First Light with 8"

[Star Struck 97]

Got my first light with my new 8” ‘scope on the 17th January 2010. It was fairly stiff, as it was an ex-display ‘scope. Dad (dark knight) tried to fix this by adding some milk bottle washers to the Teflon washer on the central screw. This made it looser, but it now wobbles on its stand. Dad intends to try to fix this problem with some old record, but if this fails, I’m going to get a Lazy Suzan. I also intend to get a Wixie, as this will make the DSOs easier to spot.

The first object I saw was M45, or the Pleiades. Very pretty through my 10mm EP. I got 5 of the 7 main stars in the EP, very pretty, very big with a large mag.

On to Bode’s Nebulae, M81 face on, + M82 edge on, both pretty spiral galaxies. M81 is a luminous swirl, whilst M82 is a glowing cigar-shaped smudge.

Quick change to my 25mm, and we’re on to the Great Andromeda Nebula! Very beautiful! A small, high-level cloud stopped us from seeing M32 and M101, hardly surprising really!

M103 next, and what was there? Not much! The three stars making up the triangle were clear, but not much else really! In fact, I was rather disappointed with this one, boohoo!

Lastly, but not least, M52! Lots and lots of sharp, crisp, perfectly focused stars like a vast interstellar pincushion after the pins have been pulled out and all that’s left is the holes!

That’s all from my first light, as I had school the next day and had to go to bed, boohoo, boohoo! Still, can’t wait for the next time!

[crepitis]

Nice one Reece, sounds like you had a great session.

I must admit my eyes were struggling a bit to read the dark text on a dark background, Old age creeping up on me

[DarkerSky]

Excellent stuff Reece. I hope you have many wonderful nights under the stars with your new scope

[Bizibilder]

Good report Reece - You are now officially an Astronomer!

[LukeSkywatcher]

How old did Reece say he was....12?.

I know people who are 35 (nearly 36) who have not seen some of the things he has seen already, and who cant write a report like he can.

Well done Reece.

Now about this black ink !!!!!!!!!!!!!.

[Doc]

A lovely read Reece, you saw some great objects there. Your dad's idea about a LP record is a good idea, but it will be much better with a lazy susan bearing.

And that black ink is sooooo yesterday

[Talitha]

Great report, thanks for sharing your eyepiece with us Reece!

Btw, what's a 'Wixie'?

[lunator]

Hi Recce

Very nice report

I have changed the font colour to make it easier to read

Cheers

Ian

[Star Struck 97]

Cheers guys! A Wixie is a scope mounted device which tells you the Altitude your scope is at! Clever eh?

[Star Struck 97]

Sorry, I typed it in word and forgot to change the colour of the text!