I"m growing increasingly bored....:(

[LukeSkywatcher]

A 3x barlow for an 80mm scope is most likely pushing the scopes magnification above what it is happy with. A 2x barlow should be fine.

[Knighty2112]

Put your diagonal in the scope first, followed by your Barlow, then your EP and try to focus this way, rather than having the Barlow in first etc.

[LukeSkywatcher]

5 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

Put your diagonal in the scope first, followed by your Barlow, then your EP and try to focus this way, rather than having the Barlow in first etc.

Well spotted. I missed that.

scope>diagonal>barlow>eyepiece

Still may be too much magnification.

[Rudeviewer]

I live about 3 hours northeast of Denver, and find the views to be completely different when you are not in light polluted skies.  Enough that i see something new every time.  Granted i am into AP and not observing, it still requires me to keep looking up and being intrigued by what i see.  

[Anne S]

On 17/01/2017 at 00:08, Gary170782 said:

Hi Jon

 

I think we can all get like that at times, I'm very new to field also, I got my new scope before Christmas just gone and  althou I'm not bored I'm very frustrated about not being able to see things but my problem is Manchester weather, I think I've had 2 good nights where the sky is clear since I bought mine. I'm in a very polluted area so will definitely have to look into finding a dark site somewhere hopefully nearby. 

 

Good luck and keep at it. ?

 

Gary

We don't get as many clear nights on this side of the country. In fact if there's any possibility of cloud anywhere in the country, the BBC stick it on West Wales!

Anne

[Knighty2112]

1 hour ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Well spotted. I missed that.

scope>diagonal>barlow>eyepiece

Still may be too much magnification.

Yes, a 3x Barlow might be too much for the scope to give good views,  but the OP should be able to achieve focus still even if it pushes the magnification past what the scope or seeing can handle. Dependant also on which size EP the OP uses. A 25mm EP used with the 3x Barlow should be OK still, but a 5mm EP might prove unsatisfactory with the same Barlow.  

[LukeSkywatcher]

I find my scopes work best at 1-1.5x aperture, so 80mm (in this case) would work well at anything between 80-120. A 200mm scope would work well upto about 300x etc. Local conditions dictate much though.

[Alan64]

20 hours ago, Jon the Newb said:

Hi Alan64,

 Maybe you can help me out with something else as well. I received my diagonal yesterday and I love how clear it is. So last night I did put my Barlow Lynn's directly into the focus or, followed by the  diagonal, followed by the IP's. The problem I had was everything was so large I couldn't focus on anything. Now I do only have a 3X Barlow, could that be the reason? Or am I doing something wrong? 

 Basically every star was just a gigantic circle and I couldn't even come close to getting it into focus.  Do I just need a 2X Barlow?

My apologies, Jon, as I neglected to note that your kit came with a 3x barlow.  You can certainly use that one, but with one caveat...

Your barlow was at an effective 4.5x, with the barlow into the focusser first, then the diagonal, and then the eyepiece.  A 4.5x is  probably going to be a bit much for that telescope, depending on the eyepiece used.  If you used the 25mm in that configuration...

400mm ÷ (25mm ÷ 4.5x = 5.5mm) = 72x; seems reasonable.

If you used the 10mm, which is what I suspect that you used in fact, then...

400mm ÷ (10mm ÷ 4.5x = 2.2mm) = 181x, which is bit much for an 80mm refractor, per the 50x-per-inch standard; but not impossible.  

The only way that you can use the supplied 3x barlow is by placing the diagonal into the focusser first, then the barlow into the diagonal, and then the eyepiece into the barlow. 

A 2x barlow can serve as a 2x and possibly a 3x, hence the six magnifications that may be had from the 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, and as previously described.  But the 3x cannot serve as a 4.5x, as you don't have enough focusser travel, inwardly I'm thinking, to reach focus at that multiplier(4.5x) with the 10mm.  You may be able to with the 25mm, but apparently not with the 10mm, if in fact you used the 10mm at the time.

In any event, let us know which eyepiece you used in that exercise.

[michaelmorris]

If you have light polluted skies and a relatively small aperture scope, then Double stars and Open Clusters are ideal observing targets for these circumstances.

[kirkster501]

...also comes down to whether or not you have an innate fascination for the subject.  I, and many others on here have had this all our lives. I recall being fascinated by The Plough or the "question mark" as I used to know it by when I was with my friends as a 6 year old - 44 years ago now.  It maybe that you just don't have that deep feel for it possibly?  I'm like that with guitar.  My mate practices as soon as he gets home.  I get fed up of it and don't touch it again for a few weeks.

