First light

[michaellxv]

After getting through Christmas :xmas:, SWMBO birthday :birthday:, and yet another family gathering :drink:I could finally stay home and play with my new toy :party2:.

First light for the 10" lightbridge.

Started with Jupiter before it disappeared behind the tree. Unfortunately didn't have collimation even close so was not a good view. By the time I got it collimated to where it was useable Jupiter was gone.

Then I just went for the easy targets and wow did they look good.

M42 - I was blown away by how much I could see from my backyard. Looked like a giant bird with the wings spread wide open.

M45 - I could see more stars in there than ever before.

Eta Carina looked awsome in this thing, can't wait to get it to a dark site.

Tarantula nebula just jumped out and said look at me. I could easily see some of the other clusters in the LMC which were always hard to spot before. I will be able to make good use of those LMC charts now.

47Tuc - The number of stars that would resolve was fantastic and I could see further out to the edge also.

Jewel Box - the colours of the stars were much clearer, it really lived up to the name.

Omega Cent - The moon was up by now so I didn't get the full impact but like 47Tuc I could see so much more than with my 3" refractor.

Moon - had a quick look over the moon, still very low so lots of atmospheric disturbance but looks good for a proper study later on.

Just waiting for Saturn to get high enough for a quick look before I pack up for the night.

[GeoffMc]

Great stuff, Michael. We must have been looking at the same objects at almost the same time from two different cities! A mate of mine and I were out until around mid-night under poor seeing. I looked at Jupiter earlier (I'm much more a lunar and planetary enthusiast than deep sky) but the image was too poor to see much other than the fact that the SEB had come back. We decided to concentrate on building a list of bright DSOs suitable for teaching high school kids (I'm a teacher).

Another object we looked at was a star about 2' west of beta Crucis, which is nameless in Stellarium but renowned for its beautiful red colour (some say copper colour). I have not been able to find much of a reference to it. Does anyone know anything?

Also, there is a planetary called the Blue Planetary nebula (NGC 3918) which is surprisingly blue. An image is at

http://www.ezystyles.com.au/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=431991

Does anyone have other suggestions for prime examples of colour visible in a 30cm telescope?

Cheers,

Geoff Mc

[Robert9]

Have a look at the double star 145 CMa. Beautiful red/blue pair.
Robert

[Paddy]

Congratulations Michael on a good first light. Some really nice targets. Looking forward to some more sketches and the report of your first dark sky with your new scope.

[michaellxv]

That is probably the Jewel Box NGC4755 you were looking at. This time of year Betelgeuse in Orion is the easiest coloured star to see.



Thanks Patrick, been away for a few days but hoping to get out more this week.

[ngcles]

Hi Michael,

Glad your first experience with the 'scope was such a positive one. Hope it continues for many years to come.

The deep red star near Beta Crucis (Mimosa) (and if anyone dares to call it Beecrux I'll scream) is DY Crucis or EsB-365. The former is its variable star designation (its slight variability was only confirmed 10-odd years ago) and the latter is its designation within a list of exceptionally red stars and comes from a paper published many years ago. EsB stands for Espin-Birmingham.

It is an exceptionally red carbon star (like a drop of blood) with a B-V of +5.8. Probably the reddest I've seen. Hind's Crimson star (R Leporis) comes close though with a B-V of +5.7. By comparison, the red supergiant in the Jewel-Box cluster (NGC 4755) is has a spectral classification of M2Iab and a B-V of +2.16 -- it is also a designated variable star (DU Crucis).

Hope this helps.


Best,

Les D

[Rob_K]

Acrux, Becrux and Gacrux are all fab, but (P)Epsicrux is, like, sooooo cute...

:D








Cheers, Rob

[Rob_K]

Great first light Michael, congratulations on the new scope! :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[ngcles]

Hi Rob,



Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggg hhh !!!!!!!!!!!!


Told you so ...


Best,

Les D

[orestis]

Nice first light Michael,

I hope you have many enjoyable nights with it.

all the best, Orestis:thumbsup: