Beginners Journal

[Stephen_M]

Hi everyone. A report from a week and a half ago, before all this wet weather arrived!

Beginners report here, first timer. I thought might be useful for other beginners, maybe some folks might have some advice for me too. I thought I can just stick a post on here with what I have seen, mainly for my own records, but also happy to hear any advice until the local astronomy club gets going again. Please spare my rambling as I am talking through my process of self teaching!

 

So, on Thursday evening, the skies here were fabulous. I pottered out for a look about 9pm and quickly familiarised myself with the constellations I had learnt already. Predominantly around polaris looking north; big dipper, little dipper, Cassiopeia and Ceph.

 

I was not in work the following day so wanted to take advantage of staying up a bit longer than usual. I then popped out again at 10pm and the conditions where what I must consider to be excellent; quite dark, still air, and not too cold. I quickly picked up my 'Walk Through the Heavens' book and furiously looked for the next constellations to learn.

 

What was immediately obvious was Draco was very easy to see by looking in between the areas of sky that I had already learnt, weaving through the skies overhead. Usually these stars I have tried to see but not been able to. Another page of the book completed, what next?

 

I looked over to the East and tried to make out Bootes that I have seen with difficulty previously. However, tonight above Arcuturus, the remaining stars seemed to be in pairs. I was looking for four points of a kite, but instead saw three pairs above Arcturus. I have tried to retrospectively look for what I have seen, but clearly a lot of reading to do about the stars in Bootes. Furthermore, to my amazement the Corona Borealis was easily visible next door too.

 

Time to go somewhere new, where can I go from the big dipper, how about South and to Leo. This was very easy to see once I knew what shape to look for. Rocking horse works very well. It was easy to link Denebola to Spica and then back to Arcturus. I was reaching what I think was my limit for new knowledge in one evening. So, finally I saw in the book a mention of the Beehive cluster. I took out the 8x32 binoculars and found it easily. My first Messier object! In the binoculars, about 10 or 15 individuals stars were clearly grouped together in my field of view. A nice way to end the evening I thought.

 

Below are my attempts at sketching the observations out. Feedback very much appreciated!

 

 

 

[RobertI]

Great report! I think it's a really good idea to sketch the constellations as you have seen them, you will probably quite quickly have a better knowledge of the constellations than many more experienced astronomers, myself included! Did you manage to spot the 'bowl' of Virgo? To me Virgo is a 'Y' shape with the bowl making the top of the Y. Although quite faint it is very distinctive and contains numerous galaxies. One for next time!

[Stu]

Excellent stuff Stephen! As Robert says, you will know more about constellations than a lot of people soon! I often do the same as you, post up on here by way of logging what I’ve done so that I can refer back to it in future.

Well done on your first Messier object too 👍👍

[Zermelo]

That's a nice account, Stephen.  I think there's great pleasure to be had in recognizing a constellation for the first time. Some, like Draco, are very accessible in reasonable skies, but overlooked by the casual observer.
Your sketches show Cancer, one of the dimmer ones, so you should be able to see quite a few more that have brighter stars than it does. If you have found Bootes and Corona Borealis next to it, you can continue in the same direction and make out Hercules - a very distinctive shape made up from mid-magnitude stars. Following up behind them as the evening progresses is the unmistakeable bright star Vega in the very compact Lyra, and if you stay up late you will see Cygnus in the north east, another very obvious pattern (and if your skies are good, you will see it embedded in the milky way).
If your eastern horizon is good, try looking below Bootes and Hercules. You should see quite a few brighter stars - though possibly not arranged in patterns as familiar as those you have already identified - but your star charts should allow you to pick out Serpens Caput and Ophiuchus here, and perhaps Libra too.
Try to get out every time you see a clear sky, even if you don't have time for any "serious" observing or sketching. Even a minute or two is enough to see how the constellations you already know are moving around east to west as the year progresses, changing orientation as they go.

[KevinPSJ]

That was a great account of your successes on Thursday night. I was out on Thursday too and also stayed up late as no work next morning. Glad I did - it was really clear and dark in my garden.

I was busy setting my telescope to take some photographs for the first hour or so but around 1am I had time to stop and just look up    In the east the summer constellations were on the rise but I struggled to recognise quite a few at first because there were so many more stars visible due to the pristine darkness. Hercules with his keystone body and wibbly wobbly arms (at least in my head) usually jumps out at me but it took a good 10 minutes of looking before I could see him clearly. Getting familiar with the shapes is especially useful for when you get really dark skies - otherwise you will be completely lost. As it was, I found Hercules and then corona borealis and then I was away ...

