Help with viewing

[Wolflady]

Hello,

I bought my husband the Celestron PS1000 for Christmas and tonight he is trying it out. The moon isn't about for a point of reference but we can clearly see Venus and Mars with our naked eyes. Problem is we can see them better just by looking than we can through the telescope! Any ideas on what we're doing wrong? Thank you, Paula.

[D4N]

Assuming you have it well focused Venus you will only see the phases and Mars is to far away to see any detail at the moment unless you have a really big scope.

 

I would suggest pointing the scope at the sword below Orion's Belt as you will get a great view of the Orion Nebula then.

 

[Wolflady]

Brilliant thank you we'll do just that now. Learning as we go along really but got excited wanting to see something amazing. Thanks again!

[Davey-T]

You need to get the little finder scope aligned with the main scope to be able to find things, you can use Aldebaran ATM.

Have you got some sort of planetarium software on laptop or phone ? Stellarium is good http://stellarium.org/

This is a fairly long focal length scope so good for the Moon, Planets and star clusters.

Dave

[laudropb]

Also have a look at the Pleiades star cluster with your lowest power eye piece. That will certainly take your breath away.

[Wolflady]

Thank you Dave, just downloaded the app ☺ Managed to align ok. Thanks for point of reference too that has helped. Looking forward to learning so much more now! ??

[Wolflady]

Thank you Laudropb we're looking for it now ☺✨

[johnfosteruk]

How did you go Wolflady?

I was out looking at Venus earlier this evening too and being about 50 something % illuminated it's approx a half disk. I was well focused and atmospheric conditions (seeing) were good so I also saw some slight variations in the shade of grey which is about all you'll see of Venus with the thick atmosphere and all.

We're all looking forward to reading your first observing report

 

[Dave Lloyd]

12 hours ago, johnfosteruk said:

How did you go Wolflady?

I was out looking at Venus earlier this evening too and being about 50 something % illuminated it's approx a half disk. I was well focused and atmospheric conditions (seeing) were good so I also saw some slight variations in the shade of grey which is about all you'll see of Venus with the thick atmosphere and all.

We're all looking forward to reading your first observing report

 

I had a look at Venus too. It really needs filtering though

[cjdawson]

16 hours ago, Wolflady said:

Brilliant thank you we'll do just that now. Learning as we go along really but got excited wanting to see something amazing. Thanks again!

Something wonderful to look at... try this.

tonight look to the south, about 40 degrees up you'll see three stars in a row (the belt of Orion).  Below you will see two bright stars (one of them is called Rigel, the other Saiph).  Between this bright stars you should see three dim "stars" in a vertical line (ish). These will be a bit dimmer, when you look you'll have trouble focusing your eyes on them.   Now get you telescope and point it at the middle of those three stars.   You'll know when you hit the target that I've described, I can guarantee that you will love that one.   Enjoy your evening.

[Wolflady]

14 hours ago, johnfosteruk said:

How did you go Wolflady?

I was out looking at Venus earlier this evening too and being about 50 something % illuminated it's approx a half disk. I was well focused and atmospheric conditions (seeing) were good so I also saw some slight variations in the shade of grey which is about all you'll see of Venus with the thick atmosphere and all.

We're all looking forward to reading your first observing report

 

Hiya, the weather turned a bit sour in the end so we couldn't get a good viewing but we are planning to go up onto Pendle Hill some time this week and read through this thread again to take all the wonderful tips you have all kindly offered and put them to good use ☺??

[Wolflady]

43 minutes ago, cjdawson said:

Something wonderful to look at... try this.

tonight look to the south, about 40 degrees up you'll see three stars in a row (the belt of Orion).  Below you will see two bright stars (one of them is called Rigel, the other Saiph).  Between this bright stars you should see three dim "stars" in a vertical line (ish). These will be a bit dimmer, when you look you'll have trouble focusing your eyes on them.   Now get you telescope and point it at the middle of those three stars.   You'll know when you hit the target that I've described, I can guarantee that you will love that one.   Enjoy your evening.

How exciting thank you! Def going to give that a go! ??

[JOC]

Wolflady I am really new to this, but found that Orion target easily - it is well worth a look.  So is the Pleiades cluster as recommended above.  They are not difficult to find - esp. if you ask Stellarium where they are.  I have had just  two good observing sessions and could already easily re-visit them.

Edited December 28, 2016 by JOC
Primary school spelling error

[cjdawson]

11 minutes ago, JOC said:

Wolflady I am really knew to this, but found that Orion target easily - it is well worth a look.  So is the Pleiades cluster as recommended above.  They are not difficult to find - esp. if you ask Stellarium where they are.  I have had just  two good observing sessions and could already easily re-visit them.

Hehe.   Now you are hooked.  

welcome to SGL and the wonderful night sky.

[DavidSosa]

On 27/12/2016 at 11:22, cjdawson said:

Something wonderful to look at... try this.

tonight look to the south, about 40 degrees up you'll see three stars in a row (the belt of Orion).  Below you will see two bright stars (one of them is called Rigel, the other Saiph).  Between this bright stars you should see three dim "stars" in a vertical line (ish). These will be a bit dimmer, when you look you'll have trouble focusing your eyes on them.   Now get you telescope and point it at the middle of those three stars.   You'll know when you hit the target that I've described, I can guarantee that you will love that one.   Enjoy your evening.

Hi I just looked at this as I have the new celestron ps1000 too. And Iam a new on astronomy.  It was perfect from 20mm to 12mm , I couldn't see it with the smaller eyepice then cloud spoiled the fun.

It's that a galaxy??

Thank you for the advice on the forum 

Edited December 30, 2019 by DavidSosa

[bingevader]

It's a nebula.

[cjdawson]

It’s the great Orion Nebula.   Glad you liked it.