wahoooo! result!

[moondog78]

just wanted to let you all know, finally got some clear skies tonight and me and my lad got a great view of jupiter and all four moons.

we could even make out the bands. it was great! 3 of the moons were quite close together and one on the other side.

we used the 10mm ep with the 2x barlow 100x mag in all.

guess ill have to invest in some more ep to get max magnification, it says we can have 200 max so if we can get up to x150 ill be well pleased. cant wait to have a look at the moon! but it looks like thats a couple of weeks off yet.

i did try and set up the auto tracking but i couldnt make out the alignment stars.

anyway thanks for the advice, i think ill be investing in a better scope in the not to distant future. im hooked.

[Reaper]

very nice, still waiting for my first clear night so things like this gives me hope that there is a clear spell on its way.

what was it like to see your first planet might i ask ?

[brantuk]

That's a great result moondog - well done. Which scope/mount was it by the way? You'll need to be careful with ep's as you get higher magnification cos you may need better quality ones.

Cheers

[moondog78]

using a skywatcher synscan 1145p, as for the view, considering its like 400 millions miles away. its amazing! just seeing the bands, wow. but to be honest it was seeing the moons all lined up next to each other that impressed the most, im buzzing with excitement!!

i have to be honest though, iam a little disappointed with the stand on the goto, its quite shakey, and the spotting scope isnt very secure, its plastic and easily knocked.

i guess you get what you pay for, it was worth it though just for this evenings view.(priceless)

can you tell im hooked? i think i will be investing in a better scope in the new year with a solid stand once ive mastered this one, so if anyone has any recommendations it will be most appreciated. my lad is really interested in the stars so ill most likeley spend a few quid on one for the two of us around the £1200 budget.

thanks in advance.

Dave

[steppenwolf]

Great result - it was Jupiter and four moons that got me hooked too!

[brantuk]

Ahh I remember now - 500mm focal length. To get 142x magnification you'd need to barlow a 7mm ep or use a 3.5mm ep. You may be stretching the scopes capability with those - even high quality ep's will just magnify "seeing" conditions at that power.

I like the sound of your budget though - you'll get something really tasty for £1200. Something like this would be a great step into decent observing and allow £300(ish) for accessories:

Reflectors - Skywatcher Explorer 200P HEQ5 PRO

E.g. power pack, collimator, eye pieces, etc

[moondog78]

brantuk, i see at the bottom of your reply that you have a cpc800 listed, is that what you use?

that looks like a tasty bit of kit, and to be honest i could proberbly afford something along those lines. it looks like a solid bit of kit. to be honest the budget isnt a problem, i just wanted to set somekind of limit as i have been know to be a bit impulsive from time to time. haha

i can see my wife looking at me through squinted eyes!

my lad is interested in taking images so most likely will go down the astrophotography route eventually.

Dave

[neebuz]

Lucky you , carnt wait

[brantuk]

The cpc800 is certainly a very nice scope. But it is alt/az mounted so imaging has it's challenges. For planets no problem, but for dso's it would require a wedge and a lot of setting up as well as a guide scope and camera mounted on it. That in turn means changing the bearings to accommodate the extra weight and or counterweights, even then it still has to track in 2 planes.

It's a lot of work but can be done. I'd use the cpc for guiding and mount a wide field good quality refractor for imaging. My cpc is mostly used for observing/imaging planets.

However I feel an equatorial mount would be far more appropriate in your case. You'd still need to guide but the mount is ready to go so long as the sum weight of the bit's attached don't exceed it's capacity. And you'd only be tracking in one plane which would be more accurate. You'd also have to budget in a laptop or netbook for capturing frames and monitoring guiding. Imaging can be a bottomless pit for money lol.

[moondog78]

first off, happy new year!

thanks for the advice certainly got a lot to consider, and something im not going to jump into.

ive got a laptop so thats not a problem, as for being a money pit, my lad has just given up competitive gokarting, at a cost of £10,000 per year i have to say im happy its at an end, so now i can invest in something we can both get some enjoyment from.

all the best for the 2011

Dave

[brantuk]

Same to you Dave - Happy New Year

We just went outside to watch the fireworks which is why I took a while responding lol

[todd8137]

i am so jealous lool since agot mine we have had cloud fog and every thing but clear skies glad you all had a great time