What was especially nice was seeing the milky way hovering above the trees in the east with the big cross of cygnus bang slap in the middle. Those familar shapes from summer reminded me there's something to look forward to in the coming months - even though the faint fuzzies of galaxy season will be almost impossible to find in the bright summer nights, there's always the spectacle of milky way from horizon to (almost) zenith to enjoy.

With still time to kill while my DSLR snapped away, next I went looking for Corvus - easy to locate below Virgo with it's sail shape and so with my binoculars (25 x 70 beasts) I tried to follow a star hop I had read about from the right hand star at top of sail (gamma Corvus) north and east to M104 - the Sombrero Galaxy. Low down in the south but it is still very bright in my binoculars and the line of stars from gamma Corvus lead me straight to it.  Really large, bright galaxy and certainly one I will revisit with the telescope again.

 

[Stephen_M]

Thank you everyone for those comments.

9 hours ago, Zermelo said:

Try to get out every time you see a clear sky, even if you don't have time for any "serious" observing or sketching. Even a minute or two is enough to see how the constellations you already know are moving around east to west as the year progresses, changing orientation as they go.

That is the idea, to try and observe as frequently as possible. I have been surprised about how quickly I am learning. I would say I am lucky to have quite good spacial awareness, so everything seems to make sense once you can figure out where you are looking! I can't say quite how helpful the book is.

I suppose there is also the added challenge of the back garden observing. I can't really see anything to the west as I live mid terrace, I can just see the two stars (Castor and Pollux? They're on my 'to do' list) in Gemini just above the rooftops at 10pm. To the south is Leeds/Bradford so Spica stands out but nothing else in that area of the sky. West I am looking directly at a street lamp, but higher in the sky is fine. The north and Zenith are good. I'm amazed at how quickly everything rotates, and realise it's going to be fun to follow the changes in the season as constellations move through the areas that are darker.

I'll concentrate on the north and west for the next few sessions. Learning Hercules (need to write a report) and Northern Cross. Frustratingly, can't seem to find M13 at the moment despite several attempts. Well, I have probably found it, but just can't 'see' it! More reports to follow!

[Pixies]

I started out this time last year - although I had been using binoculars for several years and was reasonable familiar with the winter sky (the summer one, less so).

It's good to learn the constellations in the east, as they rise and become more southerly later in the coming months. You'll be seeing them for 6 months or so before they vanish. And (surprise surprise) they are constantly being replenished with the next batch.

My first night, it took me 20 minutes or so to find M13. Now it's 20 seconds. It all becomes second nature after a while. A pair of 10x50 bins will find it on a good clear night.

 

[Stephen_M]

Well, I didn't think I was going to be posting here so soon. Incidentally, today I was off work as I had just started a new reduced hours contract and so I will be working just 4 days a week now. Hopefully in the darker months that will give me an extra opportunity to stay up late if needed.

 

Funnily enough, I was just purchasing my eyepiece ready for my new telescope that I am collecting on Saturday. And, I was on the forum and realised the solar eclipse was "in progress". I quickly read a BBC article that suggested to use some binos to project the image safely on to a surface for observing. So, I quickly grabbed my 8x32s (which seem to be getting quite a bit of use so far!), and headed outside.

 

It was about 11am and cloudy, but literally at the moment I started to look, some patches of blue sky came along. I am sorry if that makes hard reading for anyone who specially booked a day off work and wasn't able to see anything! I didn't look up at first, but was amazed to see two crescents projected on to the kitchen floor as I waved the binoculars back and forth to see what would happen.

 

Actually, for a good 20 minutes or so the light cloud meant you had have a peak directly up to see the sun and see what was going on. And there was intermittent periods of strong light that I was able to have a good play with the binos and see what effect various things did to the projected image. It was interesting to see that what effect the magnification had on the contrast and brightness of the projection. Hopefully some useful knowledge for using the telescope.

 

So in summary, all in all a very unexpected, rather fortuitous and enjoyable experience! Plus, I also did some smartphone imaging too!

 

 

 

 

 

[Stephen_M]

Big update...and observing report from yesterday evening.

