ScouseSpaceCadet

That's a nice pic. I'm slightly envious! Around 8 hours ago the skies cleared here revealing a glorious summer night. Incredibly clear skies and despite the summer twilight, to the south Jupiter hanging like a bright jewel in the sky. Ditching the Startravel 120, the now unused Explorer 130/650 was pressed into service. The reward being my best view of Jupiter to date using a BST Starguider 8mm and Sky-Watcher deluxe x2 barlow. Amazing, I wanted to go around the house waking everyone up. A good hour was spent observing until a neighbour's trees interupted the view. Then Saturn appeared and another nice view. I swear I observed the Cassini division but I may have just blinked! Still with clear rings, Iapetus and Titan flickering the evening was complete. I'm obviously easily pleased, but I really must save up for a planetary scope...

I received this week a Max MAX004S IP67 Rated Accessory Tool Box Lightweight, small, supposedly waterproof and it seems sturdy enough. Most importantly, cheap!

The kit is improving.... New 8mm & 15mm BST Starguiders, plus a used mint 25mm Celestron X-Cel.

A good friend who shares my fascination with all things cosmic thought it was her birthday twice over when I sent her an unannounced boarding pass. My partner showed a reasonable interest so she got one. My teenage kids went "wha-evaaa' so didn't get on board. People in work think my friend and I are nuts. Are we crackers to want our names landed on another planet to potentially lie there for eternity? Maybe future colonisers will chuck the lander in a museum and wonder at all those who dreamt before them? I think that's a positive and quite mindblowing thought but so many people don't seem to care or understand!

This weekend I took the SW 120T with me to Philpin Farm. Unfortunately the scope stayed in the car boot due to the blanket of grey candy floss covering the skies for the whole weekend. The campsite itself however was lovely. Very small and quiet with maybe twenty tents pitched all weekend. Mostly walkers as it's situated very near the three peaks. All pitches are non electric, the toilets were clean and free hot showers 24/7. The pre ordered cooked breakfeast inc tea/coffee was OK for £4.50. Served in a converted barn also containing a small shop selling essentials. The link above has plenty of positive reviews and information. I've no doubt the stargazing would have been amazing for a visiting city dweller, with no town or city skyglow that I could see, and according to Clear Outside, 21.67 Magnitude & Class 4 Bortle. There were a couple of strong lamps over the barn and toilet doors but the light was localised and wouldn't be too intrusive for a spot of casual visual observing. Ten minutes walk from the camp there is a great little pub serving good food and a decent pint The Old Hill Inn

A used 9x50 Erect Image Finderscope courtesy of Ebay. Besides a scratch or two not noticed unless you look for them, it's great with clean and clear optics. My dodgy knees and creaky neck can have a rest now. Woohoo!

SQM 18.77 mag./arc sec2 Brightness 3.36 mcd/m2 Artif. bright. 3190 μcd/m2 Ratio 18.6 Bortle class 7 Elevation 30 meters Pants. The urban jungle 5.5 miles from Liverpool city centre. Around 50 metres from an urban A road lit up with new LED lamps and new LEDs in the cul de sac. Also, other web tools suggest the area is Bortle 8...

I hope that's clear enough pic for you.

I've used both a SW 130p and SW Startravel 120 on the AZ5 and found it incredibly easy to use and my equipment feels secure. Particularly the 130, which feels almost toy like on the mount. There is a touch of focus wobbles but that's mostly attributed to the light weight tripod. I do feel the AZ5 would benefit from larger alt-az clutch knobs. They're not always easy to find in the dark and until I got used to the mount, did on a couple of occasions accidently unscrew the extension tube nuts whilst fumbling! The slomo cables were tried once, but they felt a bit pointless using short tubed scopes so were replaced with the original knobs. The heavy duty 1.75" tripod does improve stability and increases the AZ5 mount load capacity to 9kg. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/alt-azimuth/sky-watcher-38-stainless-steel-tripod.html There's also a cheaper Astrotrac aluminium tripod with 3/8s adapter available from 365Astronomy however I can't comment on its performance. https://www.365astronomy.com/Astrotrac-AT1-Aluminium-Tripod.html

The 2nd and 3rd pics look good to my untrained eyes. I like the perspective of the 3rd one. It has some nice depth. Nicely done. (Just got in from showing my son Jupiter for the first time. I know it's 3am... He's nearly 20 though...)

