My first nights attempt at star gazing

[Dazraz]

Hi got my telescope yesterday 8" Dobsonian skywatcher. After help from people on this forum i took my telescope outside about 10pm.

First of all i poited at the moon but as i was told yesterday it was quite uncomfortable on the eye but looked great. I will call unknow planets (ie planets i do not know the names of) dots for now.

So i pointed at very small dots in the sky but they looked the same size as they did in the telescope. Is this because alot of them are to far away or is it because they are stars im not sure, i have purchased books and know that i have to get to know the sky.

Then i pointed at jupiter and could see it ( not very clear ) but could see slight detail. I did find that jupiter was white - was this glare from the moon

The night was quite misty and cloudy. I live in margate kent england.

I have not looked for galaxies or nebulas yet but will do, I thought that everything i pointed at in the sky would be magnified ?

Overall i enjoyed the night and seeing jupiter i will be getting a moon filter for the glare and will be thankfull for any comments suggestions or just facts.

Regards Daren

[jgs001]

Nice one Darren. The Dob works well for you from the sounds of it... As for the magnification... it doesn't matter how much you throw at it, a star outside our solar system is going to look like a pinpoint. All you'll do is reduce the field of view. The magnification you get is calculated by the focal length of the eyepice (the shorter the focal length, smaller number, the higher the magnification... focal length of scope/focal length of ep for magnification).

What your scope will do is gather more light and you'll be able to see a lot more stars... When you use it next, look along the outer body of the tube, so you are seeing the patch of sky the scope is pointed at, then look through the ep... Try to aim at the milky way if possible as this will show the most dramatic difference, use the low power ep for this.. 25mm I think you got.

[Doc]

Nice first report Darren.

An 8" scope will enable you to see almost anything from galaxies to nebulas and all the clusters. it's just a matter of getting to know your equipment.

When you looked at Jupiter was there any details viewable such as banding and different colour on the planet. Also did you see it's moon either side roughly centre position.

[Dazraz]

silly question im sorry but how do i find the milky way ?

[jgs001]

about this time of year it's about just to the east of straight up at about 10pm. See if you can see a cross shape of stars, the long piece pointing south... This is Cygnus the swan, there's two nice bright stars on the shorter north of the cross... that part of the cross is in the milky way. If you can find it, the number of stars that you can see are, well... you need to see it for yourself.

Download a copy of stellarium (PC Planetarium) using the play arrows at the bottom, roll the time forwards to about 10:30... zoom out (mouse wheel) and look about, you should be able to find Cygnus and that'll give you some ideas as to where to look. You might need to turn on constellation lines and labels (lower right two buttons).

[Dazraz]

Nice first report Darren.

An 8" scope will enable you to see almost anything from galaxies to nebulas and all the clusters. it's just a matter of getting to know your equipment.

When you looked at Jupiter was there any details viewable such as banding and different colour on the planet. Also did you see it's moon either side roughly centre position.

I did see banding and colour on jupiter but very feint - i found it was glowing white quite a bit also - I basically started by using the super 25 wide angle EP to spot the i chucked on the super 10 mm EP to look closer. I also got a 2" EP adapter - what is this for please ?

[Doc]

At the moment Jupiter is still very low down, you are looking through our atmosphere which degrades the view or maybe you didn't let your scope cool down for long enough to reach ambient temperature.

[Dazraz]

At the moment Jupiter is still very low down, you are looking through our atmosphere which degrades the view or maybe you didn't let your scope cool down for long enough to reach ambient temperature.

Hi so are you saying i have to put the telescope outside say 1 hour before use ?

[Doc]

If your scope comes from a warm room to a cold outside then it needs to reach the outside temperature if it doesn't then you will see thermal currents through your eyepiece which will ruin the view.

I leave mine outside for a good 90 minutes before I view but I would say you should be OK with 1 hour but the longer the better.

[barkis]

Hi. Daren.

Nice to hear you managed some viewing last night,

but most of the fainter stuff would be difficult to see with a moon almost full. Moonlight does not aaffect the planets directly, because they are so far away moonlight can't possibly fall onto them.

