Hayduke27

Today was my second day of staring at the sun. I am still amazed that staring at the sun has become of such interest to me 🤪 I guess that since I took up astronomy I've been staring at distant suns. I may as well look at ours! Anyhow, more seriously, although there isn't much going on with the sun right now, it still fascinates me to see it as a giant textured sphere. Just gazing at it and thinking about the giant fission machine blasting away and churning energy out into the universe, and seeing just what the surface of that machine looks like, well I guess it still just mesmerizes me. It's quite a thing to gaze at the surface of the sun and see the details. As I observed today for approximately 90 minutes or so I swear I saw a couple of bright spots (I apologize for not knowing all the terminology just yet) appeared near the center that were not there at the beginning of my session. Is it more likely that I managed to refine the tuning and adjust my eyes to see this feature, or is there a chance that it appeared during my session? How quickly do the observable features of the sun change? I realize it's a huge scale to be observing and I won't be watching anything necessarily in motion, but during a session of a couple hours would there be noticeable changes in what can be observed?

BTW- The scope came with an 18mm Plossl that has been a good EP for viewing, plus I have been using my ES 8mm and 4.6mm. I have been able to get good contrast and focus with all, but the 8mm has been my favorite thus far.

I am a complete noobie to the solar observing side of stargazing, but yesterday my first solar telescope arrived (a Coronado PST) and I was out today enjoying the process of learning a new type of observing. This report won't contain anything all that interesting to veterans, but I am excited and thought I'd post. This morning I got out and found my way around the scope, learning to focus, adjust contrast, and get rid of reflections. I saw a nice little prom and a bright spot along with some surface texture, and I was quite happy. I went out this afternoon and managed to spot another prom along with both a light spot and several dark spots. Upon returning home I confirmed that what I had been viewing was indeed accurate, and I am quite satisfied with my first day of viewing. Below is a picture of the features I was focused on: A very successful first day, and I am really happy to be learning how to observe the closest star to our little rock!

Cygnus X-1 has been on my list for over a year. Although I understand you can't see a black hole, I sure would love to get the EP onto that piece of sky and just stare it it for a little while knowing what is there.

Oh, as another side note... I had indeed considered the fact that sun spots might be a cool thing to observe using a white light setup, and it seems that in the reading I have done people generally have each setup on hand for different occasions. Seeing as how it's comparatively very inexpensive to get a solar filter for my 8SE, it would probably make sense to go ahead and do so. Now for the questions: First, will sun spots be apparent at all with my Ha setup, or are they much more strictly a white light kind of thing? Secondly, I plan on viewing the upcoming Mercury transit. Will this be something that will give good views with my Ha setup, or is this another event that might call for a white light rig?

Thanks @Paul73, I was just looking at zoom EPs and wondering about some recommendations. Your timing is perfect. So I just set up the scope in my yard and set to work figuring things out. Luckily I went ahead and read the instructions before getting to it (I must be getting older and wiser). I was pleasantly surprised to find that the scope has a built-in sun finder, a very handy little accessory if you ask me! It took me a few tries to get the feel for finding a proper focus and then using the various contrast and anti-reflection knobs, but I soon got the hang of it, and was able to focus and adjust contrast using my 18mm, 8mm, and 4.6mm EPs. As it's my first day everything is very new and it's a lot to take it, but I can see surface detail and I can also see one little prominence. This leads me to a very newbie question. I took a look at the website that @Merlin66 mentions above, and I swear that the prominence that I am seeing is the one in all of the images on the website. However, in the images the prom is at roughly 8:00 whereas the one I am viewing is almost dead on at 12:00. I have been pondering this, and it seems to make sense that the "up side" of the sun would differ depending on where you are standing on the planet, but it is one more of those things I had never thought about. Is this little theory of mine correct? Thanks for all the info everyone!

