orions_boot

Managed to get out tonight briefly to a very clear open sky which suddenly became covered in an annoying thin cloud. Not quite thick enough to block everything but thin enough to obscure most stuff and reflect a lot of background light. So what I could see between the gaps was washed out. I found the street lamps going off made a significant difference. With very little dark adjustment the whole sky was lit with stars. I did struggle a bit navigating since I am not used to sky being in this position as most of the time I have stopped observing some hours ago. Mars - looked a lot bigger than last week. It was a very bright and vivid red. I would have said it was as bright as the moon might be had the moon been there. M45 - Not having my star atlas at first I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at. I could see it faintly with my eye and thought "that looks interesting". Sticking the bins on it I was greeted with a 'wow' moment of beautiful brightly arranged stars. I had read about M45 a bit so as soon as I looked through the bins I knew where I was at. Betelgeuse - This was as red as Mars but not as bright. Oddly compared to every other star I have ever looked at, this one shimmered with a green tint. Having written this the sky has cleared again. I thought I would have a look for Andromeda, but if I spend any more time trying to look directly vertical I'm going to snap my neck or trap an artery, so have given up.

Evening all. Thanks to you all so far for helping me working out my telescope purchase. In the intervening period I purchased a pair of 10x50 Olympus bins and spent a week outside at least an hour every night working out what I am looking at. I haven't kept a full log of each night in detail so I will summarise what I have seen. It is not particularly dark where I live but I had had a chance on two nights to go rural and then to 'dark sky site' all of which has spoiled me! Street lights go off after midnight here so I reckon that could make a big difference and will check later in the week. Jupiter - The first and easiest target on the very first night. I was taken back being able to see the moons in a straight line, one to the left and three to the right. Over the week I have seen the arrangement change in distance between moons and even number of moons visible. Saturn - Very small but clearly yellow. Sometimes I think I can see the rings and then I wonder if it is a blur on the lens or just not focusing. Something above and to the right diagonal of Jupiter - I am trying to work out what this is from Stellarium but I don't know for sure. A possible candidate is M26. I first saw it this evening and describe it as a definite white fuzz. Could anyone please suggest an object and advise me how to correctly describe the direction/method to find objects to other people? Coathanger - One of the first asterisms I came across by mistake and have used it every night as a way to find some other stuff I researched. M27 - Managed to navigate to this every time from Sagitta. From my garden is a faint white circle. Rural I saw a less faint white circle. Dark sky I saw a rather bright white circle and with some long blinking and everted vision I thought I could see faint details of the apple core shape at the top and bottom. M31 - I first found this at the rural location semi by mistake and working off a vague memory of a route I read to find it. Seeing this was the best feeling so far. The idea that I was looking at an entire galaxy through only a pair of binoculars seemed quite amazing. It was a white fuzz in the middle and with some blinking and averted vision I could see it spreading out sideways. I have found it again tonight but it mostly remains as a white fuzz blob but a rather large one. It seems to take a bit of time in to the night before it becomes visible. NGC6997 - I have inferred this was the object having looked around Deneb where there is quite a lot of action. It was a smallish cluster and not particularly bright but obviously a cluster and the only thing on Stellarium in this area. Milky Way - Whilst at the dark sky site I could very clearly follow the Milky Way and make out what I thought was dust between the stars. Mars - a very small but obviously red dot. Stars - Not so easy for me at the moment to name different stars. I know around Vega I have seen a double star one blue one more orange but this could equally have been somewhere else in the sky. I have also seen a lot of stars in pairs often of different colours around Cygnus.

Thanks for this information. I will probably look to get that quite soon. Further to or instead of the zoom eye piece, I am considering replacing the zoom with single eye pieces. The scope comes with 25mm and the general advice seems to be go for the BST brands. I am wondering is it better to start with fixed EPs and look in to a zoom later?

Do you still need a right angle finder if using a telrad or quick finder? I was getting some funny looks across the room at the price of everything so I took a short cut and started with the quick finder which is better than half the price. I have read a lot of people saying they never used a scope again since they started with one.

I have seen the Rigel quick finder and wondered - would that also need a different kind of fitting to attach?

FLO says 30-40 days and the manufacturer tells me scopes will be ready end Sept/beginning Oct.

Thanks for all your help. After 4 days of researching I have finally pushed the button!

Thanks for this enlightening info. I have read about having to drill new holes when buying a new shoe. I take it the one you have identified will go straight in? I don't want to drill anything!

Hi Thank you for replying so promptly. Can you please tell me why I would need a different shoe? IS that it not all scopes fit on to the supplied one or is it rubbish? With the zoom you linked I can see it would save me a lot but I don't want to necessarily upgrade the things I am buying. In your experience is that zoom here to stay or are you looking to upgrade?

Good evening all, I have re-ignited my interest in astronomy that I used to have as a kid, except now I can buy what ever I need to crack on with it. I have spent many hours reading this forum for help on getting a new setup sorted out. I think I have got to the bottom of it however I wonder if the configuration is OTT in terms of the eye piece. I figure that if I buy a decent scope I need equally decent bits to go with it. I have got my head around zoom limits and on that basis it seems the setup could have too much zoom that it is not worth it. I wish I had it all now, having realised my garden faces south in to mostly blackness away from the light pollution and I had Jupiter and Saturn out there for at least 2 hours with Mars coming round the corner Any input please on this configuration greatly received. I won't spend any more than the total cost of the below at the moment: Bresser Messier 10" Collimation Cap Baader Hyperion Zoom EP Variable polarising moon filter Baader 2.25x Barlow for Hyperion Zoom