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MarshallDavies

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Everything posted by MarshallDavies

  1. 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 reccomend? Next stop, I say to myself, Mars. No problemo? Our survey said; X. I did manage to catch the briefest glimpse, but unable to help myself I tried to get it centered and only suceeded in losing it completely. Right then, methinks, Pleiades. Not a sausage. By now I'm starting to feel the cold more than a little, one last crack -m31- then I'll pack up while I can still use my fingers. Guess what, no joy. I'm not all that bothered though - I know I was being greedy. And so, damn near frozen but feeling elated I packed up and went my merry way. Not a bad night by all accounts! Ps. I took the 10x50's out about an hour later as the cloud started to roll in. Just to remind Pleiades and m31 who's boss. M31 -my first tiny smudgy glimpse of- reminded me; puny human, you really are that insignificant. :icon_eek:
  2. 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 thinking 'perhaps I will need some sleep before work... but one more check won't hurt!' Lo and behold the tiniest patch of the heavens had cleared! Now my only problem being the fact I live on the high street of a small town, undeterred I grab my scope and haul it downstairs like the excitable kid I really am. By now it's far too late for me to make the trek out to the local park and some decent darkness, I had no other choice so I just set up on the kerb under a streetlight (and the curious gaze of the local baker) and got on with it as best i could. Aside from Orions Belt I have no idea which stars I spotted, at the moment I dont really care! It's just nice to know it's working! And well thats about it, the fog rolled back in, the baker went back to his pasties and I thought I'd come share. All I know is I'm going to bed happy! Good times! :D
  3. 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
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