What Can I Expect to See....?

[cmaxx]

Great post and good to see what sort of images my beginners telescope can achieve!

[Tali]

Thank you for the post. It's so true in an aspect of beginner's hopes and "demands". You buy a telescope and if you're in a "hurry" you may make terrible purchase. And then you set it up and want to see planets and everything just like they show it in the news. Oh the disappointment. Such a downer! Your post is excellent and I really appreciate honesty. Thanks to your post - us beginners - can really learn how and what to enjoy and perceive as success 

[Tali]

One more thing. Since you said that there are no stupid questions then I will take a liberty to ask about something. I know that asteroids are relatively small, rocky chunks of matter that shine like small stars, but orbit the Sun like planets. Most asteroids, or minor planets as they are sometimes called, are made of carbon-rich rock, while others (those farthest from the Sun) contain iron, nickel, and a few other elements. One asteroid, Pholus, is coated with a red material that may be organic compounds similar to those that form living material.

Asteroids vary in size from 580 miles (940 kilometers) in diameter (Ceres, the first asteroid discovered) to 33 feet (10 meters) in diameter. Most are so small their size cannot be measured directly. They are generally irregular in shape and vary in brightness as they rotate.

Read more: http://www.scienceclarified.com/As-Bi/Asteroid.html#ixzz3D5NMIszN

My question: can I see asteroids? Is it even possible? And if so is it possible with binoculars or do I need high-end telescope?

[jnb]

The largest asteroid is Ceres which can reach a magnitude of about 7, which basically means that it is just below naked eye visibility so with good navigation and even the smallest of telescopes you can see Ceres. You won't see anything on it, just a point of light but it can be seen. For a lot of these targets it is the hunt that is fascinating not the view. I often compare it to bird watching. Seeing Jupiter is like watching a sparrow in your garden, seeing Pluto is more like seeing a faint distant blob on a cliff and knowing that it is a rare lesser spotted wotsit. 

And one correction asteroids reflect light like planets rather than shining like stars.

Edited September 12, 2014 by jnb

[bomberbaz]

I think you will find Ceres is a summer target though and unless you can get a good west aspect and find it just after sunset you may struggle

[nwink]

Qualia, thank you SO much for this excellent post you wrote.  Years ago, I went to an observatory and got to see Jupiter in the large telescope, but was not impressed since it was just a bright white dot with the bright white moons around it.  I decided to give astronomy another try since I love the night sky and learning about space, so I just recently purchased a decent set of binoculars.  I also read some short beginner books on astronomy and binoculars.  Last night I tried the binoculars out for the first time and, some other factors aside, I was a litte disappointed feeling wondering why I wasn't so blown away and seeing things like several of the online reviewers had been saying about the binos (photos they'd posted after using nice equipment and software to edit).  Now, I understand what has been some of my misunderstandings and improper expectations the past few years, and reading everyone's thoughts on this post has given me encouragement to go back and try it again, with a different purpose and outlook now...knowing what I'll see, and being excited and stunned at these beautiful celestial objects so far away that we can see.  Thank you for your wisdom and for the encouragement and help your post was for me.

[Ryan Yon]

glad you clarified this, so many people think they are going to see amazing full frame images of DSO but instead see little grey smudges, but at the time of looking at it with your eye is something still magical.

[steven_w82]

Really well presented and written post!

[Qualia]

nwink, thank you for your thoughtful and kind letter. As you have seen from many of the replies, you are not alone in your concern. I often think stargazing is a very fragile and often quite subtle pursuit and it is a shame that many folk are often left disappointed with what they see, so I'm really glad you stumbled across the thread and have been encouraged to get out under the dark skies again . That in itself is amazing. I look forward to reading your reports and to hear how you're getting along. Once again, Nwink, thank you

Ryan and Steven, thank you for your kind words and thoughts. There is indeed something magical about piercing through the dark cloak of the night and coming across a subtle flame of nature which goes by the name of galaxy, or nebula or star and whose sheer elegance is almost impossible to extinguish. That we are able to view such creations of nature with tiny bits of glass or mirror is in itself mindblowing. What more could we ask for

Edited September 28, 2014 by Qualia

[Space Hopper]

Great post Qualla. 

Essential reading for anyone starting out in the hobby.

I too remember being disappointed when i first started observing.

I suffer with terrible light pollution here, but make do with what i have. Mag 3 stars can be a struggle sometimes.

I'm limited to Solar, Lunar, planets, doubles and the brighter Messiers when i observe. (like a lot of others, i guess)

Using a bino-viewer has been a big thing for me. 

I'm seeing so much more detail on the moon and planets, and it makes observing so much more comfortable.

[elrico]

Very matter of fact & interesting, I read a similar good article "on what can I expect to see" , at the end of the article the author left the following note ' Always expect to see the unexcepted when roaming the night sky, you never know!!

[elrico]

Please excuse the spelling lol

[mrsmith314]

Thank you for this fabulous and much needed information. I bought my first telescope this summer, a Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ, and have spent hours upon hours in my backyard gathering the light. This article provided the confirmation I needed that I am not crazy for getting so excited about what I don't see in my telescope. Last year I found Saturn for the first time through my husband's spotting scope and I gathered everyone around to see. Need I say they were not as enthused as I. When I first got my 130mm I expected to see more, but, my disappointment was short lived. I hope other newbies that who might possibly lose interest from their first views will happen upon this article and be spared.

