I bought a telescope this week. It's my very first and after waffling for some time I settled on a refractor (120mm) since it seemed like something I could use during the daytime as well. Last night Ted came over and we checked out Mars. It was pretty hazy and Mars was low on the horizon, but we managed to make out the ice cap. I have a t-ring adaptor so we both tried snapping photos with our digital cameras. It's tough work. The photo on the left is Ted's while the two right-most images are from my A70.
Looking at the star chart it seems like 4am would be a good time to try again with the Moon rising in the East and Mars setting in the West. The clear sky chart looks good. BTW, I've added the clear sky chart to our local weather page.
Earlier in the day I was watching birds and learning the scope controls. Around sunset a large flock of Blue Jays moved in. Loud, noisy, jays that couldn't sit still or shut-up. This fella was almost obscured in a tall tree top at the back of the yard but the telescope pulled the image right in.
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