First DSO - Success!

[HumanEnergy]

After watching the BBC Sky at Night programme about the Cygnus constellation I decided to spend last night having a look at it myself and seeing if I could spot any of the objects they mentioned.

I had a long look at the Albireo double star which was great, but I really wanted to see if I could find M39 or M29.

I had no luck pinpointing M39 but I did manage to find M29! It's described as being a "less impressive" cluster on Wikipedia but it was more than enough to force me to restrain squeals of delight So now I have something to put on my list of DSOs that I have seen!

[kidlands]

Great stuff well done. What scope have you got?

steve

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice one, congratulations!

[HumanEnergy]

Great stuff well done. What scope have you got?

steve

A Celestron NexStar SLT 127. I only did a quick solar system align on the Moon to align the GoTo system so it wasn't completely accurate, but it got me in the right area of the sky. A little bit of searching adds to the fun anyway.

I found the view through the 25mm eyepiece to be the best (although I could still see the whole thing with the 9mm eyepiece too).

When I first started using the scope I always had the 9mm attached as I wanted to be able to zoom in as close as possible to everything, but now I've started to appreciate the views from the 25mm too. Seeing Saturn, for example, through the 25mm, surrounded by loads of other stars, is just as nice a sight as seeing it zoomed right in.

[Telrad]

Good on you! I watched that episode of Sky at Night too, unfortunately, it's been too cloudy (and rainy) to observe lately.

Congratulations!

[HumanEnergy]

I know what you mean about the cloud and the rain! More than a third of the way into June and I've only had about three properly clear nights.

[Astro Imp]

Nice one!!.

Once you start seeing objects you just can't wait to get our there again. Unfortunately with the British weather we all have to learn a bit of patience.

[HumanEnergy]

Just as a quick follow up to this, which deep space objects should be reasonably easy to spot with my telescope? Are there are few obvious easy targets I could go for to give myself a bigger chance of success?

[brantuk]

Congrats HE

Coming round in the autumn is Orion and M42 will be easy. Also the Pliedes (M45), and Amdromeda (M31) all visible naked eye, easy to find, and a delight to view in a scope. Someone will suggest current ones for you too

[Demonperformer]

Congratulations on your first Messier object.

M29 has the advantage of being fairly compact. M39 is spread out over a much bigger area and is only really identifiable as some much brighter stars over a faint star-filled background. Dead obvious when you know what you are looking for, but can easily be missed if you haven't seen it before.

http://seds.org/messier/Jpg/m39.jpg

HTH

[Nexus 6]

Just as a quick follow up to this, which deep space objects should be reasonably easy to spot with my telescope? Are there are few obvious easy targets I could go for to give myself a bigger chance of success?

Hi HE, with the lighter skies as they are at the moment a few globular clusters are nice to have a look at, there are 30 on the Messier list so plenty of opportunites through the night/morning....weather permitting

here's a list from Wikipedia

List of globular clusters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

well done in finding your 1st DSO! btw

[Ags]

M29 is so unimpressive I've been struggling to find it for a couple of years. The other night I found a little knot of stars that were so pathetic they couldn't possibly be M29. Just to be sure I made a careful sketch of the cluster - and the next night my sketch matched exactly the M29 image on SaN!

HumanEnergy, M39 looks good in my Mak, by the way. DSOs nearby include M13, M92, M57, M27 - all bright, compact and worth looking at.

[HumanEnergy]

Thanks for the links and suggestions. I'm gonna make a list of DSOs and tick them off as I find them.

Nice quote Demonperformer, I actually watched that episode of B5 a few days ago (for about the 20th time probably!).

[HumanEnergy]

Well I can add M57 and M3 to my list!

I was just about able to make out the ring shape of M57 when I popped in my 9mm eyepiece. It was slightly brighter in the 25mm eyepiece, but I wasn't really able to tell that it was a ring until I swapped eyepieces.

M3 was very faint, more like a small bit of fuzzy fluff than anything else.

Seeing as I'm in the outskirts of London (a few miles from Harrow and Wembley) with a fair amount of light pollution, and considering my telescope only has an aperture of F12, I suppose that most DSOs aren't going to be much more than patches of fuzziness?

[Ags]

I think with your aperture of 127mm you should have good views of many clusters. Try M13 and M11.

[HumanEnergy]

Had a cloud and rain free night last night for the first time in ages so I managed to get a really good session in. Went out just after half one (when Jupiter is currently sneaking out from behind the block of flats next to our house) and stayed out until just after four, time flew by!

After spending a while with the Moon and Jupiter I went hunting for new Messier objects to add to my list. I got a good view M13, M15 and M92. I also saw the Andromeda Galaxy, really really easy to see, that was a great sight, although I assume I was just seeing the bright core?

I saw M57 again but I got a better view than the last time I looked. Oh and my first love little M29 Got in the double stars of Mizar and Albireo too. The yellow and blue of Albireo seemed more pronounced than before, the skies must have been clearer than usual.

Very happy, easily the best session I've had since getting the scope.

[Meademan]

It's a great feeling to bag a DSO for the first time.