Maybe you should live in the UK You'd then get weeks between star gazing sessions because of the weather and you'd rediscover your passion for it!

[LukeSkywatcher]

5 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

...also comes down to whether or not you have an innate fascination for the subject.  I, and many others on here have had this all our lives. I recall being fascinated by The Plough or the "question mark" as I used to know it by when I was with my friends as a 6 year old - 44 years ago now.  It maybe that you just don't have that deep feel for it possibly?  I'm like that with guitar.  My mate practices as soon as he gets home.  I get fed up of it and don't touch it again for a few weeks.

Maybe you should live in the UK You'd then get weeks between star gazing sessions because of the weather and you'd rediscover your passion for it!

I guess it does also come down to what you are "into". I rarely (if ever) look at individual stars,double stars,variable stars etc. I'm just not into them. I'm not so much even into the planets,although i do have a look at them nearly every observing session (if they are visible). Galaxies can be great, but a lot depends on observing them from dark skies (i have access just a 5 min walk from my house to very dark skies, (but rarely venture out of the back garden). I suppose my main targets while observing are nebulae. Not that i limit myself to them. I do have a look at pretty much anything that i can find/see. Clusters (open or globular) are also great targets. Then of course, there is the Moon. For too many yrs i took the Moon for granted: "It's just there". Its only when you start paying more attention to it that you realise just how stunningly amazing it is as a target. 

Last, but by no means least........the Sun. Ive been observing the Sun in white light for a year or two with the aide of a Hershel wedge and safety filters. Its a lovely break from the "Norm" to get outside on a nice day and have a look at the Sun. If there are any Sun spots, all the better. Its just a different aspect of astronomy and you can always have a BBQ/few beers etc while doing solar observing (weather permitting). You also get to see planetary transits of the Sun every now and then.

 

[Astro Imp]

14 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

For too many yrs i took the Moon for granted: "It's just there". Its only when you start paying more attention to it that you realise just how stunningly amazing it is as a target. 

+1 

Starting the Lunar 100 really jump started my lunar adventures.

[kirkster501]

I'd suggest starting with the Messier objects and then move on to the Caldwells and the Herschel objects.

If I am honest, for visual astronomy I hate goto.  I find it boring.  Half the fun is finding the object and star hopping to it.  You learn so much. That's why a good manual Dob is great for visual - IMO of course.

[Jon the Newb]

6 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

I'd suggest starting with the Messier objects and then move on to the Caldwells and the Herschel objects.

If I am honest, for visual astronomy I hate goto.  I find it boring.  Half the fun is finding the object and star hopping to it.  You learn so much. That's why a good manual Dob is great for visual - IMO of course.

I appreciate that advice.  I've been looking  at the Dobs. They're nice! 

On a positive not, for the first time in my life, I saw Saturn and it's rings this morning around 5:45 am.   My world changed when that's happened. It was almost too much to believe when I was seeing it.  There aren't any words to describe how surreal that was.  

[MBSteve]

I'd rate pre-planning pretty high on the list.

I also fell into the "same old objects" trap, so I specifically started doing prep work before I went out. Basically I do some research on Stellarium and Turn Left at Orion on objects I have not seen yet. Don't try and do too many "new" objects in a night. Instead warm up to the usual same old ones and once your scope is cooled down and your eyes are dark adjusted, focus on finding the new ones.

I am particularly focusing on globulars right now and it is incredible just how many there are in the night sky.

 

 

[ghostdance]

36 minutes ago, Jon the Newb said:

I appreciate that advice.  I've been looking  at the Dobs. They're nice! 

On a positive not, for the first time in my life, I saw Saturn and it's rings this morning around 5:45 am.   My world changed when that's happened. It was almost too much to believe when I was seeing it.  There aren't any words to describe how surreal that was.  

Ah, the hook is beginning to be firmly embedded, non? Saturn can do that to ya.

And the Moon, and Jupiter, and M57, 44, 13....I could go on

[rockystar]

20 hours ago, kirkster501 said:

I'd suggest starting with the Messier objects and then move on to the Caldwells and the Herschel objects.

If I am honest, for visual astronomy I hate goto.  I find it boring.  Half the fun is finding the object and star hopping to it.  You learn so much. That's why a good manual Dob is great for visual - IMO of course.

I had a Dob vs GoTo race last night - I beat him to M31, I was straight there with the telrad while he was still slewing, but he beat me to the Double Cluster, I just couldn't find it, transparency and LP were very poor last night.

We did discover that I knew where more things were in the sky, and was able to Identify a few more stars and constellations than he was. But I also discovered that Star Hopping isn't a spectator sport! So GoTo has advnatages if you have a few people want to look at different things.

