My first time looking though a telescope!!!!

[Jack123456]

I got my first telescope a few days ago, but ever since, it has been heavy cloud.

I got home from work tonight and looked up at the sky. FINALLY!!!! a clear sky

I took my scope out to have a look what i could see.

First, i pointed at Pleiades. I couldn't see anything. i thought i must have knocked my finderscope out of alignment, so i moved the telescope about a bit, and still nothing......

I then removed the cover (WOW! what a difference!!!!)

Pleiades was great to see. So Beautiful!!!

Next, i turned my scope to orion, to see if i could see the nebula that i have heard so much about.

I think i found it

With 168X zoom, i could see 3 stars in a horizontal line with a funny haze around them. Please tell me this was it.

Unfortunately, i wasn't home in time to see jupiter. Maybe another day.

I decided that i was Happy (and cold) enough for my first night, so i went in and had a cuppa.

sorry if i have bored you, but i really wanted to share my first experiance looking at stars.

Thanks for reading

[Skybrowser]

It's never, ever boring to hear stuff like this and everyone will echo that, I'm sure. Not sure you saw the Orion Nebula - sounds like it though and the Pleiades is a sight to behold eh?

Grab a planisphere if you haven't got one, or better still, download Stellarium (it's free) and play around with the settings - it'll show you so many other great sights out there. Have a crack at Jupiter (Stellarium will point you in the right diection) just after sunset tomorrow night. You can't miss it as it's quite bright. Matey, you will be blown away. You'll see the planet and 4 bright moons close by and you won't forget it.

Even the moon's a great shape just now. A bit too bright when it's full but you can tone it down with filters.

Enjoy!

[kentronix]

Removing covers and lens caps is one of the cheapest upgrades you can make to a scope, highly underrated

First experiences are never boring, I think I speak for almost everyone when I say we love to hear about them. The three stars you saw were one at a time right ? Not all visible together in the eyepiece ? If so it is probably orions belt. That is close to horizontal. Orions sword is more like vertical, it hangs below the belt and points to the middle star in orions belt, M42 is the middle 'dot' in the sword.

[nicnac]

great int it

[Jack123456]

All 3 stars were in the scope at the same time. I'm almost certain that it wasn't the belt i was looking at.

[carastro]

I think it was the Orion nebula you saw, several bright stars close together with a fuzzy patch around it.

Carole

[Jack123456]

i just looked on Stellarium, and i think it was the "star" at the top of the sword that i was looking at.

I'll have another look tomorrow, provided I get another clear night.

Also, i don't get home from work til gone 10, so Jupiter will have to wait until saturday

[kentronix]

there are 3 stars in a row in the nebula itself, in M42. I have no idea what you would see through 168x , I am a bit of a scope monkey once I get on it, not really paying attention to what mag I am at because I am jumping from lens, to ep, to webcam etc.

in this pic you can see the three in a line, could it have been that ? There would have been haze around it I would imagine. Not as much as here but some.

[Jack123456]

YESSSSS!!!!!!!!

That's exactly what i saw

Thanks

[kentronix]

excellent,

Once I get a clear view I always go straight to the camera so I havent actually spent long viewing it other than through images. Its a sight to behold though, and the more I learn about it the more I want to see of it.

[stolenfeather]

It's never boring to read about a person's first encounter with the stars using a telescope. The passion begins! Jupiter will indeed be a treat when you see it and so will Saturn!

I wish you clear skies and keep reporting!

Isabelle

[Neilius]

Ive just had my scope out now to see Saturn. My first time in seeing her was only 3 weeks ago, and she is always beautiful - just like the millions of other objects in our fantastic night sky.

Your journey has begun...!

[Astro_Baby]

Glad your getting eyetime and a good bag for your first time out as well.....congrats

[oreed]

I to had my first full outing last night, turned to the moon first and was great to see it through the 25mm lens, (see image below) then to magnify further with the 10mm and even looking at around a quarter of the moon with the 10mm + 2xBarlow.

I then turned my attentions to Jupiter and saw Io, Europa and Ganymede but not Callisto.

Finally to M42 and The Great Orion Nebula, great!

Not sure if I can stack images of prime focus to create a Nebula photo without tracking, possibly?

[kentronix]

You can stack non-tracked images to get reasonable results. Not as good as tracked but it depends what your hoping for really. I am very happy with my non tracked M42 pics.

You will of course need to keep the shutter speed down which means you will need lots of subs i order to get the detail out. You may need to raise the ISO which unfortunately increases noise, making it important to take several dark frames.

[Astro Imp]

Hi Jack,

That's a great report and is exactly the same as the first night with my scope a week or so ago.

Do try to see Jupiter before it's too late, I saw it for the first time on Tuesday and it's something I'll never forget.

Good luck and clear skies.

[Porl]

never boring reading observation reports especially first time looking through a scope reports!

[Jack123456]

Finally..... another clear night. I got to have another play with my scope.

1st stop, the great orion nebula.

WOW, what an awesome sight again, especially now that i know that it is what i am looking at!

next stop, the most obvious thing in the sky. The moon!

It was really bright through the scope, and it took a while for my eyes to adjust before i could see much detail.

When they did, I was amazed an the clarity and detail i could see. Where it goes from light to dark(there is probably a technical term for this) they had so much depth to them, it was like i could almost touch the surface and feel how rough it is.

I could have spent several hours looking at just that, but i was starting to get cold and there was 1 more thing i wanted to look at.

last stop, Jupiter

;)...

need i say more?!

I will anyway.

when i finally got it centred, and using a 12.5mm EP with a 3x barlow, i could clearly see jupiter and 3 of its moons.

Also, after focusing it a little better, i could see a slightly darker strip across it. I was sooo pleased about this

At this point, i was getting really cold, so i went in and had a cuppa.

thanks for reading again.

Jack

[Jack123456]

oooh, i almost forgot...

I took some photos, but i'm not sure how i upload them.

there aren't great, but i was pleasede with a couple.