2nd Light?

[JonH]

A clear night over Somerset last night so a second time out with my new scope. Is there such a thing as 2nd light?

As I now have a mains power converter I really wanted to have my first go at polar aligning and using the GoTo handset. Well, the clouds were a bit hit or miss early on and for much of the time were obscuring Polaris. The moon, on the other hand, was looking fantastic and so I couldn't resist slewing the scope around and just gazing at it through my 10 and 5mm eps. This was the first time I've looked at the moon through a telescope and it was absolutely amazing. It was also great to be able to share my new hobby with my 7-year son, who despite leaving a warm spot in front of the telly, thought the views of the moon were really cool.

His bedtime was fast approaching so I showed him the Orion Nebula and a quick look at Mars before packing him off to bed. He declared that those were really cool too but I don't think they had the same impact on him as the moon. Give him time though...

Alone once again and with the moon setting, I connected up the electrics, fitted the dew strip and plugged in the mount and handset. Polaris still wasn't playing ball so I thought I'd save polar aligning until 3rd light(!) and just use the handset to manually slew the mount rather than having to loosen and tighten the two lock nuts each time I wanted to move. After turning it on I entered all the data when prompted and did the 3 star alignment thing (which would obviously be inaccurate as I hadn't polar aligned), but once this had been done the direction controls seemed not to work. It must be me, so a lot more studying of the handbook and research to do before the next sess.

So it was back to twisting nuts and hand slewing again, but never mind, pleiedes is an easy target for me and kept me enthralled while waiting for Saturn to appear. Having my Turn Right At Orion to hand, I also had a go at trying to find the Whirlpool Galaxy. I chose this because I thought it's close proximity to The Plough might make it a little easier for a novice to find. Well it wasn't as easy as I'd hoped, but I think I briefly caught a small round smudge where the book stated it should be. Hmm, not sure if I saw it or not.

So where was Saturn? I was having great time but the cold was starting to bite. I'm lucky enough to travel with my job and tend to head south for warmer climes if given the choice as I don't do cold very well. Actually I waited longer than I needed to, because what I thought must be Saturn fairly low on my eastern horizon was in fact a star. Doh! No matter, a bright star that seemed to stand out from the rest fairly high in the south east was unmistakably the ringed planet once I'd clumsily untwisted and twisted nuts and zeroed in. Wow what a sight. Not my first time with Saturn, that was about 15 years ago through a friend's scope while full of beer (me not the scope) but still a real thrill and the perfect end to a wonderful evening. Half an hour soaking the view before packing up for the night and a mug Horlicks.

So all in all, I was pretty happy with my 2nd light - although much more work needed on setting up and using the NEQ6, but I'm slowly becoming familiar with the night sky and handling a telescope. Roll on 3rd light!

Cheers,

Jon

[Doc]

Sounds like you had a great night, I really enjoy your writing style makes for very easy reading.

As you say roll on third night

Btw you don't mention what scope you are using?

[paulhereford]

Fabulous Jon. I had my first go with my new skywatcher 150p last night / early hours of this morning due to unclear skies since I purchased the scope and once I worked out how to focus etc I was amazed at what I could see....can't wait for tonight to come round....with clear skies of course

[coxie]

saturn for me comes up from the horizon east at between 9 and 10pm roughly, you will see it in the distance as its the 1st star i can see past the light pollution.

[JonH]

Thanks for that Coxie.

Sorry no scope mentioned, I haven't figured out how to have my gear embedded on my posts. Anyway, it's a SW 190 MN with 5, 10, 20 and 30mm eps.

Nice one Paul, it really does get a hold of you, doesn't it? I'm with you mate, bring it on!

[Doc]

Thanks for that Coxie.

Sorry no scope mentioned, I haven't figured out how to have my gear embedded on my posts. Anyway, it's a SW 190 MN with 5, 10, 20 and 30mm eps.

Nice one Paul, it really does get a hold of you, doesn't it? I'm with you mate, bring it on!

Very nice scope Jon. Are you planning astrophotography one day as it's perfect for that.

[red dwalf]

very nice scope ! should get amazing shots with that my friend.

do you image at all ?

[JonH]

I bought the 190 because I intend to start imaging once I've gained enough know how and can at least set up the scope and mount properly for guiding, etc. However, two evenings spent faffing around in the dark while struggling to find targets has left me with the realisation that I know even less about astronomy than I thought I did. I have a very long way to go but, having said that, I'm enjoying my new hobby and will hopefully get there in the end!