First go at DSO's

[zhgutas]

Knowing that my toyish (yes, I know this word might not even exist ) 102mm refractor is far too small for DSO hunt, I still couldn’t resist that , because DSO is what brought me into astronomy. But for now I must stick to brightest objects and planets. But I seem to like it:)

I have already had few unsuccessful go’s at DSO, but I was never too serious about that. The arrival of “Turn Left at Orion” ( big thanks to Gaz ) encouraged me to step outside tonight, despite the full moon washing out the sky. Since the first one to pop into my naked eye FOV was the Lyra, I decided to try finding M57, The Ring nebula. Even though I was pretty sure it would be useless due to above reasons (102mm + moon = no DSO’s tonight mate). However, I was astonished when just after pointing my finder between Sheliak and Sulafat very VERY faint fuzzy appeared in the EP! I was nevertheless excited since it was my first DSO, and it was ME who found it! I knew that someone from aside wouldn’t understand a person, jumping from happiness after observing some grayish blob in the sky witch doesn’t even have real shape, but I was happy ? . I hope to try this one when under darker skies and when I get smaller EP

Since I have spotted even M57 (well, using averted vision though) I knew M13 should be much easier. I must admit I am shortsighted, and finding The very “Keystone” was not the easiest part! However after throwing in my 25mm EP and a bit of drifting away from Eta Herculis a fuzzy spot appeared. Centered it and changed to 9mm (it is the best I can do now :s ). It was it... The M13. Everyone who has ever seen it in a low aperture scope would know that it was not much to look at maybe. But it still felt good . I was gazing at it quite for a while.

Then, after quick look at Mizar double I noticed the view getting washed out, and a check of the front lens proved the dew to be the cause. As it was the third reason to limit my visibility (not taking into the account terribly long assignment for the uni I have to write tonight) I decided to pack up. But with a smile, because I finally stepped closer to what I am amazed of .

Sorry if this looks more like a diary page rather than an observational report, but I just wanted to tell someone, because showing it to my friends just caused “ehm… so what? I can see nothing…”

[MikeP]

I'm very impressed. I was out tonight and looked at a few DSOs and double stars including M13 and M57. I have a 250mm scope and GOTO which I used. At the time, I thought "how on earth would I have found these objects without GOTO". My equipment was getting covered in dew too, so that was not making it any easier.

You are much younger than me and undoubtedly have more acute eyesight, but I'm still impressed.

Good luck with the assignment.

Mike

[legion48]

Great report. Your love for your hobby shone through. Keep at it and keep the reports coming.

BTW, I know just how you feel after seeing M57. I looked for it for months untill I finally found it. Nothing much in the eyepiece, but you've SEEN it!

[Akyra]

Seeing a DSO for the first time puts Astronomy in a whole new light.

Great report, I was as excited reading yours as I was when writing my own, keep em coming!

[geppetto]

Very pleased for you.

It's a great moment finding your first DSO and the good news is,

it continues to be exciting every time you venture out...

Well done

[Andrew]

Nice report and sketch.

M13 is certainly worth returning to often - all globulars tend to look like faint blurred patches with my 4.5" reflector, but under good conditions (dark sky, good seeing) you can resolve a handful of stars.

[MartinB]

It's easy to forget that 30 years ago the standard amateur insturment was a 3" refractor. Since that everything has got bigger and flashier but that doesn't suddently make a small refractor any worse. Light pollution is the real killer now but Charles Messier had no problems with a small frac.

[zhgutas]

Thanks guys for an ecouragement I will definitely continue my hunt, and try to grab any opportunity to do it under dark skies. Carpe diem:) (though at this point, i guess it should be carpe noctem ) Just need to get those missing pieces..

[BWBlackett]

Well done!

It's a small World (when you look at DSOs) but I too was having only my 2nd hunt from DSOs last night and I too found M57 and M13 at 11.20 and 11.30 respectively.

I'm trying for the Leo triplets tonight - see you there !!!!!

Brian.

[mcut]

had my first sight of a DSO last night over Bristol as Hercules is placed well as far as my garden is concerned. tried to find M13 and found after about 5mins. could make out quiite a lot of definition which was surprising considering conditions, 25mm, 9mm WO and 7mm Baader ortho used on skymax 127 mak. found quite easily when tracing a line between keystone stars ? Her and ? Her.

very pleased with myself and sharing it with you all as other half was watching big brother :tearyeyed: and did not seem to care.

[Cloudwatcher]

I also had a quick peek at M13 last night with the 127mm Mak using a 21-7mm zoom. Don't know about you,mcut but

I thought the best view was at the lower end of the magnification scale. I guess I just favour the wider view.

CW

[themos]

?I very much enjoyed this report. I am going after this Herculean task next.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Knowing that my toyish (yes, I know this word might not even exist ) 102mm refractor is far too small for DSO hunt, I still couldn’t resist that , because DSO is what brought me into astronomy.

Since when is 102mm too small for DSO hunting? There are loads of people here using ED80 'scopes for visual, so 100mm should be fine. You might struggle with nebulae and the like, but globular clusters and open clusters are not going to be a problem.

Captain Chaos

[zhgutas]

Since when is 102mm too small for DSO hunting?

Sorry CC, i meant viewing, not hunting (and had globs in mind) because I know the view in my scope is far less exciting than that i.e. in 8-incher. However it still works for me Plus I guess I'd need to get away to some proper dark sky place, 'cause I believe this guy (my frac) is capable of giving much more than he does now:)

Marius

[huwbellamy]

Hi Marius,

I know what you mean. I found M82 and M81 with my celestron 102 and they should both be visible together with a 25mm EP. It is exciting when you think that we are seeing light that is 10million years old. It even impressed my wife - though her comment was "bless you for getting excited, they're just little blobs". Blobs they may be but I can't wait to get looking again when the clouds clear - I couldn't find M51 that same night but it's out there somewhere!

Huw.

[barkis]

Good luck with whatever you are doing. I too can detect your great love for astronomy, and your scope is far from being a toy.

I also love to see sketches made at the eyepiece, it signifies to me that the observer is not just a casual looker, but someone is very intent on seeing what is really there. Keep up your good work, and I for one would be very pleased to see more of your reports and sketches. We have a few others on SGL with those skills, and it is so nice to see them when they appear on the forum.

Best of luck to you.

Ron.

[zhgutas]

Thank you Ron for such encouraging words. It really helps :salute:

[SteelRat]

and your scope is far from being a toy

Darn tootin - a fine scope it is!

Looks like you are doing a good job of tracking stuff down, and it is good that you are staying with an object long enough to make a sketch. I sat looking at M13 a fair old time one night last week through my 80mm.

Hope you get to some dark skies soon. Nice report matey - keep at it (am sure you will) 8)

[mcut]

I also had a quick peek at M13 last night with the 127mm Mak using a 21-7mm zoom. Don't know about you,mcut but

I thought the best view was at the lower end of the magnification scale. I guess I just favour the wider view.

CW

the view of M13 using the 25mm was very good considering i was in East Bristol. did use Baader filter though. i do not know where you are based Cloudwatcher. from my location i was surprised with what i could make out, either that or i was suffering some kind of episode with stars flashing before my eyes :shock:

[mpeniak]

Sorry if this looks more like a diary page rather than an observational report, but I just wanted to tell someone, because showing it to my friends just caused “ehm… so what? I can see nothing…”

Ohh yes...I know that feeling. Great sketch indeed!!!