New to the game

[ShOrEbReAk]

Hi

Bought the kids a Newtonian skywatcher for Christmas and let's just say I had 2 hrs sleep last night :)
Did the usual look at the moon oooooh ahhhhh thing then mucked around for a while. The first planet I found was Jupiter around 2 am and wasn't to impressed so I waited for Saturn to rise and was very surprised at the detail through the scope, as was my daughter. The sun was comming up by this stage so I decided to show her Jupiter and low and behold it was crisp and I could see the banding around the planet and what I think was 2 moons to the left of it. Is this usual viewing for Jupiter early morning with sun rising for a better view?
Now I am hooked and am planning to be up at 430 in the morning to show my son.

Troy

[ralph1]

Yes, I have found this effect as well with jupiter in a twilit sky and I suspect it is because the high sky brightness decreases dark adaptation and glare. For your case it could be because it is higher in the sky at dawn or that the telescope was better cooled down. Right now you're observing saturn at the worst possible time so if it's good now it'll only get better! Where I live the seeing generally gets worse throughout the night but I'm down in the bottom of a valley so that could have something to do with it.
How big is the telescope? Whats its F/ratio? What eyepieces did it come with?

Hope your skies stay clearer than mine have been.
Ralph

[barx1963]

The single biggest factor determining how planets look is their elevation. If they are low, they usually look like rubbish because you are looking though more atmosphere.

Malcolm

[Allan_L]

Hi Troy,
Welcome to IceInSpace :welcome:
Yeah! That's how it starts!
The two big planets are good objects to view with their identifying bands rings and moons.
But wait till you start exploring Deep Space Objects (DSO's).
Orion nebula (middle "star" in the sword of Orion);
Eta Carina, (bright blob to the "right" of the (erect) Southern Cross)
47 Tuc (adjoining the Small Magellanic Cloud)
Tarantula Nebula (adjoining the Large Magellanic Cloud)
Omega Centauri (up and to the left of the Cross)
Centaurus A (galaxy out from Omega Centauri)
just to name a few.

You should download a FREE Planitarium software. Stellarium is great for identifying, planning, and finding observable objects.
http://stellarium.org/

Enjoy your new hobby.
Keep looking Up!
Allan

[ShOrEbReAk]

Hey

Thanks for the replies. Just finished looking again. Saturn is a bugger to keep in the scope, probably cause I'm using a eq2 which I am still learning to use.
Jupiter is a lot higher and stays in focus longer and I was quite surprised how much the moons had moved!

Its a D=130 F=1000 eq2 with a clock drive attachment, I haven't used this yet

I'm using a 2xBarlow with a 10mm eyepiece .

Can't wait to see nebula etc.

Thinking tonight I will drive out a bit to a darker spot to try and see those nebula etc as later on I would like to photograph what I'm seeing.

Anyways having fun so that's the first step :)

Troy

[brian nordstrom]

:welcome: Troy and family .
You have a really good scope there but doing the maths, eg 1000mm focal length of scope divided by 10mm eye piece= 100x then x 2 (for the Barlow)= a whooping 200x magnified view!!! .
That is getting up where if the EQ2 is not perfectly set up the planet will move out of the field of view very fast.
My advice is use the 25 mm eye piece first (40 x) then the barlow for 80x then the 10mm for 100x , only use the 10mm and Barlow for when you have mastered the scope and as said before. , view when the object when it is high in the sky .
Enjoy the scope. , it is a beauty , but keep the magnification down below 100x for now.:thumbsup:
Brian.

[ralph1]

Is the barlow one of those types with an unscrewable lens cell? If so try unscrewing the lens cell and screwing it into the bottom of the eyepiece. On my barlow this gives roughly 1.5X. That could give more magnification than the 10mm eyepiece on its own but still allow the mount to handle it.

