A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Others » UK Astronomy
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

First sight.



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 17th 03, 11:36 AM
Pete Lawrence
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default First sight.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 11:59:58 +0200, "Jacob Nilsson"
wrote:

Yesterday i finally received my first telescope.
After much agony and teeth clenching I ordered a 4.5" reflector.
It took quite a while to set up, but after an hour and a half I had conviced
myself that the telescope in front of me looked sufficiently enough to the
one pictured on the package it came in.
It was still 7 hours till sundown so I made my way down to the library to
pick up my reserved copy of Turn Left of Orion(Thank you Mr. Tonkin, this
one will become a part of my collection sometime).
As night rolled in i went outside with my newly acquired setup and aligned
with Polaris, which wasn't easy. The Starpointer with the red LED dot isn't
to my liking. I had to make a rough estimate with it, and fortunately
Polaris showed up in my eyepiece. Next stop was Mars, located just above our
lovely and very bright streetlamp, and after a while I had it centered with
a 20mm wide angle eyepiece. I couldnt make out any detail on the surface
with it so i thought to have a try with the 10mm . Unfortunately by the time
I had put it in the telescope clouds had rolled in from the west and quickly
covered the whole sky. I then spent a while with my dads old 8x20
binoculars, but the clouds kept coming in so i decided to pack it all up and
head back inside for the night.
I cant wait to get out again when the weather permits it. I only saw so
little but im sparked with interest to see more and learn more.


A pretty typical start Jacob. Keep at it and the rewards will come to
you. Best of luck.

--
Pete
Homepage at http://www.pbl33.co.uk
CCD/digicam astronomy
  #2  
Old September 17th 03, 11:54 AM
skozzy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default First sight.

You sound just like me, I recently bought a 4.5inch reflector, my 1st
experiance was just a bit better then yours, but close. But do yourself a
favour, find a local astronomy group near you and talk to some of the guys
there. I did that here and learned how to setup my equatorial motor drive
mount, and also learned the fast and rought way to find south to get the
mount setup in the correct direction to follow objects in the sky with the
motor drive.

What brand is the toy you got ?, mine is called Skywatcher SW450, it's a
900mmx114mm reflector with 3 eye peices 20mm 10mm and 4mm, and a motor drive
EQ mount.

Cheap unit I guess, $400aus, but I have been having fun every night.


  #3  
Old September 17th 03, 12:49 PM
Robert Summerfield
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default First sight.

in article , Jacob Nilsson at
wrote on 17/9/03 10:59 am:

Yesterday i finally received my first telescope.
After much agony and teeth clenching I ordered a 4.5" reflector.
It took quite a while to set up, but after an hour and a half I had conviced
myself that the telescope in front of me looked sufficiently enough to the
one pictured on the package it came in.
It was still 7 hours till sundown so I made my way down to the library to
pick up my reserved copy of Turn Left of Orion(Thank you Mr. Tonkin, this
one will become a part of my collection sometime).
As night rolled in i went outside with my newly acquired setup and aligned
with Polaris, which wasn't easy. The Starpointer with the red LED dot isn't
to my liking. I had to make a rough estimate with it, and fortunately
Polaris showed up in my eyepiece. Next stop was Mars, located just above our
lovely and very bright streetlamp, and after a while I had it centered with
a 20mm wide angle eyepiece. I couldnt make out any detail on the surface
with it so i thought to have a try with the 10mm . Unfortunately by the time
I had put it in the telescope clouds had rolled in from the west and quickly
covered the whole sky. I then spent a while with my dads old 8x20
binoculars, but the clouds kept coming in so i decided to pack it all up and
head back inside for the night.
I cant wait to get out again when the weather permits it. I only saw so
little but im sparked with interest to see more and learn more.

Jacob Nilsson
Denmark


I'm new to all this myself, bought a 130mm newt a matter of weeks ago. One
of the cats woke me around 4:30am yesterday morning, I couldn't get back to
sleep so I crept down stairs careful not to wake the old ball and chain,
"where you going" she snapped "for a wee my sweet" I replied. I set the
scope up in the garden, I new Saturn was about, but I had never seen it, I
found it immediately, it's really weird you see what looks like a star with
your eyes but through the scope it doesn't look real. I viewed at x200
magnification for about 45 mins, it kept snapping in and out of focus, the
stars didn't seem to be twinkling to much I wondered if maybe the scope
cooling down had something to do with that. I managed to just about see the
divide in the rings (I'm glad I've good eyesight), the shadow of the planet
on them and I think I could see a slight dark band on the planet but
couldn't be sure. It's an early morning but if your keen it's well worth a
look, don't expect to see any colour though, It just looks white. Don't
forget the moon, it's awesome through a scope.
Rob

  #4  
Old September 17th 03, 12:53 PM
Robert Geake
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default First sight.


"Jacob Nilsson" wrote in message
k...
Yesterday i finally received my first telescope.
After much agony and teeth clenching I ordered a 4.5" reflector.
It took quite a while to set up, but after an hour and a half I had

conviced
myself that the telescope in front of me looked sufficiently enough to the
one pictured on the package it came in.
It was still 7 hours till sundown so I made my way down to the library to
pick up my reserved copy of Turn Left of Orion(Thank you Mr. Tonkin, this
one will become a part of my collection sometime).
As night rolled in i went outside with my newly acquired setup and aligned
with Polaris, which wasn't easy. The Starpointer with the red LED dot

isn't
to my liking. I had to make a rough estimate with it, and fortunately
Polaris showed up in my eyepiece. Next stop was Mars, located just above

our
lovely and very bright streetlamp, and after a while I had it centered

with
a 20mm wide angle eyepiece. I couldnt make out any detail on the surface
with it so i thought to have a try with the 10mm . Unfortunately by the

time
I had put it in the telescope clouds had rolled in from the west and

quickly
covered the whole sky. I then spent a while with my dads old 8x20
binoculars, but the clouds kept coming in so i decided to pack it all up

and
head back inside for the night.
I cant wait to get out again when the weather permits it. I only saw so
little but im sparked with interest to see more and learn more.

Jacob Nilsson
Denmark



Dont worry, it took me months to actually "see" what i was looking at !

Persiverance is the key, especially with the english weather.

R


  #5  
Old September 17th 03, 01:42 PM
Pete Lawrence
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default First sight.

On Wed, 17 Sep 2003 11:53:17 +0000 (UTC), "Robert Geake"
wrote:

Dont worry, it took me months to actually "see" what i was looking at !

Persiverance is the key, especially with the english weather.


Do the Danes import it then?

--
Pete
Homepage at http://www.pbl33.co.uk
CCD/digicam astronomy
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Jupiter Triple Shadow; WHAT a sight! Eclipsme Amateur Astronomy 21 March 31st 04 09:56 AM
UFO Activities from Biblical Times (LONG TEXT) Kazmer Ujvarosy SETI 2 December 25th 03 08:33 PM
UFO Activities from Biblical Times Kazmer Ujvarosy Astronomy Misc 0 December 25th 03 06:21 AM
Picturing a universe that's out of sight (Forwarded) Jonathan Silverlight Astronomy Misc 1 December 18th 03 10:36 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:21 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.