My first D.S.O viewing

[Fluk3skywalker]

After struggling to view some dso's since my purchase of a skywatcher skyliner 200p, I finally said to myself tonight is the night! After some online guides,and being patient, I left my O.T A to cool down considerably, I got my eyes adjusted, and starhopped my way around then BAM! I almost woke my neighbours! My first D.S.O the andromeda galaxy, M31 and M32. My excitement then led me to M71 globular cluster, M57 ring nebula and M56! What a night! My patience had payed off! I went to bed with butterflies in my stomach. Being able to catch a slight glimpse of these wonders of the universe was a humbling moment.

[laudropb]

Congratulations on your success and your obvious enthusiasm. Just think of all the other wonders which await you.

[Paul73]

Congratulations.

DSO are like busses. Wait ages, then 3 come along at once!

Sounds like a cracking night with some great targets.

Paul

[xtreemchaos]

great stuff mate,you have done well. thanks for posting   charl

[Fluk3skywalker]

Thankyou! Absolutely. Looking forward to another good night.

[Jimtom]

Congratulations, sounds like a grand night! You're well and truly hooked now, keep watching the skies! :-)

[Tzitzis]

Dude... Awesome feeling... I have felt it too observing with binos... When I saw the Andromeda only one thought in my mind; How beautiful... I felt so small...

Keep rolling mate, find lots and lots of DSO's. 

[hgjevans]

Brilliant! I think we all remember the wide-eyed excitement of seeing our first DSOs. And well done on spotting M71 and M56 so early on - it took me a while to recognize them when I was looking for them. You must grab a look at M13 while it's still available in the evening sky. If you liked those other two - both about mag 8.3 - the mag 5.9 Hercules cluster will knock you right off your feet. Good hunting.

[Moonshane]

Even when you've been observing for a while you need to get your 'eye in' at the start of a session. Once you see what DSOs are like in the eyepiece a few times you'll be spotting them more often. A good pair of finders and a star map help, although being out of the lights or even better somewhere dark will be even more important.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Excellent work. You will find star hopping getting easier and easier as you reconnoitre the skies. When I started out I also had trouble finding stuff. I then identified the trapezium of Hercules, and found M13 with bins. With that first DSO bagged, I then found M92 quite quickly, then M81 and M82, and so on and so on. The DSO count is currently 908, and none found with go-to

[John]

Thats a great result - well done !

You don't actually need to allow your scope to cool for a long time for deep sky observing - you can get on with low power stuff quite soon after it's put out. It's when you want to use high power on the planets, the Moon etc that the scope needs to be properly cooled down.

I agree with you that actually seeing these objects with your own eyes after reading about them is a great thrill

[Fluk3skywalker]

Thanks for the advice guys! I have indeed got the bug!

[mdstuart]

Try a few globulars...maybe M3 M5...you will not regret it.

[Fluk3skywalker]

Thanks. Looks like its going to be clear again tonight! Will have a look.

[Dave In Vermont]

And to think - no matter how many of these fantastic denizens of space & time you bag, you've only just spotted the proverbial tip-of-the-iceberg. And thank goodness there will be more than anyone can even remotely hope to see in their own lifetime!

Welcome to the fold,

Dave