My first viewing session with my first scope :)

[nuttystar]

Today was my first view session with my C80 ED.... It took me ages to set everything up... I had a go at aligning gto my latitude (51 I think) and didn't bother with polar alignment as a) I don't have a clue how to do it yet and I just wanted to look at some things forst before worrying about tracking.

My main problem was trying to find things.. I didn't manage to align the finderscope with the telescope since the manual said to do this in daylight but it was already dark at this point so I was trying to find things through the scope only which was almost impossible...

However I did manage to veiw pleiades which was lovely and Betelguese which was also great.. I am learning all the time and i AM loving it

Lets hope I can work out how to find things a bit easier.. Any tips greatly received

[Doc]

You won't get anywhere until you align your finderscope. You can do at night as well.

Pick a bright object, Venus would be perfect. Position it in the middle of your eyepiece, when it's centered move your finder until it's centered in your finder. Now keep going back and forth in both adjusting a little bit at a time until both are centered. Now you are aligned.

[kniclander]

you can align your finderscope at night - you just need to do it on something that you can tell is the same thing through the finder and the scope - saturn or the moon should do:)

[argonaut]

Just starting out is so much fun. Don't worry,it will be second nature in no time.

Congratulations on the new scope.

You have started off well with buying a nice scope and asking questions on SGL.

Clear Skies.

Glen.