My apologies to anyone in the New England area, or south of it by me......

...I just got a brand new telescope, clouds abound for a while now, of
course.

Actually last night at like 3am when I finally got it fully assembled
and outside it was clearing up enough for some preliminary gazing.

All I can say is...wow.

It's an Orion SkyQuest XT6 Dobsonian, very nice. Fluid motion, stable,
ease of use, it was very nice.

Moving from a bargain bin 60mm refractor to this made me wonder if
someone replaced the sky with a new one between the last time I was
out and last night, you could see so much more without strain, it just
drinks in the light it seems. Very nice telescope, I can't wait for a
chance to really try it out.

So, in my nice 6" reflector, what are some targets I should look for?
I'm a little out of it, it's been a while since I've been out, the
mount on the refractor was damaged so I wasn't so inclined to mess
with it for quick 'gazes. I live in the Long Island/New York area,
suburbs, not the worst light pollution, but far from a dark sky site.
Any suggested targets?

Clear skies and apologies (;-)),
Matt

in my nice 6" reflector, what are some targets I should look for?
I live in the Long Island/New York area,
suburbs, not the worst light pollution, but far from a dark sky site.
Any suggested targets?

Congrats on the new scope.
The A.L. Urban Skies Observe Club has a good list of 'starter' targets
for moderately light-polluted skies:
http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclu...n/urbanld.html
http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclu...n/urbanls.html

Happy hunting,
SSX

So, in my nice 6" reflector, what are some targets I should look for?
I'm a little out of it, it's been a while since I've been out, the
mount on the refractor was damaged so I wasn't so inclined to mess
with it for quick 'gazes. I live in the Long Island/New York area,
suburbs, not the worst light pollution, but far from a dark sky site.
Any suggested targets?

Congrats on the new scope. Not sure of your experience but if you're
just starting out, try getting up at around 5am and having a look at
Saturn. It'll be the yellow non-twinkling "star" northeast. You'll know
when you've found it. The rings will be obvious. Also, have a look at
M42 in Orion (The Great Orion Nebula). Look at a star chart if you
aren't sure where that is. It should look pretty impressive in your 6"
scope. Around this time you should also be able to find Andromeda
Galaxy (the brightest "smudge" in the sky at the time), and the double
cluster if you spend some some time hunting. Both are worth the hunt.

Clear skies,
-tom

"Matt Krass" wrote in message
om...
..I just got a brand new telescope, clouds abound for a while now, of
course.
Matt

Only clouds ? Lucky you . I ordered 2 eyepieces and on the day they arrived
, I got the tail end of a hurricane . Glad I didn't order a scope ;-)

Craig
Montreal , Canada

Only clouds ? Lucky you . I ordered 2 eyepieces and on the day they arrived
, I got the tail end of a hurricane . Glad I didn't order a scope ;-)

Tell me about it. After my scope arrived we've been skimmed by 3
hurricanes in a row....seems like one every other week.