Talyn

Here's another satisfied customer - I ordered a laser collimator last weekend. It was here on Tuesday morning. Good and fast.

Hi,

From a dark site there are many fine nebulae you can see, too. When winter comes, Orion is wonderful - M42/43/ but forget the Horsehead. In the summer the Milky Way offers a host of targets. Do you have good star charts? Computers are not much use because they blind you!

Olly

The Horsehead is notoriously awkward. I have looked for it on several occasions with a variety of instruments and can only ever to have claimed to have seen it once - and even then it was only a 80% claim! Under average skies - as most of us have - with a 12 inch I doubt you'd see it.

Computers can be useful, but get several sheets of red acetate (in any art shop) to dim the screen sufficiently so it doesn't affect your vision.

A 12 inch scope will show you tons of stuff, as others have said. Forget the Messiers (too bright! ), a big portion of the RNGC is avaialbel with a 12, that'll keep you busy for years.