kenmyers

sounds like you are doing fine to me. Keep practicing polar alignment, it will get easier. If you want a quick observing session and know exactly what and where to point at (ie moon jupiter saturn) set your mount up as a dobsonian. It is easy and fuss free but tracking for long periods is a small pain (although i find it fun)

You captured the hexagonal storm at the pole... from earth! I bow down to you sir.

That's pretty good. She's bright isnt she! Try the same settings on a half moon or less and that will look epic.

*spoken in Brian Cox's voice* 17 Billion Earth like planets. That's seventeen - thousand - million planets... like us.

Hello and welcome, I'm also in Lincolnshire.

Absolutely stunning.

Exactly!

On a more serious note... Could curiosity detect a MarsQuake?

I remember seeing the orion nebula for the first time. I was like..."so am I looking at the wrong part? where's the colour? Oh... I see now, must be something wrong with my scope!" ...trundles to shop, buys new bigger scope, set-up, view.... "nope it's just a bit naff!"

wouldnt it be awesome if they were taking a picture and a fly flew past!? lol

I find the best way to see M31 is with my naked eyes. Bino's will show you some nice dust lanes though. I have trouble seeing a lot of detail in it with my f/7.9 scope. Lovely views we have of it though. Not over rated, just REALLY FAR AWAY!

Still, 7x50's show a lot more stars than my 15x70's (using the 15x70's dim fov for comparison) There is common knowledge vs logic here. The 7mm exit pupil is just fine for me (in my 30's) and it is not like you will ever notice this loss of light since the magnitude of stars you'll see are beyond what a pair of 10x50's will show. Neither are better or worse (depends on your eyes/age/preferance) but at this price they are a great purchase. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise untill you see for yourself. I have a set of bino's for every occasion but still the 7x50's come out most often for stability, lightweight, large fov, bright fov and easy focus. Also great for slightly cloudy nights.

Might grab myself a pair at that price! thanks

Nice detail, where can I find this?

I have a fair few sets of bino's and can confirm that 7x50's are my most used. They are small and lightweight and I see Andromeda galaxy, perseus clusters, plaides, haides and the moon very clearly in these. Yes they are quite widefield but they show great colour and sharpness. Also see a LOT more stars per FOV with these than any of my other bino's. Also seeing dimmer stars much more clear due to low magnification (but still amazingly zoomed in!)