after reading and posting I landed on a simple 8" dob for my first scope and it was delivered monday. Now without jinxing myself it looks pretty clear at my place (central coast NSW) so i may just get to pull this thing out tonight (TWSS) What should i hone in on if i get an hour or two roaming? im thinking the orion nebula as thats pretty visible with small scopes right? I found a program link on here a month or two ago and that had a guide that toured you through our constellations. does anyone have that link or something similar that would help me find some targets to maximize the clear sky time I may have tonight?
Any help you lovely people can give would be appreciated, failing quick responses i think its just past a full moon tonight so with a bit of luck i might be able to locate that.
Full moon does wash a lot of the objects out, but there's still a few targets worth checking out.
Easy to find targets are the Moon as you've already mentioned, also Jupiter, Orion Nebula, stars in Plieades, Tarantula Nebula, 47 Tuc Globular.
A few suitable targets when the full moon washes out the sky:
M42
47 Tuc
NGC 362, a nice little glob only a couple of degrees from 47 tuc
IC 418, small bright planetary in Lepus
Pleiades
NGC 3132 - the 8 burst planetary in Vela
There's several nice open clusters in Puppis all the way down to Crux, including M46/47, NGC 2477 and its neighbour 2451, M41, NGC 3114 and the whole treasure trove around the Eta Carinae Nebula
If you stay out a bit longer, give NGC 3242, the Ghost of Jupiter planetary a crack, it's nice and bright.
Be careful observing full or nearly moon without a moon filter, to cut down some of the light. It is the first thing I did when I got a scope, oh cool full moon, I better look. I ended white blurry sensation in eye for the rest of the evening. It is that bright. Half moon is not that bad without a filter.
