First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

Let's see your reports!
User avatar
Shelby United States of America
Moon Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2021 7:58 pm
2
Location: Louisiana, United States
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#1

Post by Shelby »


I finally got some clear weather tonight, so I took my new telescope out for its very first night.

I started off with something simple and easy to see, Jupiter. I could clearly see the cloud bands and its 4 moons with my 10mm eyepiece in. I wanted to see more, so I used the Barlow I had for my other scope, but I don't it works correctly with my dobson because it made my views look worse even though they were bigger. So, after that I decided that was enough of looking at Jupiter, so I moved on to my next target.

For my next target, I decided to pick the Moon, because, well why not, it is big and would be a good target to test the clarity of my telescope's optics. Immediately, I was over whelmed by how bright it was even though it was only waxing gibbious so I put the front cover on to block out most of the light. That helped a lot. It showed lots of detail, more than I ever remember seeing with my 4.5 inch. I used the 10mm to zoom in and saw even more details. I took a few pictures with my smartphone, and moved back to Jupiter which I watched until it went behind my treeline.

My next target was the north star, Polaris. This was just randomly selected on the spot, there no particular reason for this one. I did use it to make sure I had everything focused without it moving out of my FOV. I am getting used to not having tracking, but it is something I have had for a while. I did see the dim star next to Polaris, I think that was not the companion, but just an unrelated star.

My next target was the brightest star, Sirius. It appeared very bright and even had spikes around it because of the brightness. I didn't much time here. Moving on.

My next target was the Orion Nebula. It appeared grey and fuzzy, but was clearly and easily visible, I saw the Trapezium easily with the 10mm eyepiece. I looked at some of the stars around it too. I saw lots of them, and they were all really clear.

My final target was a challenge. I chose comet 19P/Borelly because I saw on SkySafari that it was visible tonight, and I thought it would be a great target to test the abilities of my new scope and my ability to find objects without goto capabilities. It took some time to get there, but after doing some starhopping to get to it, I located all of the stars from the surrounding area around the comet. Then, I finally saw it, it was in the lower middle of a triangle of stars, very dim, but it was there. At first, I wasn't sure if I saw it or not, but after changing eyepieces back and forth and still seeing it, I was sure. It appeared as a dim fuzzy spot like many other comets I have seen. It was insignificant. It did prove my ability to locate objects on my own though. It is my 13th comet sighting.

And that ended my night. Hope you enjoyed reading about my first light experience, I had quite a night with my new telescope.
My scopes: Sky-Watcher 150p (6") Classic Dobsonian (main scope), iOptron SmartStar N114 with GPS (not really used anymore)

My eyepieces: 25mm Skywatcher Plossl, 10mm Skywatcher Plossl, 25mm unknown brand, 9mm iOptron Kellner.

Filters: AstroZap Baadar Solar Film Filter for my SkyWatcher 6 inch, 6" OD Seymour Solar film filter for the N114

Camera: My smartphone

Comets: 19
User avatar
Lady Fraktor Slovakia
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 9863
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:14 pm
4
Location: Slovakia
Status:
Offline

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#2

Post by Lady Fraktor »


Congratulations on a fine session!
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
The only culture I have is from yogurt
My day was going well until... people
Image
User avatar
davesellars
Pluto Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 465
Joined: Fri May 31, 2019 1:02 pm
4
Location: UK
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#3

Post by davesellars »


Great first light report and well done on successfully star-hopping to find objects! Are you just using the eyepieces that came with the scope?
SW Flextube 12" Dobsonian.
Starfield ED102 f/7; SW ED80; SW 120ST
EQ5 and AZ4 mounts
Eyepieces: TV Delos 17.3 & 10; Pentax XW 7 & 5; BCO 32,18,10; Fuyiyama Ortho 12.5; Vixen SLV 25.
User avatar
John Baars Netherlands
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 5
Offline
Posts: 2724
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 9:00 am
4
Location: Schiedam, Netherlands
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#4

Post by John Baars »


Great first light with your new telescope.
The barlows included in starter kits are often not of impeccable quality. ( an understatement) Which 6 inch do you have, the f/5 or the f/8?
A barlow in combination with the f/8 may be too much , or may be the collimation is not 100%. On the other hand on a low contrasty object like Jupiter, low on the horizon, the magnification is too high rather quickly. With Jupiter that low on the horizon, I got used to magnifications around 120X.
Compliments on finding the comet!
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
User avatar
Greenman Great Britain
Local Group Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 2296
Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2019 7:39 pm
4
Location: Nether Heyford, UK
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#5

Post by Greenman »


Nice report, glad it was productive for you.
Cheers,

Tony.

Image

Smart Scope: Dwarf II - Club and outreach work.

AP Refractor: Altair 72EDF Deluxe F6;1x & 0.8 Flatteners; Antares Versascope 60mm finder. ASIAir Pro.Li battery pack for grab & go.

Celestron AVX Mount; X-cel LX eyepieces & Barlows 2x 3x, ZWO 2” Filter holder,

Cameras: main DSO ASI533MC; DSO guide ASI120MM; Planetary ASI224MC; DSLR Canon EOS100 stock.

