Reckon I've seen Mars

[coliea]

Not really news worthy on a site like this but as I'm green as grass when it comes to astronomy I thought I'd share.

I was on my way home from work tonight at around 7:30pm, and it being the first clear evening in a while here in WORCS I noticed something quite bright that didn't look like a star. I got the bins out when I got home and watched this "pinkish" dot dance all over the field of view (I gotta get these on a tripod). It was higher and to the left of Orion. Mmmm... Saturn I thought, quite pleased with myself that I could tell the difference between a planet and a star. But when I checked Stellarium later in the evening it was showing me Mars in that part of the sky at that time.

Do you reckon that's what I saw? I hope so as the idea of looking at Mars from my back garden just seems so... cool! I can see how this stargazing malarkey can become addictive... now all I need is the "Turn Left at Orion" book I've ordered to arrive and some clear skies and I can get back out into the garden this weekend to see what else I can find.

Unless of course it wasn't Mars I was looking at, in which case disregard the ramblings of a numpty

Col

[radioactive]

yes it would have been Mars if it was almost overhead and if you want see Saturn then you will have to wait until around 10pm when thats high enough to get over the rooftops

Keep up your good work

[Paxo]

Do you reckon that's what I saw? I hope so as the idea of looking at Mars from my back garden just seems so... cool! I can see how this stargazing malarkey can become addictive... now all I need is the "Turn Left at Orion" book I've ordered to arrive and some clear skies and I can get back out into the garden this weekend to see what else I can find.

Unless of course it wasn't Mars I was looking at, in which case disregard the ramblings of a numpty

Col

Well done, definately Mars, glad to see the stargazing bug has bitten another, there are sights out there just waiting to take your breath away :saturn:

Steve

[Stephen Green]

yes it was Mars looking very good had agreat view my self in my scope

Stephen

Eastbourne AS East Sussex

[casfan]

nice one coliea,

I was looking at mars lastnight with the help of this forum and a laptop and bins.

Good stuff keep it up

[coliea]

Nice one... I'm well chuffed :hello1:

[LostNSpace]

Hi Coliea

Yes Mars is at a nice height from quite early on in the evening and easy to find if you move up from Orion.

Saturn is in a nice position at the moment too, viewing last night it was just left of the moon and tonight, if its clear it should be doing the tango with the moon, although you may not see it as well because of the glare of the moon but its a wonderful sight if you do.

Download Stellarium from www.stellarium.org, this will give you a real good idea of what you can see throughout the night from where you live....Turn left at orion is good to have as well but stellarium is free and it hopefully will put you nicely on the road to the world of astronomy.....It is addictive, shouldnt take long for you to get hooked....

Enjoy

Mark

[DanDare]

Hi Coliea,

Yup,

you, me and a few others were having a look at Mars last night.

Glad to see you're now hooked...

Roy