Re: The first night out with my 10" dob.

From: Jan Owen (janowen1z_at_cox.net)
Date: 09/05/04 

Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 18:44:50 -0700

There is no eyepiece for your scope that will let you see all of M31. It
is WAY too large. Don't blame your eyepiece, or the scope. M31 is HUGE!
It will fill the field of a pair of BINOCULARS!

Right now, you need just to use the eyepieces you have on the objects you
want to see, and determine where the shortcomings are. THEN you can
decide what eyepieces you need next. But one eyepiece you aren't going to
find, is one that will show you all of M31 in your scope... But a 32mm
Plossl will still be pretty awesome... 

-- 
Jan Owen
To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.662
Longitude: -112.3272
"Tom" <tom@wallyworld.net> wrote in message
news:10jkr9v594tln53@corp.supernews.com...
> Actually, it was my first night out with a telescope, period.  Location:
> north Scottsdale. Suburban skies, and clear.  The seeing conditions
seemed
> better
> in the east for some reason, so I kept my observing in the back patio.
This
> dob, a Hardin, came with two eyepieces.  The 2" is pretty nice, and I
have
> no complaints yet.  The 1.25 9mm is pretty shoddy.  There is some black
> stuff
> encroaching over the lens.  I wonder if I can flick it off with a
needle.
> This
> e.p. probably isn't worth shipping back for replacement.  This dob has
the
> new
> crayford focuser, which is supposed to be a good thing:-)
>
> I have dreamed of seeing M31.  From what I have read, I knew enough to
find
> it.  After searching and searching with the 2" in the area to the left
of
> the "Great Square", I finally noticed a smudge of light that was in
stark
> contrast to surrounding collection of stars in my field of view.  I put
the
> 9mm in to get a closer look, and the smudge got a bit bigger, but by no
> means did it give me a detailed view of a galaxy.
> I strongly assume this is M31 anyways.  How can I make the most of this?
7mm
> Televue Plossl with a good 3x Barlow?  The 9mm gave me a 140x mag. and
this
> doesn't seem optimal for M31.  People say that M31 is visible with the
naked
> eye, which could suggest that light pollution in north Scottsdale is
worse
> than I think.  I never did find it again later that night.
>
> Later that night (morning), I noticed an interesting cluster with my
naked
> eyes, and set my bino's on it.  Pleiades!  I had never seen that
formation
> magnified before.  I stayed up the whole night to see Saturn and Venus,
but
> by 5 a.m. clouds had set in:-(  I did get a brief break in the clouds to
see
> a bright object with the binos, dead east.  It was disky, like a planet,
and
> very bright, but no rings.  Venus I assume.
>
> -Tom
>
>

Relevant Pages

  • Re: ep quality
    ... > ep will help me in discerning more detail in objects like M31, ... is no increase in brightness beyond a 35mm eyepiece on an f/5 scope. ... the image on your retina (i.e. using higher magnifications) often makes ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Cant seem to see D.S.Os
    ... your eyepiece view of M31, we could get a better sense of it. ... Is M31 a tiny, bright circular glow or a huge ellipse stretching ... would indeed be relatively easy as galaxies go if they were ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: The first night out with my 10" dob.
    ... Don't blame your eyepiece, or the scope. ... M31 is HUGE! ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: The first night out with my 10" dob.
    ... Don't blame your eyepiece, or the scope. ... M31 is HUGE! ... You can FIND it easily enough, and it will be plenty bright enough, but it is WAY too large to fit into one eyepiece field. ... Even with a 32mm Plossl... ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Take a Tour of our free (but kinda old!) observer & eyepiece software
    ... Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_ ... a beginner about the combination of a particular eyepiece and scope, ... later ones for observers and ATM's, was, I feel, more useful than very ... eyepiece for that' or 'the ABC telescope is better than the DEF ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
Loading