Filters: Astronomik IR cut; Optolong L-Pro; Optolong L-Enhance.

Binoculars: Celestron 15 x 70.

Latitude: 52.219853
Longitude: -1.034471
Accuracy: 5 m
Bortle 4 site. https://maps.google.com/?q=52.21985,-1.03447

Image
User avatar
WilliamPaolini United States of America
Saturn Ambassador
Articles: 9
Offline
Posts: 303
Joined: Tue May 25, 2021 8:57 pm
2
Location: Virginia, USA
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#6

Post by WilliamPaolini »


Outstanding First Light!! :handgestures-thumbup:
-Bill

U.S.A.F. Veteran - Visual Amateur Astronomer since 1966 - Fully Retired since 2019
8" f/5 Newt - Lunt 152 f/7.9 - TSA 102 f/8 - Vixen 81S f/7.7 - P.S.T. - Pentax 65ED II - Nikon 12x50 AE
Pentax XWs - Baader Morpheus - Takahashi LEs - Edmund RKEs - BST Starguiders - 6ZAO-II/5XO/4Abbe
PM and Email communications always welcomed
User avatar
Ylem United States of America
Universal Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 7483
Joined: Sun May 12, 2019 2:54 am
4
Location: Ocean County, New Jersey
Status:
Offline

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#7

Post by Ylem »


Awesome first light report 🙂
Clear Skies,
-Jeff :telescopewink:


Member; ASTRA-NJ



Orion 80ED
Celestron C5, 6SE, Celestar 8
Vixen Porta Mount ll
Coronado PST
A big box of Plossls
Little box of filters
:D



User avatar
Shelby United States of America
Moon Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2021 7:58 pm
2
Location: Louisiana, United States
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#8

Post by Shelby »


I am using the eyepieces that came with it. I haven't ordered any new ones yet. Mine is the f/8 version. The Barlow I was using was a Meade #127 Variable 2x-3x Barlow I bought for my old scope. Jupiter was also pretty low, so it might have been too much magnification.

Thanks for the compliment. I didn't originally plan on that, but I am glad that it happened.
My scopes: Sky-Watcher 150p (6") Classic Dobsonian (main scope), iOptron SmartStar N114 with GPS (not really used anymore)

My eyepieces: 25mm Skywatcher Plossl, 10mm Skywatcher Plossl, 25mm unknown brand, 9mm iOptron Kellner.

Filters: AstroZap Baadar Solar Film Filter for my SkyWatcher 6 inch, 6" OD Seymour Solar film filter for the N114

Camera: My smartphone

Comets: 19
User avatar
jrkirkham United States of America
Orion Spur Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 929
Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2019 12:37 am
4
Location: Illinois United States
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#9

Post by jrkirkham »


Thank you for the first light report. I looks like you had a wonderfully productive evening.
Rob
Telescopes: 50mm refractor, ED80 triplet, 90mm makcass, 10" dob, 8"SCT, 11"SCT
Mounts: Celestron CGX, Orion Sirius + several camera tripods
Cameras: Canon 6D, Canon 80D, ZWO-ASI120MC
Binoculars: 10x50, 12x60, 15x70, 25-125x80
Observatory: SkyShed POD XL3 + 8x12 warm room
AL Projects Completed: Lunar #645, Outreach #0280, Universe Sampler #93-T, Binocular Messier #871, Messier #2521, Messier Honorary #2521, Constellation Hunter Northern Skies #112, Planetary Transit Venus #1, Galileo #26, Outreach Stellar 0280, Meteor Regular #157, Solar System Telescopic #209-I, Observer Award #1
AL Projects Currently in Process: Double Stars, Comet, Lunar Evolution
User avatar
helicon United States of America
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 585
Online
Posts: 12280
Joined: Mon May 06, 2019 1:35 pm
4
Location: Washington
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#10

Post by helicon »


What a great first night Shelby. Jupiter always amazes, a does the Orion Nebula and congrats on observing the dim comet! Also, you are the winner of today's TSS Visual Report of the Day award! (Honor badge coming)
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
User avatar
Frankskywatcher United States of America
Orion Spur Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 938
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2022 8:30 pm
2
Location: Conway South Carolina USA
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#11

Post by Frankskywatcher »


I joyed reading your report, hopefully I’ll be giving my first in the very near future when my scope arrives! Thanks for sharing very interesting ,
Gee if I had known there was so much to see I would have started decades ago ! :Astronomer1:

Equipment :
Apertura AD10” Dobsonian

Polaris 4” Dobsonian

7x50 binoculars
User avatar
Shelby United States of America
Moon Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2021 7:58 pm
2
Location: Louisiana, United States
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#12

Post by Shelby »


Wow, thanks for the award, I wasn't expecting that. I had quite a good night last night. I plan on doing it again soon. Does anyone know the best way to check the collimation on my scope, I haven't checked it yet, although it seems to be performing well based on last night's adventure. I saw the comet under moonlit skies.
My scopes: Sky-Watcher 150p (6") Classic Dobsonian (main scope), iOptron SmartStar N114 with GPS (not really used anymore)

My eyepieces: 25mm Skywatcher Plossl, 10mm Skywatcher Plossl, 25mm unknown brand, 9mm iOptron Kellner.

