New Observer...first night with my Skywatcher 200P

[jasonbirder]

Since acquiring my first ever Astronomical telescope cloudy skies had prevailed preventing more than a cursory play with my new toy...

However everything cleared last night (29th November) and even though I was home late I was determined to make the most of the opportunity...

I'd bought a secondhand Skywatcher 200p on a crude Dobsonian mount and was eager to see what it revealed...I'm sure it would be very different to my previous use of a pair of Binoculars!

Everything was hurried tonight as I was home late so...no Red Light Torch...no printed off charts...no observing plan...

But I just wanted to get used to my scope...and familiarise myself with the night sky...as it has been many years since I last looked skywards...

Outside in my relatively bright Sub-urban garden I managed to set up in a spot that sheltered me from most of the streetlights...

I did a bit of naked eye observation whilst my eyes dark adapted...I'm trying to re-learn the (to me at least) less well known constellations...so tonight it was the turn of Aries...actually an easy one...a dog leg of 3 bright stars just south of Andromeda and Triangulum...

Switching to my Binoculars (Hand Held 8x40) I had a casual sweep around the skies - with a view to locating a few DSO's to track down with the Scope once I was more settled...

Looking at Auriga high to the East I was surprised how easy it was to pick up the three famous open clusters M36, 37 and 38 as I'd never spotted these before...all looked surprisingly nebulous like ghostly grey blobs unresolved into stars...the central of the three was smaller and fainter than its two companions.

I was also able to pick up M35 another open cluster in Gemini which appeared much more "cluster-like" in the binoculars...larger and brighter...

It was also relatively easy to pick up the ghostly grey smudge of M31 to the south in Andromeda...though even knowing exactly where it was I couldn't see any evidence of it with my naked eye.

Finally I wanted to try and pick up M33 in Triangulum...but there was no sign of it...perhaps I need to move everything to a darker location for my next observing session!

Anyway that was enough..I was itching to see how I got on with my "proper scope" - though I envisaged difficulties actually locating anything in the finderscope...let alone the eyepiece...

And the kneeling position I needed to adopt to use the eyepiece wasn't exactly what I'd describe as comfortable!

First up and a no-brainer really...Jupiter was so bright I couldn't help but turn my optics on it...even though the planets have never really grabbed my attention compared to more exotic Deep Sky Objects...

Even at x40 (my 25mm EP) it showed a real distinct disk...a cold cream colour and with two ghostly bands across its surface (the Equatorial Bands?) and its 4 moons were all visible...at x100 it appeared little different...just larger and harder to keep in focus!

Being so bright Jupiter was easy to locate...so I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could pin down my first DSO...my finderscope seemed pretty well aligned and a little bit of contortion to view along the scopes tube had me focused on nearby stars in Andromeda and the ghostly glow of M31 showing in the finder scopes crosshairs...

Actually at x40 it was very disappointing - much smaller than expected just a bright oval of nebulosity - presumably only the brighter core visible...switching to my 10mm (x100) eyepiece didn't bring out any more detail...a slightly fuzzy star superimposed on the edge of M31 presumably being M32 one its attendant satellite galaxies...but there was absolutely no sign of the larger fainter M110...very disappointing!

I'd been outside quite some time so using my widefield eyepiece I was hopeful of seeing M33 in triangulum...but yet again no joy! Lets hope its just poor observer skills...because I can't afford to upgrade to a substantially bigger scope just yet LOL!

M42 in Orion is supposedly impressive in any instrument so I was keen to observe it...and it is really easy to find...viewable in my finder in the middle of Orion's Sword. It was as impressive as I hoped...breathtaking...at x100 it more than filled the field of view. It appeared much more elongated than the fan shape which is so obvious in photo's and looked more like two curved horns spreading away from the central nebulosity, embedded in which was the famous Trapezium...and incredibly I was able to make it out as 4 distinct stars!!! Great result!

Just north of this closer to Orion's belt is the famous Multiple star Sigma Orion...which appeared as an attractive triple star in my 10mm EP presumably A, C and D - even with careful focusing and patience i couldn't make out the fourth companion E.

Further east in Gemini I wanted to train my scope on the cluster I'd earlier viewed in my Bino's - M35 and in my 25mm EP it resolved itself into a sprawling loose cluster of individual faint stars...very impressive!

