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candymancan
super member
Reged: 07/10/09
Posts: 149
Loc: Virginia
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I finally got the chance to go back out and observe. It's been cloudy for almost a month straight now at night, but tonight it was finally clear. The only problem was the extreme Humidity. All my EP's and the secondary mirror were all foggy and i was sweating like crazy. I set out to find Andromeda tonight getting the locations on stellarium and writing them down then going outside and using my new compass and a little angle thing i made and taped on my scope(i forgot what there called).
I actually didnt even need the locations i saw it with the naked eye even in my red zone. First i was checking out the Pleiades cluster which i'v only seen with the naked eye until now. Its one amazing sight through the 30mm Wide angle EP. Then i looked up and saw a blotch next to bright star and i had a fealing it was M31. I pointed the finder scope and sure enough it was Andromeda. Since my EP's and 2nd mirror were foggy the galaxy and surrounding stars were blotched and cloudy. However im suprised how bright M31 is it covers the entire field of view on my 30mm EP and i can deff make out the shape the galactic center.
I also found the Triangulum galaxy.
Hopefully I will get a night that isnt so muggy so i can get a better view of them. But asside from that tonight was perfect. No moon, and m31 was like 80 degree's up in the sky.
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Nikon 10x50 Action Binoculars
Zhumell Z10 10" Dobsonian
Tasco 60mm Refractor
Edited by candymancan (08/01/09 04:29 AM)
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AlanK
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/26/07
Posts: 512
Loc: Auckland, New Zealand
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Well done on the obs 
The Andromeda galaxy appears absolutely huge through a 10 inch (used to own one in the UK) especially in a dark sky where the fainter outer regions can be traced out further. Did you see either of its two satellites especially M32 which would have still been visible with that fogged up secondary? What did you see of M33? I've seen it's faint splotchy spiral structure in a 17 although it was still evident in the 10.
Pity about all that damn dew - especially with it being your first night observing in several weeks! Does your scope have a dew shield and do you use a hair drier?
Its pretty damp at night way down south here and I ended up investing in a dew control system - worth their weight in gold from an observing perspective! Even in Fog, the mirrors and finderscope remain clear so don't end up getting robbed of that precious contrast 
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Clear skies!
18 inch f4.5 Obsession #1637
12 inch f5.4 reflector
Just another frozen astronomer
Kumeu Observatory
Auckland NZ
7,276 deep sky objects incl 4,670 ngcs
Who dares - observes!
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16198
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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Excellent job in finding the Triangulum galaxy (M33) while observing in a red zone. 
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Ted
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candymancan
super member
Reged: 07/10/09
Posts: 149
Loc: Virginia
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Yes I saw the 2 Galaxies around M31 I believe but with all the foggyness on the EP's and mirror I wasnt sure if it was them or not. Since M31 was so huge and bright it pretty much covered the whole field of view on the EP. When I saw the traingulum galaxy it was very faint looking altho I could make out the galactic center but the shape I couldnt really see
It wasnt as hard to see as M51 tho, when I saw m51 for the first time it litteraly took me like 20 minutes of starring into the EP at its location to finally see it. I saw it and the white fuzzy dot (whatever that is) next to the whirlpool galaxy. All i could see was the galactic center and the fuzzy dot next to it but no shape or fuzzyness of the galaxy at all.
Basicly M31 looked like this in my EP. Here is a picture I drew. It looked more like a watered down milky stain in the shape of a disk. You know when I found M31 in my finder scope and then looked through my EP I was like WHAAA NO WAYY! thats awsome. My heart started racing and I was thinking to myself that is amazing.
No i dont have any dew control or hairdryer, just my scope and the few EP's i have, and the fan for the back mirror and thats it really. How do i make a dew sheild ? Or use a hair dryer outside ? I guess i could run a orange extention cable outside for that or something, but do i have to keep it on 24/7 or something ?
I dont even have binocular's, i used to have a set of good 10x50 Binoc's that my dad had they are like 20 years old almost but i cant find them, i think my mom's boyfriend pawned them when he went to jail 2 years ago the little Jerk.
It is cool how much I have learned using this telescope and stellarium. Now I can look up in the sky and tell people pointing yea over here is the Ring nebula, and in this direction is where the Milky way should be, and those 3 stars are Vega,Deneb and Altair. Then i point to Jupiter and tell them thats Jupiter and Mars is over here to the southeast.
What i do i've noticed is i go by the triangle stars Deneb,Altair and Vega when i look at the sky.
Now i know where m31 and m33, and m51 are. Just look at the big dipper and m51 is under the last star on the handle.
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Nikon 10x50 Action Binoculars
Zhumell Z10 10" Dobsonian
Tasco 60mm Refractor
Edited by candymancan (08/01/09 06:50 PM)
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AlanK
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/26/07
Posts: 512
Loc: Auckland, New Zealand
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See this thread which has some more info on dew shields.
Just use a hairdryer when required at a distance just enough to warm the eyepiece or finder which will clear the dew but there's no need to run constantly. In very damp conditions you may have to repeat every 15-30 minutes.
For the secondary, the dew shield will delay the onset of dew but you'll need an internal heater beyond that.
Other precautions are to keep the lens caps on when not in use and don't leave the scope pointed vertical if leaving unattended for a while to reduce the risk of dew on the primary.
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Clear skies!
18 inch f4.5 Obsession #1637
12 inch f5.4 reflector
Just another frozen astronomer
Kumeu Observatory
Auckland NZ
7,276 deep sky objects incl 4,670 ngcs
Who dares - observes!
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YankeeJeff
professor emeritus
Reged: 08/11/06
Posts: 537
Loc: Brooklyn, NY
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Nice - thanks for the report. I've got to look into those dew shields too.
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Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
24Pan, 17T4, 13T6, 11T6, 9BTMB, 8TVpl, 7T6, 5T6, 3.5T6, 5/6BTMBs
Z10"Dob, Paracorr, 2xBrlw, Telrad, RACI,°Circles, )Spider
FBF, Brooklyn: 
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Bill Weir
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 1297
Loc: Metchosin (Victoria), Canada
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Now that is a very cool sketch. Wonderful style you have. Crude yet very realistic (for the conditions) at the same time.
Yup, just run a cord for the hairdryer. Blast it every once in awhile into the focuser tube when you need to clear the secondary.
I can still remember the first time I found a galaxy, it was M31 also. Just found it by accident scanning around with my 6" dob. At the time there weren't the internet resources like now. Didn't know a lick of anything then. Different story now but that took time. Really enjoy these times as you stumble along. They will become fabulous memories.
bill
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6'' Orion SkyQuest
12.5'' f/5 Custom Truss Dob
William Optics 80mm ZenithStar ED II
f/5 25" newtonian on a giant GEM, any time I want
Observing sessions grand total for 2008, 121.
So far in 2009, 92
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