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Weekends observing and frustrations!

craigfoot

By craigfoot
in Getting Started With Observing

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craigfoot

craigfoot

Posted
Posted

Hi all. . Let's get the positives out there first.

Saw m31 for the first time, not as impressive as the pictures you usually see, but impressive all the same. Think a longer ep will be better, I was using my 15mm, but could still see the bright center and cloudy surrounding area.

Got a good view of mizar and alcor, there was also a 3rd star really close by?

Using my 8mm was impressive with albireo, seeing 2 stars so close and of different colours too.

Managed a quick view of tonight's moon, again brought out great detail with the bst eps.

The frustrations however. .

The cloud and wind led to very little viewing time.

Didn't manage to polar align, just couldn't see Polaris. The theory of alignment seems so easy, so disappointed with this failure.

Aligning the raci seemed difficult, couldn't get it spot on permanently. Moving the screws to align seems fine, but then afterwards it's out again. Seems you have to loosen one of the screws to move in one direction but then i'm assuming this leaves the finder loose in its holder?

Aligning the scope, finder and rigel due to the above was difficult, but the wind didn't help with this either!

Balancing the scope still seems difficult with all the new additions

Moving the scope on the eq2 mount from north facing to south facing seems cumbersome and also leaves the ep in difficult un useable position.

All of the above ment I didn't manage to see much else, had a go at locating m51, m57, m81 and m82 with no luck

So pretty disappointed really. . Hoping for better luck next time

Craig

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CSM

CSM

Posted
Posted

I started off with the Skywatcher 130P and eyepiece in 'wrong' positions', stray lights and wind were what caused me to invest in an observatory and an SCT.  Expensive but worth it!

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Floater

Floater

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Don't know your scope so, sorry, can't advise.

And this is not advice, just a suggestion. You may have split Mizar. Mizar and Alcor form an easy-ish naked eye double. Mizar is a double in its own right. If you saw 'a third star close by' it might be that your double was Mizar and the 'third star' was Alcor.

Now wouldn't that be cool and make up for your frustration ...?

p.s. Seeing you spell Albireo correctly causes my heart to soar like a hawk.

(credit: Chief Dan George in 'Little Big Man'.)

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ronin

ronin

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Albireo tends to get spelt wrong, usually Alberio.

Spelling on a forum can drive people nuts, have to say it has improved over the last year.

Be careful as many stars are Arabic and the spelling of those can differ between references: Almaak and Almach are the same star. It is also I think a coloured double as is Gamma Cas. Well I think they are but brain cells may be winding me up.

M31 is probably better in binoculars, it all fits in.

Do the RACI alignment during the day on something about 2 miles away, stars "move" whereas a tree or church doesn't. If it has to be at night then use Polaris - except yopu say you cannot see it. It doesn't move much.

As you move and so rotate a newtonian on an EQ then the eyepiece will get itself into impossible positions. Think there are rings that allow you to loosen, then rotate the scope the retighten then again but they will be costly and adding more weight to an EQ2 is not a great idea.

The Pleiades are appearing now, and the Hyades with Aldebaren.

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craigfoot

craigfoot

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Thanks. . I can see Polaris, just not in the finder/scope, I expected to level my tripod, set one leg facing south, set the latitude on the mount and then see it. . Not that simple :-(

I can loosen and rotate my tube, but will that impact on the alignment? If I ever manage it, of the finders?

I'll retry the finder alignment, but should both screws end up tight? Or do you just tighten/loosen until the object is centrally aligned on the crosshair?

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Tinker1947

Tinker1947

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If your scope has tube rings then a large jubilee clip and in my case a plastic measure cut to length clamped round the top ring, simple loosen the tube rings and spin the tube so the EP comes to a easier to view position, nip up the ring clamps, so the tun#be can't slide out should it end up pointing at the ground.....

2012-02-21190701.jpg

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Floater

Floater

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Sorry for the spelling aside, craigfoot. And I'm glad to see you're getting proper advice from proper people.

It's what the forum is best for ...

As for Albireo, we had some fun recently on a thread I started, kicking off about how often I'd seen the star's name misspelled. Nothing serious; no blood spilled; just some fun.

Hope you get sorted out with your frustrations - and I'm sure the good folks who know about things will help you.

Just have fun while you work it through, 'cos that's what the hobby should be all about. Enjoyment.

Oh, and spelling things properly :-) which you did!

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dick_dangerous

dick_dangerous

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All of the above ment I didn't manage to see much else, had a go at locating m51, m57, m81 and m82 with no luck

M51 is quite large and diffuse. The first time I tried to find it, I got this double star, thought that was it, realised it wasn't and then gave up. The next time I tried, I nudged the dob a bit having found the aforementioned double star and ran straight into M51. I realised my mistake here because it's big and rather spectacular. Needs dark skies though, which you probably don't have in Hull.

M57 is easy but confused me because it's really titchy. Basically it's between the bottom two stars of Lyra - look for a fuzzy star in your longest focal length eyepiece pretty much bang slap in the middle of them, then ramp up the power. A UHC filter is handy for seeing the ring shape - this can be done comfortably from a light polluted setting.

M81 and M82 - The star-hop to these does take time and practise. I seem the remember there being a pair of obvious stars in the vicinity and I'd often use them to locate the galaxies. They're pretty low down right now but being circumpolar should still be visible.

Good luck!

DD

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AndyWB

AndyWB

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All of the above ment I didn't manage to see much else, had a go at locating m51, m57, m81 and m82 with no luck

So pretty disappointed really. . Hoping for better luck next time

Stick with it - I still find M51 oddly hard to locate, M57 is tricky the first few times 'cos it's so small, and M81 and M82 aren't exactly easy to navigate to either.

M31 - much comes down to how dark it is; if sufficiently dark it will fill your lowest power eyepiece from side to side. Last night, from a light polluted location - well, it was a bit pathetic really.

Regarding the RACI - my Skywatcher one comes with 2 screws and one sprung-loaded screw, so it should always be tight. I've found with it that the position of your eye over the eyepiece is critical - moving it makes the crosshairs appear to move. However, it's close enough to get things in the field of view of the eyepiece.

Finally, if you like Albireo, try Almach (Gamma AND); I saw it for the first time last night, and I think I prefer it!

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cuivenion

cuivenion

Posted
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Here's the best way to find Polaris:

038B.jpeg

Check out this youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIwQ5bWXAf57sE5HN6ldW3Q

As a beginner myself I've found it very helpful. The Jubilee clip looks like a good idea to prevent an accidental breakage. You need to make sure the tube ring knobs are at the right tension so they allow you to rotate the tube without it falling out. You can always tighten them after rotating if you're feeling it's unsafe.

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Tinker1947

Tinker1947

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The idea behind having a tripod leg pointing North is 2 fold, first it means the weight and bar are over a leg as the weight bar on a EQ mount points North, second if you have a Polar Scope looking through it is much easier when sitting on the ground between the other 2 legs to look through the PS and not having a leg in the way....:)

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craigfoot

craigfoot

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If your scope has tube rings then a large jubilee clip and in my case a plastic measure cut to length clamped round the top ring, simple loosen the tube rings and spin the tube so the EP comes to a easier to view position, nip up the ring clamps, so the tun#be can't slide out should it end up pointing at the ground.....

2012-02-21190701.jpg

Just ordered some large jubilee clips. . .what's the plastic material underneath?
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