I own a celestron skyprodigy 130mm telescope and I regularly use a 6mm eyepiece+2X barlow for lunar, planetary and double stars. It is F/5 though so it is only at 216X. With the mount well aligned it can keep a planet in the FOV for an hour but it could go longer - I haven't observed one object for that long yet.

[ShOrEbReAk]

Thanks guys
:thanx:
I think my main problem is I haven't set the eq properly. I have filters as well lunar, red, blue and yellow which screw into the eye pieces also. Makes a difference with the moon I haven't tried on Jupiter yet though. So much to try and so little time :help:

I will have a look at the Barlow and try that trick if possible.

Also I noticed I can unscrew the 1.25 and have an option to mount 2" eyepieces will this help?

Anyways going for a drive tonite and with a guide on polar lining I found here I will try that out to see if the stars stay longer than a F1 race car in the lens :eyepop:

Also any clubs here in adelaide looking for new members or any somone can recommend?

Cheers again

Troy

[louie_the_fly]

Hi Troy. Try the Astronomical Society of SA. I'm not a member, but I think some on here are. :thumbsup:

[ShOrEbReAk]

Cheers Stewart :thumbsup:

Will look them up and go for a look what harm can it do? Other than a maxed Visa card for a bigger scope hahahahaha

Troy

[louie_the_fly]

What harm can it do? Don't laugh, it'll happen. Sounds to me like you're hooked.

There are several methods that we employ to break the news to the other half that we've just shelled out $$$$ on something she has little or no understanding of. I generally get all my astro stuff with the optional bouquet of flowers. :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

The ASSA have a site at Stockport near Hamley Bridge, north of the big smoke. They also have a website at https://www.assa.org.au/

I thought about going for a squiz, but I'm not much into clubs.

[ShOrEbReAk]

stewart

hahahahahaahah I use the kids as my purchase leeway :lol:

I learnt tonight maybe the aren't as interested as I thought and I got a scope for Christmas.

I'm not really into the club scene either but trying to read the stars is like reading Chinese to me at the moment:question:

Plus the mount arghhhh more questions about it every time. need to find someone to help with the stars and mount.

Thank god for Jupiter it is my only friend at the moment!:( but I think I may have caught mercury or Venus just as sun went down(according to stellarium)

Long steep learning curve for me

Troy.

[ralph1]

It likely would have been venus because it is brighter and higher. Was is dark enough to see any stars at that point? If so it was venus. Mercury is below and to the left of venus in the evening sky and appears about as bright as the average star. Venus is far brighter than anything else apart from the moon.

[creeksky]

You could always say you are looking for a comet to name after the wife :)
If you can get hold of a cheap andriod phone or tablet I have found google sky or skyeye great apps for holding up to the sky and showing what you are looking at.
I may soon have to max my visa too, but have only myself to convince-too easy:question:

[ralph1]

speaking of comets, C/2014Q2 Lovejoy could be a potential target all night. Ideal would be about midnight but as long as its still dark any time should do.
I get my comet charts from cometchasing.skyhound.com. depending on how dark your skies are you should be able to see it in binoculars or possibly the naked eye.

[ShOrEbReAk]

Ralph

There were stars around just after sundown. Came through as a red star close to horizon to the side of the sun. Wasn't Mars had stellarium on at the time.
It was either one :)

Pete

I went to a darkish site and got lost looking for the comet love joy. That's what I went out for to show the wife and kids. They got to see Jupiter again. I can tell the saucepan, Sthn cross and the fake cross but can't tell anything else so it gets frustrating tying to make out constellations.

Anyways
Cheers guys
troy

[creeksky]

Google is your star guide. ;)Apparently comet lovejoy is near Sirius and Canopus in the east, Sirius was the brightest star poking through the clouds here last night.I was going to move the table and scope to look at it but it started raining, today is shaping up cloud free, so tonight should be good.:eyepop:

[ShOrEbReAk]

pete

sirrius and canopus are they the two near ther dipper, as I tried looking for the constellation lepa above the dipper to find it?

