First Time in a Long Time

[Roy Challen]

It’s been two years or more since I last used a telescope to view the skies. Recent inspiration led me to bring the Tal 100RS and Tak EQ mount down from the loft to be used once again.

Although there was some high cloud present, and a large amount of light pollution, and add the fact that it is the middle of summer, it might have seemed less than ideal. Also, the planets being situated very low in the sky means I cannot see them at all from anywhere in my garden. I decided to keep my targets few and simple while I get back into things. From the darkest spot in my garden, the Summer Triangle region presented the best opportunities being in the patch of sky that was least exposed to poor conditions.

I set up the mount and did a rough PA, glad to see that I haven’t forgotten how to do that. A pleasant surprise was that the batteries in the polar scope still worked. I attached the Tal and put in a recently bought Vixen 30 mm plossl and brought it to focus. The next surprise was that the finder was still aligned to the scope. I found Vega in the crosshair and looking through the Vixen, it was only slightly off centre.

Next up – the Double Double. A favourite of mine. Not split with the Vixen, I tried the 20mm Ascension. Nope. 15mm? Again no, although there was a hint of elongation in both pairs. 9mm then, success! I also tried the Zeiss Huygens, which has split them in the past albeit in a different scope. No success there either, so I put it down to the high cloud creating a murky sky.

On to M57 Ring Nebula. Using the finder to get me in the right area, I found M57 bang in the middle of the Vixen 30mm. I found the best view to be with the 15mm Ascension and could easily make out the ring structure but not much else. This was a slightly unusual target for me as I usually only do planetary, lunar and doubles.

The cloud seemed to be thickening by this point – I couldn’t see Albireo naked eye anymore. As a quick gauge of the sky, between Vega and Arcturus I counted maybe 6 or 7 naked eye stars. Not great. I decided to pack up, satisfied that things had gone reasonably well for my first outing in a long time and I'm looking forward to when the sky gets slightly darker (from here at least!).