First night success!

[dannybgoode]

Finally, the wife was out (a nurse so works a lot of nights) and the skies were clear.

As well as just some general gazing I wanted to set myself a couple of target spots to see if I could find my way around.  Thought I would keep it simple though - nothing challenging so using Stellarium to find the targets and to get an idea of what they would look like and then Cartes du Ciel to print off the maps I decided on Mars, Jupiter and M44.

The first two were easy but to see the pinkish tinge of Mars and to get some appreciation of the size of Jupiter was enough to get me going.  I am pretty sure I sure at least one of Jupiter's moons, possibly two.  One I think looked quite close and at the 4 o'clock position and the other one a distance out at around the 10 o'clock - would this be right?  Happy either way!

As for M44 - I did find it but lucked upon it as opposed to successfully using my newly printed charts (more on that in a minute).  Truly impressive sight.  I had to keep taking my eyes away from the bins just to confirm that I actually couldn't see much there at all with the naked eye.  It is that impressive I think even my wife (who rolls her eyes at the mere mention of a new hobby) might at least want to have a browse around the sky if not actually learn what she is looking at.

Things I learned?

1/ It is ******** annoying to have a neighbour who you don't talk to having their bare kitchen bulb on and their blind up.  I am reasonably convinced he did it on purpose as it is the kind of thing he would do to spite me.  Luckily I had some bamboo screening kicking around so managed to block the worst of it off.

2/ It is even more annoying to discover that the landing light you left on causes at least as many problems as the neighbour's light but you have noone else to blame.  Bamboo screening didn't help and I didn't want to disturb the baby going in and sorting it.

3/ It is all very well printing off charts but if you have no means of actually seeing them they are not much use!  Red light on order.

4/ Time goes at least twice as quick as you think it is and what was meant to be a half hour blast ended up being nearer 1 1/2 hours.

5/ I think I am hooked!

[Fish]

Nice report, it will only get better :-) congrats on seeing everything you planed. Light pollution will be a thing for you from now on, it annoys me how much energy people waste then complain about bills grrrrrr. Remove your stupid 500w detector light .....and I could go on ...but won't.

Looks like your hooked ...

Enjoy..

[Pondus]

Nice report

To answer your (rethorical) questions

1. Yes! 

2. Definitely Yes!

3. Good idea

4. Or maybe its just that time moves so slow when your not stargazing?

5. It definitely looks that way  .

[hippie]

Welcome to the stargazer's viewing bug of time slipping by .

There are many wonders for you to discover out there yet!,

 Now try & convince the wife for the need of a telescope  .

[dannybgoode]

@hippie - I assume that astronomical products are no different from photography gear and amateur radio kit in that they have two prices.  The shop price and the price you tell your wife it cost.  I also assume you (and again like photography and ham stuff) that you have more of it than she is aware of.

Luckily she is well primed for the telescope purchase as she knows I want to get one for our little boy and I to go exploring the skies together with.  That can wait a little while though - I am pleasantly surprised by what can be seen through a set of decent 10x50's.

[johnd]

I'll be interested in how you find reading your charts with the red light as I find it difficult especially those little tiny star dots. But you must have good dark skys to almost pick out M44 with naked eye?

Yes, I can also concur about people who have very bright lights and why is it that those with the brightest lights never use curtains?

Also, time moves in double time unlike when we are at work (ahhem I really must actually do some?).

Enjoy, and I predict a new scope in the not too distant future

[dannybgoode]

@johnd - apologies, my OP my not have been overly clear.  I can't make out M44 with my naked eye.  That's why I had to keep moving away from the bins as I found it incredible that something so beautiful and with so many stars could suddenly be seen.  I lucked upon it when scanning around and then worked backward from what I remembered of the charts when I printed them to confirm it was (I also double checked when back in the house).

I will let you know how I get on with the red light...

[Double Kick Drum]

Enjoyable read.

If you are hooked, you may find yourself going out at all sorts of ungodly hours and so the neighbour light will cease to be an issue.

Agree about the passing of time - I have not rolled in until extreeeemely late without realising where time went, on many an occasion.

In time, you will find what works best for you with regards to mappage. I use CDC too but tend to just leave it on the lap top in my conservatory for reference.

Thanks for sharing!

[Charic]

Nice report,  I just hope there's a few dark nights left, as the Summer nights are almost here (less viewing time!) Did you know that Stellarium prints star charts, in-fact it prints whatever is on your screen [ Stellarium - Configuration Window [F2] TOOLS -  Screenshots:   Set the path and invert the colours?]

[Stridor]

Glad you are enjoying some of the pleasures of the night sky. Yes, neighbours lights can be a real pain and one can really get a bit frustrated and annoyed by them, even though it is perfectly reasonable  to have them on; after all it is night time, but some people do seem to leave them on uneccersarily.........my wife for one!!  My wife tends to go to bed early so that leaves me free to come in when I want and sort out bits and pieces before turning in myself (there is one advantage of sleeping in separate rooms!!)   I use a little `Gerber` torch with a red, green, blue and white light options, I find the red option totally cuts out some of the details in laminated charts and I briefly switch to `green` for a brief moment before going back to red. Have a look at M13 in Hercules....it can take a bit of magnification as well.

[dannybgoode]

Thanks all for your comments and encouragement

@charic - I have just took delivery of one of those Gerber torches, nice little bit of kit.

The weather has closed in again so will have to wait until it clears before I can have another go.  Getting impatient!