I got Eyskye once I got home last night and reading another post so I will see if that one helps. Google I will also try.

hopefully the clouds don't come in tonight:confused2:

Troy

[creeksky]

Googlesky app will let you "timetravel"to see where the stars will be at a certain time you want to look.so will SkEye, I am hopeless with constelations, they must have been drunk on something to make those dots form complex pictures or bored with no scopes?
Another good android app is called starchart, but you need to pay $3.10aud to get addons to show you where comets are.
Also, those apps have arrows that guide you to move until the star/planet etc is found, one even has alt/azm which I hope I can use to match up with the alt/azm on my little toy Dob to point it right?
Not sure if bigger Dobsonians have that?

[Hoges]

Troy,

See if you can download 'starmap' for either your phone/ipad/ipod from the itunes site. (maybe available as an android app too...not sure). It will show you what's currently in the sky to view at any specific time. An excellent app. Find Tuc 47 (small blob just below and to the right of the small Magellanic cloud. And M42 in the middle star of the sword of orion. (sword is upside down here and some folks call it the 'saucepan' with the sword as the handle).

Sometimes it pays to go out with a list of things to find (and a map to find them). And info - it adds enormously to the enjoyment if you know what it is you're looking at, how far away it is, how big it is, how many stars it contains etc. Alan's post (#4) contains some great viewing. Even viewing Alpha Centauri (brightest star of the pointers that point toward the southern cross) with moderate magnification will reveal our closest neighbor to be more than one star. And while you're in that neighborhood, the Jewel Box cluster is very pretty too.

ps: the 'dipper' is a northern constellation that we don't get to see down south - you may mean the 'saucepan' which is not a saucepan at all....lol, perhaps it should be!

[ralph1]

Directly above the saucepan at sunset is rigel and directly below it is betelgeuse which is orange. If you extend the three brightest stars of the saucepan to the left you find aldebaran which is orange like betelgeuse. If you extend it to the right you find sirius which is the brightest star in the sky. a little bit later you can use sirius and betelgeuse as the corners of an equilateral triangle. at the third corner you will find procyon which is yellow. canopus is even further to the right and above of sirius.
The constellation Lepus is directly above rigel at sunset.

[ShOrEbReAk]

Ralph, John and Pete.

That information is great. now I know that the saucepan is backwards it helps.

If I polar align my mount I cant then turn the mount north right? I have been to the library and borrowed the Phillips sky atlas and a beginners astronomy book. all this info I am SLOWLY getting to grips.:shrug::question: plus reading all the posts and articles from here and the web my head is rolling with info:screwy:

Looks like I am getting clear skies tonight and head back out towards the Barossa again tonight, as last night was unreal with the darker skies!
This time I am going solo NO KIDS to nag and fight :lol:.

Anyways everyone here has been great with the information given and I really appreciate the help.

cheers
Troy

[creeksky]

Have fun! Looking forward to hearing what you see.
Clear skys here too,wish I was home on the farm ,but will see how I go with light polution, should be fun,:)

[Hoges]

Once you get your mount polar aligned, you can still access all the sky with the telescope. Although I find that sometimes an equatorial mount can leave the scope in odd positions - you may have to occasionally rotate the Newtonian scope in it's rings to get comfy access to the eyepiece.

You should only ever need to adjust the altitude once - providing the scope is level. So pointing it within a few degrees of the pole should keep things in the eyepiece for several minutes. Photography requires really precise polar alignment but for casual observation, a rough setup should suffice.

[ShOrEbReAk]

John

Cheers for that !

Just setting up now but the winds are going to kill me I think. See what happens as I have never dealt with winds and the telescope.

Cheers troy

[ShOrEbReAk]

All set up south wards now wait for the stars.

