what too look for.

[Grav]

Good clear night nice and and cold. Live in plymouth UK, scope has been out cooling in the back garden for 15 mins now good views from the sw to nw, looking out over Dartmoor, any clues what i could see (perhaps should mention i am a noob as well)

[ronin]

Almost 3 hours late but Jupiter, Pleiades adn now (after 10:00) Orion is coming up, so the Orion nebula and you can take a peek at Betelgueise - it is due to blow up you may just be the lucky person looking at it when it does.

If light pollution is OK try Andromeda M31, more or less straight up, dim, faint and not too much detail but it's there so get it. It is WIDE so use a low power, you want all the wide field you can get.

Double cluster in Persius.

Depending on the scope at 7:00 you may have got the ring nebula in Lyra, same time also Alberio in Cygnus but pretty close to Ring Nebula.

Just posted this for someone else:

Astro League

They have several observing programs, try the binocular ones first as an idea for things.

Go up to Dartmoor and you will see a lot without the need of the scope.

[bingevader]

Get yourself a good book - for example, Turn Left at Orion, a good mag - eg. Sky at Night, and a good piece of software - stellarium.

It's good to have some kind of plan before you go out, but don't get to hung up on lists.

Try and get a mix of easier objects you know you'll be able to find and some more challenging items so you won't be too miffed if you don't find them.

The Moore Winter Marathon is a good place to start.

Cheers

[Catweazel]

If light pollution is OK try Andromeda M31, more or less straight up

Fantastic! I will spend the rest of the night laughing about this, whilst I wait for the skies to clear

But yeah, Jupiter, Pliades and Orion would be good.