A beginners beginning

[Smokey]

Hi all.
I thought I,d introduce myself and give a quick run-down of my start into the world of astronomy.
My official welcome into astronomy began just over a week ago, so I am a total Newbie.
I have always had a mild interest in astronomy, but never enough to go out and purchase a telescope. That was untill about 12months ago, when a friend got a telescope for his 40th birthday. He showed me a couple of stars, and I thought "yeah....pretty"...but that was about it. After about an hour or so, he found Saturn. One look and I was hooked.
After a bit of research and sweet-talking the other half, I was able to order a GSO 10" Dob from Andrews as a combined 40th birthday and Xmas present. For $900 I got the 10" Dob, 4 EPs (6.5, 9, 15, 25mm), 4 filters(moon, 2 blue, violet), a small planisphere, and a set of 10x25 compact Binos.
Am I happy? You Bet.
I,ll give you a quick run-down of my first week with my scope.

Continued next message.

[Smokey]

I received my scope Mon 23rd after ordering it on the 18th. I was pleased with the service I received from Andrews, although they always seemed to be rushed when I spoke on the phone with them.
After spending the Mon afternoon putting the scope together, I sat and waited for the night to arrive. Night arrived and as per Murphys law of astronomy, so did the clouds. I gave up going out to check the sky about 1:00am.
Roll on Tuesday night. ......Tues night comes and I managed to get about 20 minutes before the clouds rolled in again. All I was able to do was align the finder, first on the moon, then Canopus.
Wed night....My first real chance to do any observing. One of the first things I found was The Orion Nebula. I was awe struck. I have since gone back to it every night I have managed to get out. Other things I have seen so far are......
Eta Carina. (little disappointed. )
Tarantula Nebula (Impressive)
Saturn (disappointed. Not much difference to my mates much smaller scope)
And a few clusters, I,m still working out what they are. (impressive)

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

Welcome Smokey to the forum and congratulations on first light with your new scope.

Tuc 47 is nicely placed to have a look at just now and so are NGC 253 and the Helix nebula if you want a couple of suggestions for targets- a globular, a galaxy and a planetary- a nice mix for a warm summer night

[iceman (Mike)]

Hey Smokey! Thanks for signing up and posting a g'day message! It's great to hear how people got started in this great hobby.

It's amazing how Saturn can have that effect on people.. I'll always remember my first view of Saturn through an eyepiece.. I don't think anyone would ever be able to forget it. I wonder how many astronomy careers were started by looking at saturn!

Sounds like you got a good setup from Andrews, your scope is exactly the same as mine! The compact binoculars aren't great, but they're better than nothing if you can't take the scope and you're going to a dark site. I've got some 11x70's and they're great for scanning the milky way.

You should give Eta Carinae another try, it's a fabulous nebula and rivals Orion and the Tarantula. When it's higher in the sky you might find it a better view.

Saturn won't be too much different in your 10", but a lot can depend on your eyepiece, the seeing, the focus, collimation and expectations. I've been disappointed by Saturn on occassion simply because the seeing has been terrible when it was low on the horizon and I could barely make out any details.

Congrats on your purchase and newfound obsession, hope to see you back here regularly!

[Smokey]

Thanks for the welcome.
I,ll definately take your suggestions seeker and look for those objects, as soon as the cloud dissappears.
I intend going back to both Eta Carinae and Saturn when the moon isnt so bright because I had heard some great reports, especially of Eta. I think thats why I was a little disappointed. Out of everything, I was looking forward to seeing Eta the most.

[rumples riot]

Welcome to the site, you could also try the sculptor galaxy in the constellation of the sculptor. Your 10" should have no trouble resolving it. Eta carina is best observed with a broad band filter. With the filter its size doubles and much more nebulosity is visible.

Best of luck with your new scope.

Paul

[ving (David)]

hi smokey! welcome to.... here.

try for tuc47 above the tarantula neb in the SMC. very pretty...

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Eta Carinae looks best at the lowest possible magnification, which in turn requires dark skies to show it at its best.

