Excited newbie!

[sairade]

Just spent half an hour watching Jupiter on my Christmas present from my wife (102slt).

Last night was the first clear sky, so got the finder scope aligned and thought I was looking at Jupiter, but it just looked like a dot - so in the end ending up looking at the moon which was amazing.

Tonight there were clear skies and once Jupiter had moved across the sky enough to see from the back garden I fixed my sights on it again and straight away it came into focus, this time as a planet!

I think this is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life, once I focused and kept my eyes trained on it the bands started to appear and the moons were clearly visible too!

The cloud started rolling in after about 30 minutes of me tracking it so I figured it was time to give up - it was a bit breezy here tonight so that was making the scope shake as well.

Oh boy, i'm totally hooked.

This was all with what came in the box with the scope, using the supplied 9mm eyepiece.

[moogoomonkey]

Lovely I remember seeing Jupiter for the first time too. In a pair of Binos in over the summer. Seeing those moons drift around over time was simply amazing. It was like I was looking at my own solar system! Now I have my scope, its just amazing!

[wookie1965]

Wait until you see Saturn and the rings it will blow your mind And a warm welcome to SGL

[moogoomonkey]

YES! I need to see Saturn! Need to get my EP range sorted before summer!

[Twiggles]

Welcome from a fellow newbie! Got my first look at Jupiter last night as well through m new scope and I am also hooked. Just been out again while the cover was quite patchy and still think its incredible to look at moons on a different planet!!

[wookie1965]

YES! I need to see Saturn! Need to get my EP range sorted before summer!

You need a good 6 - 8mm depending on budget and whether you use glasses id go for either the 5mm or 8 mm BST starguider heres a link to both of them £47 each very good value and cracking eyepieces.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-5mm-BST-Explorer-Dual-ED-eyepiece-Branded-Starguider-/160808578961

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-8mm-BST-Explorer-Dual-ED-eyepiece-Branded-Starguider-/380521268265?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item5898d5c429

[sairade]

You need a good 6 - 8mm depending on budget and whether you use glasses id go for either the 5mm or 8 mm BST starguider heres a link to both of them £47 each very good value and cracking eyepieces.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-5mm-BST-Explorer-Dual-ED-eyepiece-Branded-Starguider-/160808578961

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-8mm-BST-Explorer-Dual-ED-eyepiece-Branded-Starguider-/380521268265?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item5898d5c429

Out of interest do you know how do these compare to then celestron x-cel eye pieces?

[lanade 21158]

You are so lucky that you had a clear sky. I had to wait till 1:00.

[mdstuart]

Do not rush to get more eyepieces. Just enjoy your scope. Try looking at the star clusters M35 . M 36 . M37 and M38 and see which one you think looks the best. They are all high to the east behind Jupiter. Use Stellarium on the PC to find them (free download) or of course buy the pocket sky atlas of ebay....Enjoy..Mark

[wookie1965]

Out of interest do you know how do these compare to then celestron x-cel eye pieces?

ive not used the x-cel eyepieces although ive read on here they are good but there eye relief may not be as good as the BST and not as good in faster scopes.

[Catweazel]

Do not rush to get more eyepieces. Just enjoy your scope.

+1 on that. I would use the EP's that you have for a while. The scope is fast (f5), so you will have to be a bit choosy about which ones you go for when you do upgrade. The BST's are very popular, and apparently work well in faster scopes.

[paul schofield]

The 8mm BST is an outstanding eyepiece, well made, comfortable to use, great eye relief and 60 f.o.v. I use my 8mm mainly for planets along with a 2x Barlow when seeing permits and the views are awesome. As others say, don't be in a hurry to buy eyepieces as I did, because a lot of the time people buy the wrong ones, as I did. I have never tried the x cel lx ep's so cant offer an opinion on them.

If you were blown away by Jupiter, just wait until you see Saturn.

[sairade]

Thanks guys. I rarely jump into things without doing a lot of research (software engineer, think that's my logical part of the brain taking over), but I'm always eager to hear peoples opinions on stuff!

I actually spent the night dreaming of star gazing, I think I've got it bad.

The wind last night wasn't ideal, really gusty and kept making the image wobble. One second you'd have a perfectly clear (but small!) image of jupiter, the next minute it was all over the place, then the clouds kept obscuring it....but I sat there for at least 30 minutes tracking it and marvelling at it and in those periods of calm I was able to pick out the bands on it - then the clouds moved in big style so it was time to head in, luckily the wife had been baking cakes in the afternoon so there was some lovely victoria sponge on offer!

The wife and the eldest child were blown away with seeing jupiter though!

Just need a still and clear night now so that I can get some proper views of stuff.

Oh yes, and looking forward to saturn too!

