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first time with telrad.

wookie1965

By wookie1965
in The Astro Lounge

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wookie1965

wookie1965

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Received my Tel-rad Thursday been waiting set it up i still think Ive not put it in right place on scope but its staying there now. Got an hour tonight before the clouds rolled in set it up using Vega and thought why im there i will try it on the Epsilon Lyrae found it easy split the double double with my 8mm BST no problem, then went for the ring nebula Ive been trying a few times find this again no problem there it was with a little averted vision could see the ring i was dancing round my backyard, moved on to m31 then i thought right m51 im going get you tonight but alas no luck again Ive just printed a tel-rad star map of m51 so when i get a clear night again im going to bag that one but i don't mind setting up double double ring and m31 in an hour im well made up with that.

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WaveSoarer

WaveSoarer

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I don't have a telrad but I didn't have a huge issue finding M51 - though I did have to keep checking with Stellarium that I was in the right place. As for many objects, once you know what you're looking for you shouldn't have any issues finding it. The cores of M51a and M51b are fairly faint and, following discussions on SGL, you'll need very dark skies to make out anything else. I've viewed it a number of times now and on only one dark evening did I see anything that approached any disk-like structure around the core of M51a. It's getting lower in the sky now and, from my location, it's getting into a more lighted polluted region of the sky. I expect that I'll need to find a good viewing site to get more from it. I might invest in a Telrad at some point as I find the positioning of the finder scope more than a bit awkward at times.

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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Just been reading through some forums and im not sure if i did see the double double would i be-able to see all four stars in the 8mm FOV.

at around 100x you may have split all four components but they would be very close with a hairline split between them. maybe like this epsilonlyra.jpg

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wookie1965

wookie1965

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at around 100x you may have split all four components but they would be very close with a hairline split between them. maybe like this epsilonlyra.jpg

I think my 8mm gives me 95x mag, i wanted make sure id see all stars in FOV i didnt split them then i saw them elongated maybe a hint of a split but it wasn't very good seeing last night thanks Moonshane.
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wookie1965

wookie1965

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I don't have a telrad but I didn't have a huge issue finding M51 - though I did have to keep checking with Stellarium that I was in the right place. As for many objects, once you know what you're looking for you shouldn't have any issues finding it. The cores of M51a and M51b are fairly faint and, following discussions on SGL, you'll need very dark skies to make out anything else. I've viewed it a number of times now and on only one dark evening did I see anything that approached any disk-like structure around the core of M51a. It's getting lower in the sky now and, from my location, it's getting into a more lighted polluted region of the sky. I expect that I'll need to find a good viewing site to get more from it. I might invest in a Telrad at some point as I find the positioning of the finder scope more than a bit awkward at times.

Thank you WaveSoarer ive been trying for months find M51 ever since i got my scope i though it was one of the brighter messier s and was easy to find well that what TLAO said anyway i will give it another go with clear skies again with this print out and see if i can just make out a fuzzy ball.
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JamesF

JamesF

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The first time I saw M51 was with my ST102. It did take me a couple of nights to find it though. Most of the problem as far as I recall was recognising what I was looking at when I found it. I found fairly early on that if you're not really aware of what you're looking for its very easy to be staring straight at a galaxy and not realise it, or to dismiss it as a reflection in the eyepiece.

James

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WaveSoarer

WaveSoarer

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Wookie,

Even when I found it I wasn't perfectly sure but, when I got my eye in, then it's been fairly obvious ever since. On the first attempt it wasn't perfectly darrk and I was very happy that I'd found it. Mrs WaveSoarer wasn't as convinced though but she was much more impressed when the sky was darker on a subsequent night.. I try to go back to M51 fairly often as you never quite know if the seeing will improve. Still, I think that a genuinely dark sky really helps. Good luck.

Dave

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wookie1965

wookie1965

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Thank you very much Wavesoarer (Dave) ive just took my Tel-Rad off i am going to put it back on its just i spent last night on my knees looking through it, I live in Merseyside its supposed to be clear skies here either Monday or Tuesday so im going to find M51 with the aid of Tel-Rad and the print out.

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