Well its started

[Stav_98]

Well last night was lovely and clear early on so there was only one thing to do; head in to the garden with my newly acquired Bresser Messier 130mm reflector.

For those of you who read my other threads you'll know this was given to me, it's my first scope and to be honest I didn't really know where to start. That was until some kind folk on here pointed out some fantastic resources; I spent my Saturday afternoon doing lots of reading on the Interwebs.

So whilst it was light yesterday evening I got the EQ mount set-up in the garden and spent some time getting the spotter scope aligned.

Then darkness fell and all my planning went out the window! Initially, with my drive to do things properly I had planned on finishing getting the EQ set-up 100% by getting aligned with Polaris. However, there were a number of bright shiny things in the sky screaming for my attention.

Thankfully I'd nailed the spotter scope!

I spent a good hour tracking Jupiter which just left me speechless. I struggled with focussing but this I think was partly due to never doing it before, and secondly not knowing what to expect in terms of the quality of the viewing. I managed to see Jupiter with some mild colour variation across its surface and two other pin ***** type objects which I assume were both moons? I was using the 10mm EP with the x2 jobby for much of the time.

After around an hour (and a sore neck) I decided to divert my attention to the moon. This was a propper gob smacker! You see all this stuff on TV but there's nothing like the experience of seeing for your self, first hand, in so much detail.

SO all in all a very successful evening in my view.

I guess the only annoyance I have was tracking the objects. I know this is part of the territory but this is where I love the thought of some sort of motor drive.

Very happy indeed and many thanks to all the kind folk on here who have helped me get up and running.

Martin

[ronin]

Motors are great, even a couple of simple ones just to move the thing around the sky. Even better is that you can soon learn to move the scope when looking down the eyepiece.

Which EQ mount is it?

You may be able to get a set of motors for it.

When you looked at Jupiter did you see Uranus? It is right next to Jupiter at the moment. Think that it is above it when you look with the eye, and therefore below it when through a scope.

For visual work you do not need to do a great polar alignment, so practice a bit and a simple few minutes should suffice for now.

Your other thread said the scope was out of a loft, how did it perform?

[Stav_98]

Your other thread said the scope was out of a loft, how did it perform?

I think it did well but I've got no past comparison. when viewing the moon all was crystal clear, there didn't seem to be any visible blemishes which I assume means the mirror is relatively clean and in good order.

Jupiter was a little fuzzy but I've no idea if that was normal or not. I could just about get it to focus where very mild colour differences could be seen.

[ronin]

Jupiter isn't particularily high so there will be some atmospheric distortion when looking.

Also I guess we go looking in the early night so there is still heat rising off the planet (Ours).

Don't try too much magnification, best if the image is sharp and that often comes at the cost of magnification. 60-80x is fine if the image is good.

If you feel mad try Orion at 4:30 one morning. South East sky.

Not sure from the reply, but blemishes are what you will see on the mirror when examining it by eye, not through the eyepiece when observing.

Everyone has a view on cleaning mirrors but I have used a soft artists paint brush to gently move dust etc to good effect.

Check the collimation (mirror alignment) if possible, as if out then this affects the quality of what you see.

Still a 130 for free is pretty good. Even better that it works OK.

[Darren B]

You might be able to get the motor from here Bresser Messier RA Motor & Handset (MON1) , Although call them first and tell them you have a 2005 model.

[ronin]

Oh yes, you are supposed to let the scope cool down and get to an stable temperature.

Referred to a the cool down time it is often reckoned to be about an hour. The other "value" is as long as possible before you decide: Damn it, I going to start looking!

[Stav_98]

Aha thanks for that Ronin. I was going to ask whether or not it's safe to keep such items in the garage? More stable in terms of temperature as it's obviously much cooler than the house. I've got some dust sheets to try keep it as clean as possible (I do also have all the tube/EP caps).

[Rui]

A 130 mm mirror isn't thar big nor thick and so it should get termally stable in an hour os so. Just put it outside an hour in advance, without the caps and it'll be fine. Eventually cover it with a thin cloth, so that it "breathes"

[Capricorn]

As it is in a garage and so cool to start with I would go with the :

as long as possible before you decide: Damn it, I going to start looking!

option.

Some viewing is better then no viewing and those clouds can assemble and home in pretty quick on a telescope.

[Ogri]

Woohooo great start!