Second night out with the new scope

[Citizen]

Again had to give up with the SKYAlign (3 star) on the Celestron 6SE. Just can't get it. Used the Auto Two Star and it was successful but still not 100% accurate. Slewed to Venus easily but the planet was just in the top left of the eyepeice, so it was easy to bring into sight, as I couldn't miss it. Then tried Uranus and got nowhere. It slewed to what appeared empty space and as I had no naked eye visual I failed to find it. Was being optimistic on my second ever solo back garden venture.

I assume the 6SE, or most small scopes are capable of finding Uranus? As the GOTO didn't work, and I knew I was in the vicinity, I just couldn't find it using the eyepiece obviously.

Jupiter looked good, using the 25mm that came with the scope. Saw four moons (please tell me four moons were visible tonight or was I looking at something else).

My biggest issue was my breath clouding up both the viewfinder and the eyepiece. Is there an easy way round that? Breathe elsewhere?

I still can't get over seeing the Orion Nebula. Wow! Worth the price of the scope alone and I still don't know what I'm doing so things can only get better.

Mars was stuck right behind a street light (could hardly make it out), and is competing with the moon now (and cloud)

So much to learn about eyepeices and F/L etc but I'm loving the challenge. Very excited

Phil

[rowan46]

a nice scope. as to breathing I have learned to breathe to the side, like a swimmer it works for me. otherwise you may want to get a dew strip for your eyepice. you should be able to see uranus with a 6" so my guess is you missed the target

[Tinker1947]

It gets better ever time you get to do some viewing..

[Ali C]

Hi Citizen

I'm new to astronomy and running the risk of making a doughnut of myself offering advise but I found with my 5" SLT accurate aligning of the red dot finder really important. I spent a fair amount of time setting it up correctly and I have not had any issues with the 3 star alignment since. I tend to use three bright objects with good distance between them.

cheers

ali