First Clear night in weeks

[hippie]

Hi all,  Managed to get out last night first time in weeks here with no cloud cover for a few hours viewing ,  This is the first time out with my 10" dob without any moon up so there was lots to see,  I soon realised how little i know about the night sky as i was lost in the sky,s with so much to see?,  

I did however get great views of the Pleiades, Vega, Jupiter & its 4 moons around midnight plus the milky way with a few shooting stars and satellites ,

However the one thing i did want to find was Andromeda but i could not find it no matter how long i sat there trying to work out where it was?,    (I have stellarium on my ipod but even with that i couldn't find it still  ?, )  

I enjoyed my first night out with my new 10" scope and am hooked on learning the night sky's now ,

Oh i didn't have any dew problems last night either as i fitted foam wrap around the tube which stopped any dew last night hooray !,   

EP used last night 40mm plossl, 25mm, 12mm, BST    

[Special K]

Excellent night wasn't it? Glad to hear of others taking advantage. I viewed a lot of the same targets but don't think I had as good conditions as you. The light pollution restricts here to about 5 and I couldn't make out the Milky Way. How far of an extension was your dew shield? I need to put something together desperately as I got dewed out again last night!

[mdstuart]

Andromeda is hard to locate the first time but once you have it then its much easier the second time.

Go for the top left star of the Pegasus square..go left to the next bright star then up about half that distance and scan carefully with your finder...if you fail try and try again..the fuzzy blob will eventually come in to your view.

Good luck..it's worth the effort.

Mark