Clear sky at last

Well ....that was a good night. 1 week after buying the skywatcher 8 inch
dob, I get a clear night and see:

1) The crescent moon as daylight fades, with a nice view of mare crisium(?)
to test the 'high' power (10mm) eyepice and barlow for crispness.
2) Venus
3) Saturn ....saw the cassini division for the first time
4) M42
5) M31
6) Jupiter + 4 moons & two feint bands
7) Mizar, Alcor, plus Mizar's close companion and the little star between
Mizar and Alcor.
8) Various open clusters near cassiopea

Even better than that, various combinations of my 2 and my fiancee's 2
daughters (4 in all) were persuaded outside to see most of the above!

I'm glad M31 wasnt the first thing I saw with my new scope, because it
wasn't much more impressive than in binoculars (16x60). Maybe I need to
dark-adapt more for this. Anyway, M42 was impressive and had a slight green
tinge, and Saturn was very good to see.

Now I need to get used to the sky on a smaller scale .......... any tips on
what to look at next?

Best rgds,

Alan

In article , Alan
wrote:

Now I need to get used to the sky on a smaller scale .......... any tips on
what to look at next?

"Turn Left at Orion". (-:
--
Jim Easterbrook http://astro.jim-easterbrook.me.uk/
N51.36 E0.25