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while skies are clear,tonight i would hope to see..(pls state ability and equipment.)

nickdud

By nickdud
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nickdud

nickdud

Posted
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as a newbie tonight i am going for the orion nebular, and if i can stay up long enough, saturn, yes, i admit, 2 easy options tonight with my limited equipment(hopefully listed below) but the orion nebular is one of my first points in the sky that i used while on a trip to spain on a ferry which gave such a great navigational aid.

and if i'm lucky, saturn will rise nicely(with my music playing and coffee in hand) over the roof of my mates house around 1am.

my hope for this thread is that you all(beginners to the more advanced sky spotters) post what and where you plan to look, please remember, we are not all loaded with the greatest deep sky vision and you all started with a budget interest....

i hope you all take this with the Welcome it is intended;)

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Brumtaffy

Brumtaffy

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Quite correct to pick some easy targets! Trouble with the hard to find ones is you fiddle around for ages changing EPs/refinding focus, and you don't notice the bleedin clouds creeping up on you!

I just came in for a cuppa, read the 'New Messiers' thread and by the time my fingers had thawed, the cloud had rolled across.

Slewed to M50 to find it in the tree branches :) , so I had a half glance before cloud obscured all.

That's astronomy!

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RikM

RikM

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This evening i have been mostly adding data to my image of the rosette nebula. Soon it will slip behind my neighbours house so I will start an image of the Leo triplet.

While that has been going on, I have been looking at the Owl nebula with my new UHC filter. It makes quite a difference and I think I can make out the darker patches within the nebula that represents the eyes. I am not sure if that's possible with a 10" or if I just imagined it, but the orientation was correct relative to the bright star near the neb.

As well as that, I have looked at M108, M51, the Leo triplet and had a look for M101, but I can't see it tonight.

Time for a brew and then switch imaging targets I suppose...

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heathenwoods

heathenwoods

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i went out with very few expectations tonight; I've just modded an old Tal-1 ('94 vintage) to allow it to take regular EPs. Wow. It turns out the EPs that came with it are a bit on the tired side. Using some regular Plossls (25, 10 + 2x barlow) I had a quick look at Mars - a little small and lacking detail but, hey, it's Mars. I soon realised that Orion's nebulae were slipping behind some buildings at the bottom of the garden and so I raised my sights and found NGC 2244 - lovely! No nebulosity but a very pleasing sight nonetheless. I then realised that Cassopeia was in a better place for me to have a look round it then it has been since I started stargazing with scopes (only October) and i found the Double Cluster for the first time. Despite the fact the wind was really picking up and it was close to my town's orange glow, this was absolutely stunning; it's left me on a bit of a high. All those stars and yet more faintly shining behind the brighter ones. Amazing.

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Mr Q

Mr Q

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This evening i have been mostly adding data to my image of the rosette nebula. Soon it will slip behind my neighbours house so I will start an image of the Leo triplet.

While that has been going on, I have been looking at the Owl nebula with my new UHC filter. It makes quite a difference and I think I can make out the darker patches within the nebula that represents the eyes. I am not sure if that's possible with a 10" or if I just imagined it, but the orientation was correct relative to the bright star near the neb.

As well as that, I have looked at M108, M51, the Leo triplet and had a look for M101, but I can't see it tonight.

Time for a brew and then switch imaging targets I suppose...

I have seen the "eyes" several times with a 10" newt but only under dark, transparent skies. At these times, the nearby galaxy is also easily seen though fairly faint. Weird the way the object seems to stare back at you:icon_eek:

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nickdud

nickdud

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Wow! Thanks all. I wasn't expecting so many replies, would be nice if this thread kept going for the benefit of more newbies. Sadly I missed saturn last night due to cold and one to many beers lol. Orion was looking great until clouds covered it for me tho and I was missing mars due to nextdoors tree, is it ok if I buy a chainsaw and lop a bit off? :) one of the joys of spring tho is that there will be many more clear nights ahead:D clear skies to all

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Catweazel

Catweazel

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I managed Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Orion Nebula, I limited myself to these as I was testing out my recently damaged Evostar 120, and also a newly aquired 200P Newt. Jupiter looked fantastic + 4 moons in the Evo with TMB II 7mm EP (relief!). Tried the 200P next, Venus & Jupiter now long gone behind neighbours house, so Mars and Orion only targets here before cloud rolled in. I will reserve judgement on 200P views, as I would guess that it needs collimating, a subject about which I know nothing :) I found it hard to get good focus on Mars, and could see spider vanes from scope making a cross around the planet. Orion nebula looked very nice, but couldn't get pinpoint focus that I got with the Evostar. Looks like I will be spending my cloudy nights learning about the dreaded collimation :( CW

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stevetynant

stevetynant

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Hi and welcome to SGL

Last night for the first time I saw the Milky Way - no scope, no bins just looked up - stunning

Am a newb with a 200p but just loving it.

I still love bird watching and in some respects its the same- the thrill of a new site you've never seen before keeps you searching for more and last night was one of those moments for me at least

cheers

Steve

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi and welcome to the forum. The great thing about astronomy is that there is "plenty of scope for all manner of folk" be it imaging, galaxies, planetary and of course the moon. I am always interested in what ticks people's boxes, so even with binoculars there is always plenty to be getting on with. With regard to locating and identifying objects, have you had a chance to look at Stellarium. A free piece of planetary software that has lots of features, easy to use and you can take a look here. Very useful when advancing the clock/calendar to see what's coming up when and where and for advanced planning of your observation session which can help make the most of our clear nights.

Clear skies

James

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