Trip Around The SOLAR SYSTEM !

Firstly I will get this bit out of the way.
I am new to all this ! Using Meade Etx70 from you know where ! Have only recently Starting to use it after a period where it sat on its tripod and people thought it was cool/Impressive.. I enjoyed this period as I have always seen myself as an amature Astronomer ! Real amature ! :lol:

Then After only a few weeks people started to ask what can you see with it? I replied " Cloud nebula, Comets, the sun, Space stations, Mars, Mercury, Jupitor, Saturn and I descovered the 11th planet in the solar system,( I am leaving the discovery of the 10th planet for someone else" Then a pause followed by a a very low almost mutter " The moon " :lol:

So I decided to do something about it. I put the manual away.... hehe

And decieded to find a planet. So on the 21st of feb 2005 I found Saturn.. I could for the first time see another planet ! Without the use of television that is ! I was elated.. truly... I informed my Sister by text message...

Text sent...

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I have discovered saturn... blah balh..

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Text received....

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Tell NASA !

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I was laughting so much I could not even reply...

So I found Saturn, How? using castor and pollux, I have just discovered That they are in GEMINI !

I used the 5mm eyepiece and could see saturn with its rings, very fuzzy...


OK now you know the background, Now I am after Jupiter..

Or should I go somewhere else? Or should I go back for a better image of Saturn?

Has anyone got an image of Saturn taken with a Meade etx70 So I can compare what I have seen with what other users are seeing?

anyone got an image of anything taken with the meade etx 70?

Any ideas what I could do next, Where to go, what to look at?

I used the 5mm eyepiece to get the best image ? There are other tubes with elements in the bag which extend the eyepiece for better magnification I assume..

Anyway any ideas about anything above would be appreciated :idea:

When I started getting to know my old 3" Tasco, and then later the 8", what I did to look for inspiration was to grab a page from a star atlas, and ONLY ON THAT CHOSEN page (provided it was for the Northern Hemisphere!), look for an object that was within range. I've been able to see the Coathanger, the Dumbbell Nebula, loads of star clusters, and the North American nebula, from a page in the atlas on the area around Cygnus. Next time I was out, I took a different page, and so on and so on...
That way, the decision to seek an object to view at the eyepiece was an easy one to make!

The atlas I use by the way is the Phillips Colour Star atlas (Epoch 2000) by John Cox & Richard Monkhouse - won it at the first Irish Astrofest in 1990! Brilliant, super-large colour atlas.

Seanie.

Thanks Seanie,

Can I humbly say that your advice is very much appreciated. I can tell by your signature and Avator that we both have a sense of humour...

I will take your advice but for now I want to see something exciting instantly...

I thing the idea is a fantastic one but a bit sterile for the near future for me. I am looking fot the WOW factor that the rings of saturn gave me last month.. When I run out of WOW's :lol: I will then look around... I appreciate this may be the wrong way, but I want to really really really enjoy the freezing cold nights.. :lol:

any ideas?

Thanks Seanie,

Can I humbly say that your advice is very much appreciated. I can tell by your signature and Avator that we both have a sense of humour...

I will take your advice but for now I want to see something exciting instantly...

I thing the idea is a fantastic one but a bit sterile for the near future for me. I am looking fot the WOW factor that the rings of saturn gave me last month.. When I run out of WOW's :lol: I will then look around... I appreciate this may be the wrong way, but I want to really really really enjoy the freezing cold nights.. :lol:

any ideas?

Well, you don't have a bad attitude to it, I'm like that all the time! From my point of view, you are probably bored of all the star allignments you do to get the ETX-70 alligned for "type and go" astro-searching! But, it is a small scope, so you will be limited!
To actually take out your atlas at the kitchen table, and just for a few minutes, look at the objects marked on the pages, and what magnitude and size they are indicated by - go for the brighter ones first! Then, go for the more challenging ones next!

I think one downfall you may have is that you are looking at too many glossy astrophotos in books, and (like everyone else in the hobby) want to see the same thing! But you won't!

Therefore, you will have to kind of take that little extra time to go after the nicer things you want the WOW factor to come from!

Not much help I know, but patience for both stellar delights and clear skies is a virtue!!!

Seanie.

Another note I'll add Uranus, is that I suppose if you get a chance to go observing with other astronomers, go for it! Use them for their larger telescopes, and when they are able to simply point-and-shoot, you just look into theb eyepiece and say WOW! Where are you from again? Any chance you'd like to come to Cosmos and meet the rest of us like-minded folks with slightly and more larger telescopes you can look through?

Seanie.

The glossy images are not a problem, let me explain...

As mentioned I only got a very small image of SATURN but god I could make out the rings. fuzzy thought they were they had the wow foctor.. I felt like a kid again..

Do you think I would enjoy saturn? remembering my equiptment? or should I look elsewhere?

Cheers...