Newbie question about a celestial body

JeyJey - yes that is due west of Mars - as i said previously i was gobsmacked when i looked at it the first time - i had been looking at it using naked eye and could make out a couple of pinpricks but was not ready for the sight with the binoculars. amazing!

Am downloading stellarium onto office machines to give it a run out and will download to one of the home machines tonight . i had google sky running but i may as well have been looking into a ditch for all the good it did me

just ran stellarium - thanks Voyager for the link - that is seriously beyond good. i can see on that app what i am seeing out the back garden - savage

cant wait to get home and install this and get looking.

thank you from the bottom of my heart

Make sure you remember to put in your location accurately so you get exactly what you see outside! And you can fast forward the time to see what you'll see later. And zoom in and out with the mouse wheel to see all sorts of galaxies and planetary detail

Hi Joxer,

if you're interested in picking up some books, try Turn Left At Orion. It's available on Amazon. Great book for beginners, and has some DSO's that are visible through binos. It shows you how to locate them and what you can expect to see when you find them. I've found it invaluable.

Regards,
Michael.

Lads thanks for the reccomendations - been playing around with stellarium when i can wrestle my son away from it [5yrs old and loves computers] and been ducking out and in checking stuff - its fantastic!!

unfortunately the mist has rolled in and all i can see is the nice light pollution of the neighbours backyard spotlight - the joys of suburban living

still i did get a chance to check orions sword but couldnt really make anything out theres a nebula there rihgt? - will need a clearer night and possibly bigger binoculars and then its onto a half decent telescope - looks like i will have to steer clear of the vinyl purchases for the next few months

Make sure you remember to put in your location accurately so you get exactly what you see outside! And you can fast forward the time to see what you'll see later. And zoom in and out with the mouse wheel to see all sorts of galaxies and planetary detail

:lol: :lol:

whaddya know - ive been using stellarium for a while now and never knew you could zoom in :lol: :lol:

im using a wacom tablet 24/7 - basically a digital pen. cant zoom with that. just tried it with the mouse, and man is that cool !