DAVPPK

Welcome UHF:) I agree with the above, Turn Left At Orion is almost regarded as a classic these days, and it's very useful indeed!! Dave

Me to!! I used to have a scope similar to the one you're talking about (I had an AstroMaster 70AZ), and it was great for me as a beginner. I highly reccomend both Stellarium and Turn Left at Orion, the're both great. Have fun!! Dave P.S. I'm the same age as you!!

I was looking at it too!!! Very beatufil, and I agree that the 25mm EP is the best for this job! Dave

Explorer 130P SynScan Report - 08/04/2010 Clear Sky - No Moon 130P scope - 650mm FL (f/5) EP's: 25mm, 10mm, 9mm and a 2x Barlow Visual Mag. 3.8 bordering onto 4 Location: Lat = 52 degrees, 45.5 minutes North, Long = 0 degrees, 53.8 minutes West (N 52.6 and W 0.54 is what I used for the SynScan) Started to set up at about 6p.m., to let the scope cool. Went out at about 8.30 p.m., when I started to see some stars around. Aligned using Betelgeuse and Denebola, which proved to be successful. At that moment, The batteries went dead. :). Ran inside, got 4 new batteries (cba to change all 8!!). Re-aligned using Denebola and Mizar, as Betelgeuse was behind a house now:rolleyes:. Finally ready to go at 8.45 p.m. First sight: Saturn. Scope slewed, and then I used the backlash function and centered Saturn, making the controllers' accuracy even better. Also took advantage of Saturns' brightness to align the finderscope perfectly. Saturn was looking good through the 25mm (x26), the rings just wisible. I cranked up the power to 9mm (x72) which wasn't a real difference, but revealed the rings and colour a bit more. I then decided to put the barlow to the test. The power was now at 4.5mm (x144), which gave a stunning view compared to the AstroMaster 70AZ I used to see Saturn the last time. My second object was Mars, which I really wanted to see, because the sky clouded over when I had the Evostar 150, which wrecked any chance of me seeing Mars. At 25mm, it still looked like a star, so I used the 9mm wioth the barlow. WOW, was my fist thought. I could see the disc shape, and even though it looked tiny, I could make out some faint markings anfd even its 'phase' (part of the disc was black [as shown in S@N]). My third object of intrest was in the 'tour' function: The Beehive Cluster. Seeing as it wasn't very far from Mars, I opted to observe that as it wouldn't take very long to slew. I put the 25mm EP in, and it fitted perfectly into the FOW (which is apparently 52 degrees with this particular EP). It was STUNNING, a graceful cluster sparkling beautifully against a blue-black sea. My final stop for last night was M81/82, or Bode's Galaxy. I chose to use the 25mm EP, as I thought the galaxies would be more noticable, and I was right. I could make out M82's cigar-like shape, fuzzy against the pinpoint stars around it, with M81 close to it. Building up the power spoilt the view a bit, as you couldn't see the full picture. Came bak inside at about 9.20, as my parents were tired ( ) and had to go to work the next day.I hope you enjoy reading my first PROPER night out, and I pray for clear skies so I can go out again!! Dave :)

Hi people, haven't really been posting lately... anyway as you may have already noticed, I now own a new scope, which is easy to use!! UPDATE ON SCHOOL RESULTS:: Maths: 154/159, 95%, 5th highest in my year group (highest MALE score though :p) Science:: Biology: 48/50, A* Chemistry: 44/50, A (1 mark off A* :mad::mad:) Physics: 43/50, A (2 marks off A* :mad::mad::mad:) Thats all for now folks, A level Italian mid-may, and about 1 million more exams at the end of may and end of june :icon_eek::icon_eek:!!!

Can you control a AZ SynScan mount with Stellarium??

BTW, my first pic was taken through a digital camera, try one of them too

well played... my mobile wouldnt be able to take something like that Dave

nice time lapse there Dave

no diagonal, and I tried your method john with all 3 eps, but still no luck

Last night I (finally) set up my kit, pointed the scope at the pleadies, slotted the EP in and....it doesn't focus at all. The 'longer' the focusing tube comes out, the more it focuses, but it never reaches to be a sharp image. Help? Dave

the one with the depot closest to you!

good considering the seeing....!

or £4.25

you will definetely get a better result with a camera, as long as the object is tracked and it has a fairly long exposure on it... a ccd would be even better, but costs a lot more. hope this helps Dave:)