MarshallDavies

While driving home from Stafford to Birmingham I noticed what appeared to be a tear-drop at the base of the crescent of the moon. I suspect it may have been Jupiter but wonder if anyone can confirm this for me. Even better if anyone has a picture! Kind regards! Marshall

in a word, nice.

hey star-gal! at the risk of sounding like an echo, welcome! and it really is a friendly group here, believe me when i say there is no question too stupid - i've had some real classics!

skymasters do seem to be the ticket, from what i've read on here - you'll probably want a tripod too. heavy, man!

...there's nothing incredible about stars, but street lamps, so far as we know there's only a few million in existence in the whole universe! ~Terry Pratchett on god and religion. I just thought you guys might appricieate that quote, here's the link too; Video: Terry Pratchett on religion: 'I'd rather be a rising ape than a fallen angel' | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

i'll have a gander but i am pretty tight at the moment, maybe £50? but then maybe i should just save a bit and aim fo the eye-opener kit...

apparently -and if you can find a way around the radiation problems associated with having little to no atmosphere- you could walk about on mars with just a bleedin scuba suit and air-supply! sweet.

No more 'sidewalk astronomy' for me, my friends. Tonight I finally managed to get myself to a nice, dark location with -believe it or not- not a cloud in sight. I'm not going to pretend it went without a hitch, in this case a badly alligned RDF on the ol' astromaster. One piece of equipment I find hard enough to use already. But undeterred, I decided to aim for something even I'd find hard to miss - the Moon. Considering this was my first view of it through a telescope, I'll happily admit I was blown away. Fantastic view through the 20mm and the 10mm! Now i need a barlow, if anyone can reccome

Okay, not much to report, but i'm still chuffed! Mainly because I didn't manage to completely [removed word] my scope collimating it before I'd even used it. But thats another story! My scope (a *cough* 5'' newtonian - everyone seems to prefer skywatcher) finally 'arrived' today, bringing christmas with it as far as I'm concerned. As you can imagine i was quite happy. All I needed was a bit of clear sky, so all night i've switched between checking sat24 and hanging out of my window cursing the low lying mist to absolutley no avail. Astronomy lesson number one, i guess. Come 3 o'clock and I'm

Just thought i'd say hi. I've been captivated (and more than slightly intimidated) by all that up there for as long as i can remember. And being of shoddy natural eyesight i've only ever been able to see anything with my near antique 10x50's. But this year, hopefully, everything changes - i've just ordered a 130mm reflector. I know it's not much, but it's a start (and all my budget can currently stretch to!) So any suggestions at what would be good to point it at this time of year? When it turns up that is... :D

you're forgetting biodomes and all that crazyness. if they can do it at the eden project... you'd be better off inside anyhow, even with a breathable atmosphere, the dust up there would likely kill you - its seriously unfriendly! the moon can be a galactic service station, lets aim for mars!

I've had a fiddle, wether you'd call it collomating is a whole other matter. But the moon earlier was impressively sharp, like all the high-res photos I've ever seen, so I can have done that much damage! When I say colourful stars, they aren't so numerous as the other white ones and barely show up in the bino's. But they do really stand out against the others in view!? Please bear in mind I have shoddy natural eyesight. Ps. Bad luck on the 150 mate! Fingers crossed it wont be too long. Just make sure whoever delivers it leaves a bleedin' note. Mine sat in the post office for more than a week

No more 'sidewalk astronomy' for me, my friends. Tonight I finally managed to get myself to a nice, dark location with -believe it or not- not a cloud in sight. I'm not going to pretend it went without a hitch, in this case a badly alligned RDF on the ol' astromaster. One piece of equipment I find hard enough to use already. But undeterred, I decided to aim for something even I'd find hard to miss - the Moon. Considering this was my first view of it through a telescope, I'll happily admit I was blown away. Fantastic view through the 20mm and the 10mm! Now i need a barlow, if anyone can reccome

sounds like a plan. i'm in.

...and while i'm at it, thanks to the unbelievable cold outside tonight i've just brought my scope in and noticed the main mirror is covered in condensation. Now my sensible head is saying just leave it, let it do its thing, but do i leave the cap on or off?