Next time you look, have a bit of a search close by for a couple of quite sexy little star clusters

[Smokey]

Thanks for all the suggestions.
If the clouds ever decide to go on holidays and give me a chance to use the scope, I should have enough objects to keep me busy for a few nights, but please dont stop the suggestions. Its great to be able to go out of a night with a plan of attack so to speak. When everyone goes out observing, do they have a plan of what they intend on looking at or do you find yourself playing it by ear?

I manages to get an hour or so the other night and had a look at tuc47. Wow..... It was stunning. The next clear night I,ll definately be going back to it.
With the 10" dob, what is the "dimmest?", "highest magnitude?" I can expect to see, with say medium/good seeing, in resonable dark skies?
Anyone want to bet that Sat and Sun night are perfect seeing conditions? (I,m on night shift )
Congrats on the site Iceman. It's shaping up to be a great resource for the Aussie observers. Keep up the excellent work.

[iceman (Mike)]

When everyone goes out observing, do they have a plan of what they intend on looking at or do you find yourself playing it by ear?

I often plan to have a plan, but rarely do I get the time to actually make up the plan and stick to it. So mostly I play it by ear.
I've started to get a bit more structured with my observing though, ensuring I have my observing chair, notebook and pen, etc and make sure I take notes of what I see so I can write up a proper log later.
Next small thing I want is a folding card table or similar so that I can keep things up off the ground etc.

Good work with 47Tuc, it really is spectacular.. although wait until Omega Centauri rises high again, that's a globular like no other.

Congrats on the site Iceman. It's shaping up to be a great resource for the Aussie observers. Keep up the excellent work.

Thanks for the feedback, it's nice to hear.

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

It's nice to have bit of a plan..what are the old favourites you are going to visit tonight and which are the new objects you are going to add tonight

that way when you get frustrated with not being able to find some object that should be perfectly easy to find , you can fall back on an old trusty friend. So for me a few old friends and a few new challenges is a nice mix

I know people who have planned the whole night out, have detailed notes. and star charts and log books and so on...and I wonder if they are getting so regimented whether they are actually having any fun!


Sometimes I just like a casual sweep through the sky just looking at interesting objects and not worrying whether Mr Messier or Mr (Caldwell) Moore or whoever thought to name or number any particular object

IMHO thats when a big dob-like yours- is best ..when you really don't have a destination but are just enjoying the journey.

[Saturn%5 (Graeme)]

Hi Smokey,
Welcome to INS. I remember my first night looking through a telescope it was a 60mm x 900 refreactor scope i bought of a mate, I was all alone in the back yard waiting for saturn to rise when I started to notice all the stars that were out there and thought this is a good hobby, Well to cut a long story short i looked in finder for saturn and found it and when i looked in the scope I thought this is not a great hobby but a fantastic one.

Hence 2 scopes later im still having a ball with this stuff.

[ving (David)]

i'D BE HAVING A BALL TOO... IF IT WERENT FOR THE DAMN CLOUDS!

oops sorry bout that outburst. My first view of saturn was at a low magnification in a 60mm telescope and i was impressed, untill i bumped up the magnification.... then i was hooked. I havent had a chance to look at saturn in my 200mm and i cant wait. I wanna take some pics too.
the problem with saturn is that its rather washed out colour wise. no dark bands like jupiter. but then getting detail from saturn then becomes a personal challenge.
I just about keeled over in shock when in my 60mm i spotted titan and the cassini division on a really good night...

[Striker (Tony)]

Smokey.....what i want to know....how the hell by combining your 40th and Christmas presents you scored a $900 item...man your good.....nice work....enjoy.

[jackenau]

Welcome Smokey

Probably similar to yourself in that have only recently purchased a scope or two or three.

Years (and I mean years) ago I had been on a school camp with one of my children (she is now 30+) and one night they had these scopes set up to show them the night skies. I was really impressed and always put in the back of my mind, that wow, that was good and one day I must get myself a scope.

