Disappointingly Frustrating Night

[Paulo83]

I read about the supernova in M82 today, so was hoping for clear skies. Come 10pm, the skies cleared, so I brought my scope out, let it cool and went out myself at 10.30. After about 15 minutes of trying to locate M81/82, the clouds rolled in, so I left the scope outside and headed back in for a bit. Half an hour later, the sky cleared so I went back out and let my eyes readjust before trying to locate M82. After 15 minutes of fruitless searching, I began to get frustrated. Even with my copy of TLAO, I just couldn't find it. I swear I even had the 4th mag star in my finderscope which it tells you to locate, and then switch to a low power eyepiece to locate M81. I just could not find it.

After all that, I thought I'd restore my confidence by finding Andromeda. I've found it easily the three or four times I've seen it before, but tonight for some reason, I just couldn't locate it. I tried two or three times from Mirach and drew a blank. 

in the end, I settled for a look at Jupiter (obscured by next doors  bathroom light!) and the moon.

*sigh* I guess as a beginner, you can expect the occasional night like this. I don't think having nine bottles of beer before I went out helped, but I still believed in my ability to find objects. Ah well, we all learn.

[Paulo83]

Oh yeah, just to add, I've never tried to view M81 or M82 before, so I'm guessing that's the main reason for not finding them tonight!

[Qualia]

I don't think having nine bottles of beer before I went out helped, but I still believed in my ability to find objects. Ah well, we all learn.

I reckon if you're not making mistakes, or having a bit of a rough time now and again, you're probably doing nothing. So even though you may think your evening didn't turn out how it should have, it was more honorable and useful than any evening in front of the box. So fair play to you, Paulo.

I don't want to preach or tell folk what to do, but I reckon those beers may also have had some detrimental affect. Star-hoping can be tricky enough without imparing it with alcohol. It's also not a good idea to drink too much and then head out into the winter's night; the cold can take hold quickly and you may make yourself ill. Perhaps next time, save those beers for after the session.

I have a copy of TLAO but I never got along with the book. I prefer star-hoping with an atlas, so if you don't have one already get yourself a decent star map. I find Star Atlas by Sky and Telescope indispensable. It's not that expensive, it's extremely useful and you won't out grow it like you will TLAO. Also, if you haven't done so already download Stellarium. It is extremely useful for planning sessions, seeing what is about, learning about constellation and planetary motion through time and much more.

In the longer term it might be of interest to get yourself a 9x50mm, right angled correct image viewfinder and something like a Telrad or Rigel red-circle finder. These will really help you in star-hoping and finding objects with ease. The 50mm finder, for example, will deliver stars right down to about 8 magnitude, even if you're in a LP area, meaning you’ll be able to see every star plotted on the Sky Atlas and when you move amongst those stars, your left is left and your up is up, which is handy

I'm not sure, but I imagin the supernova will be around for a few more nights, so you have another chance Here's a little map to point you in the right direction:

When moving out keep an eye out for the little grouping of stars about half-way along your journey and then keep on pushing out. With a little luck hopefully everything will turn out just fine.

I also just wanted to say, don't beat yourself up. If you don't succeed, no worries. Don't be down hearted. Stargazing can sometimes be a tiresome road and one can suffer for it and be grieved, but the worst we can do is add to this frustration and hit out and curse ourselves. A bad night is just that, nothing more and you've probably discovered something new about yourself, or perhaps your equipment, or the sky itself. And those stars and DSOs will be back to give you another chance, another day.

Good luck and let us know how you get along

[jetstream]

You will find them after a few tries -I do as Qualia does in finding them-using a line through Phecda and Dubhe and on up to M81,M82 using my Rigel.Your 18mm should be excellent for locating and viewing them.The 32mm(5.3mm exit pupil) may be a bit "washed out" if not under dark skies,my 21mm feels washed (4.3mm exit pupil) in skies that are not truly dark.

PS....booze can hurt night vision

[jjqpr]

9 bottles of beer I'm not surprised you couldn't see anything! Last night was a bit odd, when I went out around 10 also it was the clearest I've seen the sky for weeks but like you say the clouds came, then went but even after they went I was struggling to see very much myself, and I was SOBER! I wonder if there was just a very thin layer of cloud even though it looked clear once the main cloud cover had gone.

[PhotoGav]

Life would just be dull if every time we decided to do / see something, we just went out and did it like an old hand.... That's what my therapist has encouraged me to repeat to myself in times of frustration!

Last night was indeed a right pain in the proverbial. I got home after puppy training class (thereby hangs a whole other thread!), having driven under beautiful clear skies. I headed out into the garden - yes, perfect... So started the set-up process. I got as far as putting the tripod on the ground, I hadn't even started leveling, looked up and, yup... Where have all the stars gone..... I gave it 15 minutes, still dodgy, so took everything back inside again. About 40 mins later I took the pup outside for his comfort break, looked up and oh yes, perfect again. The air turned blue!!!

So, Paulo83, I reckon you had a great night - you actually got to look through your scope!!!

[Peter Drew]

Another tip, don't waste time waiting for your telescope to  "cool" if you are in a hurry to locate most DSO's, the telescope will work well enough straight away. You need the optics to be in thermal equilibrium (cooled) for high magnification/resolution as with planets and double stars.

[Moox]

If you don't fail whilst learning something, you're doing it wrong. It's these moments that make one better.

[Paulo83]

Great post Qualia. Thanks for the advice and the encouragement.

Thinking back now, I reckon I was looking in the right area but just couldn't make it out. The conditions from my garden aren't good and last night seemed a dark night until the clouds rolled over. Even Jupiter didn't look as clear as it had been of late. I think next time I go looking for M81 and M82, I will use my 18mm eyepiece instead.

Thanks for all the positive comments. I guess last night I was just frustrated and blowing off some steam. I am probably more frustrated because it's something I really enjoy doing and with the recent weather, it's only the second opportunity I have had of observing since we entered 2014. I probably wanted too much to make up for all the cloudy nights lately!

On the plus side, I took my first ever photos of the moon (I literally just pointed my phone at the eyepiece and snapped away), posted them on Facebook and friends and family think they're amazing! (somehow) Haha!

One final point - from now on alcohol and astronomy are to be kept as completely separate activities.

I will find my supernova. 

[Tlawrence84]

Paulo, maybe a touch of rum or whisky as a warmer

[Qualia]

Thanks for the kind message, Paulo. I hope you get a chance to head out soon and do some viewing. There's not a lot of hurry though, for I think the supernova will be around for a while and should, over the next few days, get a tad brighter. These things don't happen that often, so it might be quite nice to make a little sketch for prosperity. And when we are older and nodding by the fire, we can think back to this moment and realise that we are seeing now happened about 12,000,000 years ago. It's mind blowing really. I wonder what new stars and planets will come from this cradle of dust.

[Paulo83]

I haven't had chance to head out since because of all the wind and rain we've been having lately. Hoping for a clear night at least in the week. 

That's the amazing thing about it - we can read through books about historical events and see photographs, all from different perspectives; but real history is happening before us every night we look up at the stars, and we can see it all from our own perspective. Some say the size of the universe makes us all insignificant, but the fact we can observe so much and now understand much about what we are seeing makes our existence hugely significant - even if it is only for a minuscule amount of time in universe terms.