First light - Revelation 12" Dob.

After ordering last Tuesday it arrived today. All in 1 piece, no damage to the boxes at all. As I opened the box I thought ..lord, where am I going to put that .
The base went together perfectly, took about half an hour. It doesnt seem to be collimated correctly, and since I dont have the tools here to do it, I dragged it out just after dark and waited.
After toying around a bit, the only 2 eps I could use were the 15 + 32 mm Plossls. The supplied 2" 32mm was nowhere near as good as my 1.25" 32mm. I used the 32mm to sweep and find, and the 15mm to have a closer look.
First up was m57, not too spectacular with the 32mm, but with the 15 it was great. Obviously elliptical, and with a big central hole. After a while panning around getting used to the movement of the scope, I found m51. The sky was kind of washed out looking, and it was just 2 fuzzy blobs, no detail at all, through either ep - in fact I wasnt sure it was m51 at all until I checked the position. Then on to m13, which was brilliant in the 15mm, the outer reaches resolved into loads of stars. Then on to the double double in Lyra. An easy enough split into 4 through the 15mm. Albireo was great too. I panned around sagitta/Delphinus and Cygnus just taking in all the scenery, and then went and found m31, which again was great in both eps.
Im sure proper collimation will make the images way better, I just have to get the gear to do it... unless someone wants to come out and show me... :lol:
I was surprised at how well averted vision worked, particularly with m31. The telescope performed very well, the only thing I need is a dew cap for the finder. But it is big, very big, and the focuser is great, real accurate. And I got a clear night on the first go.. :mrgreen:
Thanks to Green Witch astronomy Centre - www.greenwich-observatory.co.uk cos the scope was delivered in perfect condition, and with a spare azimuth bearing setup... sweeeet.

Stephen,
I am glad you got a good scope! Sorry for my ignorance (as I'm sure you went through it already) but how much did it cost? Is it one of those from Telescope House?

John O'Neil (KAS) has one. He brought it out with myself and Mike O'C at an observing session in his house back in April. I was very impressed. And for the price at the time (£499 inclusive of delivery), I'm going to get one when I get this house wrangling sorted!

Seanie.

It was £449 less 17.5% vat (I have a vat number) + £100 shipping, so £470, which is around 700 euro. I just need someone to come down and 'first time' collimate it for me, so I can get a cheshire and just tweek it every night.

Stephen - what's the focal ratio?

I presume there were no collimation instructions with the scope and its something you've not done before.

I've read recently that collimaters (lasers, cheshires and others) are ok for getting you close, but unless they are extremely well made, you're wasting your money.

Personally, I placed a dot on the center of the primary and, using a cap with a central hole placed in the focuser, was able to align the primary and secondary enough to go onto the star test.

Cheers

Dave

I have not collimated a scope before. The primary is marked alright. Having looked at quite a few 'how to' guides, Im still not sure what Im supposed to be seeing in the site tube.

OK - a marked primary is good.

Where are you based? If you're not too far from celbridge, co kildare, I can pop over

Cheers

Dave McD