Missing Lulin

It's been too cloudy for me to catch a view of comet Lulin. With some luck the sky will clear and I'll get a decent chance in the next few days.

Last Week

It has been raining most of the week and i haven't even bothered to check to see if anything interesting is about, not much point when you can't see anything. I had some great views of the moon and the orion nebula again just before the rain set in. I really need to get some filters and a camera and also find some other things to look at ;-)

Orion

Tonight was clear enough to get a great view of the orion nebula. It's the first time i've seen anything like that and despite not having any filters i was impressed. Given there was no colour my daughter was a little indifferent. I've been trying to get a decent view of the orion nebula since i got my telescope but it's always been a little too hazy. I used a 10mm eye piece and the barlow. I could not get a good view with the 4mm eye piece and barlow which i think was more to do with the low quality optics than anything else. Hopefully i can get to see the rings of saturn next...

New Book

It has still been cloudy most nights so i haven't done anymore viewing. Also the moon is rising well after midnight now and i'm usually too tired to have a look. Today i bought a copy of Australian Backyard Astronomy from Australian Geographic, i've only flicked through it so far. I hope that my daughter will be interested in reading it.

Finally...

The clouds finally parted and i got a good view of the moon tonight. I was checking out the craters and mountains on the western edge. i need to find a detailed map of what i'm looking at. I got some reasonable close-ups with a 4mm eye piece and 2x barlow, which was an unusable combination on the first night, it was just too hazy. I wanted to check out Saturn but it was just too bright and i don't think my telescope is really cut out for it. I've had better views of Saturn with the naked eye so eventually i should get a decent view. One thing i was unprepared for was just how quick the moon moves across the field of view, it was quite breathtaking. I can't wait to get another telescope with a computerised mount and camera. Once i do it's going to take some doing to pull me away from it.

Clouds Clouds Clouds

It has been cloudy every night since the first night i got the telescope. Which was predictable i suppose. Once again it's a clear day that'll probably turn cloudy by the time it's dark.
I'm going to try capturing some images with my webcam, i'm not sure how it'll go but there's no harm in trying.

First Light

Last night i got some good views of the moon however looking at anything else was a pain. There were no planets out other than Venus which wasn't very exciting of course. Tonight it was just too cloudy, hopefully tomorrow night will be better...

The Comet Hunter has Arrived

My first telescope turned up today, a cheap 114\500mm from china. Now that i've started this is likely to be the first of many. I've always had an interest in astronomy but was holding out till i could afford to spend around $5k on a setup. However my daughter recently showed some interest so i thought it best to start now otherwise i might never have gotten around to it.

I chose to call this blog Comet Hunter as most other things i was trying were already taken but searching for comets might be a worthwile endeavour. Although it would be probably be easier to go digging in the hills for gold. I have an old version of Starry Nights that i'm using to find candidates for tonight, hopefully it'll be clear skies.