Hiya Lads and Lasses,
The night before last I operated my telescope, with Wayne, Norm and other aspiring amateur astronomers, for the first time.
Great night, with some great viewing,....with plenty of ooohs and aaahs.
The arvo started off a bit ominous with a blanket of high cloud cover but miraculously as Sirius appeared the cloud quickly moved on with a clear skies as the night enveloped.
So, no blaming of my new gear this time.
Viewed a number of Nebulae including Orion and the Tarantula Nebulae and a distant Galaxy (more on that later).
Just a couple of observations of the night and the Celestron Telescope,....from a newby perspective.
1. The red light scope mount is mounted on a dovetail mount utilising two phillips head screws. Unfortunately the mount had a tendency to pop out of the telescope when the screws were tightened too much. So it was a fine line have the red light scope secure and tight to when the whole lot pops out. Even a slight nudge when mounted it pops out. This made alignment difficult with the main tube and I am guessing as a result I did poor job of the alignment.
The solution will be to glue the small dove tail mount in the recesses,....carefully.
2. The main scope was not properly aligned. I utilised three stars to align the main scope but it was just off to the left and low. This issue was not a big problem as I quickly learnt where to look and I pretty much nailed each time after a minute or so. I don't know if I mucked up the alignment or the GPS was slightly off. Norm had a very cool double cross hair eyepiece (for Wayne not lens
) which is probably the way to go,....that and practice I suspect.
3. Wide view eye pieces are the way to go. That will be my next major purchase methinks. The eyepeices that came with the scope (40mm and 13mm) are fine, but the wide view eyepeices are fantastic and I found viewing much easier.
4. Although searching for deep field objects and adjusting the miss-alighned scope was not an issue initially, but as we started searching for deeper and fainter objects it became very difficult and all of a sudden I had all sorts of problems focusing. Initially I though it was because the objects were fainter and farther away (or smaller) but Wayne quickly discovered the issue. By glass shield was completely covered in dew. So today I am ordering covers/shields to try and negate the problem and in the future the battery operated heating coil that Wayne suggested.
5. Take warm clothes,...always even in the middle of summer. Thank you Norm for the jacket.
6. Coffee flask, drinks and nibbles.
7. I did a terrible job recording what I viewed. Actually no recording at all. I viewed a number of Messier and NGC objects but struggle to name any of them.
So I must find a method to record every nights viewing.
8. I found it a rather lovely occurrence allowing others to view objects through my Telescope. I was fortunate, compared to others, to own a Telescope like mine and allowing others to view objects was a pleasure.
Speaking of which, Michael (at BINTEL) you maybe getting more business as a result of the night.
9. One of the interesting aspects of the night was the differentiation of colours. Stars and Suns the colours were brilliant and diverse. But Nebulae and Galaxies there basically no colour differentiation, within those objects at all. I found that interesting. If I want colour from a Nebulae or Galaxy, then astro-photography is the go.
Oh Dear.
Must wait at least a year,....if at all.
What a great night!!!!
Want to give a huuuuge thanks to Wayne and Norm with their patience, knowledge and making the whole night comfortable, interesting and fun. There was quite a good turn out with mothers bringing out their kids for the evening to learn about astronomy.
10 out 10 Wayne for facilitating that. And even if only 1 in a hundred pick it up as a hobby or a passion then its well worth it it spades. You and Norm should be quite pleased and proud of yourselves.
Thank You.
So, that was my first night. Rather successful I'd say and hopefully one or two budding astronomers will get something from my post,.......from a newby perspective.
. Not a biggie but less than ideal and easily avoided.