Earlier this year, I decided to do something about it and purchased a 4" reflector thinking this was about the same sort of scope I had looked through before and this would satisfy my whim.

It did for a short time, and with limited funds decided that 6" must be better than 4 and purchased a 6" GSO (paid under $300.00 for it) and found an increase in performance.

Well I sold off the 4" and went for a 12" dob, (portable, with ingenuity). Perhaps I should have done my homework a little more to start off with, but have found the experince well worth it and have been more than satisfied with the objects I have viewed so far.

I have also been disapointed with some objects when first viewed, however have now learnt that this can sometimes be attributed to either viewing conditions, or quality of equipment.

So above all experiment, it does get better.

Ken M

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Ken! to the forums!

Where did you hear about us?

Another from Adelaide! RumplesRiot will be pleased!

[jackenau]

Thanks for the welcome.

I picked up on this site from the other forum and have regularly had a quick check here every night for the past month or so before joining up.

I must admit, I do read rumples riots posts with anticipation in what I might be able to see. I am only just a beginner in this fascinating interest.

I learn by reading each and every post, as I am sure so many others do. Even the most trivial post has its rewards.

A forum is as good as its members and their postings, and this appears to be a very healthy forum.

Once again thanks for the welcome and keep up the good work.

Ken M

[jmb]

HI
I am very much a beginner, actually i have decided to buy a pair of binoculars and not a telescope at this stage. My problem is, like many, which binoculars to buy...
i have seen a pair of SAXON ZOOM binoculars. 10~30 x magnification 50mm. lens
and a pair of AOE11x56 56mm broadband fully multicoated Binoculars

could anyone please give me some advise...firstly, am i on the right track...secondly, if so which of these would be the best....lastly, any other suggestions.

thanks very much
jmb

[davidpretorius]

hi jmb from australia.

we're from australia too!

my only experience with binoculars is a set of 10x25's that came free with my 10" scope.

must say that even with the freebies, i love looking thru them. I have seen clusters and nebulas.

There are guys here with some great binoculars, so stay tuned!!!

[Hitchhiker]

Welcome guys - I've only been here a few days myself but it is definitely worth the price of admission!

jmb, accepted wisdom when buying binoculars for astronomical use is that they let as much light through to your eye as possible. As you and others find when they are new to astronomy those objects that appear so bright and colourful in Hubble Space Telescope and other big telescopes are really quite dim.

Binoculars are specified by there magnification and aperture. eg 10X50s magnify by 10 and have an aperture (diameter of the front lens) of 50mm. 11x70s magnify by 11 and have an aperture of 70mm. There is another parameter that is important for astronomy called exit pupil. This is usually not in the specs as it is so easy to calculate. Exit pupil is just the diameter of the 'pencil' of light that comes out of the back of the binoculars and goes into your eye. You want that exit pupil to be as large as possible so that all of the light collected by the binoculars goes into your eye. Exit pupil is calculated by divided the aperture by the magnification, for instance:

10X50s - Exit Pupil is 50mm/10 = 5mm
8X56s - Exit Pupil is 56mm/8 = 7mm
11x56s - Exit Pupil is 56mm/11 = 5mm
11X80s - Exit Pupil is 80mm/11 = close enough to 7mm!

The pupil in your eye is about 7mm in diameter when fully dark adapted(except if your an old bloke - it tends to shrink as you get older!) so ideally you want binoculars with an exit pupil of 7mm. For normal daytime viewing 5mm is probably about right. The following binoculars are good for astronomy:

7x49
8x56
9x63
10x70
11x80 etc

As usual for astronomy, size matters - the bigger the better! Obviously quality is important. Also, when buying binoculars comfort is important - if you've ever tried to hand hold a pair of 11x80 binoculars while trying to view a comet or cluster you know what I mean! You really need to mount big binoculars on a tripod.

Finally, you need to consider the other,non-astronomical, uses for your binoculars. If you are going to use your binoculars for other things, as most people do, you need to think about the requirements for that activity.

Sorry about the length of the post - what I thought was going to be a relatively short post turned into a longish one!