1st night outside. More questions...sorry.

[Geo]

Last night was my first time into the great outdoors with my new friend, the 10" skywatcher. Two things became immediately clear to me, after the scope had cooled down enough my views were a LOT sharper, and much more impressive. The second thing is that it gets blumming cold doesn't it? More layers and a Parka next time I think.

Since it was only my back garden I wasn't expecting the greatest of nights so I was pleasently surprised with some of the views I had. Since I predominatly face South it was all about Saturn again, beautiful Saturn. The sharpest and perhaps best image I had was through my 10mm standard EP i received with the scope. Although I was able to view it through all of the Celestron plossls I had in my kit. I was even able to view it through a 2x Barlow + the Skywatcher 5mm LER EP I bought. Sure it wasn't as sharp as the larger EP's but it was still impressive to see it so much bigger. No Cassini division yet but the divide between the ring and planet was crystal clear. I had a go with a few filters(Celestron blue, green, orange) hoping to see more detail but by that time (2am) the clouds were coming in.

This is only my second go and was relly struck by how fast it moves thorugh the sky, especially on the smaller EP's. Also on the smaller eyepieces it seemed that my image juddered around a bit, seemingly when the scope was completely still. This has turned my thoughts onto how I can stabilize it a bit, possibly buying a motorized mount?

Next up for me will be some DSO's. I was having a look around at some of the brighter stars last night (Spica, Arcturus) and through the EP there are so many stars that I couldn't see with the naked eye, this was another "woah" moment for me. Today I will be pondering over DSO maps and using stellarium to plan my next peek. Which eyepiece would be best for viewing DSO's?

Oh and my back! I took a deck chair out and had hoped it might sit high enough...no chance. After 2 and a half hours of bending over and lining up the Telrad then actual viewing my back was a bit achey. I have a couple of comfy office chairs in my room that raise pretty high so I'll be giving them a go next night. They also have wheels so that night be handy.

I do have a small collection of EP's and equipment but I do have a little more budget to play with (can go to £350/400). So heres my question (another one I know)..

Do I spend the money on a mount? A high quality EP? Or some other great suggestion that my newbie eyes have missed? I seem to spend all day on this stuff at the moment. There is so much to read and learn and I think that has been a lot of the fun for me too. It's such a privelige when you actually get to go out into the night and SEE this stuff. I hope this feeling doesn't fade with time.

My Astronomy Self teaching guide (Dinah L.Moché) came today so I'm looking forward to giving that a read. This was another diamond I wouldn't have unearthed without your help. I shudder to think the money I'd have wasted buying all the wrong things without coming on here for advice first.

Again thanks for reading my ramblings and taking the time to answer my many questions. You're a lovely bunch.

If any Glasgow people are reading this and are having an observing session soon, or any astronomy events then please contact me as I'd love to come along and learn some more stuff. Ta!

[Geo]

Think I'm gonna grab the Revelation EP kit, it seems it's a lot better than my wee Celestron kit . Any point in keeping the Celestron kit? I'll maybe sell it on if I can, at a very fair price.

[stardad]

As far as I understand, Geo, the Celestron and Revelation kits are the same kit built in the same factory just with different labels.

[Geo]

^ This is exactly what I mean about wasting money. Doh!

[John]

^ This is exactly what I mean about wasting money. Doh!

Talking of wasting money, have a good look at the contents of those kits and think carefully about how much you will use each item. 4mm eyepieces for example might never be used.

While they can be good, for the same price as the kits, you could get 2 or 3 specifically chosen eyepieces of good quality which you will get a lot of use from.

[West End Wendy]

The Dinah L. Moché book is excellent - a bit like being back at school.

In a good way.

Tim.

[dmahon]

The Skywatcher kit, which is probably as bad as the rest of them, is really cheap at OVL if you have recently bought a Skywatcher scope in the UK.

Regarding your cash, if you are interested in photography (I think I remember you mentioning it), save it up for a good tracking mount and an APO refractor later on.

[Geo]

I think that sounds like a good plan Dmahon. Photography is where I eventually want to be with this hobby, however looking at how expensive it can be I am a bit of a ways off at the moment. I think I'll concentrate on getting a decent mount for it. Not so interested in the GOTO systems as I'd really like to learn the sky for myself. It seems a lot more fun to me.

Would this mount be able to handle my OTA? I have removed the finderscope so all I have on is a Telrad finder.

SkyWatcher EQ5 Deluxe Heavy Duty Mount & Tripod

Is there a decent EP kit you'd recommend dmahon?

[stolenfeather]

I was amazed as well the first time out with my telescope as to how many more stars I could see once looking through the eyepiece. My back was also a problem (and many times my knees) until I acquired an astro-chair which you can see as my forum picture. It was given to me by a friend!

My Astronomy Self teaching guide? I hadn't known about that one so will keep my eye open for it.

Clear skies Geo!

