Amarillo Astronomy Club

My first light experience

Last Updated on Saturday, 18 May 2013 08:05 Written by Mike McAllister Saturday, 27 April 2013 16:10

I'm not a pro writer so go easy on me. I've met some of you guys a few times before, and was able to make one of the meetings. Didn't make it last night either so Insted of telling this in person I'll just try it here. I posted this on Cloudynights and astronomyforums.net also, this was Wed. morn.

So after talking to some of you and reading as much as I've had time for I ordered a LX200 acf 10 but found it would be a two month wait. The wife seems very interested also in my new but long desired hobby, so after reading good reviews and seeing that it was in stock I also ordered an Apertura AD12. (I figure I wont have to share the Meade so much with two scopes, but I might be wrong)

I got the scope two days after I ordered it, so super fast shipping. The scope was very easy to assemble with very clear directions. I had only two problems. One of the plastic screws on the finder scope was broken, and the laser collimator didn't seem to work. When I would turn it on there would be a bright light then it would go very dim. When I tried to use it, I couldn't see where it was hitting on the primary. At first I figured it was just me as it was my first time. But eventually I looked at the batteries and found that one had leaked. A quick e-mail to customer service and within 3 days I had a new laser and finder scope screw. With a properly operating laser collimation was easy.

I've had it for a little over a week now, and it has been cloudy and/or stormy every night since. Tonight it finally let up a bit. I'm lucky to live in the country under decently dark sky and I work a night shift, so I decided to take advantage of a slow night and get home and set up the big dob. The wife is asleep, but with no help I found it easy to get it from the living room where I've been getting familiar with it through the laundry room, and out the side door of the garage to the back yard. It's a near full moon tonight with wispy occasional clouds so the moon was my main target.

The Apertura comes with two EP's a 30mm and a 9mm. Its 46 degrees out with some gusty wind. I started with the 30mm and WOW was it bright. I remembered from an old box store Christmas cheapy there could be a small hole in the main lens cover. I checked and sure enough there was a cover that reduced the opening to about 3 inches. So much better on the eye. And now the view is just awesome. I can see how jagged the edge of the moon is, and see some shadow along craters. I'm new to this and haven't looked through many quality scopes but so far I'm really impressed with this scope. After about 15 minutes I decide to switch to the 9mm with the included moon filter.

Right away the balance is affected by the switch. Between the wind gusts and the lighter EP the scope pretty quickly settles to the rear and has to be held on target. As noted in the various reviews the altitude bearings will not tighten enough on the Apertura so I already know I'm going to have to try a mod Ive read about. The Zhumell 12" is (I think) about the same scope.

So with the 9mm with moon filter and the big dust cover off, I see another spectacular view. I know there is much more detail, but under this magnification, and with how easily the scope moves I had a hard time holding it still and getting a fine focus. Its much like looking through binoculars. As I had just taken it out of a warm house into the cold I'm thinking it might also need the cooling down I read so much about concerning Dobs. So I decided to take a break and come in and write about this while its fresh then go out and look again, but heavier clouds rolled in so that was the end of the night.

Four things I've learned so far.

1. Its really weird to move around off the EP when you have night vision in one eye and have been looking at something as bright as a full moon with the other.

2. It's really hard to find something, even something as big as a full moon, in a scope. The upside down and backwards left and right stuff is going to take some getting use to.

3. The cold really soaks in when your using a mesh fabric outdoor chair. I've got to get something more windproof.

4. I'm really going to like this hobby.