what constellation?

[cyroflame]

hey guys ! quick question. Although i am yet to get paid,therefor do not yet have my scope i was still very interested in getting out there and seeing what i can. so being the first clear (ish) night around where i live for a long time now, i went for a walk down the beach with my 8x30 binoculars, i managed to see a few stars but what really interested me was a small gathering of stars just below a rather larger reddish star. i couldn't make out what it was so done quick sketch and was wondering if my my abysmal drawing you could tell what it is? i was looking south from where i live (Shoreham which is,lat 50.827260 long -0.261164)

[insomnia]

Looks like Orion to my untrained eye.

[cyroflame]

By golly it is! thankyou

[Chris H]

Best thing is to get yourself a red light torch and a planisphere with these two it would be real easy to start learning all the constellations visible from the UK. When I first got interested I knew just three, Orion, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor know less than a year later I can recognise over 30.

[SirFoo]

I'm a newbie too and would also recommend 'Practical Astronomy' published by phillip's which is a nice easy introduction to finding constellations. You could also download stellarium which is a really good software package (and free). I also use my android phone which has a app in it called google starmap. This is an amazin little app which you can take outside, point your phone at the sky and it will tell you what star-constellation you are lookin at. Probably not worth buying a new phone to get it mind you!