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First time I've ever looked at stars through some binos

Claire

By Claire
in Observing - with Binoculars

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Claire

Claire

Posted
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and wow. I posted before Christmas how new I was to all of this, and I got some books for Christmas and I borrowed some bino's from my Grandad, and I managed to go outside (actually sat on a chair just inside my front door), and had a look at the sky.

I studied a bit of the sky and I hadn't used bino's before and had no idea what to expect to see. I'm pretty blow away. I found orion first and had a nosy at betelgeuse, then taurus (is the fact top left star a red giant too? it had a hint of red/orange about it?), and then across to pleides. wow! I mean I've seen pictures of it before, but it really doesn't prepare you for actually seeing it with your own eyes!

Then I had a look for the orion nebula (in between cloud cover that thankfully was in large areas at a time but cleared quickly), and I read up a bit on how to find the nebula. Now, I'm not sure I'm right, but where it says to find it, I saw two stars very close together and it was very fuzzy around it. Is this the nebula?

I am really pleased with how my first time stargazing went. And I'm sorry that I'm getting excited over something so obvious, but I really have had no experience and I am amazed. Especially as I was freezing, was sat inside my house at my doorway, and have an annoying streetlight just off to the side!

I'm slowly adding more constellations I can spot myself to the list, so I'm getting more and more hooked!

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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Aldebaran the orange star you mention in Taurus is an orange giant star. It represents the eye of the bull. To give you an idea of its size, take a look at this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aldebaran-Sun_comparison-en.svg

The Orion nebula is below the belt in the sword. In bins it will look like a couple of stars with a hazy fuzz around it. So it sounds like you found it.

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Claire

Claire

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Thanks guys! Yes it does sound like I found orion's nebula then. I was pretty sure I know the area where it was, in the sword that dropped down from his belt, but looking through the bino's it all looks very different (how many more stars do you see!), and so I wasn't sure what I should have been seeing exactly.

Before I started I always thought of the Sun being the biggest thing in space. It's amazing at how small our star really is. I had no idea that one star in the sky could be so big compared to our Sun.

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Claire

Claire

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I'll have to search for that - thanks.

I've just been out again and refined my binos (found a focus bit of it *blush*) and yep def seen the nebula (or the 2 stars and fuzzyness bit of it) and also looked at pleides again.

Next stop (not tonight I'm freezing and I have school run tomorrow), but, next stop Andromeda :) (hoepfully!)

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Claire

Claire

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Ah see now I looked at telescopes, but I was so confused with refractors and whatever dobs are etc. I'll stick with the binos for a little bit I think. Maybe try and find someone with a scope to have a look through.

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Nexus 6

Nexus 6

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Ah see now I looked at telescopes, but I was so confused with refractors and whatever dobs are etc. I'll stick with the binos for a little bit I think. Maybe try and find someone with a scope to have a look through.

Good idea, a local society will be helpfull in giving you the best advice plus you'll get to try one or two out, nice to see you have got some bins to get you started. :)

Alan

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Claire

Claire

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Thanks, i looked on what's available in my area, but my 6 yr old is really interested in stargazing too. I'm not sure if I'm able to take him with me. I know there is a group that meets in Preston at the observatory at Moor Park, but I feel a bit shy just walking in, hardly knowing a thing :)

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Nexus 6

Nexus 6

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Thanks, i looked on what's available in my area, but my 6 yr old is really interested in stargazing too. I'm not sure if I'm able to take him with me. I know there is a group that meets in Preston at the observatory at Moor Park, but I feel a bit shy just walking in, hardly knowing a thing :D

thought the same thing when I went to East Riding Astronomers in Beverly. No need to, they were all really friendly and only too willing to help me with any questions I had.

I am sure it will be the same for you!:)

good luck, let us know how it goes

Alan

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