maybe i'm missing something or am i too little?

[jasonpply]

hey all. i've really been burning up the evening hours using my telescope i got about a year and a half ago. it's only a little 3 inch buschnell reflecting telescope. i have really enjoyed it so far and am soon upgrading to an 8 inch. i have been trying to see things like nebulas and some of the messier objects to no avail. clusters are no problem. i'm looking for advice on what it is that i'm looking for. i feel i'm missing something. i know i cant see everything but i'm sure i can see more than just a few clusters. also all the mags i suscribe to really glorify them and i know i'm not going to see those beautiful colors. maybe do i need filters of some sort or should i be able to see some without?????????

 

[MeteorWayne]

Well you probably aren't too little but your scope is a bit on the small side, and not of the highest quality. An 8 inch will show you a lot more. One nebula that you should be able to spot is the Orion Nebula, in Orion's sword. It's one of the brightest and is easy to find due to it's location.

None of them look as good in a scope, even a big one, as the spectaucular photos that are in the magazines. They are photos so capture light over many seconds or minutes or hours, wheras your eye can only percieve the photons that hit them at any instant.

Wayne

 

[weeman]

In this case, a 3" is good, but you'll be pleased with an 8" scope! What planets have you tried to observe? I have a 4.5" refracting scope and I can easily see Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars (though Venus and Mars appear very small). You can also buy a solar filter for observing the Sun. I would specifically look for a Hydrogen-Alpha solar filter; this will give you the best detail for solar observations.

 

[jasonpply]

actually all of the above. i like venus because it is so bright yet looking at it it's so small. personally i like the uniqeness of how it phases. i heard mercury is the same but never saw it yet. mars looks like a frosted top red ball. not much detail but still cool nonetheless. saturn and jupiter well i'm sure i dont have to say much here they are the best for observing with my wee scope. even at my highest magnification they still are very detailed ie; the bands and rings are clear. at first i was gonna buy a 5 1/2" off of flea-bay but i wasnt sure of what i woulda got the price sounded too good to be true to me seeing as it costs the same as the one i got now. do you like the scope?

 

[jasonpply]

wow finally seen what i was looking for. thanks guys now i really look forward to seeing more. all this time i thought it was in his arm not his sword. i thought that they were stars in his sword. are there 3 nebulas in orion??? I thought i may have seen 2 in his sword one very faint and another in below the star on his back (belt) looked like a haze but may have been just clouds in the area...... I was excited nonetheless thanks guys

 

[MeteorWayne]

There are quite a few nebula in Orion. It's all about learning where to look

Here's a view of teh Orion nebula, and a fainter one right next door. Of course there is more color in the photo than you can see with the naked eye, even with a huge telescope.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OrionHunterWilson.jpg