Ambitious?

[matteboy]

I've just got back inside after trying to look at the Nebula in orion, I've seen what looked like two bright stars with a fuzzy patch around it, have I got what I wanted or have I missed it? I looked at it on stellarium before I went out and was expecting a liitle more should we say! I am using a Teleskop 60mm Refractor with 17mm Plossl eyepiece, I'm really new to this and have just found out today that I need glasses!!! Anyway specs are being built but have I seen it or have a totally missed what I was aiming for?

Matt

[vegas]

Sounds like you got it to me. i've got a 130mm and what i see is a slightly bigger version of what you saw, though the fuzzy patch you describe is definitely cloudy nebulous material rather than just fuzz.

[John]

I've just got back inside after trying to look at the Nebula in orion, I've seen what looked like two bright stars with a fuzzy patch around it, have I got what I wanted or have I missed it? I looked at it on stellarium before I went out and was expecting a liitle more should we say! I am using a Teleskop 60mm Refractor with 17mm Plossl eyepiece, I'm really new to this and have just found out today that I need glasses!!! Anyway specs are being built but have I seen it or have a totally missed what I was aiming for?

Matt

Sounds like it could have been M42 (the Orion Nebula). You won't see anything like the pictures (or on Stellarium) through a 60mm scope though I'm afraid - the zoomed in Stellarium view of the nebula is about what I see in my 12" scope on a decent night.

John

[scotastro]

You did not say the focal length of your scope, I would assume it's 600 to 900mm.

Using a 17mm EP would give you a lot of magnification and a small field of view for M42 - it is a big object, twice the size of the Moon. If you have a 25mm EP it would give you a better overall view.

Mike

[markystars]

I think you must have seen it, I use a 120mm Achro refractor and when i use my 7.5mm orion ED or my 16mm Plossl eyepieces I get to see the cloudy nebula and the four bright seperate stars on the bottom half. I also have a 60mm and would say i see what you can see through yours, but i agree with above and would for sure use a 25-30mm eyepiece instead if you have one, it may make the image smaller but you will get it all in and the contrast will improve greatly. Happy viewing

[matteboy]

Thanks for your replies! It's Telescop 60mm Refractor with a focal length of 900mm, I have got a 20mm and a 10mm Plossl aswell but only had the 17mm with me last night as it was a quick dash outside after getting home from the pub! I had no idea it would be twice as big as the moon! I've just been to a small astro gathering/talk at Hunworth (Norfolk) and it was amazingly clear and dark skies there, looked at Andromeda through a 12" dobsobian reflector and I could see the brighter centre which I haven't see in mine yet, but have had a problem finding it in the scope, still struggling with the EQ mount and figuring out how to point straight up without the 'scope stopping on the slowmo controls, this will come with a few more practice gos i'm sure:D Off back out for another try in a little while so if Orion's up I'll try with the 20mm, that's if the cloud gods are felling nice as it's clouding up a bit now! Thanks again!

All the best

Matt

[John]

The eyepieces you have with your scope are much better than the usual ones supplied - plossl eyepieces are pretty good.

The barlow and erecting lenses don't look so good though so I'd stick with just using the 3 eyepieces for good viewing.

When you next get a chance to view the Orion Nebula, use the 20mm and try looking slightly to one side of the nebula - this trick is called averted vision and, with a bit of practice you can see a bit more of faint obects that way. It's a bit like looking at things from the corner of your eye !.

John

[matteboy]

OK! I've been back out hunting the hunter, I used the 20mm EP and still I only see three main stars going downwards within a cloudy dust, and used the averted vision trick, I'm certain I'm looking at the right thing, 'scope had time to cool down properly just think possibly my scope isn't going to let enough light in to see it in anymore detail, haven't heard of Teleskop before but it should be a lot better than the Tasco (same 60mm refractor but with FL of 700mm, dodgy .965" EPs, on an rather rickety old wooden tripod) I've also got! The Telskop is an early Xmas pressy from my Mum who got it from a friend who was going to put it on ebay. One day I'll be asking you people which one to get next:D unless Steve flogs his 16" lightbridge for the massive $10k 'scope he's looking at, oh and my numbrers come up!

On a better note I got Andromeda in view (by pure luck!) and tried the 10mm EP aswell as the 20 but still no bright centre, cracking view of some crators on the moon though just after it had popped up:D! Didn't realise that mars was right next to it til I got back in and look on Stellarium, oh well, tomorrow!

[John]

Your scope comes from a dealer in Germany called Telescope (Teleskop in German) Services:

Welcome to Telescope-Service

It's got their brand on it but was probably made in Taiwan or China where many scopes come from these days (eg: Skywatcher). The big improvement over your Tasco scope will be the eyepieces. The mount / and tripod may be a bit better as well. As the aperture of both scopes is the same the light grasp and resoloution will be pretty much the same as well although the better eyepieces will make for nicer views.

If the hobby grabs your interest and you would like to upgrade (a 130mm / 150mm newtonian would make a great next step) your eyepieces will work well with the next scope as well.

Have fun with your early Xmas pressie !.

