😀 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.
I saw something somewhere on TV about two galaxies colliding and it mostly looks like a load of dust. Are u hoping u might be aound when it happens?
Top stuff! Endorsed!
Aim at Orion, there are lots of double stars, nebulae and interesting things therein (http://www.flickr.com/photos/straytoaster/10765632084/lightbox/ I gave a talk on how I obtained those images at a conference recently.)
If you haven’t got it already, I recommend ‘Turn Left At Orion’, a quality book (get the spiral-bound variant) that is probably the most useful manual you can have. Until you start buying catalogues (I am partial to Arp, myself) for off-the-beaten track DSOs.
The Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge has public observing (and lectures) every (term time) Wednesday, if that is handy. It is for me. I go 🙂
I am an open cluster and double star kinda guy, I’d also suggest you turn your glass towards Alberio, a lovely double…
(And as a parting shot, I can’t resist)…
Ann…when you see ‘colliding’ galaxies, I tend to come over all Hoyle, and start to lecture on the inherent wrongness of hot big bang cosmologists, but that is a whole other series of lectures…
Ann – I think if we were here all it would look like is a bigger less coherent Milky Way! As you say – dust. Speaking of the Milky Way, I appreciated it for the first time the other night also. I told Dad I had never seen the Milky Way as I’ve only ever really seen bright urban skies and he just pointed and went “it’s that thing there”… oh. That really huge slightly milky band? I see. A bit like the whole ISS thing – how have we not noticed that bright dot whizzing overhead before?!
ST – Wow – those images are incredible! I have to admit the instant I started looking through this scope I was thinking “…should have got the motorised version”, just so I could do longer exposures. Even Jupiter moves off fairly quickly and the moon practically legs it. I reminded myself that I’m only allowed something more clever once I really know how to use this one. Plus this one is super portable. I shall look into the IOA talks – be brilliant to go but it’d be a skin of the teeth thing at the moment, timewise! I’ll look into the book too – I do need something like that to give ideas what to look at, otherwise it’s rather pot luck! Thanks 😀