Time was pressing on and I'd prepared poorly for this observing session...no warm clothes, no gloves, no flask...but I wanted to have a try at one last object - could I find M1 The Crab Nebula? I didn't hold out much hope...as my skies aren't brilliant and my failure with M33 and M110 weren't good signs...but after identifying the appropriate finder field in my Bino's ( a trapezium of stars adjacent to Zeta Tauri) I maneuvered the scope till the finders crosshairs were in the appropriate spot...no sign when i viewed through the EP...very disappointing! But a gentle pan back and forth and a tiny grey thumbnail shaped blob of nebulosity appeared a little further from where I expected to find it...was it a figment of my imagination...NO! settled the scope and viewed the field without concentrating on what i was looking for and there it appeared...a tiny colourless oblong cloud longer along one axis than the other...definitely what i was searching for!

What a brilliant result...I NEVER expected to pick that up on my first night!

I was happy to retreat indoors leaving the Auriga clusters to be observed another night...

A great evening and I learned some lessons already...take your star atlas with you! Prepare and print charts in advance of things you'd like to see...make a list of what you plan to observe in advance...wrap up warm...take a flask and get a proper dim red torch!

All ideas to put in place next time the skies clear!

Well I think I'm hooked now...

[Tinker1947]

Nice report..

[Double Kick Drum]

Nice report.

Andromeda needs really good skies to reveal any of her detail. I have semi-rural skies and can only make out the core and companions.

In really dark skies, I believe your scope should be enough to pick out some detail but it'll never look like the photos unfortunately.

The Orion nebula gives away detail more readily, so it's not all bad.

Try M81 and M82 in Ursa Major, they make a nice pair of galaxies in the same field of view.

[Hugh88]

Never been able to find m33 either with my 130p. Found the crab nebular however, same as you describe it, faintest of grey smudges.

Need to spend some time looking for these star clusters. Which cluster is the most impressive .....? Or is that subjective....? :-)

M45 looked impressive last night. It's looks so small and dim with the naked eye, but close up it's a wonderful sight.

[Astro Imp]

Hi Jason,

That's a great report really enjoyed reading it. Pleased you had a good time. As you get more organised you will see some great sites with that scope.

Good luck and enjoy.

[dark knight]

Great report, look forward to reading many more, I could sense the excitement you must have been feeling. A little tip, fine tune the alignment of your finder scope, it will make life much easier.

[Moonshane]

great report. you did well to find the Crab.

M110 is tricky from light polluted sites. I could never see it in my 12" dob but at dark sites it's the easier of the two satellites, very obvious. this applies to M33 also which can be naked eye at good dark sites.

[Steve777]

This is a really enjoyable report .... pretty similar to my experience with the 150 version of the same scope a few weeks ago. Particularly, I think on Jupiter!

Best

Steve

[rory]

great report. everyones grabbing these 200p skyliners now. i want one too:crybaby2:.

the crab's a good find.

[jasonbirder]

Thanks for the feedback...I intend to be more organised in future...

I'm going to get a decent star map programme so I can easily print finder and eyepiece charts for objects I want to track down and will get adjusting that tricky finderscope...

Lets hope for more clear skies!

[Nelva]

Great to read the report of your first proper exploration- I have just got MY first scope too: a Skywatcher 130P, and after reading your experiences I am itching to put it together (after xmas!!) and see what I can see. I guess your scope is that much bigger than mine and therefore I should expect to see a little less- if you find some real doozies in terms of DSO's I would love to hear about them. There are sooo many things to see, a beginner like me will struggle to know which ones to aim for first to get that positive experience.

Neil.

[GeorgeH]

Great day 1 report....looking forwad to day 2

[Daedalus]

Interesting write up. If you don't write for a living you should do. Just got a SW200p myself, but don't really have it setup properly to be able to use it to its full potential yet. At least your report, and perhaps future reports will show me what mine is capable of. Do you ever take images of your findings etc?

[rory]

Great to read the report of your first proper exploration- I have just got MY first scope too: a Skywatcher 130P, and after reading your experiences I am itching to put it together (after xmas!!) and see what I can see. I guess your scope is that much bigger than mine and therefore I should expect to see a little less- if you find some real doozies in terms of DSO's I would love to hear about them. There are sooo many things to see, a beginner like me will struggle to know which ones to aim for first to get that positive experience.

Neil.

one of my first finds that i really liked was the behive cluster and the orion nebula. impressive with any scope and not hard to locate.

[rory]

Interesting write up. If you don't write for a living you should do. Just got a SW200p myself, but don't really have it setup properly to be able to use it to its full potential yet. At least your report, and perhaps future reports will show me what mine is capable of. Do you ever take images of your findings etc?

from my understanding with a dobsonian, collimate it, line up finderscope with o.t.a ,and you should be away.

clear skies...

[umadog]

Good stuff!