Bad optics or bad eyesight?

I have already had a look at Jupiter. I could see 3 moons and fancied I could see 4. Also had a look at Saturn a few weeks ago.

I have been out a couple of nights in winter - I have a solution for the cold nights - a patio heater. It keeps the frost off the scope and the observer!

I use the binoculars most of the time. It's so much handier than dragging out and setting up the scope, plus a lot easier to use.

Thanks for all the tips.

Just one other tip Keenan

If you are using a patio heater near the scope it will probably lead to an unsteady local atmosphere and cause shimmering of any images in the scope.

Thanks everyone for all the tips so far, maybe I'm getting hooked!

I've been looking at those photos again and I'm puzzled. I can see stars, looking like I would expect 9pinpricks of light), but then there's a big reddish-brown blob with a green halo which is the object in question.

This image is a typical example, one of a dozen where the same object appears, albeit looking different in each one - allowing for camera-shake and newbieness, is this capella?

The proportions look all wrong to me - any ideas?

Several other photos at www.propertyfile.net/astro [/url]

Keenan, I suspect that what you think are stars are in fact 'hot' pixels - electronic noise within your camera and nothing to be ashamed of

The only 'true' image recorded seems to be a bright star, albeit smeared over a small portion of the frame.

In order to diagnose it better, can you tell me what camera you're using and what was the exposure time?

Cheers

Dave

I think what Dave is saaying may be correct. My guess is that the camera has difficulty focusing as there's nothing to focus on , hence the blur. Also, as the sky is relatively dark, the exposure becomes long and the cmaera shakes in your hands while the shutter remains open.
Just my hunch...

IMy guess is that the camera has difficulty focusing as there's nothing to focus on

I didn't think of that Keenan - can you set your camera to manual focus on infinity? That'd help - autofocus would probably get very confused...