Quick question

[Akula]

If you look in a south-easterly direction just now , what is the bright star ? Its probably the lowest one to the horizon. To help me get my bearings.

Steve

[ashenlight]

Hi Steve:)

If I'm looking in the same place as you, that's Rigel, the bottom right star in the constellation Orion.

Use this, and try to spot the rest of it Orion (constellation) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

good luck

edit: if I stick my head further out the window, I can Sirius, it's probably that actually! That's the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major. Go up and right and you'll get to Orion from there

[Cornelius Varley]

Low in the south east, bright star - Sirius

Peter

[Brett]

Hi

Sirius I think

Brett

[coxie]

it go with rigel too

[ashenlight]

sounds like I needed to stick my head further out the window

go with Sirius, it's alot brighter than Rigel and far more noticeable. That's a great star to use for star hopping hope the skies stay clear for you!

[Akula]

Thanks everyone.

Got it now , Yeah its Sirius. The last week or so ive been using the 3 stars in a diagonal line just above Rigel as my starting point , which ive just read is Orions Belt.

Amanda the skies are absolutely crystal clear here tonight so its going well so far.

Steve

[ashenlight]

That's excellent news Steve hope you can get out there and really enjoy it

The technique you describe is 'star hopping' - where you use recognisable 'shapes' in star patterns (we call these 'asterisms') or easily identifiable constellations and their major stars to 'hop' to nearby areas. Orion's belt is a great example of this, nice one for getting off to a great start Just below Orion's Belt is a cloudy patch known as Orion's nebula, or M42. It is a star forming region, if you have binoculars it's a beautiful object to look at

Have you managed to spot Mars and Saturn yet? Mars is inbetween Gemini and Cancer (look directly above at around 11pm, it's the brightest orange star you can see, shining steadily) and Saturn can be found in the constellation Virgo - once Mars is above you, Saturn is to the East, the dull yellow star shining steadily. Take your time, once you spot these planets once, you will know what they are straight off they have a very distinct 'shine' to them - stars twinkle, planets tend not to

If you haven't got it already get Stellarium, free planetarium software, will help you find your way around Stellarium

[Akula]

Had a good look at the moon , god thats cool !!! and mars too , although only at 100x at the moment. Im absolutely freezing too and aching trying to crouch and look through that finderscope !!!!! Gotta take the rough with the smooth though .

Stellarium keeps crashing on my pc it works for about a minute , then gives me the old "Stellarium.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close"

Works only for about a minute , but its enough time to see what is coming.

Steve:)

[Akula]

Just seen saturn , i can believe how surreal it was ! Its as though someone was holding a bit of black card with a little white picture of saturn on it over the end of my telescope !!! Amazing though !

Also cant believe how prominent the rings were. As i said very surreal , cant wait to see it a a bit higher magnification.

[TopHouse]

Steve, grab the previous version of stellarium and it wont crash, it's the latest version that's buggy.

[brantuk]

I'm still on stellarium 10.2 which works fine. I would advise removing the config file before dropping back a version or re-installing any version and use the control panel uninstall program. That solved all my problems with it.

[ashenlight]

Steve, here's the older releases webpage for you, TopHouse is right, the latest version is quite buggy.

Really pleased you saw both Mars and Saturn, great work! I agree with you on Saturn looking like an image on black card.. that's exactly how I and all my family described it the first time.

Have a look at this SkyandTelescope.com - Planets - Saturn's Moons Javascript Utility

click on the red link near the top, 'Javascript utility' - enter in your details just read it through slowly and fill it all in (was a bit daunting for me first time!) - remember to pick the correct view for your scope at the bottom of the window - for instance, if you are using a newtonian telescope, the view will be inverted, so make sure you click the right view so you are seeing a correct representation of what's at the eyepiece. This will let you know which of Saturn's moons you can see! I used to make a little sketch of their positions, then take it out with me. Amazing when you realise they are little worlds all on their own out there...

Here's the Jupiter one too SkyandTelescope.com - Planets - Jupiter's Moons Javascript Utility - Jupiter is a bit too close to the snow now for observation. It's sinking with the setting sun fast every evening so just save this one for when it's more favourably placed

keep us updated on how you get on and any questions make sure you ask:)