Finally ..............................we see stars.

[BamBam]

Finally seen stars through the scope . Bought the scope at Christmas for our daughter Shen and it has been cloudy skies since with not even a hint of the moon but finally tonight there were stars. I do not know who was more excited my Shen or me. First we observed with our naked eye then we used the scope with the 20mm lens.

We have no idea which stars we saw but the exercise was more to get use to looking at the sky, familiarising ourselves with the scope and coping with the cold!!!! Shen drew and wrote down all she saw (she's nine) now we are going to hit the books and learn a bit more.

I must admit this new hobby of my daughter seems to be pulling me in, I have never really looked at the night sky, let alone the stars - it is awesome, I could actually see shapes and formations, the stars are no longer sparkly dots in the sky.

I am recording Stargazers live to watch soon because we don't have the time at the minute. I think this is going to be the best Christmas present she ever asked for or we ever bought her!

Any tips about getting started greatly appreciated.

BamBam

[dtr42]

hi .you have the right idea get out when the sky clears and just enjoy the hobby . stellarium is a great free programme that will show you whats in the sky . its pretty easy to set up . also theres loads of things to see depending on what scope you have , jupiter is very nice at the moment and orion , pleides [seven sisters is nice in small and large scopes and theres always the moon when she pops up again . good luck with your daughter and your new hobby

[Pig]

The double cluster is very nice - see if you can find out where that is, my 14 year old daughter was amazed by it.

[Astro Imp]

Great to hear of you out enjoying the sky with your daughter.

As has been said Stellarium is a great free planatarium program that will help you find your way around, get it here:- http://www.stellarium.org/

Good luck and enjoy.