Jump to content

NLCbanner2024.jpg.2478be509670e60c2d6efd04834b8b47.jpg

Skywatcher Explorer 150p EQ3-2 *first light!*

Virtual Cold

By Virtual Cold
in Observing - Reports

Recommended Posts

Virtual Cold

Virtual Cold

Posted
Posted

Hi all, tonight's been a blast; my first ever look through a telescope... with my first ever telescope! It was a bit haphazard and the clouds rolled in after about an hour and a half but it's really confirmed my suspicions that this is one hell of a hobby :)

Okay, so first of all we (my younger brother and I) left both the finderscope and moon filter indoors and didn't want to wake anyone up so had to do without those. Age is getting the better of my memory I think :evil6:

We managed to view Jupiter and its moons which was quite something. The bands were clearly visible and it was pretty easy to locate; can't wait for it to reach prominence at the end of this month!

The Pleiades and Hyades were also great, especially since I had been viewing them through broken bins until yesterday. I thought it'd be a good idea to try and check out M31 too and slewed to it first try which I'm sure was a fluke! The core was quite bright and the 'smudge' was certainly there. Looking forward to trying again under better skies. By this point our moon had reared it's head over the house and was washing everything out; it still looked fantastic though.

Our last target was of course the moon, which was incredibly bright without the filter but still quite an experience! The craters around the terminator were really crisp with the provided barlow and it was awesome to see the Tycho crater that clear.

All in all, really happy with how my scope is performing thus far and quite chuffed that we managed to study as many objects as we did in the time that we had. My better half has insisted I take it up her house tomorrow (weather permitting). Hopefully she'll get the bug too!

Hope you all had clear-ish skies as well!

Danny. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
assasincz

assasincz

Posted
Posted

Hello Danny,

I am pretty sure that for all of us, the first light experience was unforgettable. And this was obviously the case too. And may I add, that is one cracking scope you got there!

Yet, there is more to come that you might realize.

Know your telescope's capabilities and limitations, get a nice map (stellarium or star map like this http://www.astronomie.cz/data/2009/04/00-atlas-85.pdf), have plenty of patience and suddenly, you will have a whole sky of inexhaustible possibilities, even with a 6-inch scope. :) So get going

Link to comment
Share on other sites
northernnutter

northernnutter

Posted
Posted

Hey Danny!

Great first light report! Sounds like you had a cracking time!!:) Lovely scope you have there.

Can still remember my first time out....found no targets whatsoever....just the thousands of stars that jumped into view!!:)

Been hooked ever since!!

Enjoy your new scope!!

Vicky.:evil6:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Virtual Cold

Virtual Cold

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks for the encouraging words guys!

assasincz, I've been using Stellarium but unfortunately my laptop is on it's last legs and not really ideal for outdoor use (or anywhere for that matter!) - I do make a point of having a look at it regularly though. That pdf you linked looks useful - it's not always convenient to take a detailed book outdoors and that map seems to be the solution to my worries! Looks great for studying individual portions of the sky...so thanks a lot! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Astro Imp

Astro Imp

Posted
Posted

Hi Danny,

Great report, enjoyed reading it and reminded me of my first light earlier in the year. You did better than I did as I found it difficult to find anything and that was with a finder scope, you did really well without one.

As you can see from my sig. I have the same scope and mount as yourself and, as others have said, have found it a great little scope.

You are in for some great nights in the future.

Enjoy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Virtual Cold

Virtual Cold

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thanks again for the comments folks!

I assume you had it polar aligned ok? (helps with the tracking) :)

I'm ashamed to say that I didn't actually. It was very much a sloppy job - just checked collimation (which turned out to be perfect out of the box) and made sure everything was balanced correctly and we were off!

I'll definitely be doing it in future but my eagerness transcended all that last night. Quite the maverick (or idiot, you decide :)).

It was only going to be a short stint as I had to get some seminar material prepared for students today; I'm pretty sure my eyes weren't as adapted as they could have been either. Still, a lot of fun! I've preparation to do for tomorrow also and I've not doubt that getting the scope out for my partner's family will override that. Busy busy busy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

Posted
Posted

Polar alignment is not that difficult, and for purely visual work, a fairly slap-dash approach is fine. I have my mount set to 53 deg angle of the polar axis, use the spirit level to get the base level, and point the polar axis northwards. Good enough for tracking. As my mount has no goto, no further work is needed. For planetary photography I align more accurately with a polar finder, which was built into the mount anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.