not sure where these challenges are at the moment, with everyone at the star camp etc, so I thought I would give a rip at contributing.
I have aimed them at the newer members observing with the common equipment ie the 8" and 10" dob etc.
Post your comments and images in the thread if you get a chance.
Without further ado: Here are four from me!!!
___________________________________ ___
planetary nebula: NGC3242: "Ghost of Jupiter"
time: before midnight
My first observed planetary nebula (last night actually). Looking east at around 11:30pm at around 45 degrees, there were 4 pairs of stars that when looking from left to right looks like some descending stairs. These stars form part of the constellation Hydra. On the first step down, up and to the right of the right hand star (Mu Hydrae), lies this object. I found that in my 8x50 finder scope, this star and the planetary were in the same field of view. Easily viewable with the 12mm eyepiece and even bigger with the 6.5mm.
___________________________________ ______
double star: rigel
time: before midnight
I like this one, it presents a little challenge to resolve the double star and is often for me a good indicator of the "seeing" conditions. The main star is very bright and its little friend faint, but it is great when your eye picks the smaller one up. If you have been collimating and doing your basics, then this double is the prize for getting it right, "a bright big brother and its delicate little sister"
___________________________________ ______
groups of galaxies: constellations of Leo & Virgo
time: after midnight
Well apart from M68 and M53 and of course Jupiter, every other labelled object is a galaxy. Put in you highest mm eyepiece ie a 25mm or 30mm. If you have an ultrawide, then in she goes. Start with say the top star of the triangle of the constellation Leo and then slowly work your way up and to the right. Both of these galaxies should be in the field of view!! Not a bad bonus eh???
Where to stop?? go to the bottom right star of the triangle of Leo and then work your way right and down and there is another group.
Take some time and up your magnification. Your eyes need time over many nights to get used to what you are seeing. After a week or so, your eyes and brain know what to look for, so spotting new objects is a lot easier!!
Anyhow, we are waiting for Jupiter to get a little higher!!!!
___________________________________ _______________
planet: Jupiter & his moons
time: after midnight, the later the better
This is going to be a good year for Jupiter, it will be high in the sky in a few months time, so not as much atmosphere to look through and it is getting close (closest in early may).
It is easy to spot as it so bright rising ESE at the moment from say 12:30am.
Look out for the great red spot and any moons shadows transitting across the surface. This planet spins very fast (10 hrs), so over a few hours you can see it change!!
A good object to test your new imaging skills. Put in a 12mm or 15mm and then see if you can take some pictures and some video. Once you get that down pat, maybe try a smaller eyepiece, but the image will move quickly across. Once you have some video, then come back and ask about a program called registax, it will help bring out the detail.
___________________________________ _
Thanks for taking the time to read.
Please do not rush looking at objects, they will be there tomorrow night as well. There is lots of detail outside of the main shape. Ie jupiter and saturn are lovely, but have you concentrated on the moons for a while etc.
This is a case of "do as i say" not "do as i do", cos i reckon tonight will be the last observing night on earth as we know it and i have to cram as much in as possible. Maybe age will teach me patience and wisdom???
i havent seen the ghost for ages! i'll have to hunt her down
if leo and virgo arent up too late i'll have a go at them too (i turn into a pumpkin at midnight you know).
Great - as a newb i'll help me 'focus' on something without wandering aimlessly around the sky. Sadly will miss the oppositon of Saturn but will try for some of the rest. Cheers.
nightowl, with your 10" you will be surprised how big this planetary is. I expected to have to put my 6.5mm in and really try hard to see it, but even my 12mm showed it!
Nice shot there Beren. Do you know what the magnification was? I'll have a go once these clouds leave I got some pics of Rigel split as well at the beggining of this month. Nothing exciting though.
thanks beren and chryssio, thanks for the contributions. I will give both a go myself for imaging. I really want newbies to have cracks at these easier targets and all contributions are most welcome from the more experienced guys to help the new guys out!
Chrissyo Dav estimate is about right I think , the shot was taken through a 10"SCT using a 6.3 focal reducer , close to 110x I think. The Ghost is a rewarding object to find , much prefer the eyepiece view
decided last night would be a good time to try one of your targets dave
rigel: yeah i know its easy in my 8", i could split it at just about any magnification. and yeah it'd seem a bit lame getting the scope out, letting it cool, and then just looking at rigel.....
so i didnt! I got out my poor old wobble-o-tronic 60mm f16
talking about 2 steps back! I havent looked thru this scope since i bought my 8" and now i know why! wobbly tripod, dodgey plastic 1" focuser and even dodgier EPs.... i gave it shot anyhow. with a 4mm EP @ 250x i could just make out rigels partner. admittedly the seeing was pretty bad (3-4/10) and the sky wasnt at it darkest (still pretty dark tho). I scanned he area and saw m42, the trap stood out ok but the nebula was fairly faint, sigma orionis was pretty tho and all 4 stars could be seen clearly at 80x. oh and i saw the horse head.... (made that part up )
quite an adventure, and one i wont be doing again.l...
FYI, the wobble-o-tronic is up for grabs to anyone who wants to pick it up as i doubt it'll see day/night light again
Top stuff Davo , good read mate.....the ghost is a favorite 
Good luck with the 5x Powermate.
)
