New eye pieces.

Shortly after purchasing the Celestron FirstScope I decided (upon recommendations from the internet) to get some new eye pieces.

After much searching I came across http://www.astronomy.co.nz/. So far this website has the lowest/most reasonable prices I have been able to find in New Zealand.
It turns out the website is run by the treasurer of the Auckland Astronomical Society so I felt very confident in the quality of the products I was getting.

I ended up getting myself a new 9mm Plossl eye piece and a 2x Barlow Lens.

4mm Plossl.

2x Barlow.

The first thing I noticed after getting these new lenses was the difference in quality. Things seemed sharper with much more contrast.

The 9mm is a good size for the Celestron FirstScope, giving a decent 55.5x magnification and a nice FoV. Add into that the barlow lens (111.1x magnification) and observing the moon or Jupiter is pretty good with it as well.

My next purchase (from the same shop) was a 32mm Camera Projection Lens (15.6x magnification).

32mm Camera Projection Lens.

This is my goto star hopping lens. I don't even bother with my finder scope anymore. I just pop this lens in and track down my target, then depending on what I'm looking at I'll pop in the barlow lens to give myself 31.2x magnification or I'll switch to the 9mm.

The cool thing about this lens is I can attach a DLSR to it using a T2 adaptor and I'll be able to take some pretty cool photos.

These new eye pieces are pretty much my goto lenses now and I hardly bother with the ones that came with the telescope.

The beauty is that when I eventually upgrade my telescope to something much more powerful I'll be able to use these same lenses in it.

I'm not sure I'll buy any more eye pieces for now as I'm probably better off saving for a new telescope (no point in spending hundreds of dollars on eye pieces when all I have is a small beginners telescope) but I do have my eye on a Superview 15mm eye piece. It will give me 33.3x and 66.6x magnification with a massive FoV. I have a feeling I will cave and pick one up (its only $50) and that will be my last eye piece before trying to decide on what new telescope to purchase.

Jupiter through a webcam.

In my attempt to learn more about astrophotography on the cheap I discovered that a webcam can be used as a decent camera for imaging.
The Microsoft Life Cam Cinema 720p was the recommended camera so that's the one I went for.

I spent about $70 on this from PBTech and proceeded to follow these instructions to modify it for use in my telescope.

I had never modified anything like this before but found the instructions easy to follow and in about 30 minutes and after a few tweaks, I had a camera that fit nicely into my Celestron FirstScope.
I ended up using an old film canister with some masking tape wrapped around the top for housing the camera as I didn't have any eyepiece barrel extenders but it has worked with out any issue, so if you're looking to save a few more dollars thats something to think about.

Jupiter was my first target and after spending AGES trying to find it I managed to grab a few videos and the following image was the result.

Jupiter.

I'm really pleased with the result. I know its not an amazing photo but considering I spent less than $200 to capture it I think its pretty impressive.

It goes to show with a little perseverance, know how and a bunch of luck you can capture some pretty fulfilling images without having to spend thousands (although in saying that, spending thousands of dollars will get you much more impressive images).

I'm quite interested in seeing what else I can capture using this set up.

Astrophotography.

Shortly after getting my Celestron FirstScope I decided to pop out with the digital camera and try and take a few photos. These are the results.

The following were taken using a Nikon D200 and a 500mm lens on a tripod with a long exposure.
I'm pretty happy with how they turned out considering I had no idea what I was doing.

Full Moon.

Pleiades (around the middle of the photo, just above the trees)
and Jupiter (The big bright one at the top).

Close up of Pleiades.

An attempt to photograph the Milky Way.
You can kinda see it but there was a full moon
 and lots of light pollution.
The Southern Cross and Centaurus constellations
can be seen in this photo.

The Southern Cross and the "Pointer Stars".

Close up of the Southern Cross (Crux)

Part of the Orion Constellation.
The Belt, the Sword and the Feet (Saiph and Rigel).
You can JUST see the Nebula in this photo.

Close up of the Orion Nebula.

Navigating the skies.

Seeing as I'm new to astronomy I figure I would talk a little bit about how I have been finding my way around the skies so other people who are just getting started might get an idea of how other people with little knowledge are doing it.

