Last night with the 17x50s

[JulianFR]

I returned home from work in London late last night (Friday) around midnight and decided not to set up my telescope but instead use my binoculars to scan the pretty clear skies. So of course I had a lovely view of Jupiter and the moons... And one of my favourite sights at the moment: the ghostly, great Orion nebula.

Lower than Orion, close to the Eastern horizon, a way below Betelgeuse , was a very bright 'star'. I need to check Stellarium when I fire up my PC later but I'm wondering if it was Venus. If so I WISH I had set up the scope so I could have had a closer look, along with Jupiter. I feel quite frustrated and annoyed with myself now as it looks as if tonight in Marlborough will be cloudy and wet.

One question for anyone still reading this: I also scanned around Deneb hoping to see the North America nebula but there was nothing I could recognise as such. Should it have been visible through binoculars? Quite possibly I wouldn't know it if I did see it!

Julian

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Julian - nice 1 mate - I had exactly the same thoughts as you, didn't set the scope up, was out a little earlier than you with my 15 x 70's (new to this binocular Astronomy) really nice if a little cold.  You may have been looking the star Sirius - which would be rising around midnight - ish - really bright and probably twinkling - so showing different colours.

      Venus is currently on or near to the Western horizon just after sunset, but if you could have stayed out a little longer, Mars rises a little later in the East, fainter than jupiter.

You mention the North American Nebula - I think you really need very dark skies to see this  - I've tried now that cygnus is overhead - but no luck.  My skies in the Midlands are quite poor due to light pollution - but, with a Naked eye Limiting Magnitude of about 4.00 (I can just make out the lower star on the base side of Triangulum - if that makes any sense) - done a little searching on the net, trying to find out how dark my skies are - but at about mag 4.00 ish, only the brightest stars of each constellation are really visible.

The sky was very nice last night, with the moon out of the way, M31 was very nice, also had a look for M33 - I think I could just make it out after letting my eyes "darken" only just above background sky "brightness".  Its surprising how many Messier objects I can pick out, M27, M2, M15 - even the double cluster in Perseus.  The starfields directly overhead through Cygnus, coming back East into Cassiopeia and down into Perseus were amazing - specially the "bunch" around Mirphak (the bright star in the "middle" of Perseus).

Even with these poor skies, just taking time to allow the eyes to dark adapt, checking and re - checking hard targets has surprised me,  with the ease of just setting up in seconds with the binoculars - amazing, It'll be nice after a few more nights to get the monopod out on the moon and have a good "rummage" around Luna.

Glad to see your enjoying the binocs julian - Me too mate!!    Paul.

[ardbeg74]

Hi Julian,

Yea 95% sure you were looking at Sirius. I was looking at Jupiter and Orion last night with bins. I don't have great views below about 20 - 30 degrees alt from my garden but it started peeking between trees for me around 2am S  - south east. It really burned through the LP in my area. I checked when i came back in and its consistent with what Stellarium predicted.

Mark

[JulianFR]

Thanks for that. What a difference it makes knowing your way around the sky properly! I'm learning slowly. I know the 'big' things but struggle with the fainter (although famous) constellations without a book/app with me, as last night. 

Bit embarrassed about thinking Sirius might be Venus  I should have checked before I committed my thoughts to the page 

[JulianFR]

Thanks for that both of you I should have said.

[Steve Ward]

17 X 50 ... ?    Presume they're  Celestron 15 x 70's ... 

Bit pedantic I know but it may save a little confusion with regards to future questions / answers  you may have ... 

[ardbeg74]

Hi Julian,

TBH i could have mistaken it for venus too, just that i was planet watching last night so had checked to see what was visible.  I know a few constellations but working on learning more. It can be hard when the LP washes out the dimmer stars then you have to sort of fill in the blanks from half remembered patterns.

Wasn't going to buy a planisphere but after last night, when i tried to see the andromeda galaxy but couldn't even find andromeda, its now on my shopping list.

Hope the weather improves for you tonight.

Mark

[Northern Soul man]

Julian - its all about putting to the forum for all of us to share and comment on - don't put yourself down mate - its nice to hear different gazers' thoughts on everything which we all enjoy - the night sky - we're all learning, its only when you take the time to look up - how many non Astronomers do that??

Some of us have to make do with the skies we have - we can't all travel to dark sites - so light pollution it is then !!  Under my skies I tend to stick to the "popular" constellations, i just use Norton's Sky Atlas 2000 - keeping it nice and simple - being realistic I only stay with the bright Messier's under mag 4 skies with the Bino's at the ready - try for the really bright stuff, gradually as your eyes get dark adapted, go for the fainter stuff - with a nice low mag Atlas - get the FOV about 4 degree's - ish - and off you go, its very hard to get the page of the Sky Atlas to "look" the same as "on" the sky - this is where the bino's are better, the correct image helps a lot as opposed to the upside down left to right image through finders - GOTO helps here.

    Julian you have a very nice set up there mate, the Bino's will compliment that dob you have.

The way i remember the Planets inside our orbit is that I picture Saturn in the place of the Sun, before sunrise draw an imaginary line where the rings would rise tilted in the Eastern sky - depending on their positions in their orbits, Venus and Mercury would be in this region - the same with sunset - draw an imaginery line after the Sun sets where the "rings" would be - Venus and Mercury would be around here - you soon get to work out the Easterly and Westerly Elongations, depending where our Earth is in its orbit - Venus can reach a very high point in the sky roughly aligned with the Ecliptic, either before or Sunrise or after Sunset.  Mars and the outer planets usually "run" around the Ecliptic depending on the eccentricity of their orbits as seen from the Earth.

[JulianFR]

That is great advice for figuring out the planets ... Thanks. It's advice like this from active astronomers on the Forum that make it so valuable and good to read ... And it is invariably encouraging. I nearly gave up a couple of weeks ago after really screwing up my collimation but after calming advice from SGL-ers I fixed it within an hour.

Ardbeg74 ... I STILL haven't managed to find the Andromeda galaxy after some months of trying! It can't be that hard can it ?

Steve ... You are right, not pedantic. I meant my Celestron 15x70s. I haven't had them long and I was thinking of my old 10x50s. That's numerical dyslexia for you.

[Steve Ward]

Got myself the Celestron 15 x 70's at Kelling a short while ago , great kit for the money , mine have had more use since the than almost everything else , I keep them to hand day and night as there are so many times when they come in handy , same with the camera , always by my side ... 

[JulianFR]

Yes, I really like them. I know they are budget binoculars, made by a giant Chinese factory that makes loads of other badged binos (I read Binocular Sky and these weren't the recommended option) but they are excellent value for money. For me they are cheaper and more versatile than   a budget grab-and-go refractor.

[Nuno]

I agree

I also have a celestron 15x70 and they are great.. especially if you get a pretty dark place to observe. Mine offered me some outstanding views of andromeda, pleiades, and orion neb