KeithD

I have not visited the forum for a week or so and see this post has picked up several more replies full of great information and discussion. No Andromeda viewing yet but have had the scope out a couple times, not going for anything in particular just looking at what ever we see, Did get a great chance to look at Jupiter / Saturn (think it was Jupiter) as they passed low by through a gap in the surrounding buildings & trees, 20 to 30 minutes trying to avoid the street light threatening to spoil things and find this bright spot that i could see clearly by eye, I think during the evening moving around areas of the sky i had adjust things on the scope incorrectly and no matter what i never found Jupiter, Needed to complexity reset, Rain stopped further attempts tonight but that is now Target No 1 for the remaining time it will be passing in this position.

Thank you, Another one for the list, just taken a look online and will be a good test, We spent a bit of time this evening looking at images on the forum and across the net, a bit of time on Stelvision to get an idea on what our different eye pieces will show us, i now have a new eye piece on my shopping list, but most importantly an understanding of why we will not see X Y or Z as well as we see detail in the moon. Hopefully the weekend will be dry and clear and we can get out in the garden.

Lovely picture, I think a phone holder would be a good shout, I have taken a few with the 350D attached but i need to get a shutter release cable and it hasn't got live view, think the phone would be easier to use together, I want him to learn the imaging with me, both taking shots and processing them.

This is now book marked near the top of list, Easy to use & great output that will give my son realistic expectation. Thanks

Thank you to everyone who has replied, Some very helpful information there, So i need to adjust the light pollution levels in Stellarium, I had changed some settings related to this but need to look a little further, I would be happy seeing seeing something like the images that have been posted, The scope was purchased for my son but i had always wanted one, We can spend plenty of time happily looking at the moon with it but need to keep the interest going by moving on, we have had failed attempts at finding things, we have had some success, I have explained that we are not going to see things like you have seen in pictures, i want to make sure he isn't going to get disappointed or put off. Hes not a big fan of waiting around so have to need to make sure expectation levels are right, I only looked at M31 now because it came up in something i was looking at, i am building a list of targets to aim for and some of those are going to be in better positions for us to view from our location now, Im also starting to look at taking some images, Have a Canon 350D that is not getting the use these days it used to so im reading up on taking multi images and stacking with it, starting small with just the camera on a tripod then moving to the camera on the scope, Down the road i would love to look at some tracking if the interest remains there for us both. ts also a little warmer out at night this time of year Thanks Again

We have had our scope a while but still very much beginners, I have been trying to get to know Stellerium and have entered details for our scope and lenses, to get an idea of what we should see. We have a Skywatcher 130P After searching for Amdromeda as M31 and switching to Ocular view i get the result in the attached image, Before i look at staying up all night in the hope of seeing it high enough in the sky looking like this does the image reflect what i should expect to see through the Skywatcher 130P or do i have settings wrong in Stellerium ? I just feel this image is to good or am i underselling the scope? Thank You