At first I had NO idea what I was doing. Finding the moon is simple enough and Jupiter is bright enough to spot with the naked eye... I was aware of the odd constellation such as Orion and the Southern Cross but that was about it.

How was I meant to find interesting object to look at with my new telescope?
Well, I started off by googling star charts.

Stardome has a monthly update with interesting things to see and even has the star charts to go along with it, but I took one look at the charts and had no idea what I was seeing. It was a bit overwhelming.

My next stop was the Apple App Store where I went looking for an augmented reality app (one that lets me use my phones camera and overlays the planets onto the display).
I found one called "Planet Finder". I have't really had much use for this but I do pull it out every so often to find the moon during the day time or when its a crescent and not so easy to spot.

I have found that after using the app for a while I don't need it as much as I have learnt the path the Moon and Jupiter take from my back yard and can now find them with ease. I suspect I will be pulling it out again when I'm viewing from a different location or looking for another planet such as Saturn.

I also got an app called "Star Map". This is my bread and butter app. I was a little reserved at paying $20 for the 'pro' version but I eventually bit the bullet and spent the money. And boy was it worth it.
I use this app EVERY time I'm out. Its excellent.

It lets me enter the specs of my telescope and will simulate the view I should be seeing and will even draw a line from a bight star to what ever you are looking for to help with star hopping. This is VERY useful as the Celestron Firstscope inverts the image and all your movements are backwards which can be pretty confusing.

I may do I full in-depth review a bit later when I'm full educated with the app but for now I can't recommend it enough.

One last piece of software I use a lot as well is called "Stellarium".
Its free planetarium software. I would recommend giving it a download and checking it out.
I have spent hours using it to decide what I should be looking for and what time of the night I should be out.


I hope these recommendations help you to find your way around the night sky.

Getting started.

Hey all, I have recently been getting into astronomy over the last month and have decided to create a place where I can share my experiences, photos, observations and and general thoughts.

I work as a professional DJ which means I keep irregular hours and have a lot of free time. Usually I just spend my nights watching TV or checking out music but recently I have been thinking to myself how it would be good to actually get outside and do something more productive. Astronomy seemed like a good idea as I was already up at night and would allow me to keep updated with music while I was looking at the stars and educating myself with the sky.

I started looking into telescopes and was overwhelmed with what was out there and the cost of some of them. I was unsure if I was going to stick at astronomy or it was something that I would give up on after seeing the moon a few times so I wasn't wanting to spend a lot of money. Unfortunately, with telescopes, you get what you pay for, so there wasn't a lot of choice for low budget telescopes.

After some research I decided on the Celestron FirstScope.
There were a few reasons for this.

• It was cheep and available in New Zealand.
• It has a good sized primary mirror for its price.
• It is a dobsonian style telescope which makes it easy to aim
• Its small and light so I can just grab it and take it out when there is a clear night. No set up.
• It was a highly recommended 'cheep' telescope. I would often read about how it had quality optics no usually found on a telescope of that price.

I went ahead and purchased one off Trade Me for about $130 with an accessory kit. If I was to do it again I would probably avoid the accessory kit. The extra lenses are ok but the finder scope is rubbish and I have already gone out and bought a new 9mm plossl eye piece which I am using more than any of the included lenses.

I would highly recommend upgrading the eye pieces if you intend to stick with stargazing for a while. Its a very good investment.

I have been taking this scope out just about every clear night since I have got it and had some amazing views of the moon and various deep sky objects but jupiter has been a little hit or miss. On occasion I have been able to see the cloud bands but not very often.

The telescope its self is slightly out of collimation which is causing some kind of 'ghosting' with bright objects.

Not a problem with the moon as its so large and not a problem with Deep Sky as they are not super bright but jupiter looks like its got some kind of motion blur on it. Not great.

Still, Its fun finding it and having a look.

As well as the telescope, I have been taking the digital camera out and trying my hand at some very basic astrophotography. I'll post some of my results in another blog but here is one to give you and idea of how basic I'm talking.

An attempt to photograph the Milky Way.

Well, I guess thats about it for an introduction. I'll make a few more posts soon to show the images I have captured and talk about some new things I have purchased.

Until next time.