41 replies to this topic

[gnowellsct]

This is my first post! I'm very new to visual astronomy and had quite the experience during my last viewing session.

I own a second hand Celestron NexStar 6SE. Despite my best efforts, I can't seem to properly align the scope (an issue for another day). Regardless, I slew around the night sky aimlessly and have just as much fun.

Yesterday, I set my eyes on Venus. With a misaligned finder scope and my widest lens, I started my quest. And within the next few minutes... I stumbled across Saturn??? It didn't cross my mind that Saturn might be visible tonight, let alone intentionally centering it in my scope.

It was absolutely awesome! It allowed me to experience the same sense of discovery and excitement that, I assume, the earliest astronomers felt searching the skies - not knowing what they might find. As simple as it sounds, the moment truly resonated with me and I felt it necessary to share!

 

Does anyone else have a similar experience? (Or maybe some tips for a newcomer.) 

Thank you, friends!

Galileo was more like:  "This is weird, can't make it out.  Jug handles?  Why does Saturn have jug handles?"  He also thought of it as a triple planet.  Huygens generally gets credit for first one to observe the rings as rings.  That was in 1659, so between Galileo and Huygens astronomers messed around with the ring ID problem for decades.  Mainly the non-trivial task of building a telescope with enough magnification and resolution.

[triplemon]

... and also full sharpness across the field at high magnifications.

 

Huygens was a great ATM and made his own eyepieces for that purpose.

[BFaucett]

...<snip>...

Yesterday, I set my eyes on Venus. With a misaligned finder scope and my widest lens, I started my quest. And within the next few minutes... I stumbled across Saturn??? It didn't cross my mind that Saturn might be visible tonight, let alone intentionally centering it in my scope.

It was absolutely awesome! It allowed me to experience the same sense of discovery and excitement that, I assume, the earliest astronomers felt searching the skies - not knowing what they might find. As simple as it sounds, the moment truly resonated with me and I felt it necessary to share!

 

Does anyone else have a similar experience? (Or maybe some tips for a newcomer.) 

Thank you, friends!

 

 

Congrats!   IMO, observing Saturn for the first time is a magical, exciting, and inspiring moment. 

 

I thought you might enjoy this video. While it's about observing the Moon, I think it captures the excitement and magic of seeing a celestial object with a telescope for the first time. I wonder how Galileo felt the first time he observed the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn with his telescope? I rewatch this video occasionally to remind and inspire myself. 

 

Click on the pic or the video link below to play the video.

 

 

A New View of the Moon
video posted to YouTube on Mar 13, 2018

 

video link: https://www.youtube....h?v=XCrJ3NflOpE

 

"We took a telescope around the streets of Los Angeles to give passersby an up-close look at a familiar object: a new view of the moon."

 

All footage captured in camera--no compositing.

  
A film by Wylie Overstreet and Alex Gorosh
https://www.wylieoverstreet.com/
https://www.alexgorosh.com/

 

Telescope: 12" collapsible Dobsonian reflector
Eyepiece: Tele Vue 13mm Ethos

   

YouTube channel: To Scale:

 

 

 

 

Screenshot from the video:

 

 

"I want... to see... more of it!"

 

 

Congrats again and cheers!  Bob F.  

[Mike Q]

All stars ? Or just the six most folks are gushing about.  

The list goes to component I .... at mag 16.  Not even counting spectroscopic doubles, triples and quintruples      

https://www.astropix.../trapezium.html

 

The list of iinitial observers for those components spots tons a familiar names.

I will always remember seeing the Trap at 200x on a really clear and stable night.  I was able to see 11 stars in and around the Trapezium.  It was a real oh wow moment.

[PIEJr]

Welcome to Cloudy Nights!

And to the thrill of finding Saturn.

 

I would encourage you to spend some time getting your finder scope aligned as best you can.

You can (maybe) do some daytime adjusting. But your best bet is to aim at Polaris (An actual star) and adjust your finder scope and your main scope to both be centered on it.

Don't expect to do it in one night. Once you think it is real good, go on to viewing around.

