domstar

Welcome to the forum. You had a lucky escape with those H eyepieces. I think plossl eyepieces are fine (new or used). You could go a step up and get BST Starguiders. Whatever you choose will be considerably better than the ones that you originally looked at. Good luck and have fun.

Fascinating and beautifully presented. I'm amazed.

Brilliant report. I'm really pleased for you.

Three days in a row. I can't remember the last time that happened to me. A very interesting read- thanks.

Sounds like a great night. Some of my favourites there.

Great report and lovely area of sky.

Mine makes the stars green too. It's Explore Scientific. It also gives me a slight improvement on the Orion Nebular. On the (big) plus side, I can see the Veil with it.

Up at 4 a.m to look at the moon. I like the moon that's dedication. I liked your comment about a 'largeish collection of eyepieces'. It made me smile but at least they get plenty of use. Nice report.

Just switched on the computer and this is the first thing I've read. You've really put me in a good mood. Great report.

The good news is that eyepieces with H on them are so bad that any plossl will be a vast improvement. I got some second hand skywatcher plossls from ebay for less than 10 pounds each. The upgrade was huge. When I got a better scope I never used them again but it was still money well spent. Welcome to the hobby. Hope you have a great time with it.

Helen Sharman did an interview with the Observer, which is available to read on the Guardian website. The questions asked are not reported but it's obvious they asked her about aliens and she answered. The BBC didn't misquote her but it would be better to read the Observer article to understand the context. I can't see any issue with her giving her opinion in a weekend magazine.

That's great and I enjoyed the write-up too.

Welcome to the forum. Great advice above. Plus 1 for daytime alignment, using the eyepiece with the largest number and Turn left at Orion. My Newtonian lens cap mistake was to just pull off the little cap and not the the whole cap which is the same size as the tube. The moon is around in the evening at the moment. It makes a great first target as it it easy to find and very impressive through a telescope. It is also easy to know that you are in focus. Then try the Orion Nebula. Good luck, have fun and when it frustrates just come back tomorrow.

I've seen your pictures of this before but even now it brings a smile to my face. Wonderful.

Hi and welcome. Great advice above about stellarium. Also I would say look no further than the Orion Nebula.

p.s. The stars won't get any bigger. Individual stars aren't the most interesting thing in the sky (sometimes the colour might be interesting). Clusters of them and double stars are a different story.

Everyone is good at something, and sitting in the cold with my extra-toasty Christmas socks on and a blanket on my lap, I discovered that I'm extremely proud of my ability to spot M74 the Phantom Galaxy in Pisces. Hours of effort have been rewarded and I was surprised to see it again in my four-inch on the balcony. There are some brighter galaxies that I just can't see but for this one my brain has been trained. I'm not even sure how that works but it does. As you can guess, the transparency was wonderful on this unforecast clear night. The first in a while. My first mini session was M74, Cetus A and Uranus. Later on I went out again for an Orion session. Rigel was tight and split way out of any glare at 100x. Alnitak and Saif al Jabbar clearly split at 150x. The Orion Nebula was bright white and I lingered for a while. The beauty of the nebula seemed to work against the Trapezium stars and I only got a tiny glimpse of the E star. Still, a lovely session blowing the cobwebs away. Hope everyone has a crisp winter night soon.

Your telescope gathers about the same amount of light as mine and I'm pretty satisfied. I would mainly use the 32mm eyepiece until you get the hang of it. Then you could use it with the Barlow for higher mag. I wouldn't use the 4mm at all. If you have managed to focus OK then look at the Orion Nebula and of course the moon (and the Pleiades) It can be pretty frustrating at first but perseverance will be rewarded. Good luck.

Sounds like a lovely Christmas. I love that double too. Close but splittable and easy to find directly. 100 sessions is something to be proud of. My best year is two thirds of that and this year considerably less.

Good point. Don't go anywhere near the sun. It's been so long since I've seen it that I'd forgotten it existed. Use a far point that isn't anywhere near the sun. The pointer should get you near it. Look through the eyepiece and centre the object in the eyepiece. Then adjust the pointer so it's pointing at what you're looking at through the eyepiece. Then, at night, if you point at a star, you should be able to see it in the eyepiece. I don't use co-ordinates but I do use the program Stellarium, which is free to download. It gives me ideas for what to look at and how to find them. First stop in winter is always the Orion Nebula. Have fun.

It's best to adjust it during the day. Point it at a far away chimney and adjust the pointer so that it is pointing at the same place that you see through the eyepiece. Use the eyepiece with the largest number as that will show the least magnification and the most sky. Always start with the least magnification (I would've saved so much time and frustration with that tip). You've come to the right place. Welcome to the hobby. Keep the questions coming.

We're all here like coiled springs waiting to welcome an avalanche of beginners and their astronomy problems. Turn Left at Orion? Stellarium? Align the finder during the day? Merry Christmas everyone.

Thanks for that. Has anyone tried using the new version? My computer doesn't mind the older versions but it is strongly advising me not to run the new one.

Nobody here would advise you to buy that telescope Celestron PS1000 . The only consensus here is to avoid telescopes like that (Bird-Jones design) a Newtonian where the focal length (1000mm) is longer than the tube itself. Any scope from a telescope retailer (like FLO) will be decent. Some people prefer refractors but nearly everyone recommends something like the first suggestion here. Look again at the first poster and his reputation count. If you aren't going to observe on a cramped balcony, that could well be the one for you. Good luck and welcome to a great hobby.

Beautiful image. That really is a man's face with a moustache in the larger image just above the blue.