first night nerves

[BAZ Senior]

Hi Pipin, welcome to SGL.

What scope you got?

I hope you got to see Jupiter.

[KingOfColly]

Hello M, welcome to our corner of the internet

[Bizibilder]

Hello and welcome to SGL!!

[Ags]

pipinleshrew, how did you get on with the telescope? Did you get to see Jupiter?

[michigander]

Welcome to SGL, M!

Dana

[wakey]

Hi and welcome from me.

Wakey

[Moonshane]

hi and welcome to SGL - and the addictive world of astronomy!

if you get a chance try and find the Planetary Nebula, M57 the ring nebula. it's a great little object and is quite high overhead in the constellation of Lyra now so LP might be not too bad. find Vega, the bright blue star right overhead - it's usually the first one that peeps out of the evening sky. assuming you have a finder and it's aligned, it's easy to find.

put Vega in the centre and you'll see two close stars off to the left (depending which way you are oriented). this is the double double (i.e. each star is a tight pair of double stars which might look like a peanut at lower magnifications) another nice object. if the double double is left of Vega then under and to the right of Vega are two pairs of wide stars. look at the pair furthest away from Vega and there is a less bright star between them about a third of the way along. between this dimmer star and the furthest of the pair is the ring nebula. looks like a little smoke ring in space. you need maybe 100x magnification for a decent view.

the map for Lyra is here and shows this more clearly than I can

http://www.astro-tom.com/messier/messier_finder_charts/map8.pdf

the whole set is here

Messier Maps

not a specific recommendation for a target but a book. I got a copy of this today and will never be short of targets again. it's cheap too. importantly for you, it contains a list of urban targets for each constellation with a small scope. this may really help you I think.

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-reviews/111106-illustrated-guide-astronomical-wonders-first-impressions.html

good luck and enjoy your scope!

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hi M, welcome to SGL

Another object you can often spot is M13, a bright globular in Hercules (a sort of trapezium of stars west of Vega), M92 is another is the same constellation. With the above maps it should not be too hard to find it.

Jupiter BTW is always fun, and because it has a fast rotation and never ending variations in its weather patterns, never boring.

Regarding names, I just occasionally called my Celestron C8 "the Big Gun" , but not so much since I have had a chance to look the the 16" Ritchey-Chretien at work .

Cheers

Michael

[JamesM]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

James

[Pete Presland]

hi welcome to sgl

[Sirius_Starseed]

Hi, and welcome on board

[Si W]

Welcome M from me too.