rockystar

I know DSOs normally call for dark skies, but I've found that lighter skies help with OCs. I spent an evening at home around Cassiopeia and most of them were quite obvious. With dark skies there are almost too many stars and they just bend in

Nice report, good bit of education in there as well. Is Sirius not visible from your location? Brighter than both Vega and Arcturus. Another interesting Vega fact: in about 12000 years it will be the start nearest the North Celestial Pole. Sounds like you've got some great skies

I've got a 14 & 24 mm ep and don't find any need for anything in between - you've got different spec scopes tough, so, as they say, your mileage may vary

Would love to come, but tricky on a school night. Hope it stays clear for you

even then there is still light from the sun, hence twilight - so could the duration of sunset be defined as the point when the amount of sunlight starts to reduce until it is zero?

There are another 3.5 months of this year left yet Plenty of observing opportunities to come: star party in Nov, astronomy club starts again in a couple of weeks - chance to show a few new members around the sky, and I'm sure there will be another couple of dark sky evenings before the year is out. then we can start thinking about next year

just started reading it, got it for my birthday in Jan! I think you can usually pick them up for £20, but still a good deal. Edit: sorry Mark, just realised that is both books in one , so a really good deal.

What do I wish i'd known: that this forum existed I also wish I'd watched this video:

I found a little book that my 6-year old daughter had been doodling in - pictures and names of all the planets.

second hand eyepieces are a great way to get a good deal, try and pick up something in the 20-25mm range. there is a buy & sell section on this forum. a barlow is used with an eyepiece and has the effect of increasing the magnification that each EP will deliver by the specified amount (I.e. x2) - I personally don't have one, but if you got a 24mm and a x2 barlow you'd effectively have: 24,12,10,5 which is a good starter range. It's normally suggested that you use the largest numbered EP to align your finder in the day time. (but that's redundant as you only have one EP) welcome to the forum and we're all here to help you and your son have a great time under the stars

I've got some cheap filters, and it showed me the veil the other night. It's probably a law of diminishing returns, just like with EPs. I think I'd probably be happy with the ES. and sticking with ES, why not go for the 24mm 82* - It's a cracking EP

(ask 5 amateur astronomers and you'll get 8 different answers) my suggestion would be a HEQ5 mount with a 150pds reflector. This is a reasonable aperture for visual (especially at a dark site) and a good aperture for photography. the books mentioned. a CCD camera (don't know enough to comment which though - probably the best that is still within budget

I was at a reasonably dark site the other week - could see the milky way and all seven major stars of ursa minor - and in my 8" scope I could barely make it out, if I didn't know exactly where it was, I'd likely have missed it. I have seen it looking spectacular though, but under even darker skies and when it was much higher in the sky - it was low down in the sky glow of Manchester, 30 miles away!

my es82 24mm. And yes, it doesn't come out far enough. But a good choice I think if your want to attach a camera to it, as the general comment is that there's not enough inward travel

thanks @Ricochet I'm actually planning on putting them on an extension tube and keeping the extension tubes permanently attached. I had the ES in a 35mm extension and the Morpheus in a 50mm extension - in this config, the Morpheus needed to move out by about 5mm, thus the idea of the ring. I was playing around with it and this worked well for me. It does mean I need to buy another extension for the other Morpheus though...