First Light session

[Richard N]

Although I do have some astronomy knowledge, I have never owned a telescope. I noticed a Sky Watcher 130/900 on sale locally for £90 and got it for £70. It was bigger than I imagined and came with an EQ2 mount and tripod. Just one H eyepiece (26mm).  I was able to convince my wife that it was a bargain - she was satisfied. While waiting for the weather to clear I upgraded to a 26mm Plossl and a x2 Barlow. I also bought a moon filter and a Celestron torch. I set the scope up ready on the patio outside and waitied for it to get dark. That took a lot longer than expected. Setting up the EQ mount was going to be easy in theory (I have a physics/engineering background). In practice it was less easy as the alignment changed when I tightened the locking screws. However, after a few minutes of frustration I had it sorted. First light was Polaris, intially with the H lens (Huygens?). It was fine but the Plossl was so much better. The H lens has now been consigned to being a dustcap as I don't have one of those. After a few minutes of wonder, the nighbour's security light came on and illuminated the patio. As it's 10 feet away this was very bad! I will ask him to realign it today. I made a crude sketch of the Polaris area for later analysis.

With trepidation I released the EQ screws. My balancing paid off and nothing disastrous happened. The scope's first journey as across the sky to Ceph in Cassiopeia. The red dot finder alignment that I had aligned in the day worked! Clouds drifted across periodically. I was soon observing. I then recalled seeing a YouTube vide that mentioned Mizar as an interesting optical double. I know a few constellation so I was able to identify it by eye all though not able to split the double. With the scope on it I was initially confused. Could those two very separate stars at opposite sides of the view really be the optical double - indeed they were. I then had a vague recollection that there was another slightly more challenging double there. This was the time to try the Barlow. Mizar resolved easily into a very distinct double start. Success. A quick sketch and it was time for bed.

That was fun. A lot learned in a short time. I could see more than I expected on a slightly cloudy night at mid summer in a suburban location.

To do:

Look at my sketches to see what magnitude the faintest starts I saw were 

Plan my next session better with a few clear objectives.

Join the local club.

Ask my neighbour about his light.

Question:

How do you get over the nasty sleep deprivation feeling I have this morning or is this mainly a mid-summer problem (I suspect not).

Any other suggestions?

Edited June 27, 2021 by Richard N
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[laudropb]

Congratulations on your successful first light session. Planning ahead will greatly add to your enjoyment and will be a big help in the learning process we all have to go through.

I hope you have success when talking with your neighbour . As for sleep deprivation of course the darker nights of Autumn and winter will help. I solved this by taking retirement, but this is rather a drastic measure unless you art of a certain age. Good luck with your journey into this wonderful pastime.

Edited June 27, 2021 by laudropb
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[Starwatcher2001]

Nice report Richard and good to see you had an enjoyable evening. Mizar and Alcor were the first double I ever split, and it was a few weeks later until I realised there was another double in there.

I like the "to do" list. Sometimes it's fun to go out there and just play, but given the dodgy weather in the UK it's more productive to have a plan of what you fancy observing. It's also worth logging your observations so you can look back and see how your observing skills have improved over time - and they will!  Doing drawings is a great plan.

I must admit I'm not doing any observing at the moment except lunar and solar, as the lack of proper darkness at a reasonable hour doesn't play nicely with my body clock. My wife thinks I'm nuts to be looking forward to the cold dark nights.

[Gfamily]

Hi Richard, and welcome to the fellowship of amateurs. 

You're probably aware that your local club is Macc Astro - a very well established club - and when the current virulence is over, they are likely to restart their regular trips to Anglesey for some better 'dark sky' observing. 

Neighbours with motion sensitive lights are a regular pain - if you know them well enough to ask them to move them to a better angle, that's really useful. There should be a law against lights going higher than any walls, fences or hedges. 

Keep an eye out for details of the Online "North West Astronomy Festival" which is scheduled for 25th September - and it is hoped that they'll be able to meet up for a 'Real Life' weekend of Astronomy in 2022 (probably near Warrington). 

Great to have you with us - 

Owen (from the Mid Cheshire AG) 

[Grant93]

Hi Richard,

Interesting read that was 😃 As far as sleep deprivation goes, I cant answer as working rotating shifts means I am always tired anyway 😪

But for other suggestions, as we don't get proper night time back until late July, splitting doubles is a great thing to do in the summer time, but also look for some brighter DSOs which are at optimal elevations above the horizon right now, M13, M92, M57 are a few off the top of my head 😃

Clear skies!

Grant

[AstroMuni]

On 27/06/2021 at 10:38, Richard N said:

Plan my next session better with a few clear objectives.

Welcome to this hobby 🙂

I use this as a good starting point https://binocularsky.com/newsletter/BinoSkyNL.pdf

I also use Kstars/Ekos to control my mount (its a go-to) and Ekos has a great tool to help choose list of objects for observation/imaging. You can add this to a schedule and plan your viewing accordingly. So get hold of a software that works for you (Stellarium or Skycharts or Kstars).

Good luck!

[Stu1smartcookie]

A great read , Richard ... The summer months can be frustrating , we tend to have a fair bit of cloud to go with our lighter evenings but as mentioned , the Moon and doubles are worthwhile. One things for sure , you are going to be very busy once the nights start drawing in . The cygnus region will be almost overhead at a reasonable time in the next few weeks ... thats a beautiful part of the sky .

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Stu1smartcookie

[badhex]

Welcome Richard! Great report. I look forward to hearing more! 

[mikemarotta]

On 27/06/2021 at 04:38, Richard N said:

Although I do have some astronomy knowledge, I have never owned a telescope. I noticed a Sky Watcher 130/900 on sale locally for £90 and got it for £70. It was bigger than I imagined and came with an EQ2 mount and tripod. Just one H eyepiece (26mm).  I was able to convince my wife that it was a bargain - she was satisfied. While waiting for the weather to clear I upgraded to a 26mm Plossl and a x2 Barlow....

First light was Polaris, ...  Mizar as an interesting optical double. ...  With the scope on it I was initially confused. Could those two very separate stars at opposite sides of the view really be the optical double - indeed they were. I then had a vague recollection that there was another slightly more challenging double there. This was the time to try the Barlow. Mizar resolved easily into a very distinct double start. Success.

Any other suggestions?

Congratulations! That was perhaps the very best "first light" story I have read. You really have the knack. Yes, Mizar is a complex system. For suggestions, you can easily pursue many other doubles. Some are only optical, apparently in line for us but not gravitationally bound. Others are true binaries. This time of year, you do not have much darkness in the UK and the zodiac is far to your south, but Scorpio and Sagittarius and the area between them is rich with objects. You should be able to find "Ptolemy's Cluster" naked eye and then in the telescope. 

Books are a requirement. My suggestion is to find a used book store or rely on your local library and find the ones that seem right for you. Not everything titled "Your Friends: the Stars" will be helpful. 

The Moon is an easy target with your Moon filter for those near-full Moon nights. There's a lot to look at.

Take your time. You will see 60x more in five minutes than you will in five seconds. I find that re-visiting targets is always a learning experience.

Thanks for being here. You have no idea how nice it is to meet a newbie who is successful the first time out. (I certainly was not. Probably, five years to get it halfway right...)

BTW: Nice telescope. You caught a bargain, regardless of the EQ-2 problems.

Aslo... as for apparently having "The Knack":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8vHhgh6oM0

Welcome to The Stargazers Lounge.

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by mikemarotta