I am not sure why, but I feel like I always knew that I wanted a dobsonian telescope. Whilst doing the usual 'research' before buying, I think it must have been the disrupted supply chains that lead me to find UK based David Lukehurst and drop him an email. Anyway, long story short, David had built me a telescope and it was ready to collect this Sunday. I made the short trip down south to pick up the newest additional to our family (side note - do people name their telescopes? I feel like mine needs a name).

 

So, last night I finally had an evening with the following day off, plus the moon was moving back across the sky, enough so that in the evening that I could observe it from my garden before it disappeared below the rooftops. I had been checking clearnight all day at work. The forecast wasn't looking good, all shades of red with cloud cover and rain. However, I was determined I would set the scope up and have a go with it, even if there was nothing to look at.

 

9pm comes around, the wife is going to bed, and I am quickly taking the various bits and pieces outside. "Is this what middle age is going to be like from now on?", I wonder. I am also thinking, thank goodness I got a 10" scope as this thing is flippin' heavy. We had blue skies and I was pretty excited to make the most of the time I had.

 

 

The first attempt with the finderscope was, erm, challenging. Even to find the moon, I am then thinking I am so thankful that I am not trying to do this in the pitch black of the bleak mid-winter. Perhaps buying a telescope at the summer solstice is not such a crazy idea. Left is right, up is down, what is going on? I am searching around the endless blue sky, then the drainpipe comes in to view, too far! I pitch it back up a bit and finally the moon comes into the finderscope. Success!

 

 

I only have the one eyepiece, so not much to say here except it was just plug it in and off we go. Getting a feel for the 'exit pupil' and trying to match it to mine, this felt like another small thing that needs to be 'learnt'. It took me a bit of getting used to. The Baader Morpheus 14mm EP (thanks for the advice SGL) was actually a pretty good choice for observing the moon it turns out. I have just googled the maths and the true field of view is (76 / 90 = 0.84 ) which was just large enough for the moon to fit into to.

 

Anyway, the views I thought were stunning, and I was very happy with everything. I quickly got my "Turn Left at Orion" for some guidance of what I was looking at. I spent most of the time looking at the north part, Aristoteles and Eudoxus were really spectacular. If my eye gazed towards the limb, I could see the turbulence flickering the bright light from the moon. I did look for a bit at the southern highlands, but there wasn't really much to see at this magnification, most of it was in darkness still.

 

What was interesting to reflect on (pun intended), was after just half and hour or so, was how 'instinctive' adjusting the telescope was. I didn't even really need to think too hard, I just somehow knew which direction to adjust it to bring the moon back into the centre of the view. I also found that using what I have termed 'the hug' gave me the best stability for viewing. This is where I had my right arm over and around the secondary cage on the far side to me, and left hand on the cage to the left of the focuser. However, I will need to invest in some sort of mat to save my poor knees which were starting to ache after a while!

 

Now I was getting a nice steady and comfortable position, I spent a long time look at Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Serenitatis. Another amazing concept to me was how the maria areas seemed smooth to start with, but as you looked, slowly, one by one, more and more tiny craters started to blemish their surface. And once I had seen them, I couldn't 'un-see' them. I hope this is what I have heard about in terms of an unconscious part of your brain processing the image so that your conscious can then interpret what you are seeing, very fascinating to me.

 

That is pretty much everything. A bonus was also spending some time with the blackbirds that are nesting in our ivy. I hadn't realised just how frequently they were feeding their chicks. They must have made about four or five visits whilst I was outside. All in all, very happy with this observing session. Fingers crossed for hopefully some clear skies Saturday when I would next be able to say up late.

 

A bonus pic through the eyepiece using my smartphone:

 

Edited June 17, 2021 by Stephen_M

[Stu]

Lovely report, and a very fine scope! 👍

[Kon]

Very nice report. I think you will love your Dob even more once the darker skies are back but still plenty of things to see. You might want to invest on a RACI for comfort as well as having the 'correct' way round. A Telrad or Rigel might come handy as well to get in the right area of the sky and then use your finderscope for more precise pointing.

[Stephen_M]

I supposed the report today is actually my first ever session 'star-gazing' with my dob!

