What do I need to start observing?

[smr]

Hi,

I have been imaging deep sky objects for a good couple of years now and would like to start looking through my telescope as well.

What do I need? I have a Zenithstar 73 scope and HEQ5 Pro. What do I need to buy and attach to the scope so that I can look through it and what should I be able to see in terms of dso's etc.? I have bortle 5 skies..

Thanks for any help.

Joel

[Marvin Jenkins]

I am a little confused by your post as you seem to be coming from the opposite direction of most people who ask this question.

If you have already been imaging using your scope and creating photos then I have to assume you have a working knowledge of the night sky. Imaging is a challenging and technical subject.

As for visual, I would say remove any flatterers or photo related gear, pop in a wide field eye piece and look through it with your eye. As you already have knowledge of the night sky you should be able to see star clusters, plan nebs, galaxies but probably not that much of the pure nebulas.

Marvin

[Stu]

If you don't have a diagonal already then you will need one of those. A 1.25" would likely be fine, but for the widest fields of view a 2" will be better. You will then need eyepieces of course if you don't have them. Perhaps a low, medium and high power would suffice.

I have a similar 72mm scope, and under a nice dark sky, with a UHC or OIII filter and a low power eyepiece you will see lovely views of the North America Nebula and Veil at the right time of year. You will also have fun with the larger open clusters such as M45. Many other DSO should be visible but the limited aperture means that Globular Clusters won't really resolve into stars, appearing more as grey circles or ovals. M42 should show well, benefitting from a filter but without it you will resolve the trapezium stars at higher powers.

[joe aguiar]

ya you have eps and a diagonal thats all u need to start with norm tho for dso they say  a 8" like the 8"f/5 reflector will do great on a heq5 mount

BUT try with what u have first.

joejaguar

[pete_l]

What else do you need? A red-dot finder is always handy.
As is a woolly hat.

[Mick H]

Bottle of Spanish Brandy, then you will see a lot of Doubles. 😉