First ever nights viewing

[jasondh]

Well after long last the clouds have parted and I have had chance to get my scope out for the very first time.

I had a little fun aligning it. I didn't realise you would have to know what stars you were pointing to. Once I managed to get to grips with it I used Vega, Aldebaran and Jupiter to get the alignment locked. So you could say I already begun to find my way around the sky!

I spent most of my 3 hours looking at Jupiter because, well it is easy but please correct me if I am wrong but could I see 4 visible moons. One was very close and the other 3 were nicely spread out.

I had a quick look at M57 Ring Nebula but it was very faint and quite low in the sky. I am currently waiting for Betelgeuse to clear the side of my house so I can have a look.

All in all I had a fabulous night and have been blown away by what I have seen. Only planned to be in the garden for an hour or so but so far I have been out for 3-hours. Hence I didn't get properly dressed and I am freezing!

Stellarium is a godsend and Star Walk for the iPad is very useful!

Thanks for all the advice and help so far!

I have many questions but I will take some time to try to figure things out before asking!

[Brendan of Borg]

[lunator]

Jason

Well done on the 1st night of viewing

Cheers

Ian

[oldfruit]

Sounds like you had a great first night. Thanks for sharing and hope the skies stay clear for you.

[Geoffrey]

welldone to you hope you enjoyed the viewing waiting for satnight myself hope its clear jupiter looks brill Geoff

[Rob wright]

Sounds like you had a good first go with the scope

Most of the posts I read say that andromeda is the fav first DSO object and it was mine too,, so nice to see a different experience

[Talitha]

Congratulations on a successful first night, Jason!

Here's hoping for many clear nights... stay warm and have fun.

[JonH]

Nice one Jason, congratulations on your first ever night of observing.

[brian.s]

"well done and dark skies to all! seen into double double other night the old stars in the core like embers orange-red wow, have not seen lyra's ring nebula yet cant wait to track them all down.

[andrew63]

If you get up before dawn, you will see venus and the spectacular saturn - it will be well worth it!

regards, andrew