleased with them. I only notice a bit of coma to about 10-15% of the FOV edge, and it doesn't bother me (all wide field eps have a bit of this, except maybe the very best TV and Pentax ones, or so I read). The 2" 32mm one, cost me more but it's the one that get's used the most.

[Sunwind]

any idea what the FOV might be on the EP's supplied with my scope?

I just took it out again for an hour and a half or so (time sure flies when looking through the scope eh? felt like 20 minutes) been waiting for the clouds to clear for ages and there was a break in them so I rushed outside with it

took a gander at orion nebula again, looked better than last time could see a lot more nebulosity and definetly a hint of green. I was determined to find andromeda galaxy so I went right from orion and easily spotted aldebaran and the pleides close by (at the time I didn't realise it was the pleides, just realised now when I got to my PC and ran stellarium) so then I found it difficult moving from there over to andromeda so I went the other direction and found cassiopeia, followed it down and to the left and I was pretty sure I was looking at what I now know to be "Mirach" in the andromeda constellation, I had a peek through my EP and I could see some fuzzyness around it so at the time I thought I had found the andromeda galaxy, I thought "this doesn't seem right, it's a bright star with some cloudy nebulosity around it" but I eventually gave up and packed everything away.

I just started Stellarium anyway on my PC and I realise that the galaxy was further to the right and I was just looking at a star ohwell, at least I know where to begin next time, I feel like i'm starting to learn my way around the sky a bit now.

one thing though, through my eyepeice the sky seems to look really washed out, the blackness of the sky is washed out and looks well, bright, is this just to be expected or is it light pollution screwing me over or something?

[pvaz]

They are plossls so probably have a 55º FOV, 60º at best.

Check the specifications of the model in the skywatcher site.

I can think of a few reasons for the washed out effect:

- Most probably it's Light pollution.

- Bad seeing conditions such as a thin, nearly invisible, layer of clouds/fog.

- Out of collimation.

- Bad focusing.

- If the sky looks sharp in the center and washes out closer to the edge of the fov, then it's the EP quality and some inherent coma usual in fast reflectors.

- Grease from eye lashes or finger prints on the EPs. (if it's not really dirty, better leave it be! if you must absolutely clean, use a proper cleansing kit and do it very gently or the coating will suffer. It's easy to ruin any optic just by cleaning it!!! Avoid it as much as you can.)