Night Sky Astronomy

For my 30th birthday (17th October 2010) my wife gave me a telescope, which was something I have been after for years and years, but never really been able to afford it.  (for more info on the telescope, have a look at the equipment page).  Even my little boy who is 2 years old wanted to get it out straight away, but we waited until the evening.  Luckily, it was a clearish night with the moon being very bright and right over head.

We managed to get it together but, with it being my first ever telescope, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I didn’t really have a clue about the lenses to use as there was a few that came with the telescope.  I obviously new the basics, but didn’t know about the combinations to use.  It was also too late to line up the view finder with the actual telescope, so I had to go by eye. Luckily, the moon was full, large and bright so it was pretty easy to find it.

I looked through the telescope and was amazed to see the clearness of the craters on the moon and how bright it was.  It was really great and whet my appetite for more! My wife and I stared at it for a good hour or so, so I was very pleased with my first attempt.

On each of my posts, I am going to put the date and time of the observation from my back garden, and will also give the longitude and latitude of my house, as a point of reference for any other nearby astonomers. You never know, this may come in handy for someone.

Time: 20:00 – 21:00, Longitude: 50.435423, Latitude: -4.093217, Viewing: North East