Hi, I'm hooked!

[grantch (Grant)]

Hi all, just got a telescope for my son a week ago and last night was our first night viewing. Not the best in Brisbane with a lot of cloud cover but decided to have a go anyway and pick a few easy targets.

We have an 8" dob and I was amazed at the detail in the moon, target one. Cloud was covering lightgly most of the time but detail in the depth of craters etc was amazing.

Target two was nearby Jupiter and what a feeling to see the two cloud bands come into focus on our first attempt.

Was looking forward to tonight, but here come the clouds again. Bitten by the bug, and already suffering the curse

Til next time.

Grant.

[Shark Bait (Stu)]

When the bug bites, it bites hard. The cloud cover has made for slim pickings lately (it has just started to rain).

If you are interested in observing with like minded people, there are two Astronomical Societies that operate close to you.

Brisbane Astronomical Society
www.bas.asn.au/index.html

South East QLD Astronomical Society
www.seqas.org/

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

Grant ...good one Mate .... what an addiction to have...it's a hard one to break ...but well worth having .. lots of good times ahead ..!!

Flash ..!!

[grantch (Grant)]

Thanks Stu, noticed Seqas meet twice a month in same suburb as me (Bracken Ridge) so will definitely head along.

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Hi Grant, welcome to the Noble Pursuit! Over the many years I have been observing, the competing elements of Joy and Frustration are equally poised. The Cosmos is so incredible that I am prepared to proceed on that basis.

If you are looking for some other interesting objects to look at, try:
*The Great Orion Nebula (middle "star" in the handle of the saucepan)
*Rigel (Bright star above the saucepan - it has a lovely secondary star which is worth seeing)

and for a challenge....

*47 Tuc (near the Small Magellanic Cloud in the southern sky)

[Irish stargazer (John)]

Welcome to the hobby. It can get quite addictive and last a lifetime. Try and get to a dark sky site on some moonless night-you will be amazed what you can see (Brisbane clubs have one).
Check out the Southern Astronomical Society (http://www.sas.org.au/) who have club meetings in Ormeau. They have a great site out at Leyburn for observing and camping. It is very dark.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2704/4...9e8317fe_b.jpg

Also, great choice on a first telescope.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Congratulations on first light.
Next time you check out Jupiter, have a look as his 4 brightest moons. Have your son make a sketch of their positions. Come back in an hour and see how far they have moved.

[grantch (Grant)]

Thanks guys, still waiting for our next clear night in brissie, only the one so far since we got the scope

I was wondering where to head to for dark skies. Being north side I was wondering about out the back of Nebo etc or the dams, but may well check out sas as well.

Grant

[erick (Eric)]

Got another one!

[Shark Bait (Stu)]

Originally Posted by grantch

Thanks guys, still waiting for our next clear night in brissie, only the one so far since we got the scope

I was wondering where to head to for dark skies. Being north side I was wondering about out the back of Nebo etc or the dams, but may well check out sas as well.

Grant

I thought Brisbane had a chance of clear skies tonight but the current trend continues and the clouds have rolled in. The forecast is predicting fine weather over the next few days, so fingers crossed.

BAS & SEQAS share the dark skies at Hazeldean (near Kilcoy). This is a great venue for members to use with all the facilities on site to make the weekend comfortable.

I have not been to the SAS dark sky site but have only heard good things about it.

AstroRon makes Cambroon available to IIS members as well. I hope to visit his site and meet some of the IIS crew soon.

[grantch (Grant)]

Was nearly put off for the night with the clouds rolling in, but thought what the hec, may as well setup and leave it to cool for awhile and see what happens.

There is lot of cloud around tonight but there are also some reasonable gaps in it. One plus was the moon was covered until around 10:30.

And, I was rewarded for taking a chance. I got a great view of Jupiter and her four prominent moons tonight, followed by my first glance ever of m42, followed by m41 and the first test of my moon filter.

It is amazing how much more you take in second time around. First outing I was happy just to see Jupiter and forgot all about the moons . This time I saw them in all their glory. And to cap it off with two Messier objects was fantastic. Also saw a fantastic mountain in one of the smaller moon craters, will have to look that up.

Now I believe Saturn is up around 2:30, may have to set the alarm

Edit: So I stayed up for a chance at Saturn and while it was fully clouded 15 minutes before it should have been visible, the clouds disappeared and Saturn appeared above our tree line. Awesome night viewing for only my second outing. Do you think the 10 year old was interested in getting up at 3am though... will have to work on that

Thanks for the encouragement all, definitely worth the time spent this evening. Many more to come.

[OICURMT]

Patience is definately a virtue in Astronomy. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be planning up sessions so that all objects will appear high up (near your merdian) during eyepiece time.

Get Stellarium installed on your computer, along with a planning program (Astroplanner for example). Stellaraium is good for learing the sky and how to learn the so-important "star hopping" once you get into fainter objects. Astroplanner, well, the name says it all...

As for me... clear skies in Adelaide... do you know why? My stuff from Perth is still in transit. I'll lay down $100 that once I get my scopes unpacked, it'll cloud up... after all, my last week in Perth it rained and rained and didn't clear up at all until the day the packers came, then it was clear...

[TechnoViking (James)]

LOL, Astronomy is addictive, You know when your really bitten by the bug when you wake up in the morning after going to bed at some ungodly hour to check BOM, not plan out your day, mowing or doing house work, but to see if it will be a clear nights viewing and having your 3 home pages set as "Google" "Ice In Space" and "BOM" hehehe

tonight is looking like a ripper!!

I agree Stellarium is fantastic, also have a look at WWT(World Wide Telescope) realeased by microsoft, it has some fantastic audio/visual tours of the skies and is completely free!. (Warning, you will spend hours apon hours watching the tours, best saved for cloudy nights)

Good luck with your new scope! and clear skies!!

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

LOL Another sign of addiction.
You type in the letter "M" in Google and it autofills MyAstroShop
You type in "B" and Bintel comes up
You type "A" and Andrews Communication comes up

[Frisb (Steph)]

Hello, I'm new, just registered, from the states. I do agree w/ your pitch about google search jjjnettie. It's an interesting point which I've also found to be true. I've checked your images on flickr an I can't see how you would be here on beginners talk? They are simply awsome (advanced in the least) in my view. I just got a new Canon T3i (600D) w/ 18-55mm EF-S lens Kit and will be taking images soon. I wanted to post a new one to introduce myself and say hi to the gang but couldn't figure it out so I had to settle for replying on yours. Thanks for understanding and Hello All, Happy New Year. Looking forward to learning what I can, w/ ya'll.
Thanks,
Steph

[Frisb (Steph)]

I figure I won't see much of what ya'll see and may not be the most qualified prospect as a new member of Ice In Space (being from Northern Hemi) but thought I may find experience in a group such as yours. Hope ya'll don't mind, but certainly let me know what you think.
Thanks for your consideration,
Steph

[louie_the_fly (Stew)]

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

LOL Another sign of addiction.
You type in the letter "M" in Google and it autofills MyAstroShop
You type in "B" and Bintel comes up
You type "A" and Andrews Communication comes up

Haha, seems I'm also addicted then.

Steph, . It seems that from your location you should get pretty good views down to about 50 degrees south (depending on your immediate surroundings).

Have a good one.