Split Rigel (at last)

[jason.p]

Like a few others last night was my first session for a while. Had a quick look at Jupiter (still amazing) to line the finder up, then put in my new 32mm and found M103 which I had been looking for (probably looking through!) for some time. Just as clouds began to roll in I decided to have another go at splitting Rigel and stuck in the 8mm. It seemed very bright and as I looked away from it I noticed the small dot (top right in my FOV) which I now believe was the double (I hope). I stayed with it for some time and it became easier to resolve. That has to go down as a "Wow" moment for me. I know it's not a big deal but it showed me what my scope can do and that all my fumbling collimation and fiddling about over the last year had not done any serious damage! Where do I go from here? What would be a realistic challenge? (assuming that I'm right about the Rigel double)

(Despite all that I still failed to find M81 and M82 )

[nightfisher]

well done on Rigel, have you tried the trapezium in M42, the four main components are easy, but the E and more so the F are very hard to resolve

[Pig]

The wow factors are great - I think a lot of us were wowed last night.

The fact the clouds had gone was a wow

[perrin6]

The trick to finding galaxies M81 & 82 is to first find the little triangle of 5th magnitude stars 13 degrees below (below in the normal inverted view of a finderscope) of Dubhe (one of the 'pointers' of Ursa Major). You should see two stars 'above' the triangle and the galaxies are to the left of these. Simple !

[alan potts]

Jason,

Very well done on Rigel, it is one of my favourites. It is so much easier for me with the star being much higher in the sky. Try the trapezium with your scope you should be able to get 'E' but 'F' is much more of a problem, you will need a magification of around X100-120, I find that's best.

Alan.