My lovely 6mth pregnant wife is chilling back with me no kids loving it

Troy

[Hoges]

Sounds like a good night for low power views of M42 and Tuc47. I often imagine what it would be like to be on a planet circling a star that was part of a globular cluster - hundreds of thousands of stars relatively (1 light year??) apart...the mind boggles.

[ShOrEbReAk]

John

Ok you have given me something to achieve, well hopefully. I gather what photos in books look like is nothing like what you actually see?

Anyways let you know how things pan out. Just need the stars to show up have 2 so far. By SkEye Sirius and Canopus :)

[Hoges]

That's probably why so many of us are into astrophotography these days. A five minute photograph can show me stuff I have never seen - like the horsehead nebula and spiral arms in galaxies.

Having said that, the bigger globular clusters DO appear like the photographs in a reasonable scope and saturn and jupiter never fail to give a 'wow' moment. Double stars - particularly contrasting colors - can be really pretty as can a lot of star clusters. My favorite targets are usually galaxies - alas in my small scopes they are rarely more than small grey smudges...the mere fact that I can see them and I can find out how far away they are gives me a good sense of satisfaction. Finding stuff like the Grus quartet (four galaxies close together) in a small refractor is very pleasing. Object appreciation and knowing what you're looking at is a big part of the enjoyment. (at least for me).

[ShOrEbReAk]

hey

just got back home, short and sweet.

I think I found a cloud like structure, my scope was in focus on other stars when I moved the position of the scope bam it was there. focused in and out to make sure and it was still there.

while looking above the Southern cross up higher I found a cluster, this by EySkye was N2669 in VELA. So I may have actually found something.

couldn't find Lovejoy, no love for me or I just didn't know I seen it. M42 was a bust.

All was done just with the 20mm and no Barlow. Starting to think the Barlow sucks ahahahahahaha

Anyways rains are a coming so a few days to read up on my new hobbie.
Thanks again guys

Troy

[Starlite]

Troy, A good tip to keep the kids interested is to have a list of stars with the light year distance from the earth. Sirius 8.58. Rigil Kent 4.37. Alpha Centauri 4.37. Caster 52. etc. Find the ones that are the kids, mum, dad. grandparents age and explain to them that the light they are seeing right now started it's journey when they were born.:)

[ralph1]

John
Just to clarify, Rigil Kent and Alpha Centauri are the same star.

[barx1963]

Troy
Well done on finding something. The area you are looking at around Vela is open cluster central so is prime territory for smaller scopes.
M42 should be an easy get as it is all but a naked eye object. If your finder is accurately aligned you should be able to place it easily in the finder and it should be close in the main scope.
You do have an EQ mount and from experience these can a little getting used to and patience so take your time!
With the barlow, I am not a big fan of them, tried them on several occasions and never liked them, other use them a lot but I always prefer a stand alone eyepiece.

Cheers

Malcolm

[ShOrEbReAk]

Malcolm

That's the first night I polar aligned the scope and I was there before dark and aligned the scope and finder after I set up the scope.
M42 is it a bright red cluster?
Barlow is now going into the unused pile as I had more luck last night with out it. just happy to find something, my big problem is I am seeing stuff but probably not recognising it :).
one thing I noticed was I was running out of adjustment in some directions on the scope if you get what I mean, no more adjustment available. if I moved the scope to a different position it would come back to letting me adjust.
I had little drift with the clock drive but then it would start jumping cogs so I stoped using it as I think it was at its adjustment level for the way the scope was facing?


John will try that next time I take the kiddos. as I found castor and pollox and looked at sirrius. Damn bright star had the 4 lines look but I think that is from the Newtonian. now I am getting familiar with constellations I will start by searching each one individually like someone posted in another topic.

cheers again guys for the advice and listening to a new member, this is what helps a forum and keeps people interested in this hobby. :thanx:

skies are cloudy and raining so reading up for me tonight

Troy:thumbsup:

[Hoges]

M42 is the bright nebula top center/right in the photo. It's a real standout in a scope but you won't see the color. It's the middle 'star' in Orion's sword with the two bright stars bottom left being part of Orion's belt. (or, if you must!, the bottom stars of the saucepan).

