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Spotted first DSO last night!!!! :-)

bbwonder

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bbwonder

bbwonder

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Phew!!!!!!

I thought I was just plain terrible at stargazing... But I finally found something other than a star, planet (Venus & Saturn) or our Moon - which let's face it, don't take a lot for finding.

The next easiest to find, of course, The Great Globular cluster in Hercules (M13).

It was so satisfying to have finally spotted the ghostly grey orb, then having a duck-fit fumbling to find my 2x Barlow to confirm it before it disappeared out of view. :)

So, after a few moments of elation and feelings of wonder, it spurred me into looking for other objects.

After an hour or so, I found nothing. :( Although I was trying desperately to find the Pinwheel Galaxy - maybe a little faint for a novice, with bad light pollution (almost full moon, near motorway, middle of well-lit cul-de-sac) ?

I currently only have a Telrad red dot finder attached to my 8" Newtonian, so I'm probably making life difficult for myself.. the 9x50 Finderscope that came with my Telescope will probably help me navigate better than red-dot guesswork? The Telrad is nice for locating clear objects, but anything beyond that it seems less useful.

Back to waiting for clear nights... :)

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andrew63

andrew63

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Great news on finding M13. The darker autumn nights will make searching for others a lot easier. M101 in moonlight is a big ask ! A good book is invaluable - turn left at orion or pocket sky atlas are very useful.

andrew

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acey

acey

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Well done on seeing any DSO so near to the solstice, and with moonlight too (not to mention light pollution). M13 is one of the few objects visible under such conditions. M33 is one for a dark night without light pollution. I'd suggest M57 (Ring Nebula) as another to try - it can also withstand bright skies. But this really isn't the time of year for DSO viewing.

Edit: I took "pinwheel" to mean M33 but the name also gets attached to M101 and M83, and originally referred to M99. Anyway, aren't they really called Catherine Wheels? :smiley:

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NGC 1502

NGC 1502

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Great sight is M13, never fails to give me a buzz, takes magnification well, I use 150x in my 10" Dob.

The Pinwheel (M101) is much tougher. I've only seen it a very few times from my back garden in Southend Essex. June is not the best time for M101, I've only seen it on moonless and transparent nights in April or early May. From a dark site of course, it's far easier.

As regards finders, what suits one may not suit another. I personally don't get on with optical finders, much prefer a simple red dot finder with a low power wide field eyepiece in the focuser.

I can get down to 36x and a two degree field with my 10" Dob. Once I find my target, I switch to a higher mag as needed.

Regards, Ed.

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Scott

Scott

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Well Done mate, and don't kid yourself.....finding anything up there holds a certain amount of challenge. but that first messier is pretty special. (just wait til you see m42 :)

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bbwonder

bbwonder

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It was such a crisp collection of tiny bright dots when magnified...

Which makes it even more unimaginable how utterly MASSIVE it actually is.

Just one dot is probably hundreds of times bigger than our little rock.

:)

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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bendiddley

bendiddley

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Well done buddy, I was as chuffed as you when I bagged my first one and I think it was M13 too come to think of it, just over a year ago when I got my first scope. By the way I think I have the same scope as you, I've got a skywatcher 200p dob. Regards finding things, I bought myself a right angle 9x50 corrected view optical finder which really helps, I would be lost without it, very useful for star hopping once you've found the bright star to start from. I've also got a rigel quikfinder which is like a red dot finder which I use to point the scope in the right direction to get to the bright star. Good luck with finding more DSO's, I"m longing to get back out there at the moment but it gets dark so late, I'm too tired to stay up until it's dark enough, bring on the autumn.

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bbwonder

bbwonder

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A good book is invaluable - turn left at orion or pocket sky atlas are very useful.

andrew

Thanks! I do have turn left at Orion, although I do need to study it more... Also invest in a red torch, I'm currently using a bright white LED torch and it zaps my dark perception every time..

I've just bought Sky Safari for my Android phone, which is brilliant, it really helped me find M13 ... Although from what I gather, it is the easiest DSO to spot & find so we'll see how I do next time :)

Thanks to all comments, it's great to read all the tidbits , it's really helpful to such a novice :)

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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bbwonder

bbwonder

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By the way I think I have the same scope as you, I've got a skywatcher 200p dob. Regards finding things, I bought myself a right angle 9x50 corrected view optical finder which really helps, I would be lost without it

Very close, mines the SkyWatcher 200P EQ5 - thanks for the correcting finder advice, didn't even know you could get them. :) will look into it!

My location at home is terrible for dark skies.. But I am so lucky, my brother lives 10 miles away from most civilisation, fairly high on a hill.. The difference is just unreal..

We're just about to look at moving house, but sadly distance from good schools is higher on the list than living somewhere dark..

#MustWinTheLottery

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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bbwonder

bbwonder

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Lovely report, try these,

http://www.atmob.org/library/member/skymaps_jsmall.html

and forget using a finderscope until you are used to the skies and where things should be,

Nick.

I'll use the light evenings to do some reading :)

Them PDFs look brilliant too thank you, will be very handy to have for quick reference!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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AlexB67

AlexB67

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Congrats on the first DSO. Was my first one too. I've forgotten what they look like now :), been cloudy evenings or too much haze in the last few weeks, in spite of the very pleasant temperatures, though I did get a spot of lunar observing in the bag a few days ago as it was getting dark.

Come on clouds, be gone with you !!!

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AndyWB

AndyWB

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If you've managed M13 then M92 is another good globular in Hercules. Or M11 - I saw it the first time last week, and it seemed bright. Definite wow factor. And I'd agree with Acey - the Ring nebula is lovely.

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  • 2 weeks later...
todd8137

todd8137

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Hi and your off,great start as well for me it was a much the same a few years ago ,i found out straight awayi just had to learn the constellations,because they where the key to a lot of the dso's i to could not find,now you may think with the linited view that would be hard ,its not use both telescope and naked eye ,i found tnis method work for me after a while and a few months am sure you can. Do the same

Pat

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bbwonder

bbwonder

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They're coming like buses now! :)

Back on Monday night, I managed to observe the M57 / Ring Nebule, M13 and M92 all in the same hour!! It was almost exhausting :)

It was a pretty dodgy weather too, so I must have been lucky with clouds breaking & timing it right. :)

At the moment I'm observing from a 25' x 10' patch of land we call our back garden, nestled up against the house with less than 180 degrees (luckily south facing) of sky available - I can't even see Polaris from where I get set up... Eeeek!

But having said this, I do manage to get my EQ5 broadly in alignment - I don't have to move the Dec too often when following objects.

Looking forward to tonight now, forecast is for clear skies!

TARGETS FOR TONIGHT: M27 Dumbbell M101 Pinwheel

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