109 to go.

[FrenchyArnaud]

Some of you may have gathered I now have two telescopes, a Celestron 114 and a unidentified 150mm on german eq. And I have never ever used that. I have been a stargazer for less than a week...

Because of two discussions here  and here  I took the 150 in the field - quite a treck with that HEAVY thing to carry... 

It took me over an hour of raging frustration to figure out how to polar align the gizmo and to point elsewhere - not really intuitive if you ask me... But Saturn, the moon, check, tracking on one axis only : check, great... let's try M31. Andromeda and the whirlpool, as most beginners I assume, is what I really want.

So, Cassiopea is here, stellarium on the phone, ok, second star as a landmark, pointed, aligned, in the EP ; more or less 5° south, 1/5 of hour right... let's do that. keep in mind, I am discovering the mount, unable to aim and handle the knobs, and definitely not at the same time. Not really quite sure what knob does what. So with the torch between the teeth, I dial straight on the mount, moving the things to align the dials to where I calculated I should begin scanning. Not even aiming with the finderscope.

Happy with my settings, I have a look in the EP : Andromeda is right here, perfectly recongnisable despite the almost full moon  and the city-illuminated sky in the distance behind the tree lign, bang in the middle - not a bit on the side, BANG in the middle of my 25mm.  And I kept it there for 20 mn thanks to the equatorial mount that I was ready to scrap an hour earlier.

Beginner's luck in all it's magnificience. 

I am going to sleep now, exhausted but happy. Tonight, after 30 years saying "one day I'll do that", at 22.30, I saw my first Galaxy, my first Messier.

109 to go.

[Knighty2112]

Well done. Always great when you see your first Galaxy. M31 is the one mostly seen first by most people, and looks great even when the moon gets in the way too. Hope you snag a few more M's soon!  

[Uplooker]

Excellent report and well done on persevering. It does become easier, then you just encounter differing problems. Keep up the good work and bag a few more Messiers 

[Riemann]

EQ mounts are a little confusing at first but become second nature after a few goes.   Getting it working properly on your first night out is a really good result.   You may find it useful to practice during the daylight (even indoors) the setup, pointing and tracking procedures, or you may already be beyond that point

Very impressive what you managed to see first time out.   M31 is indeed a fine sight. 

 

 

[FrenchyArnaud]

48 minutes ago, Riemann said:

Very impressive what you managed to see first time out.   M31 is indeed a fine sight. 

As I said, more luck than judgement ! But the satisfaction of browsing your way out of the charts (well, actually, out of Stellarium) is really something. 

I am still a bit confused with the handling of the mount - I encountered several positions where the cogs and knobs and screws knocked into each other, stopping the range of movement and creating jigsaw-puzzle situations. It's of course not meant to happen so there is probably something I do wrong, but hey, practise makes perfect

1 hour ago, Knighty2112 said:

 M31 is the one mostly seen first by most people, and looks great even when the moon gets in the way too

It was indeed a stunning sight even for my untrained eyes. I guess it's the most seen because 1) it's one of the most well-known (household name) 2) it's pretty easy to find (compared to others I mean)

 

1 hour ago, Uplooker said:

well done on persevering. It does become easier

I surely hope so because at one point I really was inches away to turning the damn thing into a umbrella stand...