Second light

[idbvideo]

Yeah Ok, already had first light on the 200p but once again WOW.

Although the clouds were few and far between, I had watched the afternoons weather with baited breath. I finished work early and arrived home as the light was waning. I set the mount up in the back garden, with the moon in a crescent form, Venus and Jupiter were bright jewels in a line with the moon.

I started with the moon and was astounded to see detail on the dark part of the moon as well as the sun lit part. The surface was shimmering in the atmosphere, which made it more aesthetic.

Next was Venus, I slewed onto the target whilst viewing through the finder. There it was, 3/4 full, bright but no real detail. Two objects down, several to go for tonight.

On then to Jupiter, which has become one of my favorite targets. I must add that Jupiter has become a favorite purely because it was the first celestial body that I saw with the 200p,other than the moon that made me go wow!! It did not dissapoint tonight, although only 3 of its moons were visible for me.

I tried to view the great nebula in Orion but struugled because at this point it was too low in the sky. So I wandered over to Pliadese. To the naked eye (well not so young naked eye) this smudge always resolves itself through the scope as a plethora of stars that reminds me of christmas tree LED lighs. One word - Exquisite.

At this point I remembered I had modified a MS Lifecam to use on planets predominantly so I paused to get the laptop and webcam. The moon was my first target, followed by Jupiter and Venus. I did manage to capture images of these, not good ones but images all the same. More of these later!

By this time I had not eaten and I was getting cold so I took a break. Some 30 minutes later I was ready to go again.

Orion was much higher in the sky so back to the Horse Head nebula.

M42 was sill low in the sky but after moving the scope I managed to see a cloudy mass. Although it was a grey image, it was no dissapointment with the core shining brightly. I had read that it was too dim to make colour out due to limitations with the human eye. It was my first nebula!! i viewed this though various combinations - 25mm EP, 2x Barlow, 10mm and 2 stacked 2x barlows. The image was fantastic in all cases. I cant wait to image this with the DSLR!!!!

I turned to the East and ooh Mars had risen. This was my first time seeing this planet with my own two eyes. It was fairly low in the sky which for my location means light polution. I was so excited that I didnt observe this too well. I dont remember too much detail to be honest.

I also tried a polar allignment but wasnt sure tht I had found Polaris. More practice needed with that one.

Although I tried to find more objects but failed to find them unfortunately.

As I write this, Saturn should be up but I am too tired to get the scope out again for tonight.

I had to stop observing because my brother turned up. I showed him some of the footage I took with the webcam which impressed him somewhat,

Sorry for a long account of my evenings enertainment, but the whole evening surpassed my expectations....

Thanks for reding

[Double Kick Drum]

Sounds like a great evening with the scope.

A bit of patience will get you to some more deep space objects. Once you have found them for the first time, they always become easier.

The Orion nebula and the Horsehead nebula are two different things. The Orion nebula is the really bright one in the sword of Orion (below the belt of three stars). The Horsehead is really really difficult to see visually and is usually only picked up in photographs.

[RogerTheDodger]

Nice report. If you think Jupiter was good, wait until you see Saturn...

[idbvideo]

Thanks. Yeah I was most likely wrong about what I saw in Orions belt but it was nice to see.

I cant wait to see Saturn