First Night Observing

[Nick*]

Last night was my first chance to get my new Celestron 15x17's out. The skies above my house were incredibly clear. I started off with the bins mounted on a tripod; once I got them focused correctly I could see Jupiter and its moon Ganymede to the 11 o clock position. Then I moved round to Betelgeuse and Rigel. I then pointed my bins at Orion M42, I couldn’t see any nebulosity (possibly due to streetlight) but I could clearly see a cluster of stars from M42/43. I then scanned the night skies and pointed the bins at a very pretty cluster of stars. When I got back in the house I had a quick look on Stellarium and found out that id actually been looking at NGC 1432. I enjoyed my first time observing and I’m glad the skies stayed clear for me, I’m very pleased with the Celestron bins and thank you to the people who recommended them. Hope more clear skies are to follow.

[Mr Q]

Chttp://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html Congratulations on your first "light". A good monthly sky chart for naked eye, binocular and telescope objects can be printed out at the link below for free. It will give you several things to observe in bins each month and show you where to locate them.

[Lyrated]

Nice one I will be having a proper go tonight with my 10x50 i hope to have the same kind of results

[Zul]

Congrats starnge that you didint see nebula of m42

[Double Kick Drum]

Unless I am much mistaken, the cluster of stars you saw is M45 - the Pleiades, one of the very best in the sky (although it doesn't have an NGC number).

NGC 1432 (I believe) refers to some nebulosity around one of the component stars of this cluster, namely Maia.

This nebulosity is usually only picked up in long exposure photographs although may be possible in very dark skies under low magnification. I suspect that if you were unable to see the Orion nebula clearly, NGC 1432 would be out of range.

Congratulations on bagging your first Messier objects!