New to astronomy:

[Ace101]

Afternoon guys,

My names Steve an ive very recently found what is by all accounts, the wonderful world of astronomy.

My old man recently bought, 2 weeks ago, a Skywatcher 130/900 or the 130pm.

Im unsure if the one he has actually has the parabolic mirror or not. None of the paper work tells us exactly which type he has bought.

He bought it on a whim, without doing any research at all if it was a good scope or not, while walking around a local town with me old dear.

Neither or us new the first thing about astronomy so its kinda been left to me to do all the reaearch. . . sadly after the purchase

Anyway, it was left in the back room until the 19th March when I saw on the news it was 'a super moon' so I go tell him its a really clear evening maybe its a good time to get it in the back garden an take a look.

Only having the standard 10mm / 25mm & 2x barlo eps. We set it up an take a look at the moon. . . quite amazing sight indeed, if a little bright, actually very bright. Maybe a moon filter would have been a good idea lol, hindsight is a wonderful thing. . .

So after about 45min of viewing this very bright & larger then normal moon. 14% larger I believe. He tells me he wants to see some planets. We get out his I-phone which has a handy little ap that tells / shows you what is visable in the night sky at that time. We realise that Saturn is viewable just to the left an slightly below the moon, at that time.

After a couple of min of looking into the void I think I can see it with the naked eye. We angle his scope towards this small dot, apprehensive if the scope we have actaually has the power to make anything out except a slightly larger dot through the viewfinder, but we try anyway.

Another couple of min of focusing & angeling he starts laughing like a child then says / shouts "I can see the rings".

Im dubious if this is just wishful thinking & my response is "your as blind as a mole old man, let me take a look". . .

I was stunned to say the least, I could also make out the rings of saturn. . . first time I had definite confirmation I was looking at another planet within our solar system. . . I think everyone has this feeling when they first see Saturn & can make out the rings through a scope with there own eye. It really dose take you back some.

Over the next couple of days I register on this site, an start the bewildering task of research.

I now have Stellarium on my Pc, what a great little program that is, also bought Philip's Planisphere. Both of which have already been put to great use.

Now onto the questions:

I know there are a few factors that contribute to what you can & cant see - such as light pollution / thermal pollution etc. . .

1/ Is the scope I have powerful enough to view DSO such as M42 & M31?

2/ If not is there anything I can do - Eps maybe, that would help view DSO such as the above with my scope?

3/ If I was to go away from my back garden, into the country away from variables such as light pollution, is the scope powerful enough to view the above.

I think what im trying to get at is if I want to view DSO like M42 & M31 would I need to invest in a new scope?

Anyway, thank for reading what is by now a very long post hehehe. An thank you for any feedback in advance. . .

Steve,

[rowan46]

welcome to sgl to answer your questions both m31 and m42 will be visible in your scope certainly from a dark site they will be easy to see but even with a little light pollution you should be able to see them

[brantuk]

Hi Ace and welcome to SGL

With your scope the 25mm ep will indeed show M42, M31, M45, M13, to name but a few. Use low power wide angle ep's for the larger objects. However Andromeda is tricky at the moment being far over in the west and very faint. Congrats to your and your old man seeing saturn for the first time - a brilliant moment everybody will agree

[swamp thing]

Hi Steve

Magic moment when you first see Saturn.

Nice write up by the way.

As brantuk says there are a great many objects within the grasp of your scope.

If you can get to some dark sky it will improve the view a great deal too.

Both of my first two scopes were smaller than what you have now and I had a good few years use from both of them.

Good hunting and clear skies

Steve

[Pete Presland]

the scopes fine for most things,but there is no substitute for dark skies!

[Ad Astra]

Hello ACE, and welcome to the dark side!

Your purchase was an excellent one, if a little uninrformed! You probably want to go to stellarium.org and download the free planetarium program of that name - it will help you know what is up, learn the sky and have an idea of what to look for when you go out.

Aperture (scope size) and dark, clear skies are wonderful, but don't rush out and re-invest in something more until you have mastered what you have. The real blessing in your current scope is that it is simple, easy to use and set up - this lowers the frustration level a LOT! As you observe, you will learn about things you want to add to your kit (yes, a moon filter is an excellent, and inexpensive idea - a light pollution filter may also be a good idea for you.)

The best thing I can recommend is joining a local astro club. There are lots of folks there who have wonderful kit, and many of them would probably be happy to allow you to try out an eyepiece or a filter on your scope (or theirs!) before you buy. Nothing like trying it out before you fork over your cash! Having friends in the hobby makes it more enjoyable and keeps you up on what you can do with your new scope; and many clubs are either cheap or free to join.

Good luck!

Dan

PS: the proper spelling is "Saturn!"... Especially on your first view!

[Ace101]

Wow great feedback there guys, an quick as well. . .

Am really pleased the scope is powerful enough to see some of the things I want to use it for.

I take it, if I go 'off site' to somewhere light & thermal pollution wont be a factor is certainly the best way to go about it.

Thats not a bad thing at all seen as the scope is certainly small enough to move with little effort. . . excellent news!

When you say I can indeed see DSO with my scope, will I be able to make out things like colour / cloud formation / detail, or just the clusters of stars within the area of things like M42 & M31?

And lastly, thank you for the warm welcome to the site. . . It's always pleaseing to have friendly advice from 'people that know'.

Think I may well have found myself another hobby besides motorbikes hehehe

[swamp thing]

I Don't recall ever seeing colour in my 4.5" newt except in some stars.

Not sure what you mean by "cloud formation"?

You can certainly see detail. Some open clusters are superb in small scopes like yours.

