Cherokee #4 Pronto & Cygnus (Part II)

I don't know man, I was on a large soccer field, but some street lights were
around me. I could easily identify the main stars, even the northern cross,
but I was not sure how much to move my scope (how many degrees) this way or
that way. I know about telrad's 0.5, 2 and 4 degree fields of view, but when
using Nigh****ch and chart 10 for example, I don't know like how many
degrees are between Deneb and N.America nebulae, I am really really new at
this, as are you. So I try to approximate, sort of best estimate and cross
reference from the big dipper to the stars, and somehow find something. I
have not had much success finding nebulaes, but I don't know, I always learn
something new. I suppose the stuff I am learning now would be a common
knowledge for someone who had binoculars before, but I never did and I
didn't have money to get both. Anyhow, I am don't think you have telrad,
but maybe your televue star finder works similarly, so here is this site I
found which gives telrad circles for all the Messier objects. I'll try
tonight to use it for first time, hopefully find one nebulae or a nice
looking star cluster.
http://www.solarius.com/msas/finderc...r_objects.html
I am going outside now, it's nice and again, don't be frustrated or give up.
You have invested a good chunk of money and obliviously you love the sky as
much as anyone here. Anyhow, I monitor your posts regularly and sometimes I
post, sometimes I post on my own thread, but good luck to both of us. And as
usual, there are plenty of good folks who are always to help here. I was
quite surprised how many authors actually recommended this newsgroup
perticulary and astromart.com for useful info and accesories.

Just a lil update...I think I saw the N. American nebulae
I used the telrad circled from the site
http://www.solarius.com/msas/finderc...r_objects.html and there is
a link below, called deep sky objects. There is the north american nebulae,
and I think I was able to see it. Here is what I saw: I used my standard
25mm sirius plossl from orion (1.25") and it was about "an extra telrad
circle from deneb" What I mean by this is if there was a 4th circle in
telrad, right on the edge of it, I think I saw the nebule. Now, I did not
see the whole thing, but I saw the shape of it by moving my scope a bit here
a bit there. It was not red or anything ( I have no filters yet) but it
seemed like a bit grayish, with lots of white in it...it looked like someone
spilled a bit of flour on dark floor, some large bumps (brighter stars) but
mostly just like the lil specs there, just sort of covering the floor. Again
it was big, and I think I recodnized the gulf part, and at the edges, I
could see like these lil "voids" and bigger brighter stars, while little
specs of flour dissapeared mostly around it. Think that was it? Perhaps I'll
be able to tell with OIII or sky glow some day.


"Zarkovic" wrote in message
news:_7iIe.111517$s54.78076@pd7tw2no...
I don't know man, I was on a large soccer field, but some street lights
were around me. I could easily identify the main stars, even the northern
cross, but I was not sure how much to move my scope (how many degrees) this
way or that way. I know about telrad's 0.5, 2 and 4 degree fields of view,
but when using Nigh****ch and chart 10 for example, I don't know like how
many degrees are between Deneb and N.America nebulae, I am really really
new at this, as are you. So I try to approximate, sort of best estimate and
cross reference from the big dipper to the stars, and somehow find
something. I have not had much success finding nebulaes, but I don't know,
I always learn something new. I suppose the stuff I am learning now would
be a common knowledge for someone who had binoculars before, but I never
did and I didn't have money to get both. Anyhow, I am don't think you have
telrad, but maybe your televue star finder works similarly, so here is this
site I found which gives telrad circles for all the Messier objects. I'll
try tonight to use it for first time, hopefully find one nebulae or a nice
looking star cluster.
http://www.solarius.com/msas/finderc...r_objects.html
I am going outside now, it's nice and again, don't be frustrated or give
up. You have invested a good chunk of money and obliviously you love the
sky as much as anyone here. Anyhow, I monitor your posts regularly and
sometimes I post, sometimes I post on my own thread, but good luck to both
of us. And as usual, there are plenty of good folks who are always to help
here. I was quite surprised how many authors actually recommended this
newsgroup perticulary and astromart.com for useful info and accesories.

Hi Zarkovic,

Thanks for the encouraging words. I checked out the link and found
some .pdf maps with an oval circle around them. My TV Starbeam is a
round, plastic window which projects a red "dot" on where the scope is
pointed. I *think* this is different then your telrad.

It's been suggested that I buy some star maps to help locate some of
the objects in my excellent Nigh****ch book. I just ordered up a Sky
Atlas 2000 (thanks Tony).

I am certainly not frustrated, I'm having a ball with my little evening
observing sessions. I will go back for these Nebula once I read up on
Nebula filters and arrange to get to a dark site. These are small
exciting projects in their own right.

peace,
Cherokee

"Zarkovic" wrote in message
news:fJ7Ie.105897$s54.63990@pd7tw2no...

Cherokee don't feel bad about not being able to detect those NGC's, you
are not the only one.. I recently got a XT8 from orion and I had the same
"problem". I was also using Nigh****ch, and telrad to help me find stuff,
I quicky learned to locate Vega, Deneb and Altair, Polaris too and all
from the big dipper. Anyhow, I have not had much luck finding the NGC's
myself, so it's sort of dissapoing. Anyhow, I'll try again tonight,
hopefully it will be as nice of a night as it was last night.

You should point your scope at M13 in Hercules. Use a low power eyepiece to
find the fuzzy glob of light, then increase the magnification to 100x or
more. I spent many of my first nights with the 8" scope fixated on M13. I
was absolutely amazed at what a globular cluster looks like when it is well
resolved. In scopes smaller than 8", it just isn't the same. In scopes
larger than 8", it just keeps getting more and more spectacular.

Best wishes,
Stephen

Cherokee wrote:

It's been suggested that I buy some star maps to help locate some of
the objects in my excellent Nigh****ch book. I just ordered up a Sky
Atlas 2000 (thanks Tony).

At the risk of sounding self-promoting, I recommend picking up the
September/October issue of Night Sky magazine, which should be
hitting the newsstands right about now. (Night Sky is put out by
Sky Publishing, my employer.) It has an excellent article on star
charts, how to use them, and why different charts are useful for
different purposes.

- Tony Flanders