I think you will need (some or all of which you may already have, or may
come with your scope):

1) a membership in a club
2) a flashlight with a red beam
3) a zero power finder (e.g. Rigel Quickfinder)
4) a planisphere
5) an observing guide of some sort (e.g. "Turn Left at Orion")
6) a collimation tool (e.g. a film canister with holes poked in the top and
bottom)

I wouldn't buy anything else until you get a chance to use the scope. Then,
try out other folk's eyepieces, barlows, etc to see how they work for you in
your scope.

You MUST collimate your scope frequently, and it will probably NOT arrive
collimated. To collimate means to adjust the tilt of the mirrors so that
light is reflected straight into your eye. Instructions on how to collimate
will be included with the scope. Star test it every time out to check its
collimation. We have a friend with an Orion 8" dob who collimates it
regularly, and the views through his scope are very nice. Once well
collimated, it only takes a minute to tweak it. The folks in your club will
help you to get the hang of it, and it soon becomes second nature.

Dennis

"riff" wrote in message
news:5hH5b.44656$xf.5448@lakeread06...

"Phil Wheeler" wrote in message
...
Steve wrote:
Has anyone in the group have experience using the new digital Dobs by
Orion?
How do they compare to similar versions of Celestron and Meades GOTO
models?
snip
IMHO Orion's advertizing in the catalog is a bit misleading to a
beginner.


Hi all. I'm a complete "noob" to astronomy and just ordered an 8" dob
from
Orion. I have to agree that the advert copy was misleading to me in that
respect and was glad to see you mention it here Phil. I added the optional
controller because of the wife sigh and would have prefered to spend the
extra bucks on other accessories but look forward to it helping us along a
bit. I figured out that it was really DSC from reading the newsgroups.
One
of the descriptions reads: "Want to view the Whirlpool Galaxy? Press the
button labeled 'Messier' ... select M51 ... whoosh! Wow! In seconds,
there
it is, dead center in the eyepiece." Sounds very much like goto and not
"push-to" although I can see that the intention is that "moi" does the
whooshing. Gotta love those marketing weasels though. ; )

Speaking of accessories for a noob, can any of you experienced observers
suggest starter "must have" accessories? In addition to the padded case
and
controller I added on a 2x barlow. The scope comes with 25.0mm & 10.0mm
eyepieces. My plan is to attend a few local astronomy club skywatch
events
and seek further advice. Any "must have" filters? I apologize for these
very beginner-ish questions. I can see that it would depend upon the
situation but was just curious if there are any items that would be great
to
have in the beginning. Thanks for your advice.

Bob