Ken, thanks so much for the info and the link! I have been reading in the forums here that a zoom EP is convenient for solar observing. I may have to invest in one, but I'll first give it a go with what I've got and see the results. I think I'll get out this morning to give the scope a little first light outing. I got a standard Meade AZS Mount manual tripod as my current mount. My night scope has GoTo and tracking, so using the manual tripod is going to be a new experience for me. I don't have a finder for it either, but I was sort of figuring I would be able to spot the sun without too much work. Beginner's naivety maybe? We'll see.

Thanks for the heads up, this will have to go on the observing list!!

This is my first report in a long while. I have not been observing quite as much as I would like, as can be said by many. Between a busy life and this year having far more cloud cover than almost any other year to memory (stop buying new equipment you space-lovers!!), I have been lucky to get out once each month. With the end of summer and the lengthening nights, I am trying to change this a bit. I was keeping a close eye on Clear Outside, and got a stellar forecast: And so I loaded up and headed out to my viewing spot. Still being a couple of years new to this hobby, I have recently been adjusting from the phase of "really excited newbie trying to see as many targets in one night as possible" into a new phase of shorter viewing lists, spending more time on each object, and educating myself about the objects I want to observe before I head out so I know more about them and have a greater appreciation of what I am looking at. Anyway, I digress. I got myself set up by 21:00, and began my look into the abyss. I began with a look towards NGC 7319, a galaxy in Stephan's Quintet. Though I had a little bit of moonlight to contend with, I was able to make out this galaxy's center as quite a bright target surrounded by rather shapeless smudges surrounding that I assumed were the other galaxies, though I didn't increase magnification at all to see if I might be able to discern more detail out of the bright patch I was seeing. I like this target and will be returning to it again soon. I next checked out a couple of targets recommended through reading some Stargazer's Lounge reports. I swung the scope over to NGC 188, an open cluster that is approximately 6.8 BYO. Again, due to the cold temps (about -18C) I was being a bit lazy about changing EPs, and I could have used a bit less magnification on this object. It was still a nice first light for me, and another object I intend to return to soon! I now skipped over to a galaxy in Perseus, NGC 1023. This was another first light for me, and a bright and mesmerizing look at a new galaxy! I followed this up with NGC 891, the Silver Sliver galaxy. This was far larger but much more dim. I couldn't make out much detail, but could certainly see its namesake! I now sat back into my lawnchair with the binoculars for a while. Another thing I've found myself doing, as I have slowly quenched my thirst for seeing as much as I possibly could with my telescope, is I now can really appreciate the decreased magnification of my binoculars when taking in larger parts of the sky. I have had a copy of Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas for a couple of years, and in the beginning I found it a bit overwhelming and didn't get much from it. As I have become more familiar with the sky and how to navigate it, I have really fallen in love with the sky atlas. It is great fun sitting back in a comfortable chair with binoculars and the atlas and just working my way across the sky, exploring and familiarizing myself with the general layout of the sky, which targets are too large to make out in my scope, and finally making out some objects such as dark nebulas within the Milky Way that had always proven so elusive to my untrained eyes. I readily found the Andromeda galaxy, then jumped over to M33 (a target that was once a White Whale to me, but through much determination has become something I now find habitually). I observed the double cluster between Perseus and Cassiopeia, and also explored the wealth of observable objects within the main body of Auriga. I then took a good long look at the Pleiades and Hyades before returning to the scope. I decided to take a stab at Uranus and Neptune. Both were clear and worth a good look. Soon I'd like to take a little more time with some magnification looking at Neptune in the hopes to maybe spot Triton. I also took a good look at Albirio, as it never fails to hypnotize me with its contrast in colors. Before long the moon was setting over the horizon, and I took the time to watch it make it's way there through the binos. Soon after this Orion was rising, and I got my first good look of the year at the Orion Nebula through my scope. Always a beautiful and comforting object, I spent a good amount of time looking at the trapezium and all of the surrounding bright nebulosity. Now that the moon had set, I decided to see what I could make out of the Veil Nebula. Once again, the cold made me lazy and I didn't add any filters but could still make out some nice veins of nebulosity. I didn't spend much time here tonight as I was getting cold and about ready to call it a night. I saw several meteors during the night, but by far the brightest was just as I was getting packed up. I turned to the west, and caught the light out of the corner of my eye. There, directly below Vega, I saw a very bright meteor streak across the sky. However, unlike the others I have seen, this one suddenly flashed very bright and white (much like a camera flash) and disappeared. I am unsure whether it dropped below the horizon right then, or whether it had just blown up and disappeared, but a presumed this was something akin to an air-burst. It was quite the spectacle and a lovely way to end the night! For a rather casual start I ended up having a very rewarding night and am really looking forward to more sessions in the coming weeks! Clear skies everyone!

