Hi Jabba,
mate, whilst the sky is clouded over, make yourself one of these planispheres:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/...lanisphere.htm
It is listed in one of the beginners forum's stickies.
Use it when it clears up to help you identify the constellations out in the open at any time of the year. I still use mine to plan sessions weeks in advance. Planispheres are very useful, even years later. 25 in my case.
This next link is to an excellent starters star atlas. Where Stellarium is a good tool, I still think a good star atlas is essential. Together they work very well.
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/atlas/atlas.htm
Sirius being so bright allows many artifacts to be seen that are of caused by both the scope and the eyepieces you use. The scope may show diffraction spikes caused by the spider holding the secondary mirror. Lesser quality eyepieces may suffer from internal reflections as a result of inferior lens coatings. Another reason for these artifacts may be a result of the optics needing to be collimated, or alined.
Here is a short list of a few things you may like to track down with your new scope (by the way, the crick in your neck in using the finder will diminish as your experience and confidence increases):
* The Tarantula nebula (NGC 2070)- located in the constellation Dorado. It actually lies in another galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, which orbits our Milky Way galaxy. Don't be afraid to kick up the magnification with it.
* The Pleiades cluster (M 45)- in Taurus. A young open cluster of screaming hot stars. There is nebulosity which still surrounds these stars, which makes the cluster appear like your optics are beginning to dew-up. It is actually this nebulosity. By the way, the light from these stars which we see today left those stars when Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, some 500 years ago.
* Eta Carina nebula (NGC3372) - in Carina. A giant nebula only second in brightness to the great nebula in Orion. It too is visible as a fuzzy patch even from Sydney.
* The Sombrero Galaxy (M 104) - in Virgo. Reckon you're getting good with the finder? This one will set you straight! Even though it is one of the brightest galaxies in the sky, unless you are patient,
it will show you "who's your daddy?" However, once you nail this one, you will never forget the experience. Even from Sydney's skies it is easily visible if you are patient. I've pinned this one too with an 8" dob from my backyard in central Sydney.
Observation tip: learn to use 'averted vision' to look at objects. The most light sensitive region of our eyes surrounds our central vision. Look just to one side of a faint object, and amazingly the whole thing not only looks brighter, but you will see much more detail. Tricky to learn at first, but becomes second nature very quickly.
I'll be referring to this one next time Melbourne gets some clear skies.
The clouds held out down here in Melbourne tonight so I also had a good night exploring.
