first observing session with ED80- success!

[DJDD]

hello, all!

Equipment: ED80Pro on EQ6Pro.
Eyepieces: Bintel superview 30mm, Orion Stratus 8mm and a 2X barlow.

This is not a very good report and by posting a success story I am really thanking those who helped me get the telescope and mount aligned correctly.

I had my first "true" observing session two nights ago from my backyard, showing my best friend and his wife the sights. I was putting pressure on myself to get it right and entertain in the same session. thankfully, the session went well.

I started with the moon at about 9:30pm, Venus briefly (trees in the way) and Betelgeuse; however, because it very bright near my house I had to wait until about about 10:30 for good views of 47 Tuc, M42, M47, M50.

Moon: My friends were blown away by the moon (from 20X up to 150X- near max for my telescope). They could not get enough of it. I had trouble focussing but my friend's wife was a natural. I need to get a moon filter, though.

Betelgeuse looked nice but a bit dull...

M47 and M50 at 75X were fine, although a bit diffuse and without pleasing structure. I chose these because there was not much else that was viewable from my location.

M42 and 47 Tuc were the stand-outs for me.
I previously used the SkyWatcher LET 5mm (with and without a barlow) and was very dissapointed. I then used the Orion Stratus 8mm with and without a barlow. wow! What a difference.


M42: they loved looking at the Trapezium within the nebula. So did I, frankly, especially after previously using the 5mm LET from skywatcher, through which I saw very little.

47 Tuc: Spectacular!
My friend's wife was at the eyepiece for a while using averted vision and after about 5 minutes something clicked for her and she exclaimed in wonder at the individual stars she was able to see. We had to drag her from the telescope to give her husband a go!

Some thoughts:
My alignment was reasonably good, even without drift alignment. I left betelgeuse in the centre of the view of the 30mm eyepiece and after a good ten minutes it had not moved too much. However, that might be expected? On the next clear night i will try drift aligning the system.

Eyepieces: I am glad I bought the mid-priced Orion Stratus 8mm to replace my LET 5mm. Although I do not have any other "quality" eyepieces to which to compare the stratus I think it was a good decision. The 5mm Skywatcher eyepiece was terrible and upgrading to anything had to be better. my viewing experience improved considerably.


anyway, thanks for reading.

cheers,
DJDD

[Smirnoff]

Good stuff! I always enjoy reading these reports, thanks for posting

[DJDD]

thanks.

not much of a report, though. partly for the fact that i only looked through the telescope long enough to check alignment. I let my friends look through the telescope instead.

[Coen]

I enjoy showing people the night sky, took the opportunity at the New Years Eve party I attended to take the telescope just in case. Sure enough folk were interested, especially when you add some facts and figures to explain what they are looking at.

I find keeping a short list of one or two objects of type is sufficient as interest wanes, if it does not then they'll get a telescope of their own before long.

The Moon and planets are nearly always winners for people who have not seen them before - the phases of Venus, the moons of Jupiter etc.

Kids are good fun with scopes but generally shorter attention spans, just the comments and looks on faces are great.

Good stuff and sounds like the scope is a winner for you.

[leon]

Fantastic, it seems like you had a ball, and rightly so, congratulations on a great report, and keep them coming

Leon

[DJDD]

thanks, leon and coen. I did have a good time.

Having only given one "star party" I can see ways to improve the experience, although some of my comments are gleened from experiences tutoring at university.

1. as you say, Coen, keep the list of objects short and limit to interesting/exciting objects. People lose interest otherwise. I found that doubles and triples did not keep people's attention longer than to say "that star you can see with your naked eye is really two stars". I think it is cool, but...

2. have another telescope handy or pair of binoculars so that other people can have a look at something whilst waiting for a go at the main telescope. For binoculars, it is especially important to point the viewer to particular objects otherwise it is a waste of time.

3. before showing people the object through the telescope give them a quick 'naked eye' tour of the area you are going to look at. This gives a sense of place to the object. You do not need a laser pointer for this. My friend was especially intigued that there was nothing to see 'naked eye' where we were pointing the telescope but could easily see M50 and a lot of other stars through the telescope.

4. Study up on the objects.
That is, ensure you have an idea about the clusters/nebulae/galaxies you are looking at. You do not need to tell them all/any of these facts as it can get a little bit dull (it depends on the audience, i guess).
hobbyists can drone on a bit (even astronomers... ) and some peopel just want a little bit of information not the entire wikipedia entry.

For example (questions I was asked):
- what is the difference between an open cluster and a globular cluster, especially if you are going to look at both
- why are the stars you see in the object particular colours
- how far away is the object, how long did it take for light to reach us
- how old is the object
- what are the differences between telescope types
- know a few constellations and the brightest stars in them, and any interesting facts (e.g. doubles/triples, etc.) even if you will not show them the object
- some people are very technical or photographers like my friend and can ask technical questions, so a better understanding of focal lengths, magnifications, telescope 'speeds' may be necessary
- etc.

Remember that every time you give a 'factoid' someone is going to ask a follow up question so be prepared. Perhaps listen to the Astronomy 161 and 162 lectures again.

5. ensure that everyone is warm (have extra jumpers handy). My friend's wife was very interested in the views but was too cold to look for long.


I am sure that IIS members already have thought of these and many more useful tips for "star parties"; I am really using the forum to record my own observations about improving my entire atsronomy experience.

cheers,
DJDD