Newbie's first sight of Orion Neb (and more)

[Inthedark]

After reading Neon's report of the Orion Nebula with his 80mm, I get my own first view of it with my new ST80 early this morning.

Yesterday evening was clear, so I'd been out early looking at Jupiter and Alberio, and just by chance seeing the brightest meteor I've ever seen. I guess was part of the Orionids. Quite impressive. So anyway, 5AM this morning the dog woke me up wanting to go out, and, wow, really clear sky, with Orion sitting there directly south. I quickly set up the scope and despite the bright moon, got pretty good views of the Nebula. Swirly clouds of nebulosity clearly visible. Without the moon I'm sure it would be as spectacular as Neon's report. Then, just 'cos I could, I swung the 'scope to the east and saw my first ever view of Saturn. Pretty small with only 40x mag, but rings clearly visible.

A pretty good haul for one night I think! Thanks dog!

[astro_dt]

Great report, always nice when you catch a meteor as well

Worth getting up early to see!

Cheers

Danny

[Doc]

To see both Saturn and the M42 for the first time is just great.

Basically you have bagged the best two objects in the night sky. Great news.

[ChrisEdu]

I think I managed to find the Orion Nebula last night (well, more like 2am this morning). I'm not entirely sure that it was but fairly certain it was something. I'd popped outside to see what it was like and noticed the sky had cleared. As I couldn't sleep, I grabbed my Nexstar 4SE and went outside. I didn't bother with aligning it, as it's not been working very well and I didn't want to waste time as clouds were rolling in.

I started off looking at the moon and the turned my attention to what I now know is Betelgeuse - beautiful. It was only then I noticed that Orion was showing and so, knowing that there were nubulae in Orion, I popped inside to consult a book to find out where to look. I decided that I was unlikely to see the Horse head with my 4" scope and so turned my attention to M43/42. Having looked in the book, I formed a mental image of roughly where to look when back outside.

I put my finder on and moved the scope to a point roughly in the middle of the trapezium and then started scanning with my 25mm EP. Then there it was - well, something kind of fuzzy looking! I popped on my 12.4EP and had a closer look. There was certainly something there, as it appeared to look like clouds in front of the stars, yet the sky in that area was clear! I finally attached my 9.7EP and had a closer look. Wow! I'm sure by now that it must be a nebula, although I'm not exactly sure which one! I was thrilled to be seeing whatever it was though!

If I had to describe it, I'd say that through my scope the appeared to be a small triangle of bright stars behind what looked like a cloud of dust / gas. The cloud almost looked like three blobs, two on top of each other and another to the left of the top one. Then heading diagonally down to the right were three more stars in a line (so I guess they must in-fact go to the left as it would have been reversed in the scope). I know that's a fairly Rubbish description, but anyone know what it might have been?

[Inthedark]

Sounds like you got it too, Chris!

[ChrisEdu]

It would be cool if I did. Trouble is, now I'm even more determined to get something bigger so I can see these things in more detail / clearer!

[Doc]

Yes Chris your description fits the M42 perfect. The three stars in a line is Orions Belt. The horses head is almost impossible to visually see. You need a big scope and dark skies. I think I saw it once while in the peak district but I don't know if I imagined it or not.

Now try for M31 in Andromeda. Furthest galaxy at 2.3 million light years. Not that difficult give it ago.

[ChrisEdu]

I've just looked up some pictures of the Orion nebula and I'm pretty certain now that it is what I saw last night! The three stars that formed a triangle look just like in the photos I've seen, although the three in a line looked a bit different, but I'm pretty sure that's due to different scopes and therefore different displays. Now I want to find some more!

[ChrisEdu]

Yes Chris your description fits the M42 perfect. The three stars in a line is Orions Belt. The horses head is almost impossible to visually see. You need a big scope and dark skies. I think I saw it once while in the peak district but I don't know if I imagined it or not.

Now try for M31 in Andromeda. Furthest galaxy at 2.3 million light years. Not that difficult give it ago.

How visible would M31 be in a 4" scope? I'm using a Nexstar 4SE.

[Inthedark]

Chris, I saw M31 with my little 'scope, a SkyWatcher 80ST with a 25mm eyepice - just 16x mag. It was really just a feint smudge, but it was definitely M31. I used setting circles to locate it and found it quite easily. I'd guess your 4" would be better.

[ChrisEdu]

What are setting circles?

[Inthedark]

What people with non computerized equatorial mounts use to find objects from their RA and DEC coordinates. Basically etched scales on the mount axises.

[ChrisEdu]

Aha! I think I'd probably like to have that option on my computerised mount, so I can find stuff when it's being awkward.

[Doc]

Get yourself a atlas or download a free software program called Stellarium.

There will be loads of small smudges in the sky you will be able to locate.

Try star hopping to them. It's great fun and you will soon learn the night sky, much better IMHO.

[ChrisEdu]

I've already got Stellarium.

[Talitha]

Chris, you might be able to locate M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) with a pair of binoculars if you have a relatively decent sky. Do a slow eastward sweep (equatorial, not horizon-view ) between Beta CAS and Alpha AND. M31 is a bit more than 1/2 way towards Alpha AND, and not too far eastward from a straight line between the two stars when using binos.

Btw, I like to think of the setting circles on my LX-10 as 'manual goto'.