10" Dob, Laser Collimator and Machholz!Posted By Matthew Warren |
After a hiatus in astronomy, I'm finally enjoying it again. My homemade dob (10" / F5 truss) was an exercise in a lot of frustration which led me to severe burnout rather than elation when complete.
Wanting to be more of a MacGyvor type, I'd fashioned a collimating tool (actually several) from a 35mm cannister. I thought my collimation was fine. But then there were the stars that weren't even close to pinpoint, ghosting of bright planets and general inability to get a perception of in focus. Pass several months and life.
I thought about laser collimators in the past, but I thought that if the Newtonian's been around for hundreds of years and lasers a fraction of that, why should I need one. I should have just plunked down the money a long time ago.
I finally did get the laser and the collimation was definitely way off. In fact, I needed to rework the spider to be able to get enough adjustment. Finally I dialed it in. A few brief viewings since, I was able to see things more like I had seen in my humble ETX-90 and DS-114, and better!
Tonight I finally got to really check it out.
Machholz - S&T likens finding this to M31 and it certainly was very much that. I didn't expect it to look like that in the eyepiece. In fact, I couldn't find it for some time until I studied the star charts again and first found in binocs. I figured that the object that appeared to be some new globular in my binocs probably wasn't... I'm in Orange County, CA suburban skies, mind you. In the Dob, with 26mm eyepiece it was a delight. No discernable tail which I think might have been due to my light adaptation or the moon.
M42 - Best view ever.
M31 - I still have trouble finding this but finally did with some help from an airplane. IE, I saw an airplane flying across my binocular path. I kept my binocs on M31. When the plane flew past, I looked where it was in the sky. At that point, I knew where to put the Telrad. Within 10 seconds, it was there. Pretty much a blob but still fun.
Double Cluster in Perseus - A very special object. Surprised it isn't a Messier. Beautiful and more detailed and more stars than I had ever seen.
Moon - Sharp and crisp. Beautiful with the 26mm.
Anyhow, wanted to share how stoked I am that my rig is finally paying off.
Matt
Wanting to be more of a MacGyvor type, I'd fashioned a collimating tool (actually several) from a 35mm cannister. I thought my collimation was fine. But then there were the stars that weren't even close to pinpoint, ghosting of bright planets and general inability to get a perception of in focus. Pass several months and life.
I thought about laser collimators in the past, but I thought that if the Newtonian's been around for hundreds of years and lasers a fraction of that, why should I need one. I should have just plunked down the money a long time ago.
I finally did get the laser and the collimation was definitely way off. In fact, I needed to rework the spider to be able to get enough adjustment. Finally I dialed it in. A few brief viewings since, I was able to see things more like I had seen in my humble ETX-90 and DS-114, and better!
Tonight I finally got to really check it out.
Machholz - S&T likens finding this to M31 and it certainly was very much that. I didn't expect it to look like that in the eyepiece. In fact, I couldn't find it for some time until I studied the star charts again and first found in binocs. I figured that the object that appeared to be some new globular in my binocs probably wasn't... I'm in Orange County, CA suburban skies, mind you. In the Dob, with 26mm eyepiece it was a delight. No discernable tail which I think might have been due to my light adaptation or the moon.
M42 - Best view ever.
M31 - I still have trouble finding this but finally did with some help from an airplane. IE, I saw an airplane flying across my binocular path. I kept my binocs on M31. When the plane flew past, I looked where it was in the sky. At that point, I knew where to put the Telrad. Within 10 seconds, it was there. Pretty much a blob but still fun.
Double Cluster in Perseus - A very special object. Surprised it isn't a Messier. Beautiful and more detailed and more stars than I had ever seen.
Moon - Sharp and crisp. Beautiful with the 26mm.
Anyhow, wanted to share how stoked I am that my rig is finally paying off.
Matt
