First clear night with a new scope :)

[AstroJones]

Me and my brother got a Skywatcher 200p for christmas and we have been waiting for a clear night as the weather has been awful. I checked BBC Weather the other night and it said there was clear skies untill 5:00am.
So we waited untill about 12:30 and walked over to the park on our estate, lucky for us the streetlights go off at 12am so it was reasonably dark.
I set up the scope and was ready to test it for the first time! I was afraid the mirror might be out of collimation but as i pointed it at jupiter i was wrong. It was perfect!

i used a 2x barlow with a 10mm eyepeice and i was amazed, i could clearly see the bands on jupiter and one of its moons was casting a shadow on its surface. (not sure which one)
We also looked at M42,M45, Double cluster and the moon. we stayed out untill about 4:30 because the moon was just rising, we saw the moon the closest we have ever seen it!. also it was so nice being able to see jupiter that clearly, we really cant wait to see saturn we are both extremely gratefull that our dad got us this amazing scope for Christmas!!

Here are some pictures from the other night:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/112147206@N05/11629799964/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/112147206@N05/11629368355/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/112147206@N05/11627263236/in/photostream/

Also can anyone reccomend any good eyepeices for our scope?

Thanks.

[knobby]

Nice scope... Sounds like you had a great night.

BST starguiders are nice @ about £50 each, Jupiter will look great with an 8mm ep

[AstroJones]

Nice scope... Sounds like you had a great night.

BST starguiders are nice @ about £50 each, Jupiter will look great with an 8mm ep

Thanks, ill take a look. I only have the eyepeices that came with the scope so i need some more