hello Cumbrian,
Sounds like you've had a bit of a mixed bag with your first outing mate.
Not to worry though as it only sounds as if you have a few small items that need fixing to get going in the right direction.
Firstly your probably right about the light affecting your views at the moment. The washout does tend to make deepspace hunting a little harder when the full moon is out. Give it a couple of days and the moon will not be up in the early evening and you should have a better time of it.
Usually I can still pick out a couple of good nebs if you haven't tried these yet while the moon is up.
M42 in the
Orion Constellation and
NGC 3372 which is between the
Carina and
Centaurus Constellations (just above the
Southern Cross). Around NGC 3372 you will also find a lot of very bright star clusters which should also standout quite well even with the moonlight.
There are a few nebula (with the turantula being the biggest) in the
large Megellanic cloud but they might be a bit dim to see for you at the moment with light pollution but you could always try in a few days time.
With your 10" scope you should be able to just make out the red spot on Jupiter. It won't be red more like a darker brown which blends into the band that it sits in so you do have to look a little harder for it. Couple of things will affect detail on the planets. Your mirror being cooled properly and the atmosphere. There is a theory that the best time to look at the planets is just as the sun has gone down or is about to come up. Maybe some though will say that anytime is a good time.
Just be careful where you point your scope though as one look at the sun and it's good night Irene for your eyes!
I'm not sure about your other tech problems and I'll leave those to someone with your brand of scope and a bit more experience.
Good luck
Simmo