[JamesF]

You can see Saturn already if you're willing to haul yourself out of bed in the middle of the night. It's probably far from its best at the moment however.

James

[Anweniel]

Welcome to the madness Sairade. As has already been said you were lucky to have clear skies! Bit of a rarity lately Like yourself I was awestruck by Jupiter when I first saw it and Saturn is another gob-smacker when you get the chance. With the 9mm eyepiece you are looking at something like 73x magnification, I think your telescope can handle a fair bit more but like others have said - stick with what you have which is a fantastic setup for (what I presume is) your first scope. A thought for the future may be a barlow rather than new eyepiece/s (if it didn't already come with one) start with a simple achromatic one and you have essentially 4 eyepieces and a bit more versatility.

Enjoy your new toy mate when the skies allow! Seems your wife has done you proud with this one

[nephilim]

Thanks guys. I rarely jump into things without doing a lot of research (software engineer, think that's my logical part of the brain taking over), but I'm always eager to hear peoples opinions on stuff!

I actually spent the night dreaming of star gazing, I think I've got it bad.

The wind last night wasn't ideal, really gusty and kept making the image wobble. One second you'd have a perfectly clear (but small!) image of jupiter, the next minute it was all over the place, then the clouds kept obscuring it....but I sat there for at least 30 minutes tracking it and marvelling at it and in those periods of calm I was able to pick out the bands on it - then the clouds moved in big style so it was time to head in, luckily the wife had been baking cakes in the afternoon so there was some lovely victoria sponge on offer!

The wife and the eldest child were blown away with seeing jupiter though!

Just need a still and clear night now so that I can get some proper views of stuff.

Oh yes, and looking forward to saturn too!

I was amazed when I first saw Jupiter too & cant wait for Saturn, as for the wobble, I put a sandbag on the 'Accessory tray' on the tripod and it makes a big difference. Welcome to SGL btw.

Steve

[VigdisVZ]

That's a nice little story from what sounds like an awesome evening. It's all downhill from here

[Double Kick Drum]

Congrats. Jupiter is one of the finest sights in the night sky.

Saturn is great too.

The Orion nebula is a must if you want to see something a bit further away.

Further out and equally bright is M31, the Andromeda galaxy. A 2.3 million light years away, you will be seeing it as it appeared before humans had evolved. Mind blowing!

Happy hunting!

[northwalesparry]

Just spent half an hour watching Jupiter on my Christmas present from my wife (102slt).

Last night was the first clear sky, so got the finder scope aligned and thought I was looking at Jupiter, but it just looked like a dot - so in the end ending up looking at the moon which was amazing.

Tonight there were clear skies and once Jupiter had moved across the sky enough to see from the back garden I fixed my sights on it again and straight away it came into focus, this time as a planet!

I think this is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life, once I focused and kept my eyes trained on it the bands started to appear and the moons were clearly visible too!

The cloud started rolling in after about 30 minutes of me tracking it so I figured it was time to give up - it was a bit breezy here tonight so that was making the scope shake as well.

Oh boy, i'm totally hooked.

This was all with what came in the box with the scope, using the supplied 9mm eyepiece.

me too got my first scope 2 months ago , its cool i cant wait for more clear skies

[Discodingo]

I'm a newbie too and, like you was completely blown away when I managed to find Jupiter. My girlfriend bought me the BST 8mm eyepiece for Christmas and I was amazed what a difference it made. Well worth the investment.

[Thingy]

It is exciting isn't it seeing another world for the first time!

I remember seeing Saturn through a telescope that Dad had borrowed from the local astronomy club. Dunno what type it was but it seemed huge and weighed a tonne but it was so very exciting to see Saturn and it's rings must of been over 30years ago and I still remember the excitement as if it was yesterday.Neighbours must have thought of us as being a bit nuts.

[DonRemus]

Hi from another newbie. No scope yet but clear sky tonight in Cambs. Went somewhere dark and took a look through 10x50 binos. Orion Nebula was amazing, found Andromeda galaxy as well for the first time. Jupiter awesome and never seen so many stars - unreal.

[Mr Q]

You are so lucky that you had a clear sky. I had to wait till 1:00.

  Hello fellow "land of enchanter" ! I recently moved from there (east of Albq.) after several years, back to here in MA. The night sky was so dark there! So what did you see and with what equipment???

[dezmo1]

Jupiter blew me away as well! Fingers crossed for some clear sky's, although the weather man says it might be more than fingers that need to be crossed. Welcome to SGL!!!

[Markstar]

Yes, looks like most of UK will be overcast at Jupiter's opposition...BOOOOO!!!

Still, I guess waiting a few days won't really make any noticable difference...It's looked great over the past few weeks. I've yet to find Saturn as well, also being a newbie! Looking forward to that one, too...!