[Geo]

Stolenfeather I was looking at your chair with green eyes I must say. I don't think I can get that one in the UK. Needless to say if my leather office chair doesn't do the trick I'll have to get some kind of comfortable seat as I plan on spending many hours looking through my telescope.

[John]

The Skywatcher kit, which is probably as bad as the rest of them,....

Worse to be honest - I've tried a few of the Skywatcher LER eyepieces - not great. The Celestron or Revelation ones are better quality.

[dmahon]

You can buy the 200p on the eq5, so it must be possible. You can also buy a motor kit for it so you can upgrade later to track for photography (though I suspect it will wobble too much with such a heavy OTA - but a light 80mm refractor may be ok on still nights).

[dmahon]

Ps - you will have to buy rings and a bar to mount it. Rather than rush and buy something new you may regret (because you wish you'd spent a little bit more), there are usually lots of eq5s available second hand (as people upgrade to a heq5 or eq6). If you decide you made a mistake later you can usually get back what you paid for it:

[step_hen]

geo has a 10" OTA- surely beyond an EQ5, especially if imaging is the ultimate goal?

Stephen

[Geo]

One of these types of mounts should stabilize viewing and make tracking a bit easier though?

[Geo]

If anyone else has the same scope and using the same default mount, do they have any tips on tracking objects with it? Perhaps I have the tension system too tight, last night I was struggling a little to track.Will one of the EQ mounts make a huge difference to tracking ability? Need to be a member for month before I can look in the FOR SALE section. Maybe give me some time to save and practice with the default mount .

[dmahon]

I thought it was a 200 dob. I'd forget it with a 250.

It will be no good for imaging unless you get a lightweight scope, and will be less stable than the Dobsonian mount. It will track though, if you get the motors.

[Geo]

Perhaps I should forget about a mount for now, I'd have to be paying around £700 which is silly as I've only been doing this a week. I'll put in practice with the original mount and hopefully pick up some tips from others, it'll certainly be cheaper!

As for the budget...if not a mount, then what? EP kit? A single high quality EP (a Nagler) Something that I'll get the most use out of for the money.

[rowan46]

I got a look through a nagler at sgl6 and they are lovely eyepieces but people I have spoken to say there is a law of diminishing returns on eyepieces that the extra couple of percent you get in performance may not be worth the lots of extra pounds. It may be the best but I suppose its like the difference between sony and bang & olufson there are some great eyepieces out there which may mot be quite as good as televue but they are almost there and a fair bit cheaper.

[Geo]

any recommendations are most welcome If you think EP's are the way to go with the money.

[solarwallace]

Hi

Glad you managed to find Saturn, it's great sight isn't it?

Just wanted to say you'll have more stability on the dob mount than you would on even an HEQ5 I think. Stick with the dob mount for visual. I had a 150 on an EQ3-2 and it was nowhere near as stable as my 250 dob is. I've read elsewhere on here (I've no experience myself of this) that if you want to do astrophotography then halve the maximum load of a mount and aim for that. So maybe a 150 on an HEQ5 or preferably a refractor of some kind seems a popular choice. If I decide to get into photographing DSO's I'm going to get another scope to do that as well as keep my dob for visual.

You can get some basic planetary stuff done with a webcam but that would need some basic tracking which means motors although I could be wrong about that. Basically you film the object you're interested in and use software (registax) to choose and stack the good frames into one image. Somone might come along and say that they've done that with a dob I bought a dob as well but it came with motors builtin. I'm not sure if you can get addon motors for dobs - I haven't seen any.

Baader Hyperion eyepieces are very nice with a wide field of view and not silly money although everyone will have a different opinion. There's some good primers in the begginers section I think on which eyepieces you might want to buy. I bought a Baader Ortho 5mm which was really nice and not too expensive but it was a little awkward looking through the tiny hole to see anything. That's why I would think about something like the Hyperion - there are probably others that are similar (perhaps cheaper) - as they're easy on the eye (good eye relief). So look out for that characteristic.

Hope that kind of helps

Steve

[swamp thing]

Hi

IMO You will find tracking with a Dob much easier with wide field eyepieces.

Plus they will provide a nicer picture window through which to observe.

The wider the field the easier it is.

As a Dob owner you will find where you saved all that money on initial purchase you will now make up for it with eyepieces.

Saying that though the views through good quality wide field eyepieces coupled with a good sized scope are ample reward.

Keep the numbers of eyepieces low and the quality high you won't regret it.

Regards Steve

[Geo]

I think I'm gonna go with two Baader Hyperion EP's

Hyperion Eyepiece 17mm [baa-26-2454617] - £92.40 : 365Astronomy: Discovery for every day!

Which 2 sizes would be best?

[johntrob]

GEO,

If you are handy with wood working, which I am not, there is a chair you can buy the plans and hardware for and build yourself.

It seems to be, (I do not have one, just researching) a good model.

Does anyone else know about the type?

Link: CATSPERCH CHAIR FLYER

John

[Geo]

I'm terrible with that kind of thing unfortunately. What does everyone else use for observing?