Jump to content

SkySurveyBanner.jpg.21855908fce40597655603b6c9af720d.jpg

The moon, for the first time

Rusty-Gunn

By Rusty-Gunn
in Getting Started With Observing

Recommended Posts

Rusty-Gunn

Rusty-Gunn

Posted
Posted

Hi. My daughter and I collimated our new Orion Skyline 8"Dobson the other day. It took about ten minutes. Why I worried about collimating amazed me. It was indeed easy.

We've been tossing snow from the sky and along the ground the past week. Well, we got impatient and decided to try out our telescope, of which we now call Wallace and Gromitt ('scope and base... Gromitt is the 'scope). I figure most out to figure this one out.

Due to it snowing out tonight we chose to view through our livingroom window, and see the moon.

Amazing! Simply amazing. We enjoyed seeing the craters with the 25mm 2" EP. After and minutes we got the wifey to look. She too was amazed.

We next inserted the 7mm 1.25" EP. Meryl couldn't stop smiling. The wife looked next. Then our oldest daughter Pferris took a look. All were impressed. (I'm glad the wife was impressed, knowing the cost of the kit).

Out of curiousity, to see if it would work, we took a picture with my phone. Not bad for a.first time. This stuff's fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 39
  • Created
  • Last Reply
ghostdance

ghostdance

Posted
Posted

Lovely first outing. You're going to enjoy the coming weeks and months with your scope! So many delightful and awe inspiring views to come as you begin to learn the constellations and their treasures, let alone the planets & galaxies that will hove into your eyepieces :)

I remember my sister in law was so pleased and happy to see such detail on the Moon on her first look through my 6"...made her night I think! She described it as like standing on another planet :) I agree, it really is fun - showing and seeing so much that we take for granted - and then the sense of our place in the cosmos kicks in, and the privilege we have to be able to observe across light years....jaw-drop time! Really is an inspiring, stimulating and humbling activity, stargazing :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pondus

Pondus

Posted
Posted

Great report.

+1 for virtual moon atlas

Got the sameish scope as you (the 'intelligent' one of the Orion XT8 brothers  :grin: ) and I`m happy with it.

Hurry up and catch a glimpse of Saturn before its below your horizon.

Like me, you live far up north, not the most favorable place to be, regarding planet observations the next few years.

Rune

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rusty-Gunn

Rusty-Gunn

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thank you all. We did have partial clear skys for a while tonight and viewed the moon. Again, it was too cold to go outside, so we viewed through the window. Obviously not the best but doable.

My daughter noticed a bright star and wanted to look at it (there were very few stars out). Easy with the 25mm but tough to find with the 7mm, not to mention the 2x barlow. Besides, the finder scope is a bit off yet. We need to get it right.

Tonight wasn't as exciting as yesterday due to not finding the bright star with the higher mag eye pieces but enjoyable none the less. Tomorrow is another chance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JR1987

JR1987

Posted
Posted

You might be pleasantly surprised viewing an overly bright 'star' this month.

Jupiter has been beaming brightly all month due to it falling into opposition this month.

Take a quick trip outside into the garden, you should spot a very obviously bright star that catches your eye quicker than the rest, and often cuts through cloud too. That is more than likely going to be Jupiter, take a look through your scope and once you see those red cloud bands, you'll never forget it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rusty-Gunn

Rusty-Gunn

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Besides the 2 EP that came wuth the 'scope I bought a 7mm and 2x barlow lenses by Celestron, their X-Cel LX models. I may add a few but not for a while. Lets just say if I'm going to view the universe I don't want to miss out.

We keep an I on the weather more so now than ever before. Snow and ugly cold is haunting us right now. Hopefully it will all clear up soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rusty-Gunn

Rusty-Gunn

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I took an hour tonight to view the moon. Looked nice with the 2" 25mm EP. In an effort to try all the eye pieces, including the eye piece extension, I went from one to another being careful to put each back into their propper packages.

When I got to the 10mm plossl and 7mm X-Cel I became frustrated. I could not get either in focus. Both bottomed out before focus was clear.

I decided it was because my eyes are bad, with surgury pending in April. When I put the kit away I discovered I had been using the eye piece extension the whole dang time! No wonder it bottomed out before focus could be had. Grrr!

Anyhoo, I'll give it another effort tomorrow. Live and learn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Charic

Charic

Posted
Posted

Set up your finder scope during the day. Focus on something on your horizon, then lock the telescope in position. Next focus and align the finder scope onto that same target, making sure that whatever your looking at is central in both eyepiece and viewfinder. For accuracy, start with a longer focal length eyepiece, working to the shortest focal length. Once you achieve this, your telescope is good to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Rusty-Gunn

Rusty-Gunn

Posted
  • Author
Posted

My oldest daughter and I saw a lonely bright star about where we've seen a few times before. So out came Wallace and Grommit. She was able to find the star using the 25mm 2"EP. We switched out to the 1.25" 7mm but she was not able to find the star. This is her second time viewing. Anyhoo, each time I get a go to look I can't find comfort with the eye piece angle.