The flame nebula is below the bottom right star with the horsehead nebula silhouetted against the red glow above the star - which I've never seen in an eyepiece but is visible in a 5 minute photograph. This was a stack of about 7 4 minute exposures I took the other evening with a 70-300mm lens.

edit: just above the Horsehead is Sigma Orion - a very pretty multiple star that's worth a look. To me, multiple stars are actually more impressive through the scope than in a photograph.

[ralph1]

Cloudy and raining? The clouds must have got sick of tormenting me and picked another victim instead:P

[ShOrEbReAk]

John

Thanks for the information. That photo is awesome and something I want to do later!

Ralph hahahahahaha the rains have passed and we have blue skies at the moment hahahahahaha so I may just go again hahahahahahahaha

Cheers guys

[louie_the_fly]

Having a lot of fun there by the sound of it Troy. I'm not a big fan of Barlow lenses. Think I've used mine maybe twice in the past couple of years. I'm going to take it out of my eyepiece case and replace it with another eyepiece.

[ShOrEbReAk]

Hey found a book called southern gems by Stephen James o'meara.
This is awesome, has photos of the different objects so I now have an idea what to look for! Have a read good book!

Troy

[Hoges]

He's got some very, very good books. I get a lot of info out of his books. I spent a lot of time reading his Messier objects book and try as I might, I could not see the details that he could, even though I had a much bigger scope. He's an excellent and meticulous observer and has access to some pretty good seeing on the top of one of the Hawaiin volcanoes.

He also has 'Caldwell Objects' and 'Hidden Treasure' published which are excellent books. I should probably re-read mine!

(I haven't seen 'Southern Gems' - I'll look it up).

[ShOrEbReAk]

Hey

My names troy and I am a scope junkie, my last binge was tonight in the backyard hahahahahahahaha

Anyways had a look at the sword part of Orion (handle of saucepan :P)

Attached is a sketch looks like preschooler did it,is this M42? The wife kids and I all looked at it with just the 20mm. The 10 mm didn't look so good in my wife and my opinion took away some detail. She swears she seen blues and greens but I just saw a grey swirling around the stars.

Please tell me I saw something or the right object:screwy:

Troy

[ralph1]

Yes Troy, you are certainly in the right region and that sketch looks vaguely like M42 but to my eyes it looks curvier. I have only seen colour in M42 once, in a 16 inch telescope but I see no reason why you wouldn't see colour in a smaller telescope. The arrow you drew on the saucepan points exactly to M42.

[ShOrEbReAk]

Ralph

Cheers mate. Yes the clouds were more crescent shaped than my drawing,sort of an S curve to the top of the stars. Hard to draw in the dark but I am going to need to practice. Wohoo one off the list.

Cheers again for your help

Troy

[raymo]

Peoples' colour acuity varies considerably. Many people [including me when I was a lot younger] see some green in M42 in quite small scopes.
A few even see a hint of pink. I don't see colour in it with anything smaller than 12" now.
raymo

[ralph1]

Troy
What light source do you use to draw? A dim red light is best but if you don't have one try putting brown packing tape over a normal torch - about 25 layers should do it. It should be bright enough to read by at night, but no brighter. Another excellent target for your telescope is the Pleiades. they won't all fit in the FOV of the 20mm but are probably the most obvious deep sky object. To find them find Aldebaran using orions belt[the bottom of the saucepan] and continue moving away from orion. They should look like a small group of 5-9 stars[or more depending on the darkness of the sky]

Raymo
I saw the green as soon as I looked through the scope. Another observer saw red on the outskirts but that was beyond me:(

[ShOrEbReAk]

Raymo
my wife wears glasses but seen this without her glasses through scope. Eyes must be like people then, all the same but completely different inside.
Haven't seen through anything bigger than I got yet so I'll let you know when I do happen to get a chance.

