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My first 'M'

Dazzyt66

By Dazzyt66
in Getting Started With Observing

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Dazzyt66

Dazzyt66

Posted
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Ok so maybe I had noticed this bright group of stars with my naked eye before but never realised what it was. Well I do now - M45 (the Pleiades).

Superb clear skies at 3.30am this morning, went out seeking good views of Jupiter, Mars and Venus as they came up.

As I was admiring how great Orion was looking I noticed M45 so had a look. Absolutely stunning just through my 30x50 Finder. Too small FOV from my 20mm to do them justice (25 or 32mm is next on list). I was truly mesmerised.

I then remembered what I'd got out of bed for and spent a couple of hours watching my fav planets before the clouds got the better of me.

Anyway, now I have my first M under my belt officially I'm now gonna start hunting down the other easy ones.

I still can't believe I waited this long to get a scope... [emoji3]

Clear skies!

Dazzyt

Skywatcher 150P

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MarsG76

MarsG76

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I can relate since I looked up outside just before 3am and saw a clear sky. I wouldn't forgive my self if I didn't get my Olympus 10x50 binos and observed a few objects with them on a tripod, tripod makes a world of difference.

One thing that no photo will ever show is the slight twinkling of the stars as you're observing either the Pleiades or the Orion's Sword... That's is something that has to be seen live to be appreciated.

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Dazzyt66

Dazzyt66

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Well done Daz. M45 is a lovely one though it needs a widefield to really do it justice.

Did you pick up M42 in Orion? It's a cracker [emoji3]

Never even crossed my mind. Hmmm maybe I should plan a bit more before I go out... Lol

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rockystar

rockystar

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Nice one. I'm still waiting for my low powered EP to really appreciate this - at the moment I tend to find myself spending more time at the finder scope than the eyepiece for M45.

I got a new one last night too, one of either M36,M37 or M38 in Auriga, but I couldn't tell you which one; tried looking for the other 2, but I'm convinced I only managed to get back to the same one again.

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Piero

Piero

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Congratulations! One of the best!  :) 

Worth trying M42 and M31 too! They are spectacular under reasonably dark skies! :)

Another nice target, although not in the Messier catalogue, is the Alpha Persei Moving cluster.

If you search for Mirphak (or Mirfak), which is the alpha star in the Perseus constellation, on the Internet or a star atlas (also stellarium), you will see it.

It is very easy to find too. :)  

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barkis

barkis

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You will have been impressed by the sight of the Pleiades Dazzy.

Such a beautiful sight in a Richest Field scope, or any other for that matter.

M45 is bright, and naked eye, but transformed in an eyepiece.

The other open cluster close by, is the Hyades.

M1 The Crab Nebula is well worth seeking out in Taurus.

Many guys have completed the Messier Marathon, viewing, and logging them all,

but it takes time to do it, and patience too, but all good observers have 

lot's of patience  :grin:.

Please keep us posted on your progress, it is a task well worth doing. 

Ron.

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Size9Hex

Size9Hex

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Superb. You're in for a treat in that case. There's so much good stuff up there to see! Others have pointed out some good targets, so I won't repeat them. Don't limit yourself to what you think will be the easy ones though. There's nowt to lose trying to see something that you think might be beyond you or your skies or your kit, and with a bit of perseverance it's often surprising and amazing what you can see.

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Dazzyt66

Dazzyt66

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Many guys have completed the Messier Marathon...Please keep us posted on your progress, it is a task well worth doing.

Ron.

Don't limit yourself to what you think will be the easy ones though. There's nowt to lose trying to see something that you think might be beyond you or your skies or your kit, and with a bit of perseverance it's often surprising and amazing what you can see.

The marathon I've already looked up, may take me a while but I'm hooked. You may regret the updates lol

Never one to limit myself so I guess I'm already in front [emoji6]

Thanks for the encouragement, it really does make a newbie want to do more![emoji106]

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Dave In Vermont

Dave In Vermont

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As my Happy First Messier Day! gift, allow me to present you with some free software to help you in your aquisition of the next 109 Messier objects. This first link is to Tumol - the ultimate Messier Object list:

http://www.davidpaulgreen.com/tumol.html

And the next link is to other freeware astro-software by the same writer, David Paul Green:

http://www.davidpaulgreen.com/software.html

His Caldwell List is also great fun to explore with.

May you bag 'em all,

Dave

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Dazzyt66

Dazzyt66

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As my Happy First Messier Day! gift, allow me to present you with some free software to help you in your aquisition of the next 109 Messier objects...This first link is to Tumol - the ultimate Messier Object list:...

May you bag 'em all,

Dave

Dave,

Simply, you are a gentleman!! I will do my best! Thanks [emoji3]

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Knighty2112

Knighty2112

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I think most of us started off by seeing the Pleiades first off, either by naked eye, binos or scope. Beautiful cluster to start with. M42 and M31 should be two quite easy targets to bag soon after too. Just got back in after the clouds rolled in after a session viewing M42 tonight. Was testing out some of my coloured filters, and found the yellow one brought out some finer detail than either the nebula filter, or the light pollution filter also. Need to test that out on some other M's too.

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Dazzyt66

Dazzyt66

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I'm off and running... Well when the clouds finally gave me a break. Easily found M42 last night - only had 30 mins around 1am of clear breaks in cloud and then wind picked up and snow started later!! Methinks the Messier 100 may take a while at this rate! [emoji3]

The view of M42 was spectacular, if brief and it's good to know that I can now find these things in the sky - I think I may have to invest in a Telrad at some point though!

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