10 mins and im hooked

[rushy]

So after getting my first scope yesterday a second hand meade etx90 i set it up last night only to be thwarted by cloud so i had plans for tonight then my daughter and her chap turn up by the time they left i had little time left so i just dashed outside threw the scope on its mount used the red dot sighting scope to line up on the moon OMG i swear i saw the soup dragon and an American flag .......ok im getting giddy but i am buzzing i then noticed a quite bright star in the sky so had a look at that i had no idea what i was looking at but when i came in i looked it up on stellarium turns out it was betelgeuse im so impressed i was only out 10 mins. I cant get out again until thursday as i work nights but guess what im going to be doing all easter weekend 

Steve

[Hayduke27]

Stick with it!  The things you can see out there are truly amazing!

[geoflewis]

Brilliant Steve, I feel your excitement, thanks for sharing. Geof

[Floater]

Go, Steve. Go ... ?

[Stu]

Steve, Steve, I’m turning blue here, full stops needed!!!  

Great first light, the moon is amazing through any scope. I hope you get out again soon, try to get M42 in Orion before it leaves us until next winter. Getting low now so try as soon as it gets dark, hopefully it is still visible now the clocks have gone forward....

Looking forward to the next report  

[Sunshine]

You're making me all giddy too! i think you've been bitten with the bug now! the down side of this particular bug bite is it infects with a disease that has one reaching for their wallet too often!.

Nasty Critter!! wait till you see Saturn my friend, then you'll be "over the moon" lol

[cletrac1922]

Steve

Welcome from land down under

Enjoy your stay with us

John

[rushy]

Sorry if anyone is dying of lack of oxygen due to my poor grammar, feel free to breathe at your leisure while reading, i will try to do better in future  meanwhile thanks for all the replies, its great to have a platform to share my excitement. 

[Paul67]

Well that put a kibosh on this weekends clear skys

Welcome rushy.

[rushy]

On 3/31/2018 at 23:34, Paul67 said:

Well that put a kibosh on this weekends clear skys

Welcome rushy.

ha ha since i posted this there has been total cloud cover around here until last night but i work nights mon to thurs so im afraid there could be something in what you say 

 

[Ed in UK]

Welcome Steve,

I'm very new to this like yourself and the help from the guys here has been nothing short of amazing. 

I noticed that Venus is now visible in the early evening sky at sun set, just look for the bright star out to the West. If you plan to point your scope at it wait until the sun is well out of the way, then you can bag your first planet. 

Last night I spotted the International Space Station passing over head about 20:40, although that may be  much harder to get your scope on.

Good luck Steve.... 

[Demonperformer]

On 26/03/2018 at 01:46, Stu said:

I’m turning blue here, full stops needed!!!  

Full stops are for wimps 

please note no full stop 

[Eastman]

Hello Steve and welcome.

This can become hooked for life.

But here you find many more who are hooked too.

[rushy]

On 4/4/2018 at 18:06, Demonperformer said:

Full stops are for wimps 

please note no full stop 

im impressed strangely i still managed to read and understand your reply 

[rushy]

On 4/4/2018 at 17:01, Ed in UK said:

Welcome Steve,

I'm very new to this like yourself and the help from the guys here has been nothing short of amazing. 

I noticed that Venus is now visible in the early evening sky at sun set, just look for the bright star out to the West. If you plan to point your scope at it wait until the sun is well out of the way, then you can bag your first planet. 

Last night I spotted the International Space Station passing over head about 20:40, although that may be  much harder to get your scope on.

Good luck Steve.... 

Thank youi will look for Venus if the cloud ever goes away seems to have been a permanent fixture sine i got my scope i have viewed planets before on a trip to keilder observatory where i managed to get great views of Saturn and Jupiter on a much larger and better scope than mine and once saw the space station cross the sky from a friends roof terrace on the coast of southern spain. It was the trip to Keilder that got me interested in the hobby in the first place

[JOC]

2 hours ago, rushy said:

i managed to get great views of Saturn and Jupiter on a much larger and better scope than mine

You might need to adjust your expectations with a smaller scope!  There is a great 'sticky' thread at the top of this forum about what you might expect to see and it's well worth a look - even if you only absorb the photos on the first page.

 

 

[rushy]

1 hour ago, JOC said:

You might need to adjust your expectations with a smaller scope!

my expectations arent that high im aware of the difference in equipment, also the location for seeing because as im sure you are aware Keilder is a designated dark sky area and the observatory has a great hill top location, thanks for the heads up on the thread to look at i will definitely check that out

[Orac]

Many clear skies.

Two tips: buy Turn Left At Orion and stay away from the eyepiece part of the forum (currently suffering from eyepiece fever here ?)

[rockystar]

On 02/09/2018 at 18:03, Orac said:

Many clear skies.

Two tips: buy Turn Left At Orion and stay away from the eyepiece part of the forum (currently suffering from eyepiece fever here ?)

What ever you do,  stay well away from this thread 

 

 

[cletrac1922]

On ‎09‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 03:57, rockystar said:

What ever you do,  stay well away from this thread 

 

 

If get case from an astronomy shop, you will find that the sponge is cut into small segments, both direction, and can remove a piece size of eyepiece, and cut in half and slot back in, and will support your eye pieces

I have my laying horizontally, as easy to see mm on the eyepiece

Any eyepiece which came in its own plastic tube, discarded that as well, as takes up more room

Alternately, using your fingers, break a segment and press eye piece into the slot u have made

I also have my laser collimator, and right angle spotting scope in my case as well

Handles for my 10", dob, go in as well

Compass, small red torch, laser pointer

These just sit on top of everything else