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I have seen the light!!!!

wiseman

By wiseman
in Observing - Reports

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wiseman

wiseman

Posted
Posted

And it took a long while to reach me, 25000 years by all accounts!

Yes tonight, for 3 hours, before dew set in, I had my first night actually looking at stuff rather than concentrating on getting my skywatcher Flex 200 JunkTO working.

Now don't get me wrong, I have had the scope out before and looked at Saturn , which was terrific, but it was always to establish if farting about with this or changing that made any difference to getting the goto to work.

Now I am sending the motors and stand back under warranty, I thought as it was the first clear, warm night for ages, I would just look around

So, first of all, M13, using turn left at Orion, I cant explain how chuff-tatstic it was to see the smudge in the 25mm ep! And I managed to go all the way down to 5mm ep, and saw loads. Very happy Bunny!

I was observing in shorts and t shirt as it was so warm, but got bitten to blazes, so now have insect repellent smokers as part of my astro kit.

Then it was on to M92, again, fantastic to actually see the smudge, and then home in on it with smaller e/ps, although not as much detail as M13, but then it is 10000 light years further away. Interesting to read the deets in TLAO that say that these stars are perhaps the oldest in the universe!

Then turning the page in TLAO, Ras Algethi double star.

Found it, homed in, and at 5mm e/p, it split!

My first double star, and evidently the smaller star is also a double as well. Again, I can't explain how much I enjoyed the whoop of joy in the back garden/field.

I then tried for M5, but it was so near the horizon, that I couldn't see any stars there, let alone a GC. Still I thought two out of three aint bad.

So I was about to finish off on the moon, when I saw a bright light as I swung the junk-o-matic round.

Whipping out the wife's iphone with skywalker app on it, I thought at first it was Uranus, but no, Jupiter.

Saw two distinct bands, and three moons, well, I was so excited I nearly had to have a pant change ! ( Can anyone tell me which moons I saw, for the diary please?)

By then things were getting a bit shimmery at 5mm. So finally shifted to the moon.

Again, what a sight, I had to whip in a polarising filter, which was the first time I had used this, as I found I was almost blind in one eye after looking at the moon, and couldn't read the book!! Found Tycho, Copernicus, and lots of seas.

Again, what a privilege to be able to see this stuff, I couldn't help thinking how cool it would be if I was looking at the moon, when another lump of rock hit it, I guess there would be quite a big dust cloud!!

So IMHO, I reckon that's not a bad go for a first, proper, time out.

Next up when the new goto bits get here, I will be strapping on a dew controller for the secondary, and finishing off my home made flex dew cover.

Then All I want is an Acme cloud zapper and a much bigger scope!

Very many thanks to Brantuk who has been patiently mentoring me, and got me this far.

Cheers

Wise

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wiseman

wiseman

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yep, the goto is a noto, even tracking only works in one plane, they were all found with turn left at orion, summer section.

I identified the starting stars with my wifes iphone app, you type in the star name, then it points left and up till you find it, from there, its up-a-bit, down-a-bit, all with the 28mm e/p, then spot the smudge and home in, also helped by low light polution, (except for the moon), so I started looking at 180 degrees away from the moon), it was also helped by the fact it was a warm night, and I wasn't stressed by kit probs, I was just looking around.

when I get the goto and dew sorted I will be SMOKIN! ( Which will be good, as it will keep the biting b£$%rd insects away!

Cheers

Wise,

( and thanks for letting me know about Io, Callisto and Ganymede, I may even get a T shirt made up with these three on, THE I C G club or suchlike!)

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Adz

Adz

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Great report thanks. Dobs are so rewarding aren't they? Until the back problems kick in :)

You could download stellarium to find out the current position of the moons of Jupiter you were wondering about, and it also tells you when the great red spot is coming around.

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