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First light!!

smolloy

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smolloy

smolloy

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Holy cow guys!! The night sky is *incredible*!! :)

Tonight is the first time I pointed a pair of binoculars at the sky, and I am blown away by what I saw! I followed a map in a book, and I managed to see so much in only 30 minutes (I've retreated inside for a cup of tea to defrost me a little!).

I started at Casseopiea, and then followed the guide stars from there to the square of Pegasus. From there, I moved along to the left (east?) along a few of the brighter stars of Andromeda, before turning north and.... holy cow.... is that.... no... YES! That's the Andromeda galaxy!!! Wow!

OK, not exactly visually stunning -- it looked a little like someone had rubbed a chalk-covered thumb on a blackboard -- but that light is almost 3 million years old, and I saw it!! :)

On top of that, I saw the Pleiades (wow wow wow!!), and then started to try to move around the sky more systematically, having a look at Perseus, Auriga, and as far as Aldebaraan (quite low in the horizon for me).

I was a little disappointed by the view of Jupiter, but I think that's the cheap binos I was using. It looked a little smudgy no matter how hard I tried to focus, and colour fringes were clearly visible. I couldn't discern it as a disc (maybe a little), and the idea of seeing moons with these binos is crazy.

OK, I'm gonna stop boring you with my gushing newbie-ness, but I can totally understand why you guys do this. As I said to my wife, "I can't believe that's been up there my whole life, and I only decided to look up now!!"

Clear skies everyone!

Steve

(PS: I'm pretty sure I'm right about the stuff I saw, but any corrections to anything obviously crazy in what I wrote would be very useful.)

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Astro Imp

Astro Imp

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Hi Steve,

Your enthusiasm shines through your report, it really is a special feeling when you look at the night sky properly and start to realise what you are seeing.

Thanks for sharing that special moment with us.

Carry on enjoying yourself.

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smolloy

smolloy

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Thanks all.

This is so much fun! I've been back outside a couple of times (I think I'll be buying a pair of long-johns for under my jeans this weekend :)), and I think I might have seen Jupiter's moons.... I'm not sure, but I *think* I saw two very faint objects to its right, and one to its left. Unfortunately this is the opposite of what stellarium tells me, so it might not be real, but I *thought* I saw it on two separate occasions.....

One thing that has surprised me is the variation in the colour of the stars I'm seeing. One in Orion that was a deep orangey-red, and others that were crystal blue.

Absolutely gorgeous!

Here's to a new hobby!

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jimmyjamjoejoe

jimmyjamjoejoe

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Wow, this is almost word for word exactly the same as my first ever post, pretty much exactly the same experience! lol

Glad you got the same feeling i did, my head literally exploded when i saw andromeda. Get in touch with your local club and get a look at it through an 8" scope asap, it's stunning. :)

If you're using the occular thing on stellarium it'l mirror and flip the image as though you're looking through a telescope. This doesn't happen with binos so you could well have seen the moons. It's tough to tell when the binos are shaking, even if you lean your elbows on something or brace on a wall etc, you'l still shake.

See if you can hook the binos on something to steady them. I found hooking the bridge of mine over one of the struts of my garden umbrella or washing line got them perfectly still, this makes a HUGE difference (of course, a tripod would be better)

Jupiter isn't a great target through binos, it'l appear as a bright star rather than a disc, but the moons will be clearly visible when held still. Check out the double cluster, that's still one of my favourites, and easy to find.

Ps. That orange one in orion is Betelgeuse, and it's fixin' to blow any second (any second means any time in the next 10000 years, but it COULD be tomorrow)

PPS. just noticed you didn't list the orion nebula - get the binos on that ASAP.

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smolloy

smolloy

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If you're using the occular thing on stellarium it'l mirror and flip the image as though you're looking through a telescope. This doesn't happen with binos so you could well have seen the moons.

Cool!

I really was convinced I saw them after staring for a minute or so, but then I went in to start stellarium on my laptop and was disappointed to see that it seemed to be reversed from what I saw. After that, I went back outside for a while and then I saw the same thing again, but only for a second or two since I was getting tired holding the binos in the cold.

The image was dancing around a bit, but when it was high enough in the sky, I found I was able to twist myself round in the seat so that the binos were resting on one part of the chair, and my head was on the other. I must've looked pretty stupid :)

I only spent 40pounds on the binos since I wanted to keep my money for a good scope, and I'm so glad I did this. I can't wait to see how this looks through a scope!

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Chas1203

Chas1203

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I love this post - I have been using binos for a while and I spend most evenings looking at exactly everything you have listed (including M42) - it doesn't matter how many times I look at it I still think WOW - I can't understand why others don't get as excited. This is my favourite time of year as Orion is awesome viewing - I also love looking at the beehive cluster...and I could go on and on and on..... but instead I am off outside!!! Happy viewing

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