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[digital42]

Hey Everyone -

I took my new telescope to Rockford, IL over the weekend to visit my family and girlfriend and decided to set it up in my drive way to show everyone. The first thing that I found besides a star was Saturn. When I showed my family the detail that I could bring in with my 10mm lens they went nuts! I too was quite taken aback by the beauty of Saturn and the clarity at which I could see its rings.

I then took my telescope out to a service road about 6 miles away from the edge of the city (to escape the light pollution) right off of US 20. From my position there I was able to spot Jupiter. I was surprised at how easy it was to find the planets in the night sky.

I was trying to find some nebulas, galaxies, and comets but I was unable to locate them. I am not sure if I am just not looking in the right place of if my 10mm lens is just not powerful enough.

The next piece of equipment that I plan to purchase for the scope is a solar filter so I can observe the sun! I hope to have it sometime before June.

Well thats all that I have observed for now. I will post more as I come across it!

Scott

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Scott,

How great an experience to capture two giants of our solar system. Both have great attributes to marvel at and thru the eyepiece, reveal great detail.

Looking for nebulas, galaxies and clusters is a fun hunt, but using the 10mm eyepiece is much too high of a magnification to start out with. You want to begin the searching with a low powered eyepiece, such as a 25mm or less. The images will be brighter, and the location against the background stars will be more apparent. Once you zero in on a faint nebula, then you can proceed to increase your magnification. You will find that you will be using lower power eyepieces the majority of the time.

Try some solar projection first before you purchase a filter. I find that using the projection method more pleasing, especially when combined with a colored filter to bring out the sun spots better.

It sounds like an excellent time you had. I guarantee that there will be many more.

Thanks for your post.