From the initial you may find more distant objects to "tweak" the finders aim slightly (very tiny pressure changes) and you will get it closer to zero.

You will be training your adjusting skills as much as adjusting your scopes to be zero'd to each other. The closer the better for real happiness.

 

As far as finding objects, I use Stellarium, and have for 11 years. Lately as my planetarium program in NINA.

But you just need a program to help you find a general direction.

 

It is quite thrilling to find the objects in your own telescope! (Once you get the finder and main OTA aligned to each other) 

Edited by PIEJr, 06 February 2025 - 02:38 PM.

[Enakhra]

I wanted to show some appreciation to those who shared many, incredibly helpful resources! I've never posted on a forum before and was blown away by the sincerity of everyone.

 

Since that first night I've spent hours learning. I've aligned my finder-scope, built a homemade dew shield, and spent dozens of hours scanning the sky. And I guess I've viewed quite a lot... Saturn, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, The Pleiades, Orion's Nebula!!, The Pinwheel Cluster!!!, and potentially Andromeda's Galaxy! Andromeda's Galaxy took me at least an hour to find and it looked like two very faint smudges so I wasn't 100% certain what I was looking at - although it was definitely something! 

 

An aligned finder-scope and Stellarium have been game changing! I still find myself spending quite a bit of time circling around the general location of any object but I expect that's a given at my level of light pollution.

I can't confirm whether or not the dew shield actually works since I've only tested it once; however, my telescope did not fog up at all when I tried it! The night before, having slightly worse conditions, left my telescope covered in dew and unusable - so there's hope! I will test further.
 

Anyways, thank you, friends!

Edited by Enakhra, 06 February 2025 - 03:17 PM.

[Bill Weir]

If you want a true Galileo experience you can always make yourself a similar refactor to what he used. This is a 1000mm fl singlet with a 27mm aperture. This photo was taken on the night I observed and sketched the Pleiades. That was a complicated process. The FOV is small and my guess is that the mag is somewhere between 15-20X. FOV can be seen in the image I luckily was able to capture of Jupiter and its satellites. With  this scope I could tell that Saturn had actual rings but that was when its appearance was more face on. I believe when Galileo observed Saturn it was similar to as it is now. Sketching this phase of the Moon took overlapping 5 fields of view. For kicks I observed a few Messiers. In this sketch of M42 the dot to the right of centre is the Trapezium, the whole Trap. The dot to the upper left (10 o’clock) is the star at the core of M43.

 

It’s a fun scope to observe through but difficult to aim as there is no finder. I used it in a project to replicate Sidereus Nuncius. I even learned that you could tape a pair of eclipse glasses to the objective and observe the Sun.

 

Bill

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[Japetus Eye]

If you want a true Galileo experience you can always make yourself a similar refactor to what he used. This is a 1000mm fl singlet with a 27mm aperture. This photo was taken on the night I observed and sketched the Pleiades. That was a complicated process. The FOV is small and my guess is that the mag is somewhere between 15-20X. FOV can be seen in the image I luckily was able to capture of Jupiter and its satellites. With  this scope I could tell that Saturn had actual rings but that was when its appearance was more face on. I believe when Galileo observed Saturn it was similar to as it is now. Sketching this phase of the Moon took overlapping 5 fields of view. For kicks I observed a few Messiers. In this sketch of M42 the dot to the right of centre is the Trapezium, the whole Trap. The dot to the upper left (10 o’clock) is the star at the core of M43.

 

It’s a fun scope to observe through but difficult to aim as there is no finder. I used it in a project to replicate Sidereus Nuncius. I even learned that you could tape a pair of eclipse glasses to the objective and observe the Sun.

 

Bill

Excellent work!! A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Galileo Museum in Florence. Two of his original telescopes designed by himself are preserved there. In one of the photos (5), the objective lens was possibly made by Galileo himself. I also share a photo of a facsimile of Galileo's "Sidereus Nuncius", from the same museum.

 

[doyers017]

I think he was also really scared because of the ramification of his observations. However, I am sure deep down he was absolutely thrilled and awed by what he saw, just like many of us. 

