Yet another first light...!

[timbob67]

It's a crystal clear evening here in Bedfordshire (the very first since I got my Heritage 130p delivered nearly 3 weeks ago!) so I got the scope out to have a look around the sky.

Viewing is limited from my house, due to a my terrace of houses in the west, and a mahoosive tree to the south east, but we're in a village with reasonably low levels of light pollution - certainly far less than in town. I managed a good hour outside before my knees started to really feel the cold, and managed to find a fair few things...

Jupiter was the obvious first target - I was blown away by it. Could clearly see the 4 moons (Io was just about to head behind the planet, so was trickier) and two darker bands across the planet's disc.

The Pleiades looked fantastic, I found the Orion nebula, and the Andromeda galaxy. I learnt a fair few constallations using Sky Safari on the iPad, and managed to navigate around quite well. Generally, I was amazed at just how many stars you can see compared to just using your eyes - amazing!

[Dave73]

Sounds like you had a very good first night with your new telescope.

Enjoy it !

[Steep]

Wait till you get your first sight of Saturns rings! it was that that got me hooked on stargazing and there's so much more up there.

[nephilim]

Good advice from Steep there, I dragged myself & my girlfriend out at 4:30am this morning & managed a good hour with Saturn & 4 of her moons, a moment we'll both never forget & a very good reason for getting up early, there's nothing like the sight of the rings, it seems totally unreal

Good to hear you managed to finally get out after 3 weeks, the last few months have been so frustrating weatherwise.

[Astro Imp]

You must have begun to think a clear night was never coming.

Pleased you had a good night, let's hope for a few more great nights.

Good luck.