First attempt at stargazing with a telescope! Thought tonight would be more cloudy, but was very clear up to about 23:00 where we started to get a bit of high-level cloud cover.

Spent an hour yesterday figuring out how an equatorial mount must work - then found an easy tutorial on the Internet... but at least that confirmed I was right. What's missing now is getting a clear view of the pole star to align the mount. Will have to figure something out regarding that.

Concentrated on Jupiter, which is well placed relative to our patio; pretty much due south! Slightly hazy view of three or four cloud bands, and 4 moons very clearly visible.

It really was a very clear night. Even without the telescope, saw a couple of satellites, a pretty decent meteorite, then just before 9:30 got a great view of the International Space Station:

ISS Sighting - Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Time: 09:26 PM 
Duration: 2 minutes
Maximum Elevation: 37°
Approach: 10° above WSW
Departure: 37° above SSW

That info comes from NASA. I didn't work out the geometry in my head! Didn't have time to get the telescope lined up before it went out of view, but couldn't miss it with the naked eye - at least as bright as a passing aircraft. Obviously just a white light and not flashing though!

So - off to a decent start anyway and if we manage another clear night tomorrow, will have a chance of seeing Jupiter's spot from about 9pm onwards.