Get yourself a copy of "Nortons star atlas" its a gold mine of info on whats up there. "Turn left at Orion" is highly praised on here too.

Regards Steve

[GazA]

i have the same, if not the same scope and can confirm you can see all these features, i found with a good dark sky its also a lot easier to find them too, currently using the star walk app on the iphone to star hop.

just dont go overboard and do what i did and find a bright light in the sky and find out it was a plane head on! (had previously not found it on the app) LOL

also download stellarium its brilliant!

[Ace101]

OMG - I just run in the house to let y'all know I can see 'The Great Nebula in Orion' - M42.

Had to start by locating Alnitak - HIP 26727 A Then went straight down. . .

Was looking most of the evening, better part of 2 hours. Then suddenly had that Eureka Moment. . . 20:25 BST.

No colour, but I wasnt expecting any after the replys above, you can blatantly see the aura difference between the black void'ness an Nebula around:

HIP 26221 A

HIP 26235 E

HIP 26224 C

Another first, an looks great, now I know what im looking for it should be easy to find it again when the old man is around.

Also found that mass of stars between Pleione HIP 17851 & Electra HIP 17499 - God should put his toys away once hes done, not leave them out all over the place. . . lol

Night is very clear indeed, even from the back garden. . .

Brilliant!!!

[Ad Astra]

Excellent ACE!

You found the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus! The entire 'V' of Taurus is actually a cluster called the Hyades - and also very beautiful. Instead of sweeping right (west) from Orion, swing left instead and look into Canis Major (Sirius is the brightest star anywhere in the sky - easy to find). You will find some nice clusters and double stars here as well!

You can also take a look at My Astronomy Class here on SGL - it has lots of activities you can download and try for free! Almost 300 people on SGL have taken advantage of it!

Dan

[stick]

hi ace

welcome to SGL

I'm a newbie as well and everyone on here is really friendly and ready to offer advice

I bought my first scope a couple of weeks ago (second hand from a mate) and its the same as yours (Skywatcher explorer 130pm ??)

It seems to be a really good beginners scope and gets a fair amount of praise on here (at least for an entry level scope)

I think I'm right in saying that if the focal length is 650mm (check the badge on the scope) it should be the parabolic mirror (if it says 900, its the spherical)

Use this link and you can download the instruction manual if you haven't already

(downloads as a PDF)

TELESCOPE SUPPLIERS - SKY-WATCHER TELESCOPE

Hope this helps

enjoy your scope....i know i am !

Stick

[Ace101]

Excellent ACE!

You found the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus! The entire 'V' of Taurus is actually a cluster called the Hyades - and also very beautiful. Instead of sweeping right (west) from Orion, swing left instead and look into Canis Major (Sirius is the brightest star anywhere in the sky - easy to find). You will find some nice clusters and double stars here as well!

You can also take a look at My Astronomy Class here on SGL - it has lots of activities you can download and try for free! Almost 300 people on SGL have taken advantage of it!

Dan

If thats what its called 'Pleiades star cluster' I'll of course take your word for it my friend. . . It was second best thing I saw this evening.

I could just about see it with naked eye, above my house, exactly due west - @ 20:30 BST.

I thought id take a closer look at that tightly packed group of 5-6 stars, an stuff.

25mm wide angle on the VF, an 30 seconds later, I could see it was quite a few more then 5-6 stars, infact substantially more then 5-6 lol. . .

I haven't looked at Canis Major at all as yet. All I can see around that area of space, with the naked eye, is Sirius. Which as you said, is pretty dame bright indeed.

I'll try to find M41 / M47 & M93, an everything I can around that area on the next clear evening. Hopefully 2morrow. . .

Still the best view this evening was M42, I honestly thought I would not be able to locate that after a good 1 & 1/2 hours of trying. Then later on in the evening when it got a bit darker it suddenly came into view. 25mm W/A on the VF i found was best with my set up. 10mm an you lost some of the detail. x2 barlow really didnt help that much either.

I had to pan the angle of the scope left / right / left / right before I could tell that must be the Great Nebula in Orion. Very exciting stuff indeed.

Btw thanks for the llinks, ill certainly take a look an give some a go over the coming weeks / months.

To be continued.

Steve,

[Ace101]

hi ace

welcome to SGL

I'm a newbie as well and everyone on here is really friendly and ready to offer advice

I bought my first scope a couple of weeks ago (second hand from a mate) and its the same as yours (Skywatcher explorer 130pm ??)

It seems to be a really good beginners scope and gets a fair amount of praise on here (at least for an entry level scope)

I think I'm right in saying that if the focal length is 650mm (check the badge on the scope) it should be the parabolic mirror (if it says 900, its the spherical)

Use this link and you can download the instruction manual if you haven't already

(downloads as a PDF)

TELESCOPE SUPPLIERS - SKY-WATCHER TELESCOPE

Hope this helps

enjoy your scope....i know i am !

Stick

Hey Stick,

Thanks for answering that question for me mate. It would appear mine is not the 130P an is actually 130/900, without parabolic. . .

Which is a shame but still I wont let that take away from the enjoyment im getting from the scope. And as you said for a starter scope its absolutley fine. Something nice and cheap for me / us to cut our teeth on.

Am still cruising the night skys an enjoying every moment. That and my dad bought it so hey its free as far as im concerned hehehe. . .

I kinda already know what scope I want next, either:

SkyWatcher Skyliner 200P Parabolic Dobsonian Telescope

or

SkyWatcher Skyliner 250PX Parabolic Dobsonian Telescope

Cant deside if I want an 8 inch or 10 inch. . . either way it WILL BE a Dobsonian for sure.

From what I can gather, us beginners should put our money into optics more then electrics. . .

Steve,