First viewings

[CChelle (Michelle)]

Hi everyone. Well, our telescope has arrived at last (Orion 10" dob with goto) and we have actually had two clear nights where we could get out and try to use it.

What an adventure! We (husband Bob and self) are total newbies and had no idea what we were doing. Thank goodness a very nice experieced star gazer, Phil, found us through this thread and introduced himself and offered to help if we needed it. And need help we did. We were so far off track that we'd have never gotten the scope collimated if we hadn't called upon him. It turns out that our backyards actually back up to each other (with a few acres, a road and a creek in between our actual houses).

We still haven't managed to get the goto set up properly, but we figured out how to use the hand control and we had a look at some interesting objects including Jupiter and LMG & SMG and theTucan (?) globular cluster and another cluster near Scorpio's tail, the name of which excapes me right now, as well as some double stars and, of course, the craters on the moon. The practice with the hand control is no doubt going to be valuble as is the practice with focusing and lining up.

Most importantly, we found out that our hand control had an I D ten T Error. If you spell that with the numbers one (1) and zero (0) you get a better idea of what the error is... I D 1 0 T. We are working of fixing that.

We also managed to alarm some neighbours who were wondering what our torch lights were doing in the paddock, going on and off in the same spot for hours on end.

I can't add anything useful here for other beginners except that having someone who knows what they are doing is invaluble and Phil was a real godsend.

[Robh (Rob)]

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for recounting your night-time adventure into astronomy.
Amazing coincidence that you can talk to someone on the forum and find out that person is a neighbour.

I assume you are talking about the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
The bright globular cluster in Tucana is 47 Tucanae or 47 Tuc for short.
The cluster near Scorpius' Tail was probably M7 or Ptolemy's Cluster.

Regards, Rob

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Congratulations on the new scope Michelle, 10" is a great starting size and the Orions appear to be well made.
One hint, get a small notebook and make notes of what you observe, just a few simple notes, eg date, time, name of object and a brief description. It is often hard to remember what you have seen and it is helpful to revisit objects later and compare notes.
Once you have done the collimation a few times it gets really easy.

Malcolm

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Cool, sounds like you must have some darkish skies as well with paddocks around. You are going to have some fun.
Don't worry about the ID 10 T error, it will soon self correct. I hope you've got Stellarium or similar on your computer. It will help immensely and identify your finds and find you new targets to keep you amused and amazed.

Cheers
Brent

[Poita (Peter)]

Once you get Stellarium you can move on from the I.D. Ten errors to what we lovingly call PICNIC errors at work.

Problem In Chair, Not In Computer.

Welcome to the nightowl club, you should get some stunning views with that scope and nice dark skies.

-Peter

Originally Posted by ZeroID

Cool, sounds like you must have some darkish skies as well with paddocks around. You are going to have some fun.
Don't worry about the ID 10 T error, it will soon self correct. I hope you've got Stellarium or similar on your computer. It will help immensely and identify your finds and find you new targets to keep you amused and amazed.

Cheers
Brent

[midnight (Darrin)]

Plenty of resources right here so if in doubt, post a question here and don't forget to search within IIS.

Good luck in your astro adventures Michelle. Some nice dark skies around that way and up the New England hwy.

Darrin...

[g__day (Matthew)]

Welcome to astronomy! Might I also suggest get your self comfortable seating - I use two bar stools of varying adjustable heights with arm rests. Having comfortable clothing helps too.

Its amazing what being comfortable does for your star gazing. If you never have to bend at the eye piece, and you're not too hot or cold - you'll derive so much more joy!

Clear nights,

Matthew

[Sardukar (Tim)]

cool stuff, 47 tuc is definitely my favourite globular cluster. Try and get a look at orion nebula, it will blow you away.

[CChelle (Michelle)]

Thanks for the replys, Robh, Malcolm, Brent, Peter, Darrin, Matthew and Tim (hope I haven't forgotten anyone but if I did thanks to you too). Some great suggestions. Rob you are right about Tuc 47, SMC & LMC and Ptolemy's. Brent, at the moment we only have the Starry Night that came with our scope and it is extremely helpful. We even take it (on the laptop) out into the paddock with us. Peter, we have already encountered plenty of PICNIC errors as well. They're such "fun". Matthew, I'll definitely get the seating sorted. I have a crick in my neck this morning from last nights viewing. Tim, yes, Orion Neb did indeed blow me away and is the cause of the crick. I just couldn't stop looking at it. It was such a good, clear dark night last night, we could even see the Flame Neb. It was VERY faint and not where I expected it to be (telescope flips view upside down so it was above Alnitac instead of below where Starry Night shows it) but definitely visible. That was a thrill too. I am going to post a question about eye peices and filters that might make it less faint.
Thanks again yáll.