I am finally getting my first telescope!!!

[Ryaja]

After a while of waiting I decided to print and build the "Hadley" (Here is a link) the filament, mirrors and other hardware is coming! I will update you guys here when things come and for milestones in assembly.

[AlamoVampire]

Nice dobsonian! Ive never owned a dob myself. Ive owned a 60mm refractor (retired and damaged) a 4” newtonian refractor (retired but still operational) and my current rig is a 6” schmidt-cassegrain called the Nexstar 6SE. which is my current active duty scope. May your skies be dark and clear!

042112032023

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Santa got us a nice 4" last year. 

Moons of Jupiter and Rings of Saturn even with something so small 

[Ryaja]

On 12/3/2022 at 3:21 AM, AlamoVampire said:

a 4” newtonian refractor

That's actually all this one is, it's the mount that makes it a dob but you can put this on on a tripod too.

[Gargamel]

That’s nice, inclined to build one myself. 

[Ryaja]

22 hours ago, Gargamel said:

That’s nice, inclined to build one myself. 

I'll be sure to tell you the performance I get!(I got the parts on sale too so I'm saving around $50 on this.)

The aluminum rods just arrived a few hours ago!

Spoiler

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by Ryaja
Hopefully it's not too annoying that one is an inch longer!

[Ryaja]

The mirrors arrived today!

Spoiler

 

Edited December 8, 2022 by Ryaja

[Starshot]

On 12/3/2022 at 4:11 PM, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Santa got us a nice 4" last year. 

Moons of Jupiter and Rings of Saturn even with something so small 

Yeah, I would always recommend looking at Jupiter and Saturn for people trying out amatuer astronomy. Craters on the moon are also cool even with loads of light pollution.

Happy stargazing OP 

[Ryaja]

1 hour ago, Starshot said:

Yeah, I would always recommend looking at Jupiter and Saturn for people trying out amatuer astronomy. Craters on the moon are also cool even with loads of light pollution.

Happy stargazing OP 

Ya, the filament had some shipping problems so I will have to wait to actually build it.

[yoarebignoob]

small

[Ryaja]

My filament came! I got 1 black and 1 copper petg.

Spoiler

 

[Ryaja]

The nuts and bolts finally came! Now I just need to get it printing.

Spoiler

 

[Ryaja]

I got an eyepiece for it, and started a price of the print yesterday!

Spoiler

 

Edited December 25, 2022 by Ryaja

[Ryaja]

Almost done! Just need to assemble the LTA and the mount and I'm done!

[AlamoVampire]

@Ryajaexciting news! I hope you have clear skies the day you finish up so you can go outside to get first light into it! 
 

165101242023

[Ryaja]

You probably guessed it it's cloudy

Spoiler

 

[AlamoVampire]

Looks awesome! Now for clear skies! May you enjoy clear skies often!

003101262023

[Cytauri]

Nice! Glad ya got your first scope. When I got my 8" dob, it was cloudy for an entire week so I feel your pain. I do have some tips for you that I wish I knew when I got my telescope. #1 is to leave your telescope outside for it's mirror to adjust to the outside telescope. #2 is to not bump around the telescope so much. You will have to collimate it and that takes a while to do. The final tip is to always cover your telescope when not using it. It will collect dust easily which is really bad if it goes on the mirror. If it accumulates on the mirror, then you will have to do the painstakingly long process of cleaning your telescope with cotton swabs. Clear skies and good luck! 

[Ryaja]

On 1/28/2023 at 12:32 AM, CytauriKerbal said:

Nice! Glad ya got your first scope. When I got my 8" dob, it was cloudy for an entire week so I feel your pain. I do have some tips for you that I wish I knew when I got my telescope. #1 is to leave your telescope outside for it's mirror to adjust to the outside telescope. #2 is to not bump around the telescope so much. You will have to collimate it and that takes a while to do. The final tip is to always cover your telescope when not using it. It will collect dust easily which is really bad if it goes on the mirror. If it accumulates on the mirror, then you will have to do the painstakingly long process of cleaning your telescope with cotton swabs. Clear skies and good luck! 

I printed a collimation eyepiece so it is actually quite easy.

I finally got first light!(the image is lower quality than on my phone for some reason and the actual view was better)

Spoiler

 

[AlamoVampire]

@Ryaja hows your new scope performing?

040003092023

[Ryaja]

On 3/9/2023 at 3:00 AM, AlamoVampire said:

@Ryaja hows your new scope performing?

040003092023

Pretty good! The moon is amazing but for some reason I can't make out any detail on Jupiter, it is just a large brown star, no variation maybe it is a problem where I am or where it was on the horizon but I could make out it's moons!

[AlamoVampire]

@Ryaja its likely more a function of aperture, magnification. To make out any real detail like cloud belts for example require a much larger scope. My 6 inch can get ok detail with the right optics but a 10” would get even better. Even for me the Galilean moons are pinpoints of light and jupiter is “fuzzy.” 
 

Also if youre after fine detail its going to take image stacking from multiple images, but dont let that deter you, so much can be viewed just straight up optically. Keep enjoying the views!

235803142023

[lajoswinkler]

12 hours ago, Ryaja said:

Pretty good! The moon is amazing but for some reason I can't make out any detail on Jupiter, it is just a large brown star, no variation maybe it is a problem where I am or where it was on the horizon but I could make out it's moons!

Such things are what makes a difference between DIY telescopes and commercial ones with larger aperture. It's not only a problem of aperture (150 mm is the minimum to fully enjoy largest possible useful magnifications in our atmosphere), but optical tube assembly warping, collimation, diffraction errors, etc.

Also, don't expect to see Jupiter as in those Juno photoshopped fakeries from crappy Instagram. Jupiter is not a body with high contrasts. It's a coffee and cream, mellow looking mush of clouds with a subdued orange storm that got rather small in the last decades and is kind of difficult to see. Cassini made the last images worth their money.

So don't be disappointed.

[jnbspace]

Filters make a big difference to visibility of some of Jupiter's features. Using a green filter makes the contrast a lot higher for the weather patterns. So without a filter it can be difficult to see but with a filter I find it realtively easy to see the great spot and two major bands, usually it is quite easy to see more than two bands but for that there is no real substitue for aperture and a dark sky.

For the moon neutral density filters are essential otherwise it can be so bright that your pupil will reduce size and make high magnifications harder to use and reduce contrast.

Saturn doesn't really respond too well to filters but I find a yellow filter can make it easier to spot the Cassini division. Weather patterns on Saturn are almost never visible!

All of that said I am usually doing this photographically on deep sky objects that even with all the above are invisble in the eypiece and only show up with stacked long term exposures.

 

[Viking23]

Cool!