First Light

Typically, when a person gets a new telescope, they do a quick write-up of their first impressions and first time out under the night sky.  This is called "First Light".  Since I bought a new telescope a few months back and have had the chance to try it out a few times, I thought I should do my First Light!

I will try not to bore you with the telescope details too much, but I would like to share what kind of telescope it is, the size, and why I chose this particular telescope.

It is a Dobsonian telescope which are usually large and inexpensive compared to other types of telescopes.  It has a large, primary mirror (the one for collecting the light) housed at the bottom of the telescope and a smaller secondary mirror which reflects the collected light into the eyepiece.  The eyepiece is at the top of the telescope.

My particular telescope stands about 6 feet tall when pointed straight up.  The primary mirror is 12 inches in diameter so it is able to collect quite a bit of light from whatever it's pointed at.  When fully assembled, it weighs about 130 pounds, but when disassembled, the heaviest piece only weighs 50 pounds.  It was important to me that the telescope and base were able to break down into smaller pieces so that I could fit it in my smallish car.  This way, if I wanted to get away from the light pollution of the city, I could.

This telescope is also able to locate and track objects in the sky.  I thought this would be a good idea so I could tell the telescope to find an object, like Saturn, and be able to have my friends and family be able to see it without having to make sure it was still visible in the eyepiece.

I have taken the telescope out a total of 4 times and have seen some amazing sights!  I am extremely impressed with my telescope!

Here is a short list of the objects I've looked at:

Venus:  Venus has phases much like the moon, so I was able to see that for the first time, although I have tried other times with binoculars.

Jupiter: Jupiter was amazing!  I could see the four Galilean Moons, which wasn't surprising since I'm able to see those with binoculars.  What was amazing?  The coloring and cloud bands of Jupiter! Reds, browns, and white shades.  I was also able to see the shadow of one moon on the surface of Jupiter!

Saturn:  Saturn was also amazing!  I have seen the rings a few times before, but they couldn't compare to my new telescope!  I could even see the yellows and browns of the cloud bands.  I enjoy looking at all the planets so far, but Saturn is currently my favorite.

Ring Nebula M57:  The Ring Nebula looked awesome through my mid and high power eyepieces.  I could detect a little bit of the red and blueish color. Click here for a picture of the Ring Nebula!

Beehive Star Cluster:  This is an open cluster of stars and looked very cool through the telescope as well. Click here for a picture of the Beehive Cluster!

Hercules Star Cluster: This is one of my favorite star clusters to look at so far.  This is a globular cluster of stars so they appear to be all centered around a central point.  Very bright and lots of stars with high power eyepiece. Click here for a picture of the Hercules Star Cluster!

Moon:  Really, really bright!  It was a half moon, but when someone would look through the eyepiece, their whole face would light up with moon light!  I could see mountain ranges and even inside of craters!  I really need a moon filter!

I have tried looking at a few other objects like galaxies and a nebulae, but from the light pollution of the city, I wasn't able to see them through the eyepiece.  Hopefully, in the near future I will be able to take my new telescope to a darker sky and really see what it can do!

I have a few accessories so far for the telescope.  They include: padded carrying cases, light shroud to block stray light, a high power eyepiece, and a small rechargeable battery to power the tracking motors.  I'm planning on the next accessory to be a laser collimator to make the collimation (aligning the telescope mirrors) easier and more precise.  I could have all the eyepieces in the world but they wouldn't do me any good if the mirrors aren't properly aligned!

When looking through a telescope, the image you are seeing won't look as bright or as nice as the pictures you see in books, magazines, or on the Internet.  However, seeing the object with your own eyes is a very gratifying experience to me.  It's amazing to be looking at something that is hundreds to millions of light years away.

Help me name the telescope!  Please leave a comment with some name ideas and your reason why!

Standing Tall in Little Black Dress

Telescope Posing

Missing the Little Black Dress!

My Telescope next to a baby telescope