Observing in Devon

[Guest Steve]

Trip to see the family in Torbay over the weekend. I only got my setup on Thursday, but decided to smuggle some boxes into the boot of the car... I don't think anyone noticed!

I got set up at my parents house in Torquay on Saturday afternoon. Then proceeded to kick myself when I realised I'd left the solar filter, (which I'd been constructing until 11pm on Friday night), by the front door at home. Sigh

There was a nice spot on some decking - not too wobbly as long as no-body moved! I aligned my finder scope, (see - I am learning), and left the scope in situ and went off to get some grub.

The sky was really clear, but it didn't get properly dark until about 10:30. Attempted to step through the 2 star alignment process - no joy again - I must be really stupid. Still, I will get there!

So I decided just to do the obvious and manually aligned on Venus - a lovely crescent. Amazing how such a slender crescent can appear as such a bright point source!

Then hopped over to Saturn. Great view again, I could just make out the division, a faint hint of some surface banding, and the tiny pinpricks of the moons.

Also Mars was out, but no surface detail. I think if I'd had the mount's tracking working it would have been better, but I was having to manually tweak the hand control to keep the subject in view.

The real joy was showing all this to my mum and my 85 year old dad. They had never looked through a telescope, so it was a real revelation to them.

A privilege really.

In summary - great scope. Must do better with alignment. Need to work out how I am going to transport all the kit without breaking it all down to fit in the original boxes - it takes too long! Starting to learn my way around the sky as well.

I'm enjoying this lark!

[Daz Type-R]

Thats a pretty impresive set-up you have there!

Also looks like a great viewing platform.

Glad you are enjoying your new hobby, keep at it, it all comes together with practice.