Finally, I could use my new telescope

[Simonl]

Finally got some viewing under my belt. I've had my Skywatcher nearly 2 weeks now and last night was the first clear(ish) night, so about 9.30 I lugged the lot outside and started peering around for something to look at. This was also my first real go at navigating the night skies and was using various bits of Orion as my start point.

So what is the obvious thing to start with as a total beginner with no idea where he's looking...yes, the faintest objects in the sky. Took me about half an hour of searching for pretty swirly galaxies before I turned the scope onto something I could see with the naked eye. Betelguese, big and orangey but not a lot different to what I see with the naked eye or bins. Pleiades next, starting to get interesting. Thats a lot of stars right there in a small area. Back over to Orion's belt and down a bit, wow a cloudy thing, checked with the naked eye that I wasn't really just looking at cloud, but no, clear skies still.

Popped the Barlow in and WOW I can really see some clear edge definition on Orion's Nebula. I then tried to locate some of the objects I was looking for earlier, again close to Orion so I didn't lose my way too much. M78, M35 but not much luck. Just about to pack up when there right above my head appears Mars. Took me a while to reposition the kit but, bang, there it was big round a red and moving across the eye piece a lot quicker than I had expected. All that in 1 and half hours and still managed to catch the end of Aliens.

What I learned. I think my reflector needs collumating. Although I had a relatively large view of Mars I couldn't get a sharp edge and couldn't see any surface shading. I was surprised that the view of Orion's Nebula seemed sharper even though a nebula would surely be less sharp and "foggier" by nature. I found it easiest to navigate when close to a recognised feature. Once I started wandering across the skies I had trouble matching what I was seeing thru' the finder and what I could see with the naked eye. Sounds obvious I know, but was harder than I expected.

Basically, I thoroughly enjoyed myself but also learned 2 very important things. Firstly I need fingerless gloves, it was -5°C and in normal gloves I couldn't find the fine control knobs. After 20 minutes without gloves I couldn't move my hands anymore. Secondly get the beer from the fridge before starting to view, or alternatively I need to disconnect the light in the fridge.

Cheers

[pvaz]

Seams like a good 1st night as it's hard at 1st. The harder objects away from the more recogniseable features get easier but it's always a bit of hard work. I only started getting to them fast after buying a telrad finder so I could use it's circles to measure distances along with pocket sky atlas.

For M78 point the finder scope to the left most star in orion's belt. Them move the scope up till that star is in the lower bottom edge of the finder scope, then just a little nodge to the left. It should then be on the FOV of your lowest power EP. It's much smaller and fainter then orion's neb. just a smudge really.

M35 is very impressive, I find it easier to find using the stars from Gemini as it's near the "foot". You can try it 1st with binos as it«s very large and should show like a bright round smudge. On the scope you should resolve over 30 stars at low power and see another cluster close by (NGC2158, this 1 is much smaller).

[david's dob]

I had an okish night i saw orion nebula and pleides, however i did try and see Crab nebula, but the visibility was poor, tomorrow looks to be cloudy again, best night is going to be saturday night

[John]

... Betelguese, big and orangey but not a lot different to what I see with the naked eye or bins....

.... Mars. Took me a while to reposition the kit but, bang, there it was big round a red .....

I'm glad you have got to use your scope at last but these descriptions worry me a little - stars should all appear as points of light through a scope - as they do with the naked eye - some, like Betelgeuse do show colour but still as points of light.

Mars would be a disk rather than star-like but a small disk rather than "big round ..."

I'm wondering if the scope was properly in focus

[TopHouse]

bearing in mind it was your first night with the scope, I'm only new and with mars you do need some practice, for a first go i don't think it's unreasonable to say you could spend a good half hour on mars alone, trying different mags, playing with the focus etc I found the focusing thing a bit like throwing a ball into a bucket, you need to do it a few times and you brain and hand sort of learns it and it comes easier.

Simple way to check collimation is to center a star, then knock it well out of focus until it turns into a doughnut, the doughnut should be nice and symetrical with the hole in the middle, if it isn't you may want to collimate.

To echo what Pvaz said, get yourself a telrad, they aren't expensive and many here will agree with me when i say it is probably the one single thing that has improved my enjoyment of my scope the most with regards being able to find things.

[SteveP]

Simon

Congratulations on your progress

If you haven't already done this, download a copy of the free planetarium software. I can recommend Stellarium. It will help you orientate yourself with the sky. Also, conside buying yourself an observation book. Again I'll recommend Turn Left at Orion. It's a available fom Amazon and tells you what's best to see through the year and how to find it by starhopping

HTH

Steve

[Simonl]

Thanks for hints guys, especially Pvaz on finding M78 and M35.

John, just a bit of poetic license Betelgeuse was, as you say, still a sharp point of light and Mars a disk. It was with Mars that I had the sharpness problems which I initially thought was bad collimation but I tried the out of focus star as a quick test and thought the donut looked pretty much centered. Perhaps the problems I had with Mars really are just a matter of focusing practice. Looking forward to the next clear night.

Thanks again.

[Simonl]

Steve, absolutely, both are very helpful.

Cheers

Simon

Simon

Congratulations on your progress

If you haven't already done this, download a copy of the free planetarium software. I can recommend Stellarium. It will help you orientate yourself with the sky. Also, conside buying yourself an observation book. Again I'll recommend Turn Left at Orion. It's a available fom Amazon and tells you what's best to see through the year and how to find it by starhopping

HTH

Steve