😀 I saw my first deep sky object! Deep sky object = DSO, fuzzy things generally too faint to see with the naked eye like nebulae and galaxies). Took the telescope out tonight – ogled a bit at Jupiter again (Saturn is still inconveniently below the horizon when I choose to go stargazing), admiring three moons and two dark bands on the planet, and then had a go at looking for the Andromeda galaxy. I was getting frustrated trying to find Andromeda in the not so good night sky (low clouds reflecting street lights, and if you are slightly out with the aim you can be searching for ages, much like a microscope) and then suddenly BOOM there it was! I was inordinately excited to see this fuzzy indistinct vague spot in my field of view – it may not be super impressive and isn’t even clearly visible unless you use your peripheral vision but tonight I saw another galaxy (or its core at least) with my naked eyes, with just the help of two mirrors and a lens.
What I’m particularly proud of is that I pointed the telescope at something I couldn’t see (with the help of what used to be Google Sky Maps), and managed to find it – twice!
Andromeda is one of our closest neighbours and will collide with our own Milky Way galaxy in 3-4 billion years. The collision won’t actually be particularly destructive, as as Dad acted out this evening, all the contents of each galaxy will basically just go “fhshwishsyshesy” past each other. Like atoms and solar systems, galaxies are mostly empty space. The night sky might get pretty interesting in the lead up though.
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