Hi from Longreach

[ScrubGhost (Bazza)]

Hi

Very newbie here who was lucky enough to have a college loan me his old 8" Chinese made Newtonian with an old Chinese EQ5 mount. the gears need adjusting the optics need cleaning and the mirrors aligning but it still works, so that is good enough for me at this time.

I have only had it out a few times as the chances for viewing have not been great with the weather. My first time out I managed to find Jupiter (I agree SUS) and afer some advise from my mentor I tried again with the finder assembled correctly and some fine focusing this time, I could see the bands. Just for interest I saw six moons the first time with the help from the wife and four the next.

Last night I tried to find and finally stumbled onto Orions Nebula. That was a challenge for me but I finally found it.

I just thought I might introduce myself and let you know that I will be hanging around the forums from time to time with stupid questions or just looking for answers to my stupid questions.

Anyway G'Day

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Bazza
Welcome, and you must get some nice skies up at Longreach!!
Just one small point. It is very inlikely that you would see 6 moons around Jupiter, the 4 Galilean moons are visible in almost anysize scope or binos, the next faintest needs a really big scope to see. Most likely they are background stars. The way to check is go back a couple of hours later and see if they have moved.

Anyway congrats on getting some targets down.

Malcolm

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Nice one Bazza, and to IIS.
Good way to start, free scope loan and a challenge to get going. 8" is a good size to go with and the EQ5 will keep you entertained while you figure out how it all works.
Get Stellarium on your PC (if you haven't already got it ). It's free and will help you find targets for your nights viewing and familiarise you with the skies above.

Cheers
Brent

[ScrubGhost (Bazza)]

Hi all

Thanks for the heads up Malcolm. I was wondering about that as I only see four little points of light inline with the big stripy thing since then. I originally thought that I had seen five and when I called wifey out she said six. But I have only seen four since then and they are tiny little pin pricks of light.

Anyway, last night I peeked at Jupiter again and it seems smaller but with some fine tuning I could still see its bands. I looked again at the Orion nebula as it was almost directly overhead. I could see the shadows in the glow.

Now I am looking for other targets.

Just so many to choose from.

Though cloudy skies tonight. They promise rain and it never delivers. Those poor people on the coast and we would love it. Gotta go water the dirt!