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first light, slightly dissappointed


Keithp

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Hello all, 23:14 day before my 50th.... 27/12/2008.

got the 250px out on the back garden, orions up but using the standard eyepieces that came with it I don't see any spectacluar sights, waiting for saturn to come up.. will I see anything better. Maybe I need a 2Xbarlow to see the sort of stuff I was hoping for.Do I need a new set of eyepieces to bring the best out of this tube. Don't get me wrong..I am a total newbie at this and the stars in focus are spectacular, even caught Venus before it went down, half planet.

Any one got some targets to go for, moons out at the moment

Regards

All

KP

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Hello Keith,

I'm a bit surprised to here you got no good sights with a 10"f4.8 reflector.

I don't know which eyepieces you were using, but using your lowest power should have given you a good view of the Orion Nebula. As long as your eyepiece had not misted over in the cold air, as put your warm face near it, and you had allowed time for your eyes to adapt to darkness, you should be pretty happy.

I've no doubt you will have much better success next time you are out there.

The scope will do the business, as long as other conditions are favourable.

Ron. :thumbright:

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Hi Ron, thanks for the reply.

I'm seeing nice sharp views of stars but with the 10 and 25 eyepieces with the scope I was hoping to see a bit more detail, maybe a bit of running before I walk,,,.

Too late fore tonight, I'm 50 23 minuites ago. Scope is safe in the conservatory.

:-)

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Happy Birthday Keith,

Sorry to hear you were disappointed. Were you looking for anything specifically? If you looked at Orion, did you see the Orion Nebula?

The interesting things (other than the moon and planets) are mostly quite dim and hence not necessarily good to look at with more magnification, so you would do better to stick with the 25mm eyepiece without the barlow.

Either buy a star chart or download a planetarium program like Cartes du Ceil or Stellarium - they will show you where the galaxies and nebulae are.

Mike

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Happy Birthday Keith.

Your scope is a good one - so no worries there.

If you live in a light polluted area it will affect the views of deep space stuff. Check out the Orion nebula as suggested - if you are not impressed it's because your sky seeing is poor. You won't see anything like the books show as they are long exposure photos.

In February you will be able to see Saturn at a comfortable time - around 9PM - and you WILL be impressed, after that Jupiter will make a show in the summer but it will be very low and not too good. Next year Mars will be back and you should be able to see it's Ice caps and surface features with your scope. The Moon will be mighty impressive too.

A lot of what you will be able to see will be down to how you train your eye which means getting out as much as possible and gaining experirence.

And finally you can always add a camera and start taking photos yourself.

The skies the limit - so as to speak.

Good luck.

PS - You will need to cool your scope down if you store it in a warm house.

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Hi Keith and happy birthday.

Alot of DSO's are within the last grasp of your scope.

My advice would be invest in a good atlas and a red torch. In the mean time download Stellarium it's a freeware star atlas and look what dso's are around. You should get really good views of M42, M27, Double double in Lyra, Double Cluster, M36, 37, 38 to name but a few.

Astronomy is a hobby and the more you practice the easier it becomes and the more you see.

Hope this helps.

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Many thanks for all the encouragement and some of the suggestions. Don't worry not giving up yet. I've got TheSky6 installed on my laptop which I take out with me. Useful programme as I can use it to navigate around with and also advance time to work out what times the interesting stuff is up and where to look. I suppose my problem is the cold weather compounded with the really interesting stuff not coming over till well into the early hours.

I did get some views of venus last night and will try again tonight, but last night it got down to -4C and when a layer of frost was coating the scope thats when I gave in. I will see if I can wait until after midnight and have a go for the Orion nebula tonight.

Regards

All

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You can see the nebula in Orion with binoculars - in a 10 inch scope at low power it is very clear but moonlight or streetlights can drown it out very easily so that all you see are the 4 close stars (known as the Trapezium) surrounded by a faint haze.

Keep at it - the rewards will come but it does take time and practice !.

John

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not sure if anyone suggested "Turn left at orion" - it seems to be the first observing guide nearly everyone gets and will give a list of the brightest and best things to see. But if you have reasonably dark skies, there's pretty well no limit to what you can see in that scope :)

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It is tough even with a big scope as things do not look like the photos, but you get a wow when you find something. Tonight I found NGC 2419 for the first time in my 150mm scope. Over 240,000 light years away, the furthest easily visible globular star cluster. It is amazing to ponder as you see it. This lives with me for long after the night.