John

[markystars]

Sounds like your picking things up fairly fast matteboy, im suprised though that you cant see the bright centre of andromeda, this is the main area that i see through my scopes, the rest tends to be a smudgy/misty type of view. Have you tried looking at andromeda through binos? When i first started with my telescope i first looked through the binos so i had an idea what i was looking at, i found this a great way of also familiarising myself with the night sky. I agree with jahmanson that 130-150mm newtonian would be a great step up at a reasonable cost too.

One more thing, tonight you should be able to get a much better view of mars as the moon will be a fair bit lower so if you can catch it as it comes over the horizon (or trees, depending where you live), then you should be able to cut out alot of the light from the moon

[matteboy]

I keep looking at and dreaming of my next 'scope, got my heart set on the explorer 150 at the moment but it's not going to happen for a (long) while, I've got to get to grips with the EQ type of mount though, really struggling with it, even with all the advice I've got from here, I'm sure it will just all 'click' one day and as they say practice makes perfect! I have got a couple of sets of binos, I usually take a set of 10x50 with me and to be honest that's the only way I found Andromeda. The only real difference seems that I can keep the 'scope still whereas with the binos it's a quick glance and then rest my arms! I only really know a couple of constellations so far but printed off a star map tonight which I can take outside and look at with my new red headtorch, so that should get things going, I've set myself a little task for every venture out I'll spot at least one new thing and revisit the ones I know, definitely want to go for M81 next (ok just 'cos it's near the plough!). I'm thinking like this so when I do eventually get a better 'scope I can spend the money on appeture and not go-to equip!

I'm lucky in one respect that I only live about ten miles from Kelling Heath so have quite dark skies, a little unlucky that I live in a small block of flats and the garden is surrounded by tall trees so I have to go to the carpark out the back where I can't get out of the glow from nearby streetlights. Every time I think about venturing out in the car though the cloud gods see what I'm doing!

Really looking forward to meeting up with people I've met on here at Kelling next year, hopefully with a little more knowledge of the skies, oh and to look through some proper 'scopes:D!

[John]

I've set myself a little task for every venture out I'll spot at least one new thing and revisit the ones I know, definitely want to go for M81 next (ok just 'cos it's near the plough!). I'm thinking like this so when I do eventually get a better 'scope I can spend the money on appeture and not go-to equip!

That is an excellent plan

Please keep us posted as you spot new things - it's really nice hearing about peoples 1st impressions

Regards,

John

[matteboy]

OK FAIL! Thought I may have spooted M81 in the binos, couldn't find anything in the 'scope, tried again with the binos, nuffin this time, but have finally worked out 'The little dipper' couldn't seem to work it out before (i know that one sounds stupid!) and the cygnus (well half of it when checking my starmap!) I'll get there one day! want some more M numbers!

[vegas]

Head over to M45 if you fancy adding to the M numbers. It's very visible this time of year and is a good sight to behold and fun to count the stars.

[matteboy]

M45, Just looked it up on Stellarium, ahh the t-cup! I've looked at that everynight so far just didn't know what it was called! Wahay already ticked than! Happy with that, cheers!

[vegas]

hehe no worries.

M13 is also a popular choice, though I'm not sure what it would look like in your scope. In my 130pm it is a small grey circular blob. I've had one really good night, where I could make our some difference in shading towards the middle, but that may have been my imagination more than anything. Still, just knowing I saw it makes me smile.

From where I am and my garden it is up and moving out of view quite early in the evening.

[matteboy]

Now that is spooky, just looked that up aswell, went to a small astro gathering/talk thing last night and got to look at a couple of things through their 'scopes and that was one of them! Saw it through an 8" Dob, quite impressive, tried to look at it when I got home and it's behind the trees from mine! One to go for tomorrow early then! Can't tick it til I've found it myself though! Nice one,!

[vegas]

Well in that general area (Lyra to be precise) there is also M57 lurking. I'm still really struggling to see this, and again it may be too small in your scope, as I think as far as DSO's go it is relatively small and from the descriptions that people have written with 6" scopes it does appear as just a small blurry star (with averted vision you apparently can make our the smokeyness)

Still it might be work a go if you're hunting for M13 anyway as it is in the same rough portion of the sky.

Good luck and let me know how you get on, if you nail M57 I'll be gritting my teeth in happy rage, as it still alludes me! I'm sure i've probably passed it 100 times, I just struggle to see what I'm looking for.

[Jeremy]

I'm certain I'm looking at the right thing, 'scope had time to cool down properly

Don't worry - a 60mm refractor doesn't need to "cool down" the way larger scopes do.

[andy jack]

I am new to all this, so my experiences may not be typical but M57 proved to be a tricky little so and so. My home views are fairly limited so I have to go to a dark(ish) site to view anything that is not in the East. Because of this I have only had the opportunity to view M57 once and the conditions were all but perfect.

I have a SW 150 and using a 25mm plossil to search the general area it appeared just about visible as a very small, very faint, round smudge. Once found M57 responded very well to higher magnification, just as my book said it would. I can not think of a better description than that given by the same book as a ghostly doughnut.

I know it will seriously restrict your FOV but try searching in the general area with a higher magnification. I know the usual rule is that a faint fuzzy will just become fainter fuzz with higher magnification, but M57 is an exception to that rule.

[John]

.... I can not think of a better description than that given by the same book as a ghostly doughnut....

What a great description of M57

You are quite right - it does need some magnfication to see it distinctly - very easy to overlook at low power.

John