NASA Space Station

[spacehopper]

Wow, did any one see the Space Station fly over last night, that was great. bin some good sky's of late don't you think ? I am starting to get to know my way around the sky's a bit better now I know its basic stuff but am now working out much more of the consolations with Ursa Major & Minor and lining up to Polaris also Cassiopeia, lacerta,Vega up in the zenith & over to the west corona Borealis.

seen some great comets as well. hope every one is well and thanks for all the emails sent to me, really enjoying the nights

Cheers all.

[Vega]

Thats great stuff, reminds me of when I started out a couple years ago. I saw the station followed by Shuttle too last night... fantastic sight.

Sorry but I can't resist telling about one of my fav constellations. You say you recognise Vega near the zenith. It's part of the summer triangle. Very closeby and within the large triangle is Cygnus (The Swan aka The Northern Cross). Here's a chart to show you what I mean. For me a very pleasing constellation to the naked eye. With a scope it has a couple showpeice objects too. To top that the milky way goes right through it.

It's a chart I used to show where Albireo is so ignor the arrows!

Vega

[barkis]

Spacehopper, becoming familiar with the constellations, and their major stars, is an excellent educational excercise. It will take a while for you to become familiar with them all. Once you have them locked in your mind, they then become your friends. Then it is a shorter learning curve to locating Deep Sky Objects, by utilising the stars you are now familiar with, to guide you to these DSO's. If you do not own a GoTo telescope, you will amaze you friends by having the knowhow to point your scope at a particular Galaxy or Planetary Nebula. That does give you a great sense of achievement. Keep it going, it is worth it.

Ron.