It is a good price and it is my first dobsonian 8".

All I have had is a entry level meade refractor. and no, I have no idea what I am doing. I have already ordered a collimator and a phone mount. (both of these would likely make my current telescope a lot better.

Anyway, hopefully this is the start of something beautiful.

I'm a dob fan but that's all I've ever had. I almost got started building my own.

I've got a 4.5" and a 10". Sadly I've not had them out much the last few yrs. Light pollution has gotten worse at my home loc. and my main joy was always finding the Messier objects.

I did get some good moon photos just holding the camera up to eye piece and shooting away. I'll see if I can find one.

https://imgur.com/EJnyk94

I think your gonna have so much fun you won't know what to do with yourself. I had a 3 inch relector when I was a kid, that was serious fun.

I've been thinking about getting into a telescope as well. I've been out of it for decades, and there is so much I'd need to learn before spending any amount of $$ on one. I'd probably buy used just to see if it's something I'd want to pursue. The ability of mounting a DSLR would be a must. Another hobby to piss my money away on...oh, the wife will be thrilled!!! I can hear it now, "You've got a basement full of hobbies", (which I actually do), "blah blah blah"...
This one seems to get good reviews:
https://telescopicwatch.com/ap...an-telescope-review/

Dsiets, what a great picture, I am hoping to get some as well but I picked a really bad time to start a telescope hobby

Here is my 8" dobsonian.
20240805_164554 by redstone71, on Flickr

Mirror is clean and it seems all lined up.
The two purchases I made (and I should be able to use these on any telescope) are for a collimator and a phone mount. I have never 'aligned' a telescope before so that probably explains a lot about what I have been doing wrong.

A writer friend of mine has a youtube channel and he does a lot of fix and repair of telescopes. I owe him a lot of my new found excitement in this endeavor.
His channel is @reflactor

The phone mount I chose was based on his recommendation: tridaptor on Amazon And it also comes with a bluetooth shutter button.

I also bought the SVBONY Collimator to align the mirrors.

With the new app for using your phone, attached to the telescope as a 'finder' I am really excited about having better success than I did with my older Meade telescope. But once I get them both setup I think it will be a lot of fun up on the blue ridge this fall. I am really looking forward to it.

Did yours come w/ at least two eye pieces? A 10mm and 25mm plossl?

I started out getting familiar w/ the constellations through books. I can recommend Nightwatch. I know you have an app but it's covers more than constellations.
Nightwatch

I got an 8" Dobsonian for my dad, and we had a lot of fun with it. It was a pretty simple one from Orion. When he died, my mom gave it to a school or astronomy club. I had no good place to keep it.

quote:

Originally posted by dsiets:
Did yours come w/ at least two eye pieces? A 10mm and 25mm plossl?

I started out getting familiar w/ the constellations through books. I can recommend Nightwatch. I know you have an app but it's covers more than constellations.
Nightwatch

Yes, it came with the 10mm and 25mm eyepieces. I am setting up the phone holder to take pics on the 25mm as I can hopefully zoom in with the phone if needed. I am already planning on upgrading the rotation vinyl for the two axis to make is easier to track.

i just ordered that book, love that it comes in a spiral bound. There is not all that much to see right now, but once winter gets here it should be more fun.

It still boggles my mind that these light rays have been traveling for a long long time only to bounce off my glass, go through some lenses and disperse their energy in my eyeball.

Hopefully pics soon.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
I got an 8" Dobsonian for my dad, and we had a lot of fun with it. It was a pretty simple one from Orion. When he died, my mom gave it to a school or astronomy club. I had no good place to keep it.

The Meade that I have I had given to my dad, and we had some fun with it. I am thinking about tracking him down one in Texas (he just moved there for some reason - long story) for him to do some stargazing as well. He left the Meade here with me.

Really looking forward to taking a trip up to the Blue Ridge parway having a nice fire / grill dinner and then do some star gazing with the girls.