Ralph
Hey I was using a red light,but it is a poxy one that came with a star kit.
Will look for the Pleiades tonight if I get the chance but with New Year's Eve I don't like my chances. Are they by any chance in a diamond with a tail looking set of stars. Only just see them with my eye. Tiny little group of stars lower to horizon.

Cheers

Troy

[ralph1]

Troy
Yes, That's exactly what they are like. The best time to see them at this time of year is between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m, when they will appear towards the north.
They're very bright - the brightest star cluster in the sky and the brightest messier object[Messier objects have M followed by a number. M42 is one, the pleiades is M45]

[Allan_L]

Track along Orion's belt (the base of the saucepan) to the left...
there you will see a V arrangement of stars with a bright Orange star atop one of the limbs (that constellation is Taurus and the star is Aldebaran)...
Continue about the same distance to the left and you will see a roundish smudge of stars in a group about the size of a 10c piece held at arms length ... The Pleiades. (aka the Seven Sisters) A group of (more than 7) stars with inter-twined nebulosity (gas clouds).

Mythology says the Seven sisters were being pursued by Orion and they took refuge on the back of Taurus (The Bull).

[ShOrEbReAk]

Allan and Ralph

I thought they were the seven sisters and you have confirmed this and if time permits tonite I will be looking upwards again hahahahaha.

Troy

[Allan_L]

Last night they were almost washed out by the waxing moon.
Tonight, the moon will be even closer to them, and brighter, so they will be very hard to spot.
It will probably be 10 days or so from now that they will start to be a decent target again.

[ShOrEbReAk]

Allan,

you are correct I had a look but couldn't see them, plus some cloud cover didn't help. I will wait for the 10 days and try again. its amazing how bright the moon can be, especially without the filter on, damn near burnt my eyeballs:eyepop:

Troy

[ralph1]

To be more precise, 7th January should be the first opportunity to see the Pleiades in a dark sky. There will be a short window of opportunity at 9:15 p.m. between the end of twilight and moonrise.
Try looking at the moon for longer or in the early twilight, it gets dimmer the longer you look. I like to observer the moon using no filter - even when it is full. I prefer to allow my eyes to de-dark adapt instead of adding extra glass which could degrade the image.
In my opinion the planet that benefits most from filter use is Jupiter. If you can get your hands on a blue filter it can enhance the clouds and great red spot.

[ShOrEbReAk]

Ralph

Cheers for the information! I will be watching the weather for the 7th but from the weather we are getting atthe moment 43c I think it should be good viewing.

Is winter as hyped up as they say for viewing?

Cheers

Troy

[ShOrEbReAk]

Well gents

Clear skies tonite,had my rest last night so outside tonite!

Hope any of the Adeladians haven't been hit by the big fire over the hills out north!

Troy

[ralph1]

Yes, the nights are long, clear and mosquito free. Also, the centre of the Milky Way with all its eye candy is high up around midnight. Lots of clear nights - 3 consecutive months of no cloud, the planets and moon pass high overhead, in short incredible viewing.

[ShOrEbReAk]

Hey

I think I may have found my answer to getting lost in space a hahahahaha

Attached is a photo of a super cheap auto phone carrier double stick taped to my tube ring. I thought about mounting on the scope but this way phone stays upright no matter when I turn the tube for viewing ease.

I am planning to use this with the SkEye pro and the alignment tool in the software so theoretically I have a push to setup hahahahahaha.

Let you know how it goes but with all the smoke around at the moment I don't think I will be seeing stars for a bit.

Troy

[ShOrEbReAk]

damn

was a bust. need a swivel head on the phone holder! plus the tape didn't work for long hahahahaha. going to fab up a holder using a bolt to screw in once I work out what thread to use! I think its a normal camera attachment size. mmmmmmmm things to think about and try hahahahaha fun fun fun.