At last - Conjunction!

[Rick Parrott]

Not of planets or anything, just of Opportunity and Clear Sky! We got our 'scope out for a quick spin, and as very much beginners, we set out to find just 4 things that we hadn't looked at before:

1. M41 in Canis Major
A beauty, easy to find and a really nice cluster!

2. NGC2362 in Carina
We just wanted to find something that had a boring name , so i just aimed at the star Wezen and nudged it a bit "below" (from my perspective) and found this little gem! The bright central star with the "pinhole" stars (almost a circle) surrounding, very nice for our first NGC object!

3. Southern Pleiades in Carina
Very open cluster, I swapped from the 25mm to the 30mm to take in in the view a bit better! We actually could see this as a faint "star" so it was easy to locate! Now I know where to look....

4. Eta Carina Nebula in Carina
Yeh, hard to believe this was our first look! Beautiful sight, seems to cover a very large area, but we went for a bit higher magnification and slowly moved around the area. Awesome!

Much praise to my Red Dot Finder (I find it heaps easier than a spotting scope) and the fantastic freeware "Stellarium" programme, now also installed on our new laptop.

[astroron (Ron)]

Hi Rick, a nice little report I am glad you enjoyed your time out with your new scope

[mozzie (Peter)]

well done rick,the start of many great finds head over to orion and m42 magnificant ,mars is up and to the n.e and our own moon is at its cresent stage have a look at it every night as it changes and reveals craters and mountain ranges stunning

[Paddy (Patrick)]

Some nice objects there, Rick and nicely reported. I find it amazing how much time I can spend poring over Eta Carinae.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Nice report Rick, good to see another observers on his way.
One minor point, I believe NGC 2362 is in Canis Major, not Carina, as evidenced by one of its names the Tau Canis Majoris cluster. I have also heard it referred to as the Northern Jewell Box. Certainly not a boring object. Great target for your first NGC!

[Rick Parrott]

[QUOTE=barx1963;560773]One minor point, I believe NGC 2362 is in Canis Major, not Carina, as evidenced by one of its names the Tau Canis Majoris cluster. IQUOTE]

Whoops, yes! That was my typo, the 1st 2 objects were in The Big Dog!

[Rob_K]

Nice report Rick, great objects! Good luck with your viewing - and I agree about the red dot finder!

Cheers -