Astronomy

Last updated: 03/23/03

I've been a HUGE astronomy buff since I was probably 6 years old. The stars have always been fascinating for me. One of my most memorable christmas presents was a telescope I received as when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It was a small 2.5" refractor, but I could just barely make out Jupiter and I could see its moons. I could see Saturn and the wonderful rings. I was hooked.

Actually, I kind of dropped out of astronomy about 15 years ago (except for following the Hubble Space Telescope photos avidly) over the years.

My aunt Becky recently got me the book Seeing in the Dark by Timothy Ferris. The book discusses how amateur astronomy has contributed and continues to contribute a great deal to the field of astronomy. I was unable to put the book down and when I finished, couldn't wait to buy a telescope. Within a week, I had a Meade NGC-60 refractor, followed shortly by a Meade DS 2130 ATE (the 2130 ATS shown in the link is a shorter version of my 3+ foot version). The 2130 is amazing. I got out almost every clear night to look.

I put up this page because I had trouble finding resources for small telescopes and what sorts of things would be visible to us small telescope guys. So, below you will find a table of the kinds of things you can expect to find with smaller telescopes as well as some good resources on the web to follow.

Real quick, most of these things I've seen from my DS 2130 telescope. The telescope comes with a 4mm, 12.5mm and 25mm 0.965" eyepieces. The first thing I did (and I highly recommend this to anyone with any telescope over a 3 or 4 inches of aperture) is replace the eyepieces using a 2" to 1.25" converter. I now have 5mm and 15mm 1.25" plössl eyepieces, which give a wider apparent field of view and simply much clearer, brighter view of the sky. It's effectively the same as adding a few inches to your scope's aperture, in my opinion.

These lists are primarily objects that I have seen. Where I have yet to see them, I'll mention that. As I see more, I'll add them to the list, so expect to see it grow over time. In the first day, I've already started receiving contributions to add to the list, so I've added footnotes for the ones that were contributed by others. Thanks to those who have helped add on.

The Moon

This is listed separately as it is in a category by itself, for obvious reasons. The moon through binoculars is impressive. Through any type of telescope it is just an incredibly beautiful sight, and probably the first thing every amateur astronomer looks at.

Planets

The planets below are the ones I think can be seen with fairly small telescopes. I don't think Mercury or Pluto can be seen in a small telescope. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me.

Name	Distance from Sun(AU)	Absolute Magnitude	Comments
Venus	0.718-0.728	-4.4	Haven't seen it yet
Mars	1.382-1.666	-2.0	Haven't seen it in years. Never could make out any detail with the 2.5" refractor. Look forward to seeing it in the 5" reflector when it comes around.
Jupiter	4.951-5.455	-2.7	Very impressive sight! You can usually see up to 4 of its moons at any given time. Jupiter's rotation period is just under 10 hours, so you can see the whole planet in a single, though long evening.
Saturn	9.014-10.044	-0.3	Anyone who has seen it through a telescope will probably confess to Saturn and its rings being one of the most awe inspiring sights in the night sky. It's simply amazing.
Uranus	18.31-20.07	5.6	Haven't seen it yet, but it's on my list!
Neptune	29.76-30.36	7.7	Haven't seen it yet. Don't know how visible it will be

Distance is in Astronomical Units (AU). Earth has a mean distance of 1.000AU, so it's used as the benchmark. 1AU is just under 150 million kilometers (149,597,870.691km for the picky).

Nebula

Name	RA	Dec	Apparent Magnitude	Distance (kly)	Size (arc min)	Catalog References	Comments
Orion Nebula	05:35.4	-05:27	4.0	1.6	85x60	M42, NGC1976	The Orion nebula is probably the easiest nebula to see in a small scope. It's simply gorgeous, what can I say? Highly recommended!
De Mairan's Nebula	05:35.6	-05:16	9.0	1.6	20x15	M43,NGC1982	A small offshoot of the Orion Nebula, and actually a part of Orion, but cataloged separately. A bit harder to pick out, and I haven't really noticed it.
Crab Nebula	05:34.5	+22:01	8.4	6.3	6x4	M1,NGC1952	Think I saw it last night, but I'm not sure now. I'll have to re-check. It's smaller than the object I thought I saw.
Eskimo Nebula1	7:29.2	+20:55	10	?	0.7	NGC2392	Very small grayish circle

RA (Right Ascension) and Dec (Declination) are beyond the scope of this page, but essentially if you know astronomy, you're familiar with it. Brightness is in apparent magnitude instead of absolute magnitude, as that's more important for viewing purposes. Distance is in thousands of light years. Size is approximate dimensions in arc minutes.

