polaris

[tony]

i thought it would be easy to spot? definately facing north, got capella over to the right which seems brighter:confused:

[David Smith]

Found the Plough / Ursa Major? Follow the pointers (2 stars that make the Pan end of the Dipper) until you find Polaris.

David

[brantuk]

Look out for the space station in 15 mins - you'll get a great view from Cornwall

[tony]

Look out for the space station in 15 mins - you'll get a great view from Cornwall

[tony]

Found the Plough / Ursa Major? Follow the pointers (2 stars that make the Pan end of the Dipper) until you find Polaris.

David

damn clouds:mad: will get there,eventually.

[tony]

Look out for the space station in 15 mins - you'll get a great view from Cornwall

which direction?

[Chris H]

Polaris is not particularly bright, do what Dave said above.

[tony]

currently got the scope covered with a bin bag, its just hailed really heavy (ouch). cup of tea and quick smoke and wait.

[Charon]

Download stellarium, very useful.

[tony]

started to get very cold, got numb hands so gave up. blowing a gale too which didnt help much, together with a bit of cloud making matters worse.

i thought aligning would have been easy. managed to do it with my old helios and eq4 in no time but seemed to be struggling with it tonight. this goto malarky is going to be so much fun, when i get it running:o. very frustrating indeed.

[tony]

Download stellarium, very useful.

i have stellarium, at least i can have a look around on that. but not the same as through a scope though.

[David Smith]

Sorry Tony. Had to go offline for a bit. Use the cloudy night to play with Stellarium and get your bearings. Check where the sun comes up, north is roughly 90° to the left. This is where Polaris will be roughly 2.5 handspans from level.

Good luck.

David.

[tony]

no worries david. i think it was more frustrating with it being so cold and windy. just wanted to get out tonight as the rest of the week looks grim, and i'm back to work on tuesday.

i normally set up up the top of the garden but if i was up there tonight i would have got blown away,lol. decided it would be a bit more sheltered from lower down, wrong, just as bad but closer to nip in a have a quick warm up when it clouded over.

polaris was a bit dim and obscured by trees over the road making things a bit awkward, but hopefully next time i get out it wont be so windy and i'll be able to use my normal spot.

maybe i should think about getting a shed and converting it into an obsy? no wind and a tad warmer:)

[x6gas]

which direction?

Came in from pretty much due west at 18:30 today - nice sight until it disappeared just before it got to the meridian. Managed to get my wife outside to see it though - a first for her!

[tony]

Came in from pretty much due west at 18:30 today - nice sight until it disappeared just before it got to the meridian. Managed to get my wife outside to see it though - a first for her!

i did see it pass over only once, a couple of years ago, up at stupid o'clock to go on holiday, had checked some website the night before and it virtually passed overhead. tried to watch it through my finderscope holding it up to my eye but its hard to keep it steady.

[x6gas]

i did see it pass over only once, a couple of years ago, up at stupid o'clock to go on holiday, had checked some website the night before and it virtually passed overhead. tried to watch it through my finderscope holding it up to my eye but its hard to keep it steady.

Yep - it really shifts. Never managed to see it with anything other than the naked eye. All the more impressive that people manage to image it .

[hemihaggis]

i thought it would be easy to spot? definately facing north, got capella over to the right which seems brighter:confused:

.... seriously ??

[David Smith]

See if this helps.

[tony]

right, confused now. drawing shows i'm in the wrong place, stellarium shows polaris in a different position which means i'm in the right place.

[tony]

.... seriously ??

about 6pm yesterday, stellarium facing north with ursa minor in front of me showing polaris on the end with capella slightly up and out to right in auriga, and vega out to the left in lyra. wouldnt have thought stellarium to be wrong.

[tony]

right, confused now. drawing shows i'm in the wrong place, stellarium shows polaris in a different position which means i'm in the right place.

my bad, depends what time that pic refers to. defo in the right place, i confused major and minor in your pic.

[David Smith]

If in doubt I would recommend you follow Stellarium - it's better at this than I am!! just make sure you have setup Stellarium correctly - i.e. your location etc.

David

[tony]

If in doubt I would recommend you follow Stellarium - it's better at this than I am!! just make sure you have setup Stellarium correctly - i.e. your location etc.

David

it is. if the skies were clear yesterday it would have been a lot easier, also freezing cold and windy.

[cabby]

If you can use google sky map on a mobile, it will put you in the right area.

It's always right on top of my chimney pot!

[Moonshane]

the pointer stars from the Plough make Polaris easy to find. check you have it in the eyepiece by seeing the smaller and dimmer secondary star - Polaris is a nice double star. you can also check you have the right star by turning off any tracking and it won't move through the eyepiece.