4/19/2023 0 Comments Telescope definitionNGC 281 is an emission nebula that resembles Pac-Man with a foreground dust cloud that appears to take a bite out of the circular emission patch. You can also see NGC 288, a fainter globular star cluster, which lies at the other side of the field. The Silver Dollar Galaxy or Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) is large and bright. To challenge yourself, see how far out you can track Andromeda’s spiral arms. You can get three galaxies for the price of one target with this one: M31, M110, and M32. (I used a 3.1-inch refractor to observe each of them.) These wide-angle wonders provide stunning views through any telescope-and-eyepiece combination that offers at least a 3° field of view. And if you take any pictures of these objects, share your new vistas with Astronomy! If this sampling gets you hooked on wide-angle wonders, then I suggest joining your local astronomy club. Doing this ahead of an observing session will ensure you get the most out of it! Slide the overlay over your star charts, especially along any portion of the Milky Way that will be visible: You will encounter other groupings of several objects that define new vistas. To do this, draw a circle corresponding to your telescope’s field of view on a piece of clear plastic, or cut out a circle in a piece of paper that matches your telescope’s widest field of view. If you do try to locate an object close to the horizon and are unsuccessful, just wait until it is higher in the sky and try again!Īnd for those of you keen to make the most of your nights, you can prospect for vistas (groupings) beyond the ones I’ve listed here by making an overlay for your charts. This makes some of the trickiest objects easier to spot. Try to observe an object when it is as close to overhead as it will get during your observing session. The distance from an object to the horizon measured in degrees is called the altitude of an object (0° at the horizon, 90° when straight overhead), which changes as the night passes. One easy way to ensure a night well spent is to target objects when they’re high in the sky. Consult your star charts (such as Astronomy’s The Complete Star Atlas available at ) for the best season and time to tackle these targets. Plan your viewing sessions ahead of time. Wonderful star clusters, emission nebulae, and crowded star clouds can be spotted in the fall, winter, and summer months. or Canada - portions of Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, and Yosemite are all relatively free of light pollution and give you altitude.įor an added treat, check out the Milky Way. If you are planning an astronomical trip, consider someplace in the mountains of the western U.S. This gets you above the dense lower atmosphere, which noticeably dims the light of all the objects in the sky. If you have a choice, pick an observing location at a higher altitude. However, I recommend a wide-angle telescope if possible, as it is far more flexible and usually has better optical quality and performance. Binoculars are wonderful, and in many cases, a good pair will allow you to locate these objects under a dark sky. You may wonder if binoculars can be used to observe wide-angle targets. But with the right equipment (and a little bit of patience) you can easily take an ultrawide-angle tour of the night sky. My mistake is a common one for first-time and experienced observers alike, since it’s easy to be drawn to the best equipment the market has to offer. I finally had a wide enough field to see the entire object at one time! The magnification of this rig was 14x, providing me a huge 4.8-degree true field of view. LEONARD: You get to play with Raj's big telescope last night? *Howard and Raj both react with shock.* HOWARD: Where'd that come from?! RAJ: He never touched my telescope!! HOWARD: Way to go shutting up! RAJ: I did shut up, now you shut up! HOWARD: Fine! RAJ: Thank you! RAJ: I can't believe you didn't call me this morning.The magic combination of telescope and eyepiece that finally revealed IC 1396 was a modest 3.1-inch f/6 achromatic refractor (500mm focal length), combined with a 35mm eyepiece with an apparent field of view of 68°. *Howard walks over to the table.* HOWARD: Hey. RAJ: Nothing happened! Can we please just change the subject?! SHELDON: That sounds rehearsed. Last night, Raj accidentally made contact with an alien civilization, and has been ordered by the United States government to keep it a secret. What happened? RAJ: Why? You writing a book? SHELDON: I'm going to propose a hypothesis. LEONARD: Really? You waited months for a time with that telescope. Looked through a telescope, saw some stars, big move. Raj joins them.* LEONARD: Oh, how'd it go last night? RAJ: Oh, you know, same old same old. (FROM THE BIG BANG THEORY) *Sheldon and Leonard are at the table in the cafeteria.
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