[domstar]

1 hour ago, rockystar said:

Star Hopping isn't a spectator sport!

Oh yes ain't that the truth. I've managed to enthuse a few friends enough to come outside with me only for them to wait around while I couldn't find what I wanted to show them. I look back now and laugh-but they seem to be busy every clear night these days.

[kirkster501]

On 26/01/2017 at 23:01, Jon the Newb said:

I appreciate that advice.  I've been looking  at the Dobs. They're nice! 

On a positive not, for the first time in my life, I saw Saturn and it's rings this morning around 5:45 am.   My world changed when that's happened. It was almost too much to believe when I was seeing it.  There aren't any words to describe how surreal that was.  

You're welcome.  When you look at something through the scope don't just look at it and think "Galaxy, yeah, planet, yeah, nebula, yeah...". Rather,  think, WOW that is a galaxy teaming with billions of planets and civilizations and how wonderfully privileged I am to view it with my own scope when so few people on this plant EVER get the opportunity to do something as mind blowing.  It is you, and you alone with the Universe and the whole of creation/providence revealed to you.  How wonderful! 

THINK BIG!!!!!!

[Charic]

On 1/26/2017 at 23:01, Jon the Newb said:

................first time in my life, I saw Saturn and it's rings this morning around 5:45 am.   My world changed...............

I bagged Venus and Mars this week, same feeling. Jupiter has been the best so far, still  waiting for Saturn?

[estwing]

On ‎15‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 21:35, Jon the Newb said:

Too bad it's snowing all day today and all night tonight....... 

then go shred winter park!

[Mr Spock]

Fairly bad LP here so my list of objects is limited. What's helped me is realising it's just a hobby; I don't have to do it if I don't want to. So, I take a break from observing from time to time. Stuff up there has been there for a long time and isn't going anywhere!

I go out observing when I want or when there's something I want to see. What I make sure of is I have a plan of what I'm going to see. I find that gives a target and a sense of achievement when completed.

[LukeSkywatcher]

4 clear nights the week (weather's gone mad) and i havent bothered going out.

[Ash2020]

On 15/01/2017 at 17:17, Jon the Newb said:

I set my telescope up night after night, and being that I live on the outskirts of Denver, I don't see a great deal of objects in the night sky due to light pollution.  That fact, combined wth the fact that this is my first telescope, so it's only 80mm, I'm fairly limited on what I see each night.  I view Venus, Mars, the Pleiades, Orion Nebula, and a few others things, but in the end, simply seeing the same limited objects, and they're all very tiny in my 80mm scope, has sadly lost its appeal somewhat.  Using "light-Pollution" maps, I'd need to drive about 30 minutes and find a spot to setup to view more night sky objects.

Am I the only one to go through this?  Perhaps I'm just being lazy not making that drive late at night to get a better view?  I love astronomy and star gazing, but again, seeing the same BB sized stars is somewhat getting old.

Does anyone have any advice or recommendations on what I can/should do to spice it up a bit?  (Sorry if it sounds like I'm whining).

Thank You,

 

Jon

It's so interesting, how we have different points of view and different frustrations, there must be something primordial that keeps us coming back. I'm in the West of Scotland. We have no street lights, almost no light pollution, and on a cold winter's night all you can see is - cloud! I've just set up my mount, because it looked like a great night, came in to have dinner and then by the time I went out again there wasn't a star to be seen. I might get one night or possibly two, per month. My current project is to take a half decent wide field picture of Orion Nebula. Why? There are so many beautiful pictures from Hubble and from astronomers with thousands of dollars of equipment. I guess its the challenge and something innate within us that is in awe of all that, out there. Good luck.

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

3 hours ago, Ash2020 said:

It's so interesting, how we have different points of view and different frustrations, there must be something primordial that keeps us coming back. I'm in the West of Scotland. We have no street lights, almost no light pollution, and on a cold winter's night all you can see is - cloud! I've just set up my mount, because it looked like a great night, came in to have dinner and then by the time I went out again there wasn't a star to be seen. I might get one night or possibly two, per month. My current project is to take a half decent wide field picture of Orion Nebula. Why? There are so many beautiful pictures from Hubble and from astronomers with thousands of dollars of equipment. I guess its the challenge and something innate within us that is in awe of all that, out there. Good luck.

 

I dont think astronomy has ever frustrated me. Ive being doing it for 37 yrs now and i just take it as it comes. I go out if and when. I dont care if i miss a clear night (or 4 in a row as this week had panned out).