Amatuer's adventures

[mwill76]

A bit of an update on our progress looking into the depths of the night skys.

Only had a few nights out with the scope so far, but we are slowly getting the hang of things and working out our bearings a little more each time. It's certainly a learning experience.

My 7 year old identifies the stars and planets by eye and tells me which is which and which ones he'd like to have a look at. I really don't have much idea yet, but he's teaching me .

We've got moon viewing nailed and even just looking at that provides lots of excitement.

Last night we found Jupiter but couldn't get any detail, just saw a very bright circular object, but even that made us happy. The view of this was using the 10mm plossl ep.

Currently looking at getting a couple more ep's (only have 25mm wide plossl and 10mm plossl) and a barlow lens.

Anyway all in all, it's a heap of fun, and despite not knowing where we are looking or what we are looking at half the time it's extremely entertaining!

Michelle

[iceman (Mike)]

Well done Michelle, sounds like you're having a great time with your son. It's a great bonding experience too.

Are you sure it was focused when you viewed Jupiter? It was probably very bright. Did you see any of the galilean moons next to Jupiter? There may have been a small bright "star" or two on either side of Jupiter, in a straight line.

Observing is a skill, so like any skill, it takes time to master. Keep trying and you'll start learning how and where to "see" the detail on Jupiter. What you should notice first is a couple of browney coloured "belts" going horizontal across the planet.

The moon is always a fantastic target, and never gets boring. Eaech time you view it, it's a different phase showing different features.

[mwill76]

Focusing was ok (I think...), got that bit sorted out, but it was just very bright and yes could see 2 moons which was pretty good.

It's looking like clear skies again tonight, so I'm sure we'll be out to have another go.