A beginner's tale

[Bennink]

So here goes......

After many weeks (even years btw) I finally bought a telescope. A second hand newton 750/150 on a gt5 mount. It looked really impressive when I got it and wanted to try it out immediately.

Looked at the sky.... Clouds!

Looked at the weather forecast..... Clouds!

After one a half week, looked at the sky.... Clouds! But also the moon, very faintly. I decided to go out anyway, packed all my stuff and drove to a dark spot. I made camp in a muddy field near Enschede (holland) and set up the equipment. This was much harder than in the livingroom, but after 30 minutes I was ready to go (at least I thought I was, when returning home I found the counterweights untouched on the backseat probably another beginner's error right? ). Anyway, the clouds were still there, so I aimed at the moon. Piece of cake!

.....Nope....

I only saw a white wash and after 30 minutes of motering through the sky no improvement. How hard could it be?!? I mean the moon isn't that small. Tried all eyepieces, the finderscope, nothing. It was cold, I was alone in the muddy field and my car engine was running to power the stupid mount... Not very romantic at all, I hated it.

When I wanted to quit, a very bright spot emerged into the finder. When I focussed, there it was. Oh my god!! I quickly changed to my hr7 planetary eyepiece and was jumping in the mud from excitement! Added the barlow and started to count the craters and was amazed at what you can actually see. All the hardships didn't matter anymore.

I guess not a lot of people understand what it is all about and when you look at it from a practical point of view, the images of hubble and top notch observatories are so much better and can simply be viewed from the comfort of your desk.

But if my first 'do it yourself' moonview is a sign of things to come, this hobby is here to stay.....

[182570]

yes,can't beat your first clear view of the sky:D

[Double Kick Drum]

A great tale of patience and perserverance.

[Grunthos]

The Moon is a great target when starting astronomy.

Many of us keep coming back for more and more!

One advantage is that you don't really need to travel to a dark, muddy field to look at the Moon. You can do it from the comfort of your garden.

Sometimes you can even observe the moon during the day...

Have fun...

[Capricorn]

But if my first 'do it yourself' moonview is a sign of things to come, this hobby is here to stay.....

So we have a person, running his car using fuel adding to GW, stood in a muddy field, at night, jumping up and down and staring at the moon.

It wasn't a full moon by any chance was it? :D

And you are in Twense.

I would have liked to their reactions.

Do they still have the fried fish in the Saturday market ?

[Bennink]

Yes we still have that, and it is divine

[Astro-Nova]

oh man you made me want my scope even quicker. I think I will start the moon aswell.

Im gonna start the lot from my garden first as I want to try to see as much as I can without traveling. So ill have a look what I get out of it.

Some posted photos are already taking my breathe away so I reckon my own first sighting with my own scope will be rather satishfying

[Miranda]

Brilliant story Bennink!!! I was feeling your sorrow and your joy!

I love looking at the moon just with my binos. There is so much to look at, and each day you get to see something slightly different to yesterday

[Bennink]

oh man you made me want my scope even quicker. I think I will start the moon aswell.

Im gonna start the lot from my garden first as I want to try to see as much as I can without traveling. So ill have a look what I get out of it.

Some posted photos are already taking my breathe away so I reckon my own first sighting with my own scope will be rather satishfying

When will you have your scope? What type is it? Hope you share your stories as well!

[Astro-Nova]

hey ! lol you probably missed it! I posted it yesterday with a few photos. It came yesterday morning. Put it together when I got back from work and straight away outside as it was, luckily enough, a clear sky!! so managed to take photos of the moon. Today aligned the finder scope, but now the clouds have invaded my views so have to suck up my frustration like the rest!

check out this link

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/179312-here-my-8-dob.html