Open Clusters

There are a great number of open clusters that can readily be seen through bincoluars and small telescopes. Open clusters (AKA Galactic Clusters) are groups of many stars that tend to lie in the arms of the milky way (and other galaxies, but you're not going to see those in a small telescope).

Name	RA	Dec	Apparent Magnitude	Distance (kly)	Size (arc min)	Catalog References	Comments
Praesepe	08:40.1	+19:59	3.7	0.577	95	M44, NGC2632	(A.K.A. The Beehive Cluster) Beautiful cluster of some 350 stars (maybe 40-60 seen in small telescopes)
The Pleiades	03:47.0	+24:07	1.6	0.38	119	M45	Cluster of some 500 stars. Also contains several reflection nebula.
M35	06:08.9	+24:20	5.3	2.8	28	NGC2168	Very nice. More than 200 stars.
M36	05:36.1	+34:08	6.3	4.1	12	NGC1960	Around 60 stars. Very pretty. Very young (around 25 million years old). No red giants
M37	05:52.4	+32:33	6.2	4.4	24	NGC2099	Around 500 stars. Around 300 million years old. Several red giants.
M38	05:28.4	+35:50	7.4	4.2	21	NGC1912	About 220 million years old. Not as impressive as the previous 2
M1031	01:33.2	+60:42	7.4	8.5	6.0	NGC581

M36-M38 are all very close neighbors, though M36 is much younger than the other two. They are all very distinctive and a gorgeous site going from one to the other.

Globular Clusters

Globular clusters tend to be closer to the nucleus of the galaxy. They are generally much older than open clusters.

Name	RA	Dec	Apparent Magnitude	Distance (kly)	Size (arc min)	Catalog References	Comments
Great globular cluster in Hercules1	16:41.7	+36:28	5.8	25.1	16.6	NGC6205	Globular cluster with anywhere from 100,000 to more than a million stars. Rob says: "always a thrill, and easily seen"

Galaxies

Some galaxies are huge in our sky. M31, also called the Andromeda galaxy, spans the width of 6 moons. Yet it's so dim, only on a clear night can you see any signs of it with the naked eye. If you have a small telescope, and you're wanting to see a galaxy like those amazing pictures of Andromeda and other galaxies, I have some disappointing news. They don't look like that. What you'll likely see, if you can find them, is a hazy spot where the core is. On the other hand, if you have a camera, and you can take a time lapse photo, you can start to make out more structure. Still, I find it exciting to see the core and to know that I'm looking at billions of stars so far away that I can't make out the stars.

Name	RA	Dec	Apparent Magnitude	Distance (kly)	Size (arc min)	Catalog References	Comments
Andromeda Galaxy1	00:42.7	+41:16	3.4	2900	178x63	M31, NGC 224	Not sure if I've seen it or not. Thought I saw it with my small scope, but will have to probably wait 7 or 8 months for another shot at it
Satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy1	00:42.7	+41:16	7.5	2900	17x10	M110, NGC 205
Bode's Galaxy	09:55.6	+69:04	6.9	12000	21x10	M81, NGC 3031	First galaxy I'm sure I saw. Coolela!

References

₁ - Contributed by Rob Downing via alt.astronomy. Thanks Rob.

Other Resources

Below are some resources worth checking into

My DS-2130 page. Applies to most DS series reflectors, though

The Right Eyepiece for the Right Job

The SEDS Messier catalog. Very nicely done.

The SEDS NGC 2000.0 catalog.

Backyard Astronomy. Check out the link: The Beginner.