First Light - 200P DS

[adamh]

It was a lovely clear night, nice and warm, too many insects. Most excitingly I was able to use it on the day it arrived.

Spent some time inside first putting it all together, and trying to stop my 10 month old from climbing up the tripod. Brief moment of panic when I couldn't find the counterweight rod, thought it must have dropped out of the packaging and was about to phone the supplier, when I discovered it was internal and only needed retracting.

Then outside.

In skies that were far too light I started with vega, sorted the focus. Then a quick look at Epsilon Lyrae, I didn't really increase the mag enough to split the close pairs, but I could see hints of the "doubleness". Quickly moved over to the Ring Nebula, and found it very easily at 38x with the 26mm 2inch, and that was probably the nicest view of it. Could only see the ring shape with averted vision.

I then wandered around Cygnus looking at the nice star fields. I couldn't quite tell which grouping of stars was M29.

I then went to find M13 in Hercules, and had a very nice view of that. Many points of light, and general "sparklyness" with averted vision.

I then spotted that I could just see Cassiopeia and Andromeda through a gap between the house and trees. I managed to see the Andromeda Galaxy for the first time, something I'd never quite managed to do in the Winter with my Gallileoscope . It was large and obvious, I could see a density towards the middle of the fuzzy oval cloud. I was very pleased with this as it was quite low, and the sky was quite light.

Showed my wife Albireo and M13, both of which I think she liked! (This was me attempting to justify the cost, and the sudden lack of space we now had in the house due to boxes...)

Hopefully today the necessary cable will arrive so I can power up the scope, instead of swinging it around manually.

Adam

[DarkerSky]

Brilliant stuff Adam. Sounds like a perfect first light night!

Good description of M13 - sparklyness. It's very true, I like that description.

I remember seeing M57 ring nebula in an 8" scope for the first time. A breathtaking moment that had me hopping around with excitement.

I'm sure you'll have many more fun nights with your 200P

[adamh]

Thanks, and I've now got suitable cables for powering the mount. So as long as it stays clear i'll be trying to set it up correctly tonight. Polar align, align on the hand set, then see if it can point me to anything.