Filters: AstroZap Baadar Solar Film Filter for my SkyWatcher 6 inch, 6" OD Seymour Solar film filter for the N114

Camera: My smartphone

Comets: 19
User avatar
helicon United States of America
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 585
Online
Posts: 12280
Joined: Mon May 06, 2019 1:35 pm
4
Location: Washington
Status:
Online

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#13

Post by helicon »


Check out this video....
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
User avatar
John Baars Netherlands
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 5
Offline
Posts: 2724
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 9:00 am
4
Location: Schiedam, Netherlands
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#14

Post by John Baars »


Congratulations on the VROD!
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
Refractordude
Interdicted
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 1493
Joined: Sun May 12, 2019 1:05 am
4
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#15

Post by Refractordude »


GREAT
User avatar
Makuser United States of America
In Memory
In Memory
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 6394
Joined: Mon May 06, 2019 12:53 am
4
Location: Rockledge, FL.
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

TSS Photo of the Day

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#16

Post by Makuser »


Hi Shelby. A very nice observing report with the new Sky-Watcher 6" Dob. Yes, sometimes bumping up the magnification can result in a larger yet blurry image. However, the moon is always a treat, and you also caught the Orion Nebula and congratulations on viewing Comet 19P/Borelly. Thanks for your excellent first light report Shelby and congratulations on receiving the TSS VROD Award today.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
User avatar
Unitron48 United States of America
Local Group Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 2747
Joined: Sun May 12, 2019 12:48 am
4
Location: Culpeper, VA (USA)
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#17

Post by Unitron48 »


Great session and report! Congrats on your VROD!

Dave
Unitron (60mm, 102mm), Brandon 94
Stellarvue SVX127D
http://www.unitronhistory.com

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." Albert Einstein
User avatar
kt4hx United States of America
Moderator
Moderator
Articles: 4
Offline
Posts: 3489
Joined: Sun May 12, 2019 12:18 am
4
Location: Virginia, USA
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#18

Post by kt4hx »


Well done Shelby and congrats on the VROD. Sounds like your new scope is going to work well for you. Excellent work in pursuit of the comet.
Alan

Scopes: Astro Sky 17.5 f/4.5 Dob || Apertura AD12 f/5 Dob || Zhumell Z10 f/4.9 Dob ||
ES AR127 f/6.5 || ES ED80 f/6 || Apertura 6" f/5 Newtonian
Mounts: ES Twilight-II and Twilight-I
EPs: AT 82° 28mm UWA || TV Ethos 100° 21mm and 13mm || Vixen LVW 65° 22mm ||
ES 82° 18mm || Pentax XW 70° 10mm, 7mm and 5mm || barlows
Filters (2 inch): DGM NPB || Orion Ultra Block, O-III and Sky Glow || Baader HaB
Primary Field Atlases: Uranometria All-Sky Edition and Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Astronomers, we look into the past to see our future." (me)
"Seeing is in some respect an art, which must be learnt." (William Herschel)
"What we know is a drop, what we don't know is an ocean." (Sir Isaac Newton)
"No good deed goes unpunished." (various)
Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't you think?” (Scarecrow, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
User avatar
Bigzmey United States of America
Moderator
Moderator
Articles: 8
Offline
Posts: 7551
Joined: Sat May 11, 2019 7:55 pm
4
Location: San Diego, CA USA
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#19

Post by Bigzmey »


Congrats on the first light and VROD, Shelby! Polaris is indeed is a double star, so you have resolved its faint companion. Well done! Getting the comet is impressive to.
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
User avatar
Shelby United States of America
Moon Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2021 7:58 pm
2
Location: Louisiana, United States
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: First light with my Sky-Watcher 6 dobsonian

#20

Post by Shelby »


Thanks for all the congrats everyone. Yeah, getting VROD kinda made my day. I was glad to find the comet as well. That was not part of my original plan. I just wanted a challenge to test my skills, and saw that comet visible on SkySafari, so I chose it as a target to test my abilities, and I passed the test. I found a pretty dim comet under moonlit skies. Thought about doing it again tonight, but the moon is even brighter now. I'm waiting for the Moon to move out of the way so I can really see how much I can see with my new scope. Also, things just look better without the Moon washing them out.
My scopes: Sky-Watcher 150p (6") Classic Dobsonian (main scope), iOptron SmartStar N114 with GPS (not really used anymore)

My eyepieces: 25mm Skywatcher Plossl, 10mm Skywatcher Plossl, 25mm unknown brand, 9mm iOptron Kellner.

Filters: AstroZap Baadar Solar Film Filter for my SkyWatcher 6 inch, 6" OD Seymour Solar film filter for the N114

Camera: My smartphone

Comets: 19
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in

Return to “Astronomy Reports”