Jojo204

Well today I did and it took about 25 mins for them to be able to see constellations, satellites and the Milky Way was pretty obvious. I used Stellarium with lowest brightness and the red mode on and it didn’t mess up my vision much, but when I went inside once I was done I wanted to see how much one light effects me so I turned on a light then went back outside, I could barely see Vega for the first few seconds!

Well I had a pretty clear night and went outside, after a few minutes I could already make out the Milky Way! How amazing from my very own backgarden! I’m really tempted to drive out of town to South West Somerset/Devon during the next clear night to enjoy this view even more. I spent a couple hours just stargazing it went so quick! I enjoyed looking at Cygnus and I had a fair sight of mars to the south! The ISS flyover was really cool as it was going pretty quick silently. I got my camera out for its second flyby but was too late and it went behind a house . Anyway I got a bit distracted and took some alright Milky Way shots. All gave me an awesome experience for my first time observing! Everything you see in pics seems fake until you see it in real life! AMAZING!

I live a few miles outside wells that is classified as Bortle 4, and yes ok!

I count myself lucky to live in a bortle 4 zone then!

Quite amazing the power of ones small eyes!

Thanks!

Oh I live in Bortle 4! But I’ve never noticed it haha, I’ll adjust my eyes a bit and try see it!

Ah ok! I’ll definitely do that in the spring/summer!

Hi all, another pretty stupid question, but I’m quite excited today as I finally have a break in the clouds tonight and am going to do some visual observing (and try and spot the ISS). I want to know how long would it take my eyes to adjust to the dark and be able to see the stars fully? Thanks!

Hi all, bit of a weird/dumb question but I’ve always wondered if you can see the Milky Way with your eyes. When I was out getting Milky Way shots I just pointed my camera West and took a long exposure. But when I was aiming my camera I couldn’t actually see the Milky Way. So I was thinking, in a low light pollution area once your eyes adjust to the darkness, can you make out the faintest band of the Milky Way?

Hi all, this one may be a bit far off but I may as well mention it before I forget . Jupiter, Saturn and Mars will be in a rough line on the 26th March 2020 and then Saturn and Mars will be quite close on the 1st April 2020.

Hi! I recently ordered my first scope and went for the Nexstar 6SE! I had fairly same criteria as you do and although it doesn’t image or view perfectly, it does do both decently and that’s what I wanted. Note the 6SE is Alt-Az and GoTo. I’ll be buying an EQ6 GoTo for it in a few months however to improve its photography. I recommend you see some sample pictures for each scope first as that really helped me decide, all the best! - Jojo

I noticed that Mercury and Jupiter will be getting quite close this month, unfortunately they’ll rise above the horizon and only be visible for a few minutes until the sun starts rising at around 06:50

Welcome to SGL! Jojo

Don’t be afraid to increase the ISO to 6400 if needed!