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Hi from UK

russo

By russo
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russo

russo

Posted
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Hi, 

been lurking for a few months, thought it was about time I signed up.  Currently in South Essex but if all goes according to plan should be in Somerset come late summer.

Bought the family a Skywatcher Heritage 100p for Christmas but not been able to use it yet (at night) due to cloud cover and /or too much light pollution.  Tonight is supposed to be clear however, so hoping to take my son (5) out for some stargazing tonight (probably naked eye - a few star names and constellations), but hopefully I may be able to use the scope after he's gone to bed.

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russo

russo

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Thanks for all the welcomes, much appreciated :-)

So took my son out last night to show him a few things, the main purpose was to show him Sirius as he'd been telling me all about the Pole star and how it was the brightest star in the sky, so I wanted to show him otherwise.  He's 5, it's cute that he knows about the pole star even if it's not all correct information.

Couldn't see the Plough as it was a bit low and behind some trees so couldn't orient on the North star :-(  Showed him Cygnus & Cassiopeia and then we went to the front of the house to look South at Orion and hopefully Sirius.  As we went around the side of the house I looked back and finally saw the plough so was able to show him the Pole star.  Unfortunately Sirius was, at this time, below the roof tops on the other side of the street but I showed him Orion and told him the names of the stars, showed him Taurus and The Pleiades.

We then went inside (it was too cold for him) and set up the telescope in the bay of our lounge window - yes, just about everything I could do wrong I did, set up inside, through dirty double glazed window, through direct street light haze with telescope set up low (so my son could see into it) on a trunk with a cushioned surface - and had a look around Orions belt.  nothing desperately exciting but my son was able to see how many more stars you can see through a telescope.  

Then it was his bed time but just before we looked out of my bedroom window and there was Sirius, visible at last and obviously brighter than Polaris, so objective achieved :-)

I then went back to the scope and had a look at the Pleiades (lovely view) and had a hunt for M42 but the best I could manage given the circumstances and telescope location was what appeared to be a couple of stars that were very hazy, like you couldn't quite focus on them, but I wasn't able to give it the time to see if my eyes would adjust enough to see more, I suspect given the windows and light pollution I wasn't going to have any luck.

Left the telescope in the window overnight in vain hope the sky's were still clear this morning and they were, on my knees straining my neck to align the scope with Jupiter i just get it in view when I hear the delightful sound of my cat throwing up next to me!  Once that was taken care of I managed to take a look.  It was clearly a disk, not a star and a few pinpoints of light around it were some of the moons :-)  But it was so very tiny, i swapped in my 10mm which improved things but eager for more I dropped in the Barlow.  Having your telescope on a cushioned surface with 10mm and Barlow isn't a recipe for success, I couldn't align it that accurately, I saw Jupiter at the edge of the view, but with this combo it was a mess of Chromatic aberration and the slightest touch of the focusing dial had the scope wobbling all over the shop.  A more stable platform is required.

So, a good night/ morning over all.  Very limited setting up in this location but I didn't expect other wise.  i do suspect however I'll want something larger before too long ;-)

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Vox45

Vox45

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Hello and welcome :)

This forum has a lot to offer ! please feel free to ask questions and share your thoughts and pictures.

Clear skies!

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