RA/DEC

[eddy]

Ok, i understand RA/DEC pretty well, and can navigate my way around the night sky with setting circles pretty well....well enough to be able to find things.

Well i struggled on a few things last night.

M51 - I think the problem was the sky was orange. I couldnt see it for the life of me, and a 20sec exposure would just be 'Orange' so that was that.

M81/82 - This is interesting, if i slewed my scope round to the RA/DEC i got from Stellarium, the focuser, along with Camera would knock into the mount/tripod and i could not get close enough to try. So, would flip it all the opposite direction and the motors from the mount would catch on the mount this time. Any suggestions as to a) What im doing wrong or what i can do to solve this? As id really like to see M81/82

Rosette Nebula - Took a 20sec exposure, but in another thread, been told to look for the main stars pattern, and not the nebula itself!

Any suggestions welcome

Many thanks!