Hope you will find the same. I think for WOW with a new scope try M81 and M82 using a low power eyepiece. Use an atlas to find them and then draw them...Look up all about them and then put your thoughts on here. Go on it will be worth it and there will be clear skies this week. For the cold wrap up really warm and perhaps stay in a darkened room to let your eyes adjust before going out with a torch. Saves getting cold waiting..

Good luck

Mark

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Don't forget that not all nights are created equal. If the conditions are not quite right the views will be disappointing. Any moisture in the air will play havoc with the light pollution.

Also, as Mark has said, a fair bit of imagination is required. The moon and brighter planets aside, nothing really looks like the photos. It's more about the challenge of finding the target object and then just taking in what you are actually looking at with your own eyes. It's mindblowing when you start to ponder on what you are actually seeing.

Sadly if it's just visual impact you are after, i fear there maybe no cure. At least not without a truly dark sky.

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Hi Keith, you have a lovely scope that will show you loads of stuff but as has been said, don't expect to see what you see in the images.

One small piece of advice, I found the supplied eyepieces to be pretty poor, if you can, invest in a good quality eyepiece between 26 and 40mm for those DSO's and widefield (I use a meade 4000 32mm and it beats the pants off the SW eyepieces).

One day when I'm a rich man I'll get a couple of Naglers.

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Funny that. I was out on boxing night too and although there were stars out the seeing was really poor! Possibly something to do with transparency?? (I hope someone can explain that)I was all set hunting down some new objects and having trouble when I decided to check on NGC 3077 (new one for me near M81 & M82) and it was as good as gone! Yep -3 and a very damp night!

[/]

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Funny that. I was out on boxing night too and although there were stars out the seeing was really poor! Possibly something to do with transparency?? (I hope someone can explain that)I was all set hunting down some new objects and having trouble when I decided to check on NGC 3077 (new one for me near M81 & M82) and it was as good as gone! Yep -3 and a very damp night!

[/]

Transparency has to do with the ability to see dim objects through the atmosphere. There are many atmospheric phenomenon that can adversely affect transparency.

If you live in or near a city, pollution can reduce transparency. Thin, high altitude clouds can affect transparency. Transparency is also often indicated with a 1 to 10 rating, 10 being the best transparency.

If transparency is low, then your ability to detect dim objects such as galaxies is greatly reduced.

Transparency Scale

0. Do Not Observe - Completely cloudy or precipitating.

1. Very Poor - Mostly cloudy.

2. Poor - Partly cloudy or heavy haze. 1 or 2 Little Dipper stars visible.

3. Somewhat Clear - Cirrus or moderate haze. 3 or 4 Little Dipper stars visible.

4. Partly Clear - Slight haze. 4 or 5 Little Dipper stars visible.

5. Clear - No clouds. Milky Way visible with averted vision. 6 Little Dipper stars visible.

6. Very Clear - Milky Way and M31 visible. 7 Little Dipper stars visible.

7. Extremely Clear - M33 and/or M81 are visible.

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Okay...I take it all back... just got my first viewing of the moon and caught this just holding the camera at the eyepiece. Any critical comments welcomed :)

Already got an adapter to hold the camera to the eyepeice on order. Happy bunny with this :p

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After uploading the image you should see some text. You need to cut and paste this into your post.

Enjoy those views of the moon. I never tire of it. The most spectacular sight in the sky. Followed by Saturn and Jupiter. DSOs are a bit of a let down in comparison. Forget the images you've seen, they all rely on long exposures which your eye obviously isn't capable of. DSOs are an acquired taste and take practice.

M42, the orion nebula is probably the most spectacular DSO with it's lovely misty swirls, also easy to find. Next up for me, in the spectacular way of things, is the double cluster between Cassiopia and Perseus. Check out some other open clusters - the Owl in Cassiiopia and M36-38 in Auriga. My favourite galaxy view is M81 and 82 seen together through a low power EP - a contrasting face on and edge on pair.

Beyond these and you are into faint fuzzy territory - just being able to see them is often the challenge especially in our light polluted sky. M33 is supposed to be visible with the naked eye from some locations but I find it hard enough to spot with a 300mm dob. Funnily enough it was an easy binocular target at Kelling.

Turn Left at Orion has been strongly recommended here Keith and I couldn't agree more.

Top tip - keep an observing log and start planning your sessions in advance.

You're going to have a lot of fun with that lovely scope of yours

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Many thanks for your help MartinB. Just brought the scope in, frost on it already!

I'll try again..here goes

center]11423_normal.jpeg

(click to enlarge)

HEy it worked!

Errm.. I just noticed..I think its upside down :laughing3:

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