Another hello from Hampshire

[Leegsi]

Welcome to the site

[Spectre486]

Hi Frazer and welcome.

I just bought a new observing chair from Blacks, a reclining camping chair on sale for £15! It is very comfortable and perfect for lying back and looking at the sky through binos while taking a break from the scope.

Pic:

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6661/chairsmall.jpg

Cheers,

Chris

Heh - That looks rather comfy. I'd probably end up falling asleep in something like that!

I'll probably go for something like that or a stool. I can't see myself buying one of those special ones that cost around £100. All I want is something to sit on when the bones begin to ache.

[Spectre486]

Incidently, I managed to convince my wife that she really needed to give me my christmas present early (my new binoculars)

So I hurry home from work looking nervously up at the little peep holes in the cloud cover over Southampton - unpacked my bins and headed on out. Naturally the clouds immediately started to obscure as much of the sky as possible, however I managed to get a good look at the moon and Jupiter.

I have 10x50 bins and was able to see a few craters around the edges of the moon. Jupiter was really bright, couldn't see any colours - but wasn't expecting to. Then the clouds finally had their way and I went back inside.

Well - that's a start at least I thought to myself. I saw the wife started watching crime drama on the TV, so I figured this would be a good point to go and read my new astronomy guide that came with my bins. 4 hours later I look at the time and wondered where it went.....but more importantly, I looked outside and lo and behold, NO CLOUDS

Grabbed the bins and headed outside again. I started looking around trying to orientate myself.

Locate Orion - check

Locate Polaris - check

God that moon is bright now!

What I really wanted to see was M31, however Andromeda was pretty close to the moon around midnight and it was hopeless sadly

So there I was.....bright moon overhead and bright street light very closeby - rats. Several minutes later I manage to find a sweet spot by a friendly tree that blotted out the moon and the streetlight in one. Hoped nobody was watching me......must have wondered what on earth I was doing

So anyway, back to the sky.

Got my first view of the Orion Nebula which made all the hassle well worth it. Even with the bright moon lighting up the sky, I could clearly see it and even make out some of the bright stars in it. Couldn't really see the shape though, as I couldn't hold the bins steady enough - but that alone made my evening

Found the Pleiades and the Hyades. The Pleiades looked great, seen them a lot before with my eyes, but never through binoculars. Again, couldn't really keep the bins still enough to try to look for the Merope nebula - but I wasn't really holding out much hope with bins and bad light pollution.

Tried to find the Crab Nebula - but couldn't, the moon was just too bright. I was looking in the right place - but nope.

Managed to find the alpha persei association, with that S-shape of stars - looked great. After finding this, I was holding out some hope of finding the double cluster in Perseus. But after several tries I gave up. The moon was too bright and/or I was looking in the wrong place. I was finding it difficult moving from one star to the next. I was trying to line up things like the branches of trees or rooftops below what I wanted to look at - and then pan upwards. Perseus was right overhead though, and I'm pretty sure I just kept losing where I was supposed to be pointing. Ah well, next time.

So, with one last glimpse of the orion nebula, I called it a night and went in pretty happy.

[cgarry]

Heh - That looks rather comfy. I'd probably end up falling asleep in something like that!

I'll probably go for something like that or a stool. I can't see myself buying one of those special ones that cost around £100. All I want is something to sit on when the bones begin to ache.

Yes, if you are wrapped up nice and warm falling asleep in it is a danger!

Link to the chair on the Blacks website:

Blacks - Blacks Recliners - Buy the Blacks Recliner in Black online today

It sounds like you had a great night out with your bins. I think the Pleiades look fantastic, possibly at their best through bins.

Some people recommend using a monopod for keeping bins steady, which seems like a good idea but I have never tried it myself.

Chris

[ezza123]

Welcome from me in North Hampshire :-)

[Pete Presland]

hi fraser welcome to sgl from bedfordshire

Ironing/ Perching stool HEIGHT ADJUSTABLE with backrest on eBay (end time 28-Nov-10 21:18:19 GMT)

my wife has just bought me this chair for xmas. there have been some concerns over the stability of some chairs, but i like the look of this one, i will post a review on here i recieve it

[cgarry]

hi fraser welcome to sgl from bedfordshire

Ironing/ Perching stool HEIGHT ADJUSTABLE with backrest on eBay (end time 28-Nov-10 21:18:19 GMT)

my wife has just bought me this chair for xmas. there have been some concerns over the stability of some chairs, but i like the look of this one, i will post a review on here i recieve it

I notice that quite a few people use chairs similar to this. Is this because of the type of scope used? With my Schmidt-Cassegrain scope the EP is never really in an awkward position that requires an adjustable height seat.

Looking at photos of other types of scope I see the EP is at the top end of the tube. Would I be right in assuming that using scopes like this is where a seat a with adjustable height would be invaluable?

Cheers,

Chris

[Astro_Baby]

Hi and welcome from me too. ...........

[MikeWilson]

Welcome! (and nice chair...)

[stevebb]

A very warm welcome :-)

Steve

[Alfa Omega]

hello and welcome from me too enjoy SGL forum

best regards.Rob