Explore the Stars Tonight !

Orion Nebula

Albireo

Star-forming hydrogen cloud

Galaxy, 50 million light-years distant

Show-piece coloured double star

Star-cluster of young hot stars

270.000km wide ring-system

Impact craters and mountains

Moon

NGC3293NGC4565 Saturn

M10

Viewing through a 12 inch telescope under a dark sky

Over 100 Messier objects including Star-Clusters, Nebulae and Galaxies.

More than 1000 “NGC” objects.

Planets, Double-Stars, Variable-Stars, Comets and Asteroids.

How does a telescope “see” better than your eye?

Your eye has very few square millimeters of surface area to let in light.

A telescope mirror has a large surface area to gather light from faint and distant celestial objects.

38mm²

Gathers more light

Sees fainter objects

Sees further into space

Sees more detail

Wayne Mitchell

Light from th

e distant g

alaxy is

refle

cted

by a m

irror in

side th

e telesc

ope and

reflecte

d into th

e eye-piece

.

Galaxy 30 million light- years away

Eye-Piece

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Galaxy 30 million light- years away

Eye-Piece

The Galaxy

image has b

een brightened

and magnifie

d.

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Wayne Mitchell

Finder-scope

FOCUS

Telescope Eye-piece

Point telescope at object you wish to view.

Finder-scope

FOCUS

Telescope Eye-piece

Centre Finder-Scope cross-hairs on object, in this case a STAR-CLUSTERLook into Telescope Eye-Piece

Star cluster

9X

100X

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Finder-scope

FOCUS

Telescope Eye-piece

Locate Saturn using a Star-Map.

Saturn looks like a bright yellow star.

Saturn

Point the telescope at Saturn

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Finder-scope

FOCUS

Telescope Eye-piece

Centre the Finder-Scope on Saturn

Look into the eye-piece

9X

300X

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Apennine Mountains: Peak heights of more than 5km, a daring challenge for any lunar rock climber.

The “Straight Wall”: A geological fault in the moons crust about 240m high and 110km long Alpine valley: 130km long gash through hills, created by a violently large impact Wayne Mitchell

The Eye-Piece “sees” a very small area of the sky, only about 1 degree…

Use the Finder-Scope first to find the object and to align the telescope up with the Eye-PiecePurpose of the Finder-

Scope?

5 degree field

The Finder-Scope “sees” a large area of the sky, about 5 degrees as illustrated…

1 degree

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A LOW magnification Eye-Piece “sees” a larger area. You fit “more sky” into the Eye-Piece!

A HIGH magnification Eye-Piece “sees” a small area.

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ExampleTelescope Focal-Length = 1000mm

Eye-Piece Focal Length = 32mm

Magnification = 1000/32 = 31X

Magnification is determined by the Telescope Focal-Length divided by the Eye-Piece Focal-Length.

As you can see, a Low-Power Eye-Piece fits the whole Moon into its field Wayne Mitchell

200X, a “high” power, yielding bright and sharp planetary images in 8 inch or larger size telescopes.100X magnification is a “low” power, yielding bright and sharp planetary images in most size telescopes.As you can see, a “medium” power yields a superior,

well defined and sharp image. 500X, a “very high” power, yields dull and distorted

planetary images in any size telescope.

100X500X200X

Saturn

Look out for these 3 bright stars known as Orion’s Belt.

Take note of the surrounding brightest stars forming this pattern…

You have just identified the Orion star constellation

Use the following Star-Map to identify the bright star names and other celestial objects…

T h e O r i o n c o n s t e l l a t i o n p h o t o g r a p h e d b y W a y n e M i t c h e l l

STAR MAP OF O

Betelgeuse

Rigel

M42

Bellatrix

Saiph

Sigma (star)

(star)(nebula)

Rigel

M42

Sigma

Sigma Orionis: A Multiple-Star, also appears as a single star to the naked eye, but a telescope reveals 4 stars, gravitationally bound in a celestial dance…

Rigel: A Double-Star, appears as a single star to the naked eye, but a telescope reveals Rigel’s close orbiting companion star.TELESCOPEM42 Orion Nebula: A beautiful intricate mass of glowing hydrogen gas, home to the birth of new stars.

Earth’s rotation causes objects to “drift” in the telescope’s field of view as demonstrated

below…

Compensation for the “Drifting” motion is achieved by frequently adjusting the telescope manually or by using

a Motor-Driven equatorial mount.

Telescope view of Comet

Larger aperture scope at a lower cost.

Fast set-up time.

Simple to use, “Push-Pull”.

Requires no polar alignment.

Optional motorized tracking of celestial objects.

Used for astro-photography.

Slow-motion hand-wheel adjustments.

Portable tripod assembly.

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DOBSONIAN

BASE

REFLECTOR

TELESCOPE

EQUATORIAL

TRIPOD

REFLECTOR

TELESCOPE

Leave the shutter open for 30 minutes while telescope tracks the nebula.

201030

Attach camera to telescope and open shutter.

Recording

MIN

+

_

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Photo- Spiral Galaxy

Actual View!- Saturn

Actual View- Star-Cluster

Actual View- Moon surface

Symbolizing a “heart” – cluster NGC2547 in Vela

Stars visible from a cityStars visible under a dark skyThousands more stars are present in this tiny area ..