VIewing Galaxies and Nebulae are best done when the moon is not in the sky at all. It might be worth buying some coloured filters for enhancing planetary detail. They are not all that expensive really.

As Doc. told you, it's best to let your scopes optics cool down before observing with it. Put it outside an hour or more before use.

If you have any light pollution around you, get a black or dark sheet to drape over your head to keep stray light away.

Some nights are poor for observing. Try not to point your scope at anything that is above a neighbours roof, as the heat from the house disturbs the air above, and the image can boil a bit.

Persevere, you will soon master it all.

Ron.

[crepitis]

Good to hear you got to use your scope last night Daz, as the others have said, cool-down time for your scope is really important for getting a decent view, I used to leave my 10" Dob outside for at least 2 hours before I intended viewing through it.

Now I keep my scopes in the garden shed and so they are much closer to the outside temp and cooldown time is greatly reduced.

[Vulpecula]

Can he not explore the Milky Way whilst waiting for the scope to cool down?

[red dwalf]

if you`ve got a pc download a program called stellarium, a must for beginers like us, it will show you what`s in the night sky at the same time.

[mdstuart]

Yes you can use the scope while it cools down but if you use the higher power 10mm eyepeice things may be a bit wobbly...

You might like to get a copy of turn left at orion which shows you how to find your first 100 objects in the sky..I found it really helped. Simple to follow etc.

The 2 inch adapter is for 2 inch eyepeices. These provide a bit of a wider view but I would just get used to your current eyepieces before going for more kit.

Jupiter does just look like a white ball with a few darker bands accross it. If you are patient you will in time "spot" the red spot!

Enjoy..

On the moon filter try a polarising filter as you can adjust the brightness.

Mark

[Vulpecula]

I thought that everything i pointed at in the sky would be magnified ?

Most things - except stars: That's what makes them special.

Stars are always just pinpricks of light. Magnifying them just separates them apart from the others around them, and teases out many of the ones that are too dark to see with the naked eye.

In photographic images, their brightness makes them "burn out" into large blobs of light on the page. This is a good thing, since it helps create the optical illusion that they are brighter than other stars in the same photo. In practice of course, no photographic star could be brighter than the page on which it's printed.

For me though, that's what makes visual astronomy so special: Only in real-life can you see these magical pinpricks of light that seem impossibly small yet dazzlingly bright.

The challenge of making a good telescope is to create an instrument that can faithfully reproduce this phenomenon.

[Wobbly Bob]

Hi Darren, how did you rate your first night out ?. The light on Jupiter is from our sun, its a BIG planet so gathers a lot of Sunlight. Did you take note of Jupiters Moons ? if you did you may see that they are in different positions next time you view.

As other members have said, getting to know whats above you (using stellaram for one) is key to finding Clusters, Galaxie's, Nebs and other bits and bobs.

Keep at it, we are always here to help.

[TheThing]

Also, you could try adding a yellow filter. I have found that it makes the bands stand out a bit more.

[Astro Adj]

Hi Darren,

Congratulations, sounds like you had a successful first night's star gazing! It took me several sessions to figure out how to view Jupiter but it was well worth it! I'd love to have an 8" dob - you will be able to see an extraordinary amount with that beast.

Stellarium is a brilliant tool, I find it much easier to use than star maps etc. Also I've found taking notes helps me reinforce what I've learnt during each session - might be worth doing if you have the time.

Anyway, congratulations again on your first session, hope you continue to enjoy this fantastic hobby.

Cheers,

Adrian

[Quatermass]

Love hearing about the first nights star gazing! When I got my first telescope I was so excited but pretty clueless on what to look at. It takes time to find all those wonders of the night sky and the more you get out there the more you will learn. I thought when I got my telescope that magnification was going to make a big difference but learned that a good clear dark sky makes much more of a difference. Your scope is a great scope and this is a great forum to learn from. I have made some great friends on here and it has added a great deal to my pleasure in learning astronomy and finding my way around the night sky.

Right now Orion is a great target to be studying. And if you get up nice and early Saturn is a wonderful sight