IanT
12-11-2007, 10:15 AM
Hello
As a newcomer to modern instrumental astronomy (6 months) I am constantly amazed by the number of interesting objects to be seen with a telescope. On Friday night I stayed up with my son to watch a low pass by the ISS through Centaurus and Crux. Great. On Saturday afternoon I set up my 'scope and then woke up at 3 am (first time ever). In Fitzroy, Melbourne, the phrase dark sky is an oxymoron yet I was totally bowled over by what was on show. After the last few months getting to know Sagittarius, Scorpius and neighbours, it was fantastic to see Orion, Canis Major and Taurus high in the sky. Even though the western sky was pretty empty with Pegasus dipping down low, it was possible to move from, among others, The Pleides, the Hyades, M42, M43, M41, across to Puppis and Carina with Eta Carinae, The southern Pleaides, 47 Tuc and the Tarantula nebula. What a fantastic sweep of sky!
I had grown up squinting through a 50mm refractor (on a tripod 20cm high) 40 years ago and even though good fun was, I never realised what I was missing. I had resigned myself to the fact that views through a telescope never live up to their photographic counterparts. How wrong I was. On Saturday night I had an ephiphany. M42 was so much more dramatic and dynamic and spectaclar than I could have imagined. All those years of reading about the trapezium and the great swirls of nebulosity in books such as Sir Robert Ball's "The Story of the Heavens", suddenly became manifest. Even in beautiful photographs, I could never decide which four stars constituted the trapezium. I still can't, but there they were in my very own eyepice.
In a somewhat deferential tone I have to confess that because of the enthusiasm of southern hemispherical reports I had expected M42 to be a lesser object than Eta Carinae. No way. The same with the open cluster M41. I can't wait for this stretch of sky to rise a few hours earlier because that 3 am start, even though it was worth it, was a killer.
Cheers
Ian
As a newcomer to modern instrumental astronomy (6 months) I am constantly amazed by the number of interesting objects to be seen with a telescope. On Friday night I stayed up with my son to watch a low pass by the ISS through Centaurus and Crux. Great. On Saturday afternoon I set up my 'scope and then woke up at 3 am (first time ever). In Fitzroy, Melbourne, the phrase dark sky is an oxymoron yet I was totally bowled over by what was on show. After the last few months getting to know Sagittarius, Scorpius and neighbours, it was fantastic to see Orion, Canis Major and Taurus high in the sky. Even though the western sky was pretty empty with Pegasus dipping down low, it was possible to move from, among others, The Pleides, the Hyades, M42, M43, M41, across to Puppis and Carina with Eta Carinae, The southern Pleaides, 47 Tuc and the Tarantula nebula. What a fantastic sweep of sky!
I had grown up squinting through a 50mm refractor (on a tripod 20cm high) 40 years ago and even though good fun was, I never realised what I was missing. I had resigned myself to the fact that views through a telescope never live up to their photographic counterparts. How wrong I was. On Saturday night I had an ephiphany. M42 was so much more dramatic and dynamic and spectaclar than I could have imagined. All those years of reading about the trapezium and the great swirls of nebulosity in books such as Sir Robert Ball's "The Story of the Heavens", suddenly became manifest. Even in beautiful photographs, I could never decide which four stars constituted the trapezium. I still can't, but there they were in my very own eyepice.
In a somewhat deferential tone I have to confess that because of the enthusiasm of southern hemispherical reports I had expected M42 to be a lesser object than Eta Carinae. No way. The same with the open cluster M41. I can't wait for this stretch of sky to rise a few hours earlier because that 3 am start, even though it was worth it, was a killer.
Cheers
Ian