So, a little history first...

Around August 2013 I picked up a Celestron astromaster 114eq, got it out a couple of times to view the moon but really couldn't use it, it had one of the axes controls broken and I found it very difficult without the motors to keep anything in the field of view. This of course will no doubt be down to my inexperience of using any kind of telescope!

Anyway, with 4 months of research and learning and about 5 books later I took the plunge and bought my 'REAL' first telescope, being the Skywatcher 200p with the HEQ5 mount (my end goal is astropotography). It is a beast of a machine (attached).

It's very heavy but stable, the viewfinder is 1000 times better then the red dot sight on the astromaster which i had sooo much trouble with although its still not 100% perfect.

So armed with my new addition I took the whole set-up to Sutton Heath in Suffolk which has relatively dark skies, well as dark as it gets around the east. After an hour of setting the reflector up and aligning the viewfinder I was ready to go.

First i spotted venus in the west following the sun really (i need to get better with locations i.e. declination and right ascension as at current I couldn't tell you where it actually was...i didn't polar align as I got lazy...in hindsight this undermined by whole evening's tracking ability i.e. i couldnt track anything with the motors) was an amazing sight as a 1/3 crescent. I took a couple of unguided 1/200 snaps but some significant camera shake (my remote shutter release malfunctioned) ruined the picture, but i have attached none the less!

Next was Andromeda which I found by hopping via cassiopea, a real achievement for me as this was the first time i tried it and i found the fuzzy grey area after about 5 minutes....but then lost it for another 10 minutes! Was amazing to find it though with the new gear and no auto tracking it wasn't easy.

Next was Jupiter and what a sight, two bands clear (32mm plossyl with 2x barlow) and two moons on show, was a real good way to end the session!

So...things i learned...I need to polar align so i can auto track, that would have made life a billion times easier, less rushing next time! Also, when aligning the finderscope i need to pick a further off target as i reckon i chose a tree about 150yds away which didnt equate to an accurate set-up.

All in all though really impressed with my new gear, i just need to learn a bit more about it!

Looking forward to the next session!

Koraki