Firstly, before shelling out a ton of money on a focuser costing as much as your scope, try this: http://www.astro-baby.com/Skywatcher Focuser Tune up/Skywatcher Focuser Tune-up.htm I tried the above with a 130PS and focusing improved considerably. Listen to the previous poster's advice. Buy nothing for a few weeks at least. It's all too easy to go on a spending frenzy. I ended up with a second scope quite quickly and luckily I'm very happy with it!

Don't give up! As another newbie under Bortle 8 skies I feel your frustration. This weekend I've probably experienced the clearest summer skies I'll ever see from my backyard but as John said, moonlight, light pollution et al work against us. I know I've pointed right at various DSO, some fuzz, the core maybe, even a wisp of spiral arm with careful and prolonged observation but it does soon become a futile experience. So, I decided to concentrate on what I can see and work with that. Armed with a Startravel 120 on an AZ5, a selection of cheapo Plossls, a couple of mobile phone apps and a flask of tea I had a great time on Saturday starting with the moon and then choosing to focus on Cassiopeia. Reading about every star I view, and splitting my first double stars was great. The night finished four hours after it started with a good look at Jupiter. Sunday night was zenith night, same again, more doubles and sitting on my ground sheet did just about view the Pinwheel but it took some doing and was incredibly faint. Three hours learning and enjoying it... If you can't see some of the fainter stuff but are confident you're right on it, despite the frustration it's still a triumph knowing you're navigating around the sky successfully. Darker skies will be a doddle!

Looks lovely. That place could be nice for a cheap and not too cold winter astro holiday. Thanks for the report.

Hi Dave from another newbie. That's quite a collection you've amassed already!

Thanks chaps. Doug I have a 2x barlow left over from the 130PS/AZ5 I intend to keep. The 2" diagonal would be nice but atm funds are stretched! The OTA came with a 45 degree prism diagonal so I splashed out an extra £19.95 on an Opticstar Deluxe 90 degree mirror. It seems OK . The TV aerial I used to align the RDF looked sweet.

Finally, a refractor! Of course accompanied by the inevitable terrible weather... Nothing snazzy just a common Sky-Watcher Startravel 120. Soz about the grass. The garden's mid overhaul...

Thanks All. Andy I'm booked into my first one in three weeks. Yorkshire Dales, Bortle 4 skies. Other places I intend to visit this year are the Lake District, Snowdonia and Bowland. All Bortle 3/4 skies. May do a couple of Astro camps funds and time allowing. Also applied for membership of the local Astro Society.

The op has probably seen this... http://gostargazing.co.uk/regions/north-west-england/ However if so it may be useful to others. Pick your region, or the area you're interested in and the dark sky sites are pinned. Search Google for campsites near each pin you fancy visiting. There's several I intend to visit this year in the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Snowdonia and the closest to me, Bowland. Through the year I'll try to drop in and leave a mini review for the camp sites I've managed to visit.

A long time astronomy/tech/science/computer anorak checking in! I've lurked here a while and enjoyed reading the wealth of information, as well as the nice piccies... Finally I bought a 130p after 50 years mulling it over lol and with a first refractor (SW ST120) arriving next week, I'm hooked. The camping gear has been dusted off, the dark sky campsites bookmarked and divorce preparations made (joke... Erm I hope!) Hi All!

Another +1 for Sky Safari. Sky Maps is an OK free app to try also. Pick an object, and a targetting reticule is overlayed onto the screen: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.stardroid&hl=en_GB

Wow thanks guys. I know its super noobie, but the getting up at 03:30, surely deserves brownie points if nothing else!

Hello Stargazers! A first post and a first photo of probably many more! The Moon. 4am Thursday 25th April. Samsung S6 and FV-5 Lite camera app. Clamped to a Sky-Watcher 130PS. A single shot taken from a severely light polluted driveway. Auto everything with some ten minutes of tinkering in Google Photos. Very unsophisticated but I like it...