It literally had been waiting a month since using my telescope for the first time to view the moon. Poor weather and working has meant that yesterday was the first time I could stay up late and the skies were clear. Very conveniently for me, England and Denmark had decided they needed extra time and so I had a bit of background entertainment whilst setting up. The neighbours were screaming and shouting quite a bit which made for a unique atmosphere, I am sure it won't be so comfortable when the winter months role around. I'll be thinking how nice it was to setup in just a shorts and t-shirt.

Clearoutside.com had shown green from 11pm onwards, at 9pm is was quite cloudy, but when I started setting up about 10pm the skies were starting to clear. The sunlight seemed to glow around the sky for quite a while, but eventually Vega and Arcturus appeared. After the football finished at about 11pm, I had a good look at both whilst I was waiting for the darkness to improve a bit more.

Unfortunately, my plans for looking at M13 actually didn't really work out. I was pleased that my earlier work (see above posts) with regards to learning the constellations, in what was then the East, had paid off. Bootes was now kind of south/SW, Alphecca/Gemma in Corona Borealis was almost due south, and Vega was SE. Locating Hercules was not a problem. I was really surprised how much larger it looked now it was over the south and higher in the sky. To the west was Cygnus. One thought I had was just about trying to assess the conditions, I noticed that compared to May this year when we had that really good weather, there certainly seemed many less stars that were visible tonight.

However, that's about all I managed of my pre-planned session. I tried really hard to find M13, but I have to be honest and I just couldn't do it. I believe the issue was that I was unable to use the finderscope effectively, and trying to find the right star, either Zeta or Eta. I guess, *que violin* this is the problem with trying to self teach these things.

So I think, time for plan B.....I'm struggling with the finderscope, what is going to be easier? Thankfully, Ursa Major was sitting to the west and just over the rooftops of our terraces. Mizar and Albacor were just what I needed as they were easy to identify in the finderscope. I only have the 14mm eyepiece at the moment, but the view was brilliant. The Alpha and Beta Mizar stars were clearly split (I suppose that's my first double, although probably doesn't count I know).

I was using p207 of TLAO, this was really helpful to provide some impromptu information. However, I tried to located M101, but again just couldn't do it. I was thinking the skies probably weren't dark enough. Although, I appreciated the chance to try a bit of star hoping (albeit probably in the wrong direction), as the TLAO directions were quite literal, but this was beyond my skills. I guess knowing ones limitations will be useful in the long run.

In summary, my overall grades for the evening session:

A - remembered constellations and orientation with naked eye, remembering and locating Arcturus and Vega evening before darkness fell.
D - for using finderscope. Really struggled, going to try a Rigel Quikfinder(R) instead. Also getting star atlas for bit more detail than TLAO.
B - for using telescope, got setup and takedown sorted, still working on technique for looking into eyepiece, plus moving dob when viewing.

[Pixies]

Nice report. Glad someone is having clear skies!

Hercules is much higher now, than before, so I guess you were on your hands and knees trying to use the straight-through finder? One of the earliest 'upgrades' I made with a large dob, and still probably the biggest improvement per £ so far, was to ditch the straight finder and replace it with a combination of both Telrad and a RACI finder. When I first started, it probably took me 15 minutes to find M13, now it takes 30 seconds! Here's a good thread about this finder combination: 

M101 is faint! It will be very hard to find in summer skies. It's hard enough in winter unless you have very dark skies!

[Stephen_M]

Phew (!). Well, I'm thinking it might be time to wrap up this thread soon (and just post individual reports)....but another post from Saturday. Mainly just in case another beginner finds it useful to read about how I managed to solve my aligning problem.

I am please to report that after the problems I had mentioned above, I didn't have long to wait to have a go at solving them. Saturday night turned out to be a good session. There was about 50% blue skies as dusk fell, and what looked like a little bit of high cloud.

10pm came around, the telescope was setup in the garden and Arcturus was visible. I spent a while trying to get the finderscope as aligned as a could. But I did find that I kept nudging the telescope as I was twiddling the finderscope adjustment screws. Another skill that needs perfecting! However, I realised in my pre-planning that the main problem was not really the finderscope as such, but my technique about pointing the telescope in the place in the first place.

So, once I was happy with the finderscope, with Arcturus centred as best I could, I then looked to find some reference point on the telescope body/frame/cage to help with getting it pointed in the right direction. My initial method, is to place my ear onto the primary mirror box (so both eyes are perpendicular to the surface), and then look up towards the finderscope. Thankfully, there are two notches, one of the finderscope, and one where the truss attaches to the cage. These references points were aligned with Arcturus in such a way that made a straight line to predict roughly where the telescope is pointing. Specifically, in my head "image a straight line between notch on cage and finderscope, and then an equal distance further is where the telescope is pointed".

