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gazen

By gazen
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gazen

gazen

Posted
Posted

Hello everyone.

I am just getting into astronomy having moved to rural North Beds a few months ago. With there being no street lights in our village I am seeing so many more objects in the sky than I ever considered existing.

I have been reading the posts here for several weeks and I have learnt so much from them. Thank you. I have bought a SkyWatcher SkyMax127 and the book 'Turn left at Orion'. In the past two weeks I have viewed Jupiter, Mars and Venus as well as 'Pleiades', NGC869 & 884, Iota Cassiopeia, Struve163. I did try and find M81 and M82 but it started to get too cloudy and I couldn't locate them.

I didn't really know what to expect from the telescope, but so far I am reasonably impressed; someone is sure to tell me that I will soon grow out of it and start looking for something bigger! The first upgrade I am going to get is a new finder scope with a right angle, because with the tripod being quite flimsy it is always kept at its lowest height which means that when the telescope is at a vertical attitude you are nearly lying on the floor to look through it!. I am also going to make a sandbag to dampen the vibrations.

I am starting to get crazy in the evening as I am itching to go outside, but all I can see are clouds.....

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Squif

Squif

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Hello! Welcome to SGL!

Sounds like you are having a great time! ........ sadly clouds are always the downside of the hobby! ........ perhaps we can build a gigantic fan to blow them away??

Congrats on the new scope! I hope you have many years of enjoyment out of it (you will always want a bigger and better scope!)

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JamesM

JamesM

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Posted

Hi and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your scope and on your observing to date. Looking at your list, I see that you have still to taste the delights of Saturn, which in your scope should be pretty damn good - such an icon image when you see it for the first time, it's like looking at a poster!:):D M81 and M82 will also be great as you can get them both in the same field of view and they are a nice introduction to the difference shapes out there.

If you haven't done so already, why not download some free planetarium software called Stellarium here. Easy to use with plenty of 'toys' on it to help you identify and find objects. Particularly useful is the advance date/time facility so you can plan when the objects in your book will be available, especially if you an obstructed view like a tree etc. It is also a good antidote to clouds as you can practice your knowledge and learn where the constellation are etc.

Right angle finder a good idea, your neck will certainly appreciate the difference though unfortunately, they are not cheap. Clearer skies soon and look forward to hearing about your next observations.

James

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