My first nebula & WOW! When was yours & what was it?

[Draco61]

Hi all.

I know to most this is really lame stuff but i've just seen the Orion Nebula for the first time with my new Dob & beautiful doesn't come close.

Ok, so here's the background to this wow moment.

About 2 years ago i got my first scope (Celestron Nexstar 127) ,had a couple of wow's with Jupiter & Saturn but setting up ( for a newbie ) was a long & tedious affair.

Due to my impatience & failing eyesight most nights ended in complete frustration with the goto system failing to either find or track objects. The dot matrix display didn't help either

Being virtually unreadable when it got cold. Lcd's don't do cold, their response time slows so much that the display becomes a blurry mess when looking for stuff.

So that & new neighbours with a love affair with all things bright ie 100w bulbs & no curtains, i lost interest.

Fast forward to a few months ago. Neighbours changed & Stargazing Live re-kindled my interest. This time i researched the back to basics idea with a non goto Dob & found the 

Revelation brand both well liked & affordable. Unfortunately all suppliers were out of stock   so i played the waiting game with ( it seems ) quite a few other potential buyers.

Last week the email i'd been waiting for......Revelations back in stock, so i spoke to Kerin at Telescope House, had a long chat & ordered an 8" Dob.

Monday brought with it a new LARGE!!! cardboard box containing the tube & another with the base assy.

To cut a long story short (Too Late) tonight all the other neighbours obliged by drawing curtains etc at 2.30 am so out i went into the night (back garden actually) to see what i could see.

At first, not much. still using the straight back pain inducing finder which isn't aligned properly. Meant to do it today but was busy with other stuff. ( hey ho ).

With a bit of judicial bending & squinting i found Orion's belt, & from there the Nebula.

That's when it happened. First a grey smudge & then it came into focus.......WOW!

It took me back to junior school watching the Moon landing all over again.

I am now 100% hooked on Dobs. They're so easy to set up & use, why i went for the compact computerised MAK in the first place, i don't know.

With just an 8" Dob with a Revelation Super View 30mm 2" eyepiece in a Revelation ED 2x Barlow Lens i've found excitement & wonder in the Night sky again.

For someone living in the middle of light polluted Brighton, that's no mean feat.

Many thanks to Kerin  at Telescope House .com for guiding my purchase & re-kindling my interest in astronomy. Also thanks to David who helped me with accessories that i omitted to get first time round.

Great service with a genuine interest in their customers.

[hjw]

Hi Draco61,

As you, I had my WOW moment a few weeks ago. I started taking wide angle pictures of the southern sky milky way. In a way I was fortunate that the Sagittarius region was right above us. And even on wide angle shots I could make out a few clusters and a couple of smudges of colour. I then spend several nights zooming in on these objects with a 300mm lens. It turned out that the brightes smudge I saw was the Lagoon nebula (M8) and as a bonus I got the Trfid nebula (M20) im the same shot! Now there was my WOW moment and I was hooked. I have since discovered the Omega nebula and the Eagle nebula. I have to wait until December to get a chance at Orion. There I am really keen on the Flame nebula. We will see.

Good hunting and clear skys!

HJW

[Pete Presland]

The Orion Nebula will be a first WOW for many astronmers, it certainly was for me and continues to be a wow moment when i observe it. congratulations on finding your passion again!

[Paul73]

The moon and the Pleiades (M45) through my parent's 10x50 binos. That would be getting on for 30 years ago. These were more wowettes, but enough to sow the seed.

Then nothing until about 11 months ago when I inexplicably bought my 10" Dob off ebay. Looking at the Moon was the first Wow, then Pleiades, then Orion Nebula.108 Messier objects, a bunch of NGC's, a smattering of doubles, 6 planets, 17 nebulae, 3 comets and a supernova latter.......

Good hunting.

Paul

[John]

The Orion Nebula was my 1st nebula too. I found it with my old Tasco 60mm refractor but initially viewed it using too much power so I only saw the central portion and the Trapezium stars. I was intrigued but slightly underwhelmed to start with but the nebula took on a whole new form when I used a low power wide angle eyepiece to view it. The now familliar "bat wing" shape became clear along with the dark "fishes mouth" rift in the centre and curving tendrils of nebulosity spreading quite far around.

I still love viewing this object. It's only nebulous rival in the sky is perhaps the Veil Nebula complex which is my favourite Summer object although 60mm is not really adequate to do more than glimpse it.

[swamp thing]

Sounds like you've made two great discoveries to me. First, the beauty that is the Orion Nebula, and second, the simplicity and ease of use of Mr Dobsons mount.

Both of these can give a lifetime of pleasure to any amateur astronomer.

Enjoy

[Knight of Clear Skies]

That first view of the Orion nebula is always special.

[Nathan_Pembs]

Orion Nebula was the first for me too, mind you at 15 I didn't know of any others lol Also with a 60mm Tasco refractor John, from Argos I believe.

Had some time away from the hobby, now 33 and picked it up again, seen so so much more!

[Draco61]

From the responses so far, looks like i've found a good way to keep the questioning child in me alive & stay young (at heart). 

So glad i found SGL as well.

[Charic]

Hi all.

..........That's when it happened. First a grey smudge & then it came into focus.......WOW!

It took me back to junior school watching the Moon landing all over again.

I am now 100% hooked on Dobs. They're so easy to set up & use, why i went for the compact computerised MAK in the first place, i don't know.

With just an 8" Dob with a Revelation Super View 30mm 2" eyepiece in a Revelation ED 2x Barlow Lens i've found excitement & wonder in the Night sky again.

For someone living in the middle of light polluted Brighton, that's no mean feat.....................

I am now 100% hooked on Dobs. They're so easy to set up & use.........exactly      (Just incase someone misses that comment? Lol)