My first view of jupiter and 4 moons :)

[Monki]

Hi all, on thursday i finally got my first real clear night since my partner bought me a celestron 60lcm for christmas ...my first telescope!

After failing to set up the alignment 3 times (typical..it worked fine on the rubbish cludy nights hehe) i just decided to do it manually. It was hard at first as my starpointer was out, but i managed to get it somewhat near. Then with my 25mm i found jupiter, centered it and switched to 10mm. Yey! I got my first real view of jupiter and 4 of the moons! (About 8.30pm) At first i thought ganymede was a star because of the distance from jupiter (even my partner thought it was a moon and she is no astronomer) but the next morning i checked the moon positions on skyandtelescope.com and it was actually ganymede we could see. I think i was pretty lucky for my first viewing!

Having the 10mm only put me at 70x so it was mostly just a bright ball i saw, but ever so faintly i could almost make out the lines, I was just happy i was looking at jupiter through a telescope though. Now i'll wait for my tal 2x to arrive

I also got to see some nice craters on our moon, just where the shadow was...as it was very bright on thursday and i have no moon filter.

I got a few rank amateur picures on my point and click but i won't disgrace this forum with them haha....

Maybe when i get an adapter and my friend brings his Canon 7d we can start to post images though

All in all i'm really happy...i think i've just found a new hobby! Astronomy has always interested me, but actually seeing it for myself through a scope is amazing!

Sent from a Galaxy S 2 far away.

[rickygoespop]

Jupiters my fave and ive found in the short time ive been doing this hobby that your eyes do learn to pick out more detail the more often you look, also the more time you spend with your eyes in the dark and for your scope to cool down it also gets more clearer.

Post your pics theres no such things as bad photos we all start from somewhere and the more experienced members give tips all the time which helps loads.

[smolloy]

As a complete novice myself, I'd love to see your pics!

[MacRoy]

I can appreciate the thrill of actually seeing a planet with your own eyes, up till then I think I harboured a faint doubt as to their reality. Once you have seen one there is no going back. My son in law saw Saturn's rings through my scope and he was hooked. Good luck with your photos.

[Monki]

I really cannot wait to see saturn! I don't care if it looks fuzzy either hehe, it's like you say, the thrill of seeing it with your own eyes.

OK, i've put the photos on photobucket, i in no way expect any nice comments of them, i accept they are terrible lol. I just wanted to do it for the sake of trying.

Nothing was set up on my camera, i left it on auto and just put it near the lense and took a photo, hence the blur

The weird things was i had to zoom my camera right in other wise the moon in the eyepiece looked really far away...and even then i had to move the camera around to get different views. There was no "full" image.

Oh yeh....forgive the dark photo....i didn't turn flash off hehe.

All are pointed at the south west of the moon as we see it.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/Monki77/SDC10002.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/Monki77/SDC10003.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/Monki77/SDC10004.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/Monki77/SDC10005.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e193/Monki77/SDC10006.jpg

I also have a short video i'm uploading to you tube.

[tich]

When I saw Jupiter up in the sky just over a month ago I thought that's it I'm going to get a scope as I've been wanting to observe the skies for years.

I've been nagging my mate to bring his over for weeks so we could have a peer through it. He brought his over the weekend I'd ordered mine & we did have a go with it. His being a cheaper one was a nightmare to set up as the tripod flexed all over the place. but we did get to see Jupiter & even with the lenses it came with got a glimpse of the cloud bands.

The following week when mine arrived I brought a webcam & adapter & set it up in the garden but all i could get was a bright glare from Jupiter. After downloading sharpcap & messing around with the settings I did manage some fairly decent shots in the end with help from members off the site.

It'll take time & practise like anything & I'm far from an expert but you'll get there. You can get some quite good pictures of the moon using a mobile phone in front of the lens believe it or not.

[Monki]

Next time i'm going to use my mini tripod on a chair so it's sharper....ghetto hehe. Also, i'll swap between 25mm and 10mm. Until i can afford the mounts for my friends canon this will have to do.

What webcam did you get? I've heard some kind of flashable philips webcam is quite good, or are there lots more out there now? I myself would like to mess with registax and sharpcam at somepoint.

I never thought to use my phone tbh.... i be the field of view would have been much better too. Hmmm..

If i can get some fuzzy image of saturn or jupiter with faint colours i'll be happy.... just knowing i took a picture of another planet would be brilliant

[tich]

I got my wecam from here Buy Philips SPC880 webcam (Not pre flashed) at Morgan Computers

although they do appear to be out of stock at the moment I have seen other webcams altered & used but can't comment on how good they are.

When I took a picture of Jupiter using the mobile phone all I could see were bright dots in the sky with no detail but you could see the 4 moons;

The moon has come out better though this is one I took more recently;

If the phone you're using has a zoom function you can give it a little bit of zoom but dont give it to much, you may need to re focus the scope as it does seem to go out slightly when I placed my phone in front of the lens.

My Avatar is a picture I took of Jupiter on monday night using the webcam. I have tweaked it a bit using Registax to get some more detail out of it but I've still got a way to go before I get some cracking images.

I can't wait to see saturn either but the weather has been against me & when it does get clear I've got work the next day! I also want a shot of mars too as I've heard it can be quite tricky to capture although i'm still waiting for my new lens to arrive!

I like some of your first pictures too so keep up the good work.

[Rattler]

After getting my first 'scope on Saturday, I had my first view of Jupiter and it's 4 moons today. Viewing conditions were clear but not perfect but it was stunning.