First Light (For a bit anyway)

[KentDave]

Hi all,

Just thought I'd share my first light experience with you......

I recieved my first ever telescope yesterday, a Skywatcher 130P, and like many others have been before me, and many will after, I was disappointed not to be able to use it immediately.

I got home at 9pm today, and was pleased to see some clear skies so got straight out in the garden with my new toy.

I lined up on Sirius to adjust the red dot finder scope, and found it was pretty much there, but what really amazed me sraight away was the amount of stars I could see through the eyepiece that weren't there with the naked eye. That blew me away, given that until today I had never looked through a telescope.

With Orion in view I aimed for M42 and was pleased to find it fairly easily, and was able to see the nebula, although it was quite faint. I was using the 25mm eyepiece, then swapped for the 10mm, then trying the barlow with both to get an idea of what they all allowed me to see. What i didn't realise was using the highest magnification, how quickly oblects would move out of sight. It was fantastic to see M42, though as it moved across the sky it was always just inside the orange glowing band of light pollution, so I hope to get better views in future.

I moved up to Betelguese, and was pleased to be able to make out its browny/orangey colour. Then I turned North to see if I could make out the whirlpool galaxy near Ursa Major (M51?), I think I made out a slight blur which may or may not have been it. I realised things were becoming hard to focus on, and saw the cause when I looked around me and realised I was surrounded by fog!

With that I decided it was enough for now, coming indoors I then saw I had been outside for two and a half hours! And that I was quite cold.

I was a little sad not to see Saturn yet as it hadn't come aournd past the houses into view before the fog arrived, but it definitely gives me something else to look forward too.

In all I was really pleased.

I also learnt three important lessons:

1. Not polar alligning make it really quite fiddly to track objects.

2. Not ajusting the scope to my height in a rush to view things gives you a bad back.

3. I need to keep track of time, because I can see myself staying up all night if it's clear!

Thanks for reading, hope it isn't too boring for the more experienced astronomers among us. I'm going to have a beer to celebrate, then get some much needed sleep.

Cheers!

Dave

[jleach29]

nice first light report, get out with your scope as much as possible because this has been the cloudiest winter I can remember.

[Blackheart]

Good for you Dave

I think it's fair to say that you achieved more on your first light outing than most! Thank heavens that Saturn wasn't visible, otherwise how would you follow that next time out...

Then again, you haven't seen the moon yet have you !

BH

[Astro Imp]

Hi Dave,

You mean you got to use your scope the day after you had it - the cloud gods must have been kind to you

Seriously I enjoyed reading your report, and yes the time just zips by when your looking in your scope.

It really makes it a lot easier to roughly polar align. I know it seems scary at first but it really isn't that hard and well worth the effort.

You have plenty of good times to look forward to.

Enjoy.