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Real first light

jamespels

By jamespels
in The Astro Lounge

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jamespels

jamespels

Posted
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Finally got true first light last night - just seen Mr Spock and a few others bemoaning the cloud but we had a good few hours in north Staffs from about 7.

We are blessed with relatively dark skies in the back garden (though with trees on a close hill to the south obscuring some of the view) but I got my first ever look at Jupiter and 4 moons, then went on to our own moon - fantastic view of Sinus Iridum's crater rim shining on the dark side of the termination. Ended up scanning around Orion for a while. I have never realised how much the colour of stars varies - Betelgeuse and Rigel are so different! Found M42 (my first Messier :):D); 4 of the stars were clear but couldn't make out the fifth. Rigel wasn't the single point of light most other stars were but I couldn't separate out its companion.

All of the above with a 24mm Plossl. I MUST buy some more eye-pieces and am seriously eyeing up my first bits of imaging kit... Also really need to give the scope a bit of tlc - it was bought second hand and the primary mirror is none to clean.

Probably very basic for all of you guys but I'm absolutely delighted! Even my wife thought Jupiter and the moon were pretty impressive so there is hope!

J.

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wolfytom

wolfytom

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Thanks for this, much appreciated.

You could do us newbies a great favour. How about describing what can actually be seen thro your scope in terms of planets, DSOs and nebulae.

I'm still to decide what scope to buy and get confused by photos which seem to greatly exaggerate the sights to be seen?

How big are the planets, nebulae and Galaxies in your scope? Do you see any colour? Do I need to include the cost of lots of magnifiers in the cost of a scope to make the viewing worthwhile?

I've got lots of questions for someone with a scope who is new to the hobby!

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jamespels

jamespels

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Hi wolfytom,

reasonably new to this myself, but here goes...

with a 25mm (sorry, 24 was a typo) plossl on a decent 150mm newtonian, Jupiter is a yellowish, small disc with no surface features but four of the moons (Europa, Io, Callisto and Ganymede) are clear. The 25mm plossl gives very low magnification and I would expect to be able to make our banding on Jupiter with a higher mag EP (say 9mm).

The moon is absolutely fantastic - the 25mm is fine though maybe a 15mm or 20mm would give a slightly fuller view (though with much higher mag, the moon won't all be visible at once on this size scope). On a clear night, contrast is superb and definition of craters and other features is incredible. Only negative is it is almost too bright so I would recommend a moon filter.

The Great Orion Nebula (M42) appears as a white fuzzy - the colour isn't going to come without either a much more powerful scope, long exposure imaging or both. The moon was quite bright and cirrus cloud was blowing in by this point so I didn't get round to looking for any other fuzzies.

Stars are clear points of light, other than the 4 tiny diffraction streaks from the secondary mirror spider, with much more colour than you realise with the unaided eye. As I mentioned, Betelgeuse (a red giant) has a distinct pinkish tinge whereas Rigel (a young, hot star) looks almost blue by comparison. If you hunt on t'interweb, you will see people mentioning the "trapezium" (check on a well known on-line encyclopaedia); this is an open cluster in the middle of M42 that has five readily discernible stars. Seeing all five distinctly seems to be considered a sign of decent optics; I could see four of them and will be back when I have cleaned the mirror and got a higher mag EP (9mm?).

There is an excellent sticky article by Warthog, here: http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/80772-eyepieces-very-least-you-need.html#post1227487 about EPs, I have used it as the basis to work out which ones I need to get. FLO have a nce set on sale (Eyepiece Sets - Revelation Photo-Visual Eyepiece kit) if you buy a scope without any. That said, most scopes come with a basic selection of EPs and if they meet the basic requirements Warthog describes I would stick with them for now. Just don't buy something a bit pants - check on here first if you're not sure! I am shprt of EPs because I bought cheap second hand and it didn't come with a complete set.

Good luck!

J.

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jonathan

jonathan

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Sounds good, similar to my own lucky first night with my NexStar 8SE (an SCT).

With a 25mm eyepiece Jupiter is a pale disc, very difficult to make out any surface texture. With 10mm it is the size of a pea, the bands can be seen but are still a little indistinct; this is probably the best I will see of it through my 8SE, unless I invest in a filter and a 2x Barlow (which will double the magnification of any lens that is attached to it), however I am trying to avoid the Barlow. Jupiter is a very bright planet through a telescope, staring at it for any length of time will leave a purple disc in your vision for a few minutes, similar to staring at the bright moon, which is why people might use filters. Filters act to reduce brightness (ND / Moon Filters, neutral density, same type that photographers use), increase contrast, or filter out certain colours to help see certain DSO types.

My first sight of Jupiter's four moons was through my 8x42 binoculars, that was a memorable moment for me. Around the same time I also got my first proper view of the Andromeda Galaxy.

For a few hundred quid you can have a very nice selection of eyepieces which should do you for almost any telescope you buy, I can recommend a wide-field one (I have the PanaView 38mm, very nice for the Orion Nebula!) however you may want to start with a 10mm or similar to get you in a bit closer on a few of the easier objects. Buy what's right for the type of telescope you prefer - refractors can get away with higher magnification eyepieces because they are generally faster than SCTs like my 8SE. I may get a refractor myself at some point. :)

The only disadvantage I have is that my main Southward view is directly over the village, so when I see things like Jupiter and the Moon there's always a bit of heat haze causing the image to shimmer. A couple of miles up the road in the car will get me away from this, but that involves packing the telescope for the journey which I haven't made proper arrangements for yet - I need to get a suitably padded box for the OTA (Optical Tube Assembly - the telescope itself).

I'm not keen on reflectors myself, too big for the space I have available. An SCT is short and compact, a refractor can easily be put away in a case. :D

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