Cloud went, and first light in spotting scope!

[Flying Eye]

I just had my best ever quick whip around the universe as it can be seen from my back garden! Working with it in poor shape as the courier damaged it. A replacement is on the way though.

I went FOR A 15-45X60 45 degree spotting scope. I have now found it's so very comfortable to use compared with my bins.

I just had the best ever views to date of Jupiter, Venus, Mars and our moon. Also called in on a few favourites Orion, Pleiades etc. while I was there too.

I'm finding the 15x is really quite enough for my taste, a little tight in fact. 45x is lunatic, in fact the moon more or less does fill the whole fov!

One thing I'd like some help with is this; what is the width of the line formed by the three main stars that define the belt of Orion? That will only just fit in the field of view on 15x.

I'm thinking I want to use things in future that show no more than say 80-90% of that size. Knowing what the size is would no doubt help me find out what devices can see it in the way that I would like.

I enjoyed it all so much I even went and dug out a garden chair and tried that with my binos too. This was all meant to be a quick few minutes test and turned into a bit of a one man star party - I'd still be there now if the cloud had not shown up - in fact I sat through a bit of that too, letting the thin stuff cut back some of the glare off of the moon for a while for a slightly more comfortable view!

I think I just found my size of instrument of choice. Nothing beats trying stuff to find out what is a good fit for your own taste.

Really hoping the replacement is fine now, as I really would like this one to be a keeper. Very happy with what it can deliver.

UPDATE: Just went back for another look as the cloud is only sort of patchy, bagged Saturn for my troubles! Hehe, a planet with ears!

I often see things and have no clue what they are called, most times it does not bother me that they are nameless to me, but that's improving. I just enjoy looking at it all, named or otherwise. I guess with me it's more "grab and gawp" than "grab and go"

[Tom2012]

Good morning!

Although I can't help you with your query, I am in the same boat with names! Haha.

I use a programme for the iPhone called Star Walk! That's a big help. You can point it up to wherever you want and it'll show you what's in your area of view at that time. It's also got a feature which allows you to use the camera to pinpoint exactly what's around you.

I only really started looking properly with a kind of powerful pair of binos. I went for the Celestron SkyMaster 15x70's. Up to now, I've found M42 (Orions' Nebula) and M45 (Pleiades open cluster) on the rear of Taurus! Tonight, cloud willing, I'll be on the search for M1 (Crab Nebula) again in Taurus, on the bottom or left horn. I'm hoping the binos will be able to see this!! If anyone has any experience with this please let me know.

If you own a smart phone. It's well worth having a look at that Star Walk app! You can plan your star gazing, days, weeks and even months ahead, depending on cloud cover! Well worth a look!

All the best mate. Good luck with finding the right scope for you.

Tom.

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[Flying Eye]

Well, I found a flaw in the eyepiece in the replacement so that one is going back now too!

It turns out that Star Walk is iPhone only but I got some search results to check out yet as some alternatives for Android were being touted. Shall investigate as soon as today gives me a break! (it's really misbehaving is today!)

[perrin6]

Orion's belt is 2 degrees and 44 minutes long (2.73 degrees) which make the eyepiece FOV 41 degrees (15 X 2.73)

[Flying Eye]

Orion's belt is 2 degrees and 44 minutes long (2.73 degrees) which make the eyepiece FOV 41 degrees (15 X 2.73)

Thanks very much indeed, that will help in choosing stuff in future. I find having those 3 fit in one view is tight enough for my taste. I'd prefer a little bit of room to breathe around them in future.

[BinocularSky]

Orion's belt is 2 degrees and 44 minutes long (2.73 degrees) which make the eyepiece FOV 41 degrees (15 X 2.73)

...assuming the x15 magnification is accurate.

[Flying Eye]

...assuming the x15 magnification is accurate.

A good point; and how would anyone be able to say either way?

For a comparison, do you get those three stars edge to edge across the views you get with your 15x70s? Do both of your 15x70s give the same FOV?

Clearly, not having two of the same size for comparisons makes it impossible for me to be sure.

Based on comparison with my other mag sizes I'd say it's probably not too far off, if at all, and I suspect 12x would probably be plenty for me for quite a while.

All of this has lead me to "get it" somewhat about 15x70s though, before, I had no clue why anyone would go there, but I can now see an attraction and that it's not impossible I could end up with a pair eventually, but they can't do "close in" well enough to feature very high on my list of things to get next, for a little while at any rate.

Anyway, the two scopes have just been collected by the courier, and I have pulled the trigger on a modest tripod extension, which, if I am any sort of lucky might stave off the need for a taller tripod.