Hello everybody,
I am posting after quite a long time to be honest. Had forgotten my password but got it somehow- thanks to the Mac I guess. I am happy to report that I finally bought my first scope. I have been gazing at the stars naked-eye for about quite some time getting used to with the brilliance that lies up there. Then I got myself a nice pair of 20x50 binoculars and mounted them on a tripod and continued to view things closely and enjoy the views.
However, last week I got myself a telescope, which is a Meade Polaris 76mm/700mm on a German EQ mount. Then as you take your new car for a spin, I took my new scope for a spin to a hill station over the weekend. The hill station where my father-in-law has a flat is about 6800 feet high and at a pretty quiet place. Utilising the clear and darker sky I managed to view the moon in its beauty, (missed Jupitor), Saturn and its rings. These sights were really mesmerising and I only viewed these because I was still learning operating my scope and all that.
The next night was really amazing because during the day I was able to learn as much as possible about using the mount as well as the scope and also had the binocular to my advantage so I could see everything right side up with binoculars and then move my upside down Newtonian reflector calculating where I need to move it to view something.
I viewed the following three and remained motionless and breathless for quite some time, sipping on my pipe and trying to come to terms with the beauty of my friends above:
1. Pleiades- lovely indeed. I has seen it naked eye and then with binoculars and finally gazed upon it for a good amount of time with my scope, changing magnifications and focusing the beautiful collection of the seven sisters. I must say that the lower the magnification the fuller the beautification of this item.
2- Andromeda Galaxy- I had seen this with my binoculars and was really able to speedily point towards it without mistake through my binoculars, however, it always used ot be very faint with binoculars but I was always able to view it. I always use star hopping to get to it - From the arrowhead of Cassiopeia to Mirach and then above. However, with the scope it becomes a bit visible and I loved it. However, with bigger magnifications and barlow it went too dark in the eye piece for some reason and I could not focus it at all. Perhaps I need more learning and experience with this.
3- Orion nebula- I had seen it with binoculars of course however the details increased with telescope and I could easily detect and be indulged in the cloud of gas that surrounds the newly born stars which could be seen easily with the telescope of even the low power 76mm that I have.
Overall, it was beautiful. I will see posting my experiences. I am back to my city for now and waiting for the weather to get a bit pleasant so I can take my telescope to the roof and see what lies here in this light polluted atmosphere.