Trying to observe the moon
My telescope
Last night the moon was nearly full and the sky was crystal clear. So I decided to take my Meade 114 eq-asb telescope that Eliza bought me for our seventh wedding anniversary out for a spin to do something relatively simple; look at the surface of the moon.
At least I thought it would be easy. The moon being the nearest celestial object to Earth one would think it would be easy to zone in on it, look at its surface, and get back inside. Not when you have no idea how to properly use your telescope it would seem.
I did manage to see a little bit of what I wanted but I really need to start taking this telescope thing much more seriously. Here is a photo I took of the moon last night that really does not do any justice for the brilliance of the moon. As with all good things in life, using a telescope takes time and effort to master - and I look forward to trying again on the next clear night.
Oh, on a somewhat related note I read over on Wil Wheaton’s blog today that a free eBook is available called What’s Up - 365 Days of Skywatching which gives you a quick, easy, and printable reference of the night sky for each day of the year for 2007. Brilliant.
If you have any other tips, tricks, or resources that you’ve found useful - please feel free to pass them along. I’d love to get better at using my telescope so that it is much more enjoyable and less frustrating next time.
[slug]moon-observation[/slug]
[tags]telescope, night, sky, moon, meade, meade 114 eq-asb, astronomy, pennsylvania, ebook, free, anniversary, gifts, eliza devroe, photos[/tags]
January 3rd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I’ve been trying to capture some of my astronomy knowledge, but I’m a big slacker. I’ve got notes on how to find things in the sky without using a published ephemeris that I need to dig out.
The moon is cool, but the first thing you’ll see in your ’scope that will really make you drag people out into the cold to share the experience (at least, it was for me) will be Jupiter. Very doable if you know what you’re doing.
And if you get a good view of Saturn, you’re kicking butt.
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Owen: Interesting. I’ll poke around when I get the chance for sure.
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I’m not sure what’s more disheartening. That you own a telescope that you don’t use daily or that you read Wil Wheaton’s blog. Of course I’m kidding, I too like his blog and I only wish I had a telescope to ignore.
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
James: Yeah, I wish I hadn’t “ignored” it as long as I have. However I do have some pretty good excuses. The very same day I opened my telescope I had it outside and was getting it set up - I managed to see a few small stars near Orion’s belt, then… the fog rolled in. It was about a week of really cloudy nights that followed that day.
Then, we moved. Since then I’ve not been able to find the time. But I plan on making time during this winter to really get a firm understanding of how all of this stuff works, and to hopefully get some enjoyment out of this wonderful gift.
January 5th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Nice telescope, I’m envious. Good time of year to get out and use it, pretty guaranteed dry skies.
I really want to try to capture the moon with my camera. When I was down in Virginia last April, my Uncle has a telescope that looks similar to yours. He got the moon in nice view for us, but it moves fast. We kept having to move the telescope slightly to keep up with it. He also had a huge pair of binoculars that did a great job for looking at the moon too.
I’m gonna check out that skywatching book. Have you checked out the program, Stellarium for OS X. It’s pretty nice!
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18844
I’m not sure when is the right time of year for viewing but looking at Saturn is pretty amazing too
Have fun with your telescope