Hi Jack,
Welcome to the forums. I only joined backed in Oct / Nov last year and find there a quite a few really helpful people to answer pretty much any question you have.
An 8 inch scope is a great start and certainly will show you plenty in the night sky once it clears up.
I found if I used Star Chart on the iPad I can literally point it at the sky to show me the names of stars. Stellarium is great on PC / laptop to show what is up in the sky. both need your location info to be reasonably accurate.
Also try
http://www.deepskywatch.com/ which has some downloadable maps which can be printed (A3 paper).
Good luck and hopefully clear skies for you soon mate.
Cheers,
Matt
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacko
Hey Guys,
Just thought i'd say g'day. I've lurked the forums for a little while deciding what to buy... and yesterday i picked up a 8" Bintel Dob.
The weather in Sydney is obviously horrible at the moment, and until i get to take it outside the city i know i'm missing a lot. But last night even in the clouds i managed to find Jupiter (and its moons!) and was utterly amazed. I really wasn't expecting the detail of the atmospheric bands etc.
Saturn is my next target prior to heading out on some weekend adventures once the weather improves!
Jack
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