With my new method, I quickly test it going over to Mizar, and a eureka moment as I align the telescope almost immediately. As mentioned before, certainly one of my favourite views at the moment as there is so much to look at in just the one view. Next, it's still not quite dark yet, so I spin over to Vega. Again, it took just a moment to align properly. As the sky gets darker, I go over to try and split Polaris. I can't really remember if I'm honest, but I think I was only able to split briefly. I drew a picture so I must be right! The tiny secondary star briefly showing itself for a fraction of a second.

Finally with my confidence up, I go back to try and find M13. It was pretty tricky, and certainly involved a bit of trial and error, scanning around for it if you will, but finally it came into view within a minute or two. The view very much fitted the description of 'smudge of light', but it was quite a significant size, and very occasionally, several individual stars could be made out. I wonder if this is a combination of some cloud cover, summer skies and other atmospheric conditions. Anyway, suffice to say I was/am very pleased about this, and looking forward to going back again to see if it is any better, especially as the forecast is looking good for this weekend. I hope the feeling of amazement doesn't diminish with time, I have a feeling it won't!

By 1am, cloud was rolling in from the East and it was time to pack everything away.

[Swithin StCleeve]

These are great posts Stephen. That's a lovely scope (I'm using a 10" dob at the moment). Looks like you're going at this hobby the same way I did. Star maps, learning the sky, keeping notes, love it!
M13 is a funny one. If there's a bit of mist, it looks like a fuzzy blob, but if you have good seeing and crisp skies, it resolves into hundreds of stars and is stunning. Keep trying! I make sure I visit it every session when it's viewable. 

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by Swithin StCleeve

[Stephen_M]

Thanks @Swithin StCleeve, it's a slow process, but ultimately feels like the right thing to do. Certainly getting a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction out of the new hobby so far!

My recommended beginners reading list consists of:

• Walk through the heavens (essential reading for the novice, can be bought well before telescope)
• Cambridge Star Atlas (more details that TLaO, on the maps and the supplementary notes, found it very useful for planning)
• Turn Left at Orion (speaks for itself, however, IMHO is useless for a complete novice without at least Walk Through the Heavens).

That seems to cover every possible thing that I might need to know for the time being. I did observe Thursday and Saturday, but neither were 'outstanding enough' to warrant their own entries. I will summarise my musings and what I got out of both sessions:

Learning about my garden

So now I have figured out the best spot for observing. Unfortunately it is about 4 square metres of our patio, but I can get a decent view of 30 degrees and above the horizon to the east and west, a soft 20 degrees and above to the south (more like 30 if including LP), and 20 degrees and above to the north. This does limit what I can see using this part of the patio, but now I can plan a bit better what I want to try and find.

I also find lugging the 10" dob around really hard work. I have that nagging thought about perhaps I should have gone for 12", but actually the 10" is about 25kg, and whilst I can separate it, to me it's flippin heavy for something that needs to be moved carefully.

Learning how to interpret magnitudes

I have been getting a lot of pleasure out of expanding my knowledge of the apparent magnitude of the stars. And in particular, observing them one by one as they appear in the late evening around dusk. Overhead during the summer night sky, Thuban seems to be about the limit of my eyesight with the local LP, which I believe to be apparent magnitude 3.5. In the scope I need to continue to work out what is what, but in the finderscope I have been enjoying trying to find M101, without success so far. In the finderscope I can follow the trail of mag 5 stars easily to Ursa 86. From the telescope itself I can presumably see a bit fainter, but need to learn more about what the limit is.

M13

I have spent a good bit of time trying to locate this. I am still relying on a lot of luck it feels like. I appreciate that trying to find things manually will involve a degree of luck, and it feels like there is certain things you can do to increase your chances of success. One thing I did the other night, was to actually lay down on the ground and look up. I was surprised at how much the perspective changes, compared to standing at 6ft and tilting your head up. The other point to note was that I think my next EP purchase will be for a slightly lower magnification, to help spot these fainter objects and make them a bit more visible for me to look at.

Alberio

Split nicely with my x80 magnification. I may even say, a little too far apart! Certainly looks very nice, and I can do this fairly early on whilst the sky is still getting dark.