I was born with a spine disease, leaving my head immobile. I can not turn my head go look directly into the eye piece. This scope is proving to be a poor choice for me. My daugjter's just became new owners to my scope. No problem, their worth it.

Now, I'm thinking to buy, eventually, the Orion 127 Mac-Cas scope. It has an angled eye piece at the end of it's tube, not along it's side. I figure I may be able to look through it comfortably. I'm just not sure.which.tri-pod to buy yet. More research.

"Scoping" is far too much fun to give up on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Vox45

Vox45

Posted
Posted

Reading your first account put a smile on my face :)

I too showed the moon to my 5 yrs old daughter and my wife and we were all amazed by the beauty of it and for a moment it puts everything in perspective. World leader should all be offered a scope and forced to look at the moon before making any decision about war and peace. They should also have a cat sleeping on their laps while they make decision at the UN.

I do not know if it has already been mentionned but I got stellarium (a free software) and I have a blast with my daughter looking at all the messier's object. Good for cloudy nights and a fun way to learn the sky ! Beautiful software, totally user friendly, my 5 daugther uses it and she is 5 ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rusty-Gunn

Rusty-Gunn

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Otay, so Pferris and I took a look at "that star" again tonight. 25mm EP view shows a bright star. This I was able to see for a short while.

Next came the 7mm X-Cel EP and Pferris was able to determine that this "star" became a bright disc. Jupiter maybe?

We tried to use the 2x barlow but couldn't find it, so we went back to the 7mm and looked at it again, ssying it looks like a disc but this time with "lines" but sort of.like tic-tac-toe style.

We hope to revisit what I believe is Jupiter tomorrow.

By the way, due to ugly cold yet we viewed through our window.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
yarn

yarn

Posted
Posted

Hi. My daughter and I collimated our new Orion Skyline 8"Dobson the other day. It took about ten minutes. Why I worried about collimating amazed me. It was indeed easy.

We've been tossing snow from the sky and along the ground the past week. Well, we got impatient and decided to try out our telescope, of which we now call Wallace and Gromitt ('scope and base... Gromitt is the 'scope). I figure most out to figure this one out.

Due to it snowing out tonight we chose to view through our livingroom window, and see the moon.

Amazing! Simply amazing. We enjoyed seeing the craters with the 25mm 2" EP. After and minutes we got the wifey to look. She too was amazed.

We next inserted the 7mm 1.25" EP. Meryl couldn't stop smiling. The wife looked next. Then our oldest daughter Pferris took a look. All were impressed. (I'm glad the wife was impressed, knowing the cost of the kit).

Out of curiousity, to see if it would work, we took a picture with my phone. Not bad for a.first time. This stuff's fun.

I have just started sky gazing and the moon is definately my favourite, at the moment. Thanks for this thread and I enjoyed your story of the awe and wonder spreading throughout your family.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Astro Imp

Astro Imp

Posted
Posted

I was out looking at the moon early last night when my young neighbours came home, boy aged 7 and girl aged 8. I showed them the moon, the boy first who thought it was awesome then the young girl who thought it pretty cool. We then went up to Jupiter and I explained what the four bright stars around the planet were. All told we spent an hour or so and I enjoyed sharing with the youngsters just as much viewing by myself later in the evening.

The young lad is already onto dad for a scope, might have a regular observing buddy there :grin: .

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bingevader

bingevader

Posted
Posted

Rusty-Gunn, do you mean you can't twist your head to see through the finderscope, or the eyepiece?

With a seat or stool I can position my self to look directly down the eyepiece.

If it's the finderscope, then you can replace it with a right angle finder scope, as I have done, which can be tilted towards you, so you can, again, just look straight into it.

Failing that, there are other finder scopes, such as the rigel or telrad, that don't require you to look into an eyepiece at all.

Ps. tried the 7mm and 2x barlow on the moon yet! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rusty-Gunn

Rusty-Gunn

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Bingevader... My entire spine is fused as one bone. My head (neck) can't move, but with a slight downward slant. If I go on my knees I can look into the eye piece, but this depends on the height of the eye piece ie angle of scope. I don't have a chair suitable for my situation yet.

I will continue to use this scope to the best of my ability, as viewing the heavens is simply awesome. I hope to purchase a 127 Mak-Cass someday because its eye piece is at the end. I figure I may have easier time gettingbmy eye aligned up with the eye piece. It's a cool telescope, ought to do well with the planets

Yes, we have used the 7mm on the moon during one episode. The Barlow remains lonely, unused. We'll get to it soon enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.