Observing Reports
August 2004
First Light Report : 31.08.04
Skywatcher Startravel Refractor 120mm, f/600, EQ3/2
After a few nights of viewing the Moon, I finally got a chance to really test my new scope out in my back yard. I have quite a bad view of the sky in my garden and could only really see Lyra, Hercules and Ursa Major.
This shall be my first ever report on what I managed to achieve and so far I am very happy with how the scope works and performs.
So here goes....
31st August 2004 at about 21:00
The sky was fairly dark with quite a lot of low cloud, so I only really worked around the constellation of Lyra. First I set up my scope to North and pointed it roughly to where Polaris is situated. This gave me my first shot at trying to find objects using RA and DEC (which I have to admit did not work very well). DEC seems to have been set fairly well, but RA seems to be out quite a lot (I think this is due to not setting up more accurately to Polaris and probably due to the fact that I’m having problems trying to read the RA on the scope...need more practice). I also think I shall have better luck just using the DEC function of an object and rotating through RA.
Located Vega and started to take a look around. The views were amazing, pinpoint bright stars were everywhere and Vega appeared to be a very bright blue star. Managed to get myself lost in Lyra and it was only till the skies got darker that I managed to make out the two stars found at the bottom of the constellation, which directed me to my first Deep Sky Object, M57.
M57 was a great sight, although it was very small and fuzzy (a faint fuzzy). Although I tried different eyepieces it still did not show much detail, but was still a great sight to see, other than the Moon and stars (I think next scope shall be a Reflector). I didn’t spend much time out as it was a work night but I was very happy to finally bag my first Messier Object. I tried to view M57 with my 6.3mm and 2x Barlow but the object still seemed very faint. M57 was a challenging object to find and view (what does everyone else think?)
When I get an adaptor for my digicam I shall be able to take longer (15second) exposures to bring out a bit more detail in the objects I view.
I hope you liked my first report and I might be viewing Saturn at the weekend so I shall give you some info then (providing the weather is ok).
Thanks
25th August 2004 - 8:00pm till about 10:00pm
Well at last I managed to get my first good view of the night sky in over 5 months. Its typical that I have to go back to work tomorrow, so I cant really stay up late and view more.
So here goes, my first report.
Equipment - 10x50 Binoculars (very cheap and nasty ones)
Star chart, which came with "Astronomy Now".
Went outside and first thing I noticed was a very large Moon to the South of my location. Decided that this was a great opportunity to get my binos and take a closer look. The sky at this time was still very light.
On looking at the Moon I managed to distinguish some main features such as Mare Crisium, Copernicus and most striking was Sinus Iridum (probably due to the shadow).
Had a quick scan of the sky and was pleased to see Vega shining right above me, although I had to wait a while for it to darken I started to pick out other stars such as Arcturus and then the constellation "Cygnus".
With the sky darkening more and more by the minute, I found my way about quite easily (thanks to the help of my star chart).
I really wanted to find The Andromeda Galaxy and with a lot of persistence I did. Took a while but managed to just make out a very very faint splodge. Pretty sure this was the galaxy I was looking for and managed to find it by working my way along two star in the arm of Andromeda. Even though it looked just like a small very faint cloud I’m so happy I found it and pretty sure I shall be able to find it a lot easier next time.
Next main attraction for me was M13, I managed to locate Hercules (which I found quite hard due to the sky still being a bit light). I’m not sure I managed to view M13 but I think there was definitely something there. Lets hope next time I’ll get it.
Well that’s me, hope you liked the report.
Thanks