[Qualia]

Thank you for your kind words, Mrsmith I'm so glad you stumbled across the post.

If a neighbour stumbles across my nocturnal pursuit and I happen to share a view with them of some night sky wonder, you can almost hear their brains crying out, "Is that it!" They step back, offer a pleasantry and away they scuttle and in a way, it's easy to appreciate why they find themselves disappointed. Stargazing is probably made of around 50% observing and 50% imagination. It is a slow and subtle process requiring patience and persistence and at its heart is the culmination of knowledge and skill. It is the knowledge and understanding contained within these spectacular objects of nature that furnaces imagination and wonder.

If we don't appreciate or understand the wonder about us, don't quite grasp that we are all riding together on a tiny spinning Earth hurtling about a "sun that is spinning in a whirlwind of a trillion stars, sealed in an envelope of mysterious dark matter" and that against all the possible odds, a tiny group of atoms have grouped together to create you and I, and here we are, together, at this exact moment with a tiny bit of glass gazing up at this immense wonder, then we are left with nothing, nothing but a dull feeling of 'is that it?' 

[Pig]

Rob I hope you can name all of the stars in the picture above, especially after writing such a cracking and comprehensive guide

[Qualia]

I have hard enough time remembering the basic, most fundamental constellations, Shaun! Let alone star names If I was to be totally frank with you, I don't even know my own mobile or house telephone number. My usual excuse is that it's a rare moment when I get the chance to phone myself   

[bomberbaz]

Thank you for your kind words, Mrsmith I'm so glad you stumbled across the post.

If a neighbour stumbles across my nocturnal pursuit and I happen to share a view with them of some night sky wonder, you can almost hear their brains crying out, "Is that it!" They step back, offer a pleasantry and away they scuttle and in a way, it's easy to appreciate why they find themselves disappointed. Stargazing is probably made of around 50% observing and 50% imagination. It is a slow and subtle process requiring patience and persistence and at its heart is the culmination of knowledge and skill. It is the knowledge and understanding contained within these spectacular objects of nature that furnaces imagination and wonder.

If we don't appreciate or understand the wonder about us, don't quite grasp that we are all riding together on a tiny spinning Earth hurtling about a "sun that is spinning in a whirlwind of a trillion stars, sealed in an envelope of mysterious dark matter" and that against all the possible odds, a tiny group of atoms have grouped together to create you and I, and here we are, together, at this exact moment with a tiny bit of glass gazing up at this immense wonder, then we are left with nothing, nothing but a dull feeling of 'is that it?' 

hobbes.jpg

without doubt one of the most profound statements made that didn't come from david attenborough,  you just made my weekend!

[Pig]

Pretty much the same here Rob  by the time I have remembered my phone number the contract is due, I then normally switch providers and get a new number  As for remembering names of stars etc.. that's why I like solar/ lunar observing, its not that easy to forget the name of the sun and Moon.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Pig

[Anthonyw85]

Great post particularly for newbies like me.

[Mark62]

at last a post that shows us exactly what we can expect to see in the night sky. Never the less i'm  still going to go look . Thank  you for a clear and honest post

[Sirius Starwatcher]

Brilliant post great info, thanks for your time in posting it

Regards Garry

[KevUU]

If we don't appreciate or understand the wonder about us, don't quite grasp that we are all riding together on a tiny spinning Earth hurtling about a "sun that is spinning in a whirlwind of a trillion stars, sealed in an envelope of mysterious dark matter" and that against all the possible odds, a tiny group of atoms have grouped together to create you and I, and here we are, together, at this exact moment with a tiny bit of glass gazing up at this immense wonder, then we are left with nothing, nothing but a dull feeling of 'is that it?' 

Another perfect piece of Qualia profundity I've started a collection, if I can find it I may post the first one (first to me, that is).

In the meantime, this seems appropriate:

[KevUU]

Found it:

"It's a long road and on the portal of every entry into astronomy ought to be inscribed: You will suffer for this and be grieved but there will be adventure and wonderful times. If you hang on in there, the sky will be a trusting and good companion. The years will tick by, so much will happen and on one of those days there will be Jupiter, back where it was originally all those years ago when you started out a younger man. The passing of a companion will be dated by the stars that were in the sky that night; the phases of the moon will mark a trying time and its soft light will blanket a tender evening you spent with your loved ones. The evening sky will be there to console you when the hustle and bustle of daily life has taken its toil and when we become a little too much of ourselves and others, begin to believe in our own self-importance there will be the ancient galaxies and stars to gently nudge us back into place. And when we are older and looking back, those cloudy, uneventful evenings will appear to us as a singular, non-descript event, yet shining from them like a host of gleaming stars will be those stargazing evenings where everything just seemed perfect and the universe at last could murmur its secrets."

--Qualia

I still go back to this, when I'm fed up with things. So once more, thanks dude

[bomberbaz]

Me-think qualia was a poet of some standing in a previous life 

[Qualia]

Thank you so much for your kind words. You have really touched my heart, Kev and Bomberbaz thank you The beautiful thing is, we all come from the same source, there is no mystery that we are all stars. We are all dancers and musicians, lovers and poets. We are all cosmic angels and your kindness just goes to show as much Thank you again.

Rob