grantch
08-01-2013, 12:16 AM
Three week newbie...
Went down to check on the dogs water this evening around 10pm in Brisbane and noticed nearly all the clouds had disappeared for the first time in weeks. With the naked eye plenty on stars were visible, but with work tomorrow I didn't want to take the time to get the scope out and setup. Have only had a couple of nights looking through it so far, so still taking time to setup and get ready.
Instead I pulled out the binoculars, a set of 15x70 Celestron's. Not exactly small, so I have setup them up on a tripod. Have only used them for a few minutes in the few weeks I have had them, as I have found them cumbersome on the tripod with Orion (my first target) so high.
So then I had a thought, take them off the tripod and lay on my back on the kids trampoline and just stare up at the beautiful sky. Oh what have I been missing :) I know all the beginner books tell you to forget the scope and use a set of binoculars first, advice I like thousands of others have probably ignored, but to my detriment.
The sky conditions surprisingly were not bad, and bouncing around on the tramp I saw no manner of objects I would not have seen had I set up the scope for a few minutes observing. I was blown away by the detail you can see. M42 was as clear, Pleaides, and all sorts of other objects I didn't have the time to identify.
Not exactly stead viewing on the tramp, and the binocs are heavy and the arms wear out after a few minutes, but spent around 45 minutes just cruising the sky. Will definitely be repeating the experience with the kids. With my first glimpse of the ISS last night, and now this, turning out to be a great week for observing.
Long post, so thanks for taking the time to read, just had to share :)
Went down to check on the dogs water this evening around 10pm in Brisbane and noticed nearly all the clouds had disappeared for the first time in weeks. With the naked eye plenty on stars were visible, but with work tomorrow I didn't want to take the time to get the scope out and setup. Have only had a couple of nights looking through it so far, so still taking time to setup and get ready.
Instead I pulled out the binoculars, a set of 15x70 Celestron's. Not exactly small, so I have setup them up on a tripod. Have only used them for a few minutes in the few weeks I have had them, as I have found them cumbersome on the tripod with Orion (my first target) so high.
So then I had a thought, take them off the tripod and lay on my back on the kids trampoline and just stare up at the beautiful sky. Oh what have I been missing :) I know all the beginner books tell you to forget the scope and use a set of binoculars first, advice I like thousands of others have probably ignored, but to my detriment.
The sky conditions surprisingly were not bad, and bouncing around on the tramp I saw no manner of objects I would not have seen had I set up the scope for a few minutes observing. I was blown away by the detail you can see. M42 was as clear, Pleaides, and all sorts of other objects I didn't have the time to identify.
Not exactly stead viewing on the tramp, and the binocs are heavy and the arms wear out after a few minutes, but spent around 45 minutes just cruising the sky. Will definitely be repeating the experience with the kids. With my first glimpse of the ISS last night, and now this, turning out to be a great week for observing.
Long post, so thanks for taking the time to read, just had to share :)