[Quopaz (Nick)]

Hi everyone. Firstly thanks for the amazing photos and the great info. I guess you could say I started back in around 1986. I remember getting up early in the morning to look at Halley's Comet with 10x50 binoculars. I still remember what it looked like. Really not much between then and now, just the odd look at the moon with binoculars or riflescope. About a month ago I noticed a bright star in the west, looked it up and found out it was venus! I was surprised it was a planet not a star. A look with what I had didn't show much so I decided to buy a telescope to see it better. I bought a Skywatcher 10 inch dobsonian, came with 25 and 10mm eyepieces. I added a 6.3mm and barlow to give me magnifications of 48, 96, 120, 190, 240 and 380x. The first couple nights I couldn't get it to focus, then I worked out what I was doing wrong. I was putting both the 2" and 1.25" adapters in when it only needed the one 1.25"! After that it worked well, I've been able to see Venus a few times pretty close up at 380x. It's very bright though and I'm surprised how fast it moves. I also just scanned around looking for things and found a nebula, later I looked it up and found out it was a pretty common one in the saucepan, Orion I think they call it. Took some photos of Venus just through the eye piece with my handheld camera. Moon has been amazing at 380x. I've ordered a 5mm which should give me 480x when barlowed. Last night I found Uranus at 120x, but couldn't find it at 380x. Also had some fast movers go through the scope, not sure what these were, maybe satelites? But they must be fairly common. Shooting stars maybe. Probably gonna try for Uranus again next or maybe Mars early in the morning. I've located Mars but not yet seen it through the scope. Should be a good year for Mars later on they reckon. Would like to see saturn but it's not visible yet. Anyway, thanks and look forward to seeing some more of your amazing pics!