[dnrmilspec]

Galileo is still on the list for an AP Stowaway. 

[Bill Weir]

Excellent work!! A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Galileo Museum in Florence. Two of his original telescopes designed by himself are preserved there. In one of the photos (5), the objective lens was possibly made by Galileo himself. I also share a photo of a facsimile of Galileo's "Sidereus Nuncius", from the same museum.

 

Cannocchiales. Galileo Galilei.jpg

Sidereus Nuncius. Galileo Galilei.jpg

The english translation of The Sidereal Messenger is a free e-book download on the Project Gutenberg website. Fun read. 

https://www.gutenber...t_search=Search

 

Bill

[PalomarJack]

Welcome to CN and the beginning of having a much lighter wallet!

 

One difference between your experience and Galileo's is that you'll not need to worry about being tried by the Inquisition, found "vehemently suspect of heresy", and forced to recant.

Unless you are dealing with a "Flat-Tard" (Flat Earther). I know it's wrong to amuse myself with those who are mentally challenged. But, when they voluntarily put themselves in that position, who am I to deny them what they desperately desire?
 

Edited by PalomarJack, 17 February 2025 - 03:26 PM.

[PKDfan]

Hi Enakhra !

Big Congratulations on your new and exciting astro journey !!


I'm very firmly in the camp of staying childlike during my voyages of discovery and finding the simple awe in seeing all the stuff up there even if i've seen it a thousand times every view is slightly different and each interpertation is utterly unique so provokes a childs delight in the process of new discovery.

I do wonder if Galileo had the little Evolux i have now how much further along in our knowledge base would we be ?

Never loose that. It keeps you young in other ways too !


CSS
Lance

Edited by PKDfan, 17 February 2025 - 05:31 PM.

[ayadai]

Unless you are dealing with a "Flat-Tard" (Flat Earther). I know it's wrong to amuse myself with those who are mentally challenged. But, when they voluntarily put themselves in that position, who am I to deny them what they desperately desire?
 

You may find this thread amusing. On the subject of the myth of the flat earth, you may also find this article an interesting read.

Edited by ayadai, 17 February 2025 - 05:42 PM.

[epee]

This is my first post! I'm very new to visual astronomy and had quite the experience during my last viewing session.

I own a second hand Celestron NexStar 6SE. Despite my best efforts, I can't seem to properly align the scope (an issue for another day). Regardless, I slew around the night sky aimlessly and have just as much fun.

Yesterday, I set my eyes on Venus. With a misaligned finder scope and my widest lens, I started my quest. And within the next few minutes... I stumbled across Saturn??? It didn't cross my mind that Saturn might be visible tonight, let alone intentionally centering it in my scope.

It was absolutely awesome! It allowed me to experience the same sense of discovery and excitement that, I assume, the earliest astronomers felt searching the skies - not knowing what they might find. As simple as it sounds, the moment truly resonated with me and I felt it necessary to share!

 

Does anyone else have a similar experience? (Or maybe some tips for a newcomer.) 

Thank you, friends!

The solution to your finder problem went past you!

When you stumble on those planets, center them in your eyepiece and then center them in your finder!

Even finders aligned on a distant radio tower will need tweaking and adjustment from time to time. Finder adjustment is an ongoing, opportunistic task, not a one-n-done...

Edited by epee, 21 February 2025 - 05:10 PM.

[Kefka1138]

The solution to your finder problem went past you! When you stumble on those planets, center them in your eyepiece and then center them in your finder!

Even finders aligned on a distant radio tower will need tweaking, and adjustment from time to time. Finder adjustment is an ongoing art, not a one-n-done...

Second this.

 

I've found it best practice to check my Telrad's alignment at the start of each observation session. more often than not, it's spot on. However, if I've put the instrument on the bench for service of any kind, some adjustments are typically needed. 

Edited by Kefka1138, 21 February 2025 - 05:12 PM.

[gnowellsct]

Galileo is still on the list for an AP Stowaway.

Got a good laugh out of this