Jump to content

First light in Surrey


Recommended Posts

My Praktica 10 x 50 bins arrived on Wednesday and, after seemingly weeks of cloud, I found a 20 minute window in the cloud from my back garden. I live in a relatively dense suburban area near the M25 so I have a fair amount of light pollution to contend with but I had not realised how bright a street light in an adjoining road is - it kept catching my eye and ruining my night vision. :angry:

I started with Orion and was totally unprepared for what I saw. In naked-eye vision Beetlejuice and the belt were visible but not the sword, but through the bins the sky opened up before my eyes and there was the Great Orion Nebula and the double star above - just amazing :shocked: !! (By the way, does the double star have a name? In Stellarium I can only see them referred to as c Ori and 45 Ori - sorry, much to learn evidently.) After marveling there I only had a brief look at Pleiades before the cloud rolled in but was again staggered by what these very affordable, entry level bins were producing; what a telescope might bring is seriously exciting, hopefully I can get to Ranmore soon.

On Saturday night, with friends round for supper, I only managed 20 mins again but this time had my 9 year old daughter with me who is my reason for re-igniting my childhood interest in the night-sky. Oh, I should say at this stage that I succumbed to temptation and popped down to Astronomia in Dorking on Saturday and bought a tripod, bracket and Turn left at Orion (but resolutely ignored the lovely gleaming telescopes!). Anyway, I lined up on Orion and Pleiades again for her and she had a very similar reaction to me on Thursday - her face just lit up, so a budding astronomer in the making perhaps??

Am I allowed to go on to last night as well? Well, I've started so I'll finish if you can bear it.

Now properly armed with Turn left, Stellarium, tripod and bins I felt a slightly greater challenge might be in order and, guided by various threads about the best objects for binoculars, set my sights on The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and The Beehive Cluster (M44).

Again daughter No.4 was with me and we started at 7.30 for a 30 mins session before bedtime. Following the directions from Mirach I became aware of a small smudge when I was panning across, so stopped and tried to find it again, but to no avail. Then, remembering averted vision, aimed slightly to the right and, hey presto, MY FIRST GALAXY!!! Having read the notes in Turn left I have to say I felt pretty humbled thinking that small smudge contains about 300 billion stars and is so far away. Sadly No.4 could not quite pick it out so she found her way to Orion and Pleiades again before going to bed.

After a brief interlude (ahem, Top Gear, I'm afraid :embarrassed: ) I returned to the garden at 10.15 and set to work on The Beehive. Now, it says this is a naked-eye object, but that is certainly not the case where I am, so finding it took a little longer that anticipated but it was worth the wait - all those beautiful jewels grouped together. Thinking about it I should have noted how many stars I could resolve, but just observed it for 20 mins before the cloud came in.

All in all an amazing few sessions and looking forward to more, and Panstarrs next week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

great to hear, sounds like you've been having fun! what you've described is exactly what started my journey off in astronomy too, the first sight of the orion nebular and the andromeda galaxy through bins blew me away and i was hooked from that point, the Pleiades and beehive were also first targets for me too. won't be long before you're coming back from your astronomy shop with a 200p though i reckon :) Enjoy your bins and good luck with your newly reignited hobby.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the delights of stargazing in Surrey!

Can I recommend that you checkout Jupiter with your bins? You should be able to make out some of the moons with a bit of luck, I have done so with similar a model.

Just you wait till you find Saturn in the scope though - blows me a way every time.

Enjoy yourself

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Martin, daughter No4 is desparate to see Saturn (as am I). Have struggled a little with Jupiter, so will try again tonight. Out of interest where should I go next?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello and welcome to the lounge, I also am a newbie with bins, I have been learning the night sky for 8 months now and I have seen and learnt a lot, advice I was given was to stay with bins before getting a scope as the learning curve really helps to navigate the stars, I see you already have stellarium, this is a really helpful tool try to work on one constellation at a time as there is so much to learn and see, Jupiter is great to see through bins, the Pleiades are just above Jupiter so look for the brightest star from them you will know when you have found it the small stars very close are the moons.

All the best and Clear Sky's

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congratulations on bagging M31 in Andromeda.

The Beehive needs a semi-rural sky to be seen with the naked eye. The whole of the Cancer constellation can easily go missing with enough light pollution, making the location of M44 even harder, so i'd say you've done well finding at the first time of asking.

Thanks for sharing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, just been out again after getting home and lined up Jupiter, really concentrating on the focussing and saw two moons - would love to know which ones they are?? Anyway, thank you ronl for the suggestion.

Clear skies all

Harry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Harry, on the double star you saw, if it was up in the decorative crown shape (NGC 1981) then it would be Struve 750 (Σ 750), a lovely double at 4.2 magnitude. So you have also bagged NGC 1981 (a star cluster) as well. There is so much to see in Orion, you could spend a lifetime exploring it, and probably will! Many fine double stars, good for seeing when the cloud fades in and out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you had a bit of success with Jupiter. Wtith a telescope you should be able to see some of the atmospheric bands.

You can get the current positions of Jupiters moons on a few sites on the web - a quick google search will get you what you need. The positions do change quickly!

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

  • 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.