Jump to content

Just a quick hello!

flybywire

By flybywire
in Welcome

Recommended Posts

flybywire

flybywire

Posted
Posted

Hi all.

Very glad to have stumbled upon this excellent site.

Being old enough to remember the moon landings, and wanting to be an asrtonaut!!!! :grin: All my life (don't ask how old, let's just say I'm a little late to the party!) I've always had a real interest in all things astronomical, and hankered after a telescope for years! I remember growing up with Patrick Moore, and the wonderful 'Sky at Night'. Last year I very excitedly dragged my 11 year old boy to the local asronomy club (Cleethorpes) and had a really good 'intro' evening, followed by an invite to the house of an incredibly helpful and enthusiastic leading member. He had an absolutely spectacular set up in his garden, but sadly cloud prevented us seeing anything that night, but it was inspirational non the less.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and a newspaper advert from Aldi, advertising a National Geographic telescope for £40. (Please stay with me!) I suggested to my wife it would be a nice Christmas present for me. Sure enough yesterday morning, amongst all the kid's presents, it arrived and I was well impressed.

HOWEVER!

Wifey then disappeared to 'retrieve' an 'extra' present. When she threw open the door, I saw a very sizeable, fully constructed, reflector telescope on a tripod. Turns out a couple of days beforehand, she'd been telling friends what she had got me for Xmas, and they had absolutely INSISTED she have a telescope that had been bought for one of their children, and the just wanted rid of!

I now know that it's not necessarily the greatest telescope in the world, but I'm no expert, and I absolutely love it! It's an oldish Danubia Saturn 45, with a selection of lenses including a 2x Barlow, and a Knight Owl Super PL&SSL FMC 40mm (Whatever that means?!)

So, in my part of the world, last night was really clear, and I live in a pretty 'black' area. So with absolutely no knowledge of how the lenses even fitted together, or how the mount works (it took me about 1-2 mins to figure out how to even get the caps off the scope!!!) I chucked it out onto the patio. A few minutes on t'internet enabled me to at least achieve an unobstructed optical view between my eye and the end of the scope. But still wasn't able to see anything recognisable, even though I (thought) I was pointing at a full moon! (Doh!) I was even thinking I was looking at a reflection of my own retina! Maybe I was!? My first break came when, twiddling the focus adjustment I saw something moving across the lens. I realised I had picked up some fine 'scud' very close to the moon, but obviously my scope wasn't ACTUALLY pointing accurately at the target! So a little adjustment of alignment and focus and ...........WOW....WOW....WOW!!!!!! I felt as though I was taking my first steps on the moon! Neil Armstrong eat your heart out! Change to the more powerful 40mm lens, and I couldn't stop smiling! Or looking!

Right. Next on the agenda. How do I move the telescope to pick up that bright 'star' very close to the moon? (I had a feeling it could have been a planet) Oh well, give it a go! Ah, there it is. Mmm seems to be some ghost repeating images all in a line. About four. What am I doing wrong now? Play around with the focus a bit more. Mmmm that big blob in the middle seems to have a couple of stripes round it, but still got those ghosts!! OMG!!! I've just realised what I'm lookking at! I know you were way ahead of me!! It's only Jupiter and it's four moons!!! FANTASTIC!! This was what I had hoped to see (but didn't) last year at the astronomy club and in the garden of the helpful enthusiast. But now it's here in MY back garden!!

So, even though it's cold, and I haven't a clue how to use this mount, let's get the finder scope accurate and see where we can go next!!!!! I've heard of the Orion nebula, can I find it? I know roughly where it should be, and I can clearly see Orion. Yep gotcha!

What a fantastic night! Absolutely everything I could possibly have hoped for and much, much more!! As you can probably tell, I think I'm going to really enjoy looking at the night sky, and hopefully find out a lot more about the universe and astronomy. I have a real thirst for more knowledge now, but unlike my incredible good fortune of last night though, I think I will be needing a lot of help.

Sorry if this OP is a little over the top, or too much information. I promise to be a little quieter from now on. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 30
  • Created
  • Last Reply
VigdisVZ

VigdisVZ

Posted
Posted

Hi and welcome! Thanks for sharing a nice story.

Some recommendations:

Get Stellarium for your computer, it's a very good tool to see what's available and when. http://www.stellarium.org/

Also if you want a good guidebook to what's cool in the sky, check out "Turn Left At Orion". It's a handy guide to what you can find and what you can expcet to see from each object. http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/0521153972

Good to have you on board!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
moogoomonkey

moogoomonkey

Posted
Posted

Hey and welcome to SGL!! You have definitely stumbled to the right place :D I gather you had a brilliant christmas from what you saw last night. No clear skies for me last night and it's raining now!! Will I ever get a perfect night this holiday!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
glowjet

glowjet

Posted
Posted

Hi Flybywire and welcome to SGL, love your story which should, I think, sum up experiences quite a few people will have had with their new scopes, I am afraid it does take a little time to grasp the basics and a well set up scope and understanding of how it works is half the battle. A correctly aligned finder scope will help you place your main scope on target and as already mentioned, Stellarium will assist you in finding the many objects you want to observe. A copy of TL@O is also a recommended book to aid you along the Astronomical highway. If you have any difficulties, then just post your inquiry into the relevant section, you can then tap into a wealth of knowledge contained within the forum membership, the members being pleased to help in any way they can. Have fun :icon_santa:

John.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
flybywire

flybywire

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thank you so very much. I feel truly welcome. Which is no mean feat for someone who (in this context!) is a complete ignoramous! I had a second night (boxing night) and was equally blown away! Tonight was clear but icy, so As keen as I am, I decided I would simply enjoy Christmas and my children. I am SO looking forward to learning more! And there is SO much!!!!!! Just perhaps, there may come a time when I can either return the compliment, or at the very least step up to the plate? But oh my lord that feels like light years away!! Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
flybywire

flybywire

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi guys, as you know, I'm a newbie. Please forgive me if this is the wrong place to ask, and do please point me in the right direction....... I had an absolutely glorious view of Jupiter tonight, and I can't wait to see Saturn. From stellarium, I see it is visible in the early morning. Is it worth looking for it then, or is it currently too low in the sky to be worthwhile?

I'm SO enthusiastic about this stuff! The easy views I get, that you folks must be so used to, simply take my breath away!

I'm in a job where it is easy to become blase about what is on offer! It's wonderful to be enthusiastic again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.