I'm no expert, but I have seen a couple of satellites that got brighter and dimmer many times at regular intervals while I watched them cross the sky, and I thought I understood that this was due to the satellite spinning. This would be my best guess, but somebody please correct me if I am wrong!

Hi everyone, So I had been pondering the idea of observing the sun, as to this point all of my telescope observations had been made at night. My very first instinct was to just get a solar filter for my Celestron 8SE. I had the presence of mind to do a little research and ask a few questions, and I learned quickly that I could view the white light through the 8SE, and that really the main features I could see would be sunspots and eclipses. I was told that getting a setup that was made for solar observing in Ha would lead to being able to see more of the details that are so captivating in people's images such as prominences (flares?). There is my short intro. After a bit of reading and some research, I made a rather quick decision to get myself a Meade Instruments 0.5PST Coronado H-Alpha Personal Solar Telescope. I am a bit embarrassed to admit it, but my decision was a bit of a quick one and I hadn't done my full research before ordering everything. The scope came with a 18mm Plossl EP and can receive 1.25" EPs. I have a whole set of Explore Scientific EPs I use for nighttime observing. Will I be able to use these with this new solar scope? Also, is there any additional equipment that you might recommend to maximize my viewing satisfaction? Again, this is just for observing, not imaging as of yet. Thanks for any advice! Alex

Thanks for all this great info John! I just printed out that great chart from Exploring the Veil and am headed out to do just that. It's perfectly clear here tonight after a particularly cloudy summer, and spending some extended time surfing through the veil sounds perfect.

I jot down some notes while I am in the field, and then I have an observing journal that I use to fill out a more detailed report within the next day or two after the session. I also like to do some write-ups on SGL as I find it gives me a chance to relive the experience and bring back some of the emotion that went with it. I need to do more sketching. It's tough right now because it's just so cold outside, but perhaps I should break out the pencils again soon.

Oh yeah, I don't actually take any stock in the alignment of the stars. It was a mere tragic coincidence. All the same, the events will probably forever be joined in my mind.

I know how this goes. I got up on the morning of the Mars and Venus conjunction in September, and the following night my dog died. I now find myself fearing the next conjunction! Funny how the emotions of a great night of observing can get burned right into the same memory as life events.

I have added this object to my observing list! Nice image!

I am a total newbie to astronomy, though I've always been interested and have kicked around the idea of buying a telescope for years. About a week ago I went to our local observatory for my first time. Along with getting to look at a couple of objects through the big telescope, they had several smaller scopes set up outside. One gentleman had his private scope there and was allowing people to look at Saturn. My expectations were low, I figured it would just appear as a star. When I first looked through his scope and saw a planet with rings so clearly, I was gobstruck. I couldn't believe it and was hooked. I am extremely excited to embark upon this adventure in the sky. It fascinates me that our night sky is a literal window to the universe. Anyway, I just came across this website and found this piece of writing. Wonderfully written, very informative, and I count myself among those who find the OP and subsequent posts far more inspiring than limiting. You all make up a great community, and I hope to find myself a part of it very soon! First scope is in the mail!!!