Oh sweet !!!! Congratulations Wey, oh boy oh boy you will see so much through your 8". I'm so happy for you. You deserve it as you are so taken in with the beauty of the sky, it sure has gone to a good home!
Ummm also... we do love spending peoples money
, hehe aperture fever sure caught you quick!
It's impressive that you nabbed the Sombrero galaxy so low in your Heritage scope as it would've been quite dim. You deserve a medal. You have great observing skills and you will totally rock that 8"!
Regarding seating. I have the height adjustable observing chair from Bintel which cost around $175. Very solid - you can do all sorts of positions on that chair and you won't fall over
.
Meanwhile, a quick fix which worked for me before I got the chair was that I used a stool and added/took away phone books as needed.
Some people use a gas lift office chair.
And seeing as you've developed an interest in double stars, I'll give you a few to split which is even more fun than observing more distant pairs. When I say "split", the star actually looks like one but on looking closer they're actually two very close together. Use the 10mm eyepiece on all.
alpha Crucis (the brightest star in Crux).
alpha Centauri (the brighter of the two pointers to the Southern Cross).
Castor in Gemini (Castor & the brighter star Pollux make up the feet of Gemini). The pair are very distinct in the northern sky to the right of Orion.
Gamma Velorium (in Vela near the Southern Cross).
It is the brightest known example of a Wolf-Ryatt star which is a rare type of star with a very hot surface seen to be ejecting gas. In the eyepiece it is so bright! It's easily split showing it's fainter companion and another two companions are visible a bit further out. You should see all four in the same field of view.
In the map, the star is marked "Y" greek letter for gamma.
http://www.constellation-guide.com/c...constellation/
Actually, while you're there in Vela, knock yourself out with the super cool planetary nebula NGC 3132 (The Eight Burst Nebula)- you won't be disappointed.
And then in winter there is the famous double double in Lyra - epsilon Lyra. Turn map upside down for us as it's orientated for the northern hemisphere.
http://freestarcharts.com/17-guides/...-double-double
Oh by the way, re your question earlier, Albireo in Cygnus is a winter object which will be around the same time as Lyra.
And if you're up for a challenge, which I reckon you are because you've shown great observing skills so far
.......
Split Sirius.
Its companion is very dim, out shined and made harder to see due to Sirius being so bright (the brightest star in the sky aside from our sun).
Tip: do this in the evening before the sky gets too dark. It'll be much easier to see as Sirius won't appear so bright against the dark sky.
This is a challenge to many and if you spot it, give yourself a big pat on the back! Make sure to carefully look and take your time. I tried showing hubby but for the life of him he couldn't spot it but was so easy for me to see it.
The Astronomy 2015 book has a list of easy to find double stars in it. Available from the IceInSpace shop.
Lastly, if you want to see a gorgeous brightly coloured blue planetary nebula, there's one in Centaurus called The Blue Planetary Nebula (duh
) - NGC 3918. It's an easy hop. Launch from delta Crucis to the right staying on the same line and move about the distance of gamma & delta. Trust me on this, you will be rewarded
.
If you download the free sky programme Stellarium, you can have a play with the programme and see when these constellations are viewable.