Hi everyone, nice to meet you all. I'm pretty new to this - got interested in looking at the night sky as a bit of mindfulness/relaxation during the stresses of the first lockdown and 7 months of furlough. My husband bought me a telescope for my birthday (Skywatcher 130eq reflector) which I am loving, and having watched a couple of night sky tips videos on youtube, I bought a moon filter and an 80a filter. At the moment I'm really keen on looking at planets, and the moon and I've already had some really nice views of Mars and the moon, and managed to spot 3 of Jupiter's moons on a very clear, still night recently. I'm loving it! I find it peaceful, and I'm sometimes a little bit wobbly when I think about how massive those tiny specks of light are and how far away! I got pretty emotional the first time I got a good view of the moon!
Annoyingly, I live in a city, there are two street lights over my back garden and a massive tree next door, houses all around, so probably not the best conditions, but my in laws live in the middle of the countryside with amazing views of the Milky-way when the skies are clear - once we're allowed again, we'll be heading over for a visit and the telescope will be coming with us!
If anyone has any advice for making the most of my back garden conditions, I'd love to hear it ❤️