M57

Funnily enough, I found this almost straight away when I tried. I guess having 2 bright stars nearby helps a lot. The view was really good at x80, pretty much exactly as shown in TLaO. Amazing to think you can view this sort of thing from the back garden. Will need to look at filters, but probably not for a while yet, maybe next year.

Epsilon Lyra (double double)

Found easily but unable to split either at x80.

Polaris

Another early favourite double for me. Very much enjoy the disparity between size and brightness of the two.

Future thoughts and plans:

• next eyepiece addition to come in the next few months. Think I will go up a bit to the 17.5mm morpheus and also invest in a barlow, that will give me x70, x80 and x140 x160 options. (I ended up with the 14mm as it was the only one in stock a few months ago!)
• decent binoculars. On the birthday list (in November), hopefully can stretch the budget a bit. My folks live in Cornwall under Bortle 1 to 2 skies, so excited to take them down on the train at some point too. I could also drive maybe 15-20 minutes from here for much darker skies. Taking some binos seems a much more attractive option than lugging a telescope about.
• taking it easy for a bit. I think I have noticed similar comments in other threads, but observing between 10pm and 1am is really hard work. Certainly feel 'hung over' the next day. I am going to try and keep going with the naked eye/binos stuff, but maybe back off getting the telescope out every time there is a chance of clear skies. Hopefully by end of August I will start to get astronomical darkness here, which is a very exciting prospect!

[Stephen_M]

Another little update with some notes from my Friday night session. I won't bore you with all the details.

Main updates since last session:

• - Quikfinder fitted
• - Purchased 17.5m Morpheus (gives x71 mag)
• - Collimated scope

Due to above, I was pretty keen to get outside again, but had to wait a few weeks. Last night wasn't ideal, orange/red rating on clearoutside. There was quite a bit of cloud around, but in between the clouds the visibility wasn't too bad. Plus, the astronomy gods must have been looking down on me (literally!), as for some reason the streetlamp at the end of my garden was switched off for some reason.

Re: collimation. Whilst waiting for the weather to behave itself over the past few weeks, I finally got around to checking the collimation of my scope. I am sure seasoned experts will not be surprised to hear that both of the mirrors were out by quite a bit. David had told me I should rarely need to do it, but I think the car journey back from Nottingham must have had its effect. And also, I have to completely collapse the scope each time I put it away, so I must have knocked the secondary mirror at some point.

So, the combination of lower power eyepiece, and newly collimated scope, I was very excited to see M13 again. However, I would have to wait as I walked straight into pitiful 101 with astronomy by not having my finderscope and Quikfinder properly aligned. I must have wasted about 45 minutes completely lost out there (I was thinking it was a positive though as there was so many stars in the eyepiece! I did spend a while just observing the Millky Way, its so beautiful up there!). It was one of those times that I can imagine if this was your first time out with your scope, you would be on here selling it the next day.

After quite a while, it was Mizar that came to the rescue. I finally found it through the eyepiece, and then I could quickly re-align the finderscope/quikfinder and we were away. My go to star Arcturus is now below the rooftops in the evening. How I miss its distinctive orange glow and brightness in the dusk sky.

I have to say, using the Quikfinder is a revelation. M13 was found easily, as was M57 and even M93. The latter found by me for the first time by simply looking at the star map, and literally pointing it at the sky using the Quikfinder, and  thinking "it's around here I recon". Then, when looking through the eyepiece it was right there! M13 looked quite impressive but pretty similar to last time I saw it, so I am hoping with more favourable conditions it will look a bit better. Finally, I had a stab at finding Brocchi's cluster which was a very nice view in the 17mm eyepiece.

In between the clouds, I did quite a bit of visual observing. To the east I need to learn this part of the sky as this will soon be overhead. Aquila and Sagitta were easily visible. I started to try and hop to Pegasus but not quite able to at the moment. I tried from Cassiopeia and Cygnus but need to work out the relative positions of everything. I am still fascinated by the concept that once your mind knows something is there, it is a lot easier to 'see' it!

Things for next time:

• - can anyone recommend a better eyepiece holder? My 'stock' one just has one screw and seems to have quite a bit of play in it when using the collimator. Presumably this can be upgraded easily/cheaply?
• - need to learn Pegasus
• - need to get the camera out to snap a photo for setup