What can I expect to see?

[PaulR18]

Hi guys,

I just got my first telescope the other day and I'm itching to get it out but all these clouds are ruining things.

Anyway to whet my appetite I've been browsing the astrophotography section and am simply blown away by the images - especially the images of DSO's.

Are these images what I can expect to see looking through the eyepiece or does camera's pick up colours and shapes that the eye can't make out?

I'm worried I'll just make myself disappointed now by looking at all these amazing photos and not seeing these first hand myself.

I'm using a Skywatcher 200p Dob. Sorry if this is a stupid question and thanks for any replies.

[Bart]

Please don't expect photo like images. You will not see colours or the level of detail . What you will see will be amazing though. You will be seeing it with your own eyes, and THATs the wonder!!!

It's a great hobby, when we get a chance to get out!!

Good luck

Barry

[PaulR18]

Thanks Barry. Really appreciate it.

[greglloyd]

Go to the following well known website and view the various sketches of the Messier objects (the first DSO's you will likely be going for). The sketches were mostly drawn at the eyepiece of 6 and 8" reflectors - so a good representation of what to expect from your scope under decently dark skies :-

http://www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/archives/sg-messier.html

[greglloyd]

Note however, that some of the detail in the sketches come from using adverted vision techniques are you will not normally see them with short direct views of the objects. The detail is very elusive in practice and you need to view the object for a period of time with adverted vision techniques to tease out the detail. Spiral structure in galaxies for example only appears very rarely in an 8" scope under exceptional conditions. I end to put something over my head when trying to go for detail in galaxies so as to boost contrast.

[nephilim]

The only thing i've ever seen a hint of colour in is M42, a very slight green, (with my 200p) everything else is a grey whisp, the photo's you see are from the cameras sensor been exposed for long periods of time allowing them to collect alot more photons than our mere mortal eyes can & 9x out of 10, these are multiple images stacked & processed with software such as photoshop to bring out the detail. Saying that I think you'll be happy enough when you see objects with ur own eyes, the light of which, set off travelling through space b4 the dinosaurs walked the earth to create that image in your eye.

Steve

[PaulR18]

Thanks for that info guys. Thats interesting to see sketches of what people see - I hope to be able to give that a go sometime.

I'm looking forward to finally getting out and using it. Tonight looks doubtful but tomorrow looks promising.

[John]

The scope you have is a good one. It's worth noting though that the quality of views of deep sky objects (galaxies, nebulae, clusters etc) are heavily influenced by the amount of light pollution in the sky, whether man made or moonlight. Even the brightest deep sky objects virtually disappear when there is moonlight around. Under a really dark sky the views of these objects can be totally transformed when viewed through the same scope that would hardly show them at all under light polluted conditions.

[MadAlbert]

You will be seeing it with your own eyes, and THATs the wonder!!!

+1 It's the connection when looking through the eyepiece that always gets me.

[swamp thing]

We can see colour in some DSO but nothing like the images you see in the imaging section. We can see colour in certain planetary nebulae (some is actually quite vivid), stars, planets, and M42 does show a fair amount of turquoise/green. Some young eyes can see salmon pinks in it too.

Globs are certainly on the menu with an 8" scope and are starting to no longer look like fuzzies and more like balls of stars.

[philhas]

What you will see are an array of amazing colored stars, too often nice colored double stars are forgotten in the rush to view DSO's Take a look at http://tinyurl.com/d3l2cyj

[greglloyd]

The only thing i've ever seen a hint of colour in is M42, a very slight green, (with my 200p) everything else is a grey whisp, the photo's you see are from the cameras sensor been exposed for long periods of time allowing them to collect alot more photons than our mere mortal eyes can & 9x out of 10, these are multiple images stacked & processed with software such as photoshop to bring out the detail. Saying that I think you'll be happy enough when you see objects with ur own eyes, the light of which, set off travelling through space b4 the dinosaurs walked the earth to create that image in your eye.

Steve

Same here. Some colour in M42 through a 250px

[greglloyd]

Someone mentioned sky conditions above and I totally agree with that. It can play more of a role in the quality of your views than aperture (to a certain extent). I would also add that experience of the observer also comes into play a lot. Someone with plenty of previous experience viewing DSO's will readily pick up more detail in the eyepiece on any given night with any given scope.

Make sure you stick with it regardless of how your initial views looks (which should hopefully be good for you anyway). The views will just keep getting better and better as your observing experience grows and you get that scope out on the rarer, exceptional seeing nights when the transparency is amazing and your scopes delivers it's best views!