I think I've just seen my first DSO! Can someone confirm?

[SpoonyPizzas]

Good morning (1am) gents,

Can someone confirm if I've just seen my first DSO - the M42.

It had 4 stars close together with a grey smeer/smudge surrounding it - could be cloud? lol.  The moon is bright and there are street lamps nearby... 

Using a 12" Dob with 14mm and then a 6.7mm - looked amazing, even though it was just a smeer (no filters etc - don't have those yet! )

The longer I looked at it, the bigger the smeer became... sadly, work tomorrow and had to pack up.... *gutted* - the first real decent night too!... apart from the moon overhead.

[Dave In Vermont]

I imagine you have, indeed, found M42 - in Orion. A great favorite of many observers! The four stars, arranged in a loose rectangle, are called the Trapezium. It's star-nursery where new stars are created by gravitational accretion. At least that's a going theory.

So congratulations! Enjoy your first DSO-find. One many of us return to again and again. I enclose a recent image from around the place.....

Clear Skies,

Dave

[Charic]

Hi there, welcome to SgL. Do you have/use Stellarium? This is a freeware program that is truly excellent, once you have tweaked it to your liking. This will help and guide you to what's up there, also confirming what you may have seen. Just read the wiki guides for setup.

[Pete Presland]

you will have probably seen your 1st and 2nd DSO's M42 & M43 next to it, congratulations to you!

[ronin]

Is describing M42 as:

It had 4 stars close together with a grey smeer/smudge surrounding it - could be cloud?

allowed ?

:grin: :grin:

[AndyWB]

It had 4 stars close together with a grey smeer/smudge surrounding it - could be cloud? lol.  The moon is bright and there are street lamps nearby... 

Using a 12" Dob with 14mm and then a 6.7mm - looked amazing, even though it was just a smeer (no filters etc - don't have those yet! )

In fact, with a 12" scope, you should be able to resolve at least 6 stars in the trapezium - though E and F are harder to spot due to their proximity to the brighter A and C stars. http://www.samirkharusi.net/trapezium.html  Moonshane gave me a tip on here to try a little less magnification, and at x150 they popped out in my 10" (I'd been trying x240).

And a smeer sounds right under moon/light pollution. Try again from somewhere dark on a moonless night - you won't believe the difference! I was disappointed with M42 at first, but it was due to local conditions; to me, open clusters seemed far better that night. I tried again somewhere darker, and it was totally the other way round.

[Velvet]

yup congratulations, things will never be the same  And your pockets will always be empty

Velvet

[SpoonyPizzas]

Haha thanks all for the responses

I notice the colour of the image - yes that's definitely what I've seen - is that due to a camera or filter or darkness?

I assume there is no colour when viewing DSO's with the naked eye?

[SpoonyPizzas]

Amazing image might I add!

[JED-E3]

The moon washes out most DSOs, when it's properly dark M42 should pretty much fill the field of view of your 14mm eyepiece and i find it has a distinctly persian green colour in a big scope but some people claim not to see any colour.

James.

[Dave In Vermont]

Most DSO's will appear as greyish, but M42 is a rarity in showing colour to many people's eyes. The human eye doesn't store and add brightness & colour the longer you look at something - once your eyes are dark-adapted that is - however film and digital pixels will continue adding more and more. This is why the pictures you see in photos in magazines, etc, have all these gorgeous colours. And the reason many people feel disappointed when they buy a telescope on a whim and expect to see a Hubble-type view.

Clear Skies & Keep Looking,

Dave

[faulksy]

Haha thanks all for the responses

I notice the colour of the image - yes that's definitely what I've seen - is that due to a camera or filter or darkness?

I assume there is no colour when viewing DSO's with the naked eye?

depending on your eye condition/age you should see slight green most dso,s are monochrome but there is some objects that you will see colour, mainly planatery nebula

[SpoonyPizzas]

Excellent responses all - thanks.

Through time in-lieu I have most of December to go hunting for DSOs in nice dark skies (providing they're clear!) - not quite South Africa... that place blew me away for how much I could see there at night! (Gansbaai - Great White cage diving)