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After moon and planets, what next? Andromeda?

Selek

By Selek
in Getting Started With Observing

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Selek

Selek

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I'm in the northern USA, and I'm pretty new to stargazing.  I've seen several planets and, of course, the moon.  I'm wondering: what are the next-easiest things to observe?  I have both binoculars and a new 90 mm Orion equatorial-mounted refractor.  Andromeda Galaxy?  I haven't been able to find it yet, and I'm not sure whether it's the next-easiest target, or whether I should focus on other things first.  Thanks in advance.

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Qualia

Qualia

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My own personal picks with my 4" frac would be:

The Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, M 42, M 45, NGC 884 & 869, M 67, the entire Sagittarius region, Albireo in Cygnus which may spark a double star interest (loads of other pretty gems can be sort with the 90mm and binos), and yes, M 31 :grin:

One of our very own members has an excellent site here for binoculars which can easily double as an ace link for smaller scope finds as well.

This site might be of some use, for you just plug in your specifications, and it'll run up a possible list of things you may be able to observe.

This thread might also come in handy, for it highlights some popular finds listed by constellation.

This site has some lovely observing programs for all kinds of apertures.

And finally, if not done already, I'd recommend you buy a star atlas and download Stellarium for free, which should also give an indication of what you may be able to see :grin:

Hope this helped a little :icon_biggrin:

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D4N

D4N

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It's certainly worth learning how to find Andromeda if your skies permit unaided observation of it. I look at it every time I go out, a fine sight and a good seeing yardstick.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Ruud

Ruud

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+2 on Messier objects. Your 90mm should prove fine for these stellar gems. Here's an excellent little program to help you on your way:

http://www.davidpaulgreen.com/tumol.html

Free of course ....

Good link, Dave, I see there is also a Caldwell Object Log on David Paul Green's website. That's another useful list of objects for amateurs. It was complied by Patrick Moore. Wonderful. I downloaded the PDF version.

I second Qualia's idea to try Stellarium. I've been using it for many years to plan my observations, together with Cartes du Ciel. I only wish these programs used amateur sketches rather than deep sky photos to show the objects. Sketches represent the visual sky far more truthfully.

Clear skies.

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Astro Imp

Astro Imp

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It's certainly worth learning how to find Andromeda if your skies permit unaided observation of it. I look at it every time I go out, a fine sight and a good seeing yardstick.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I often use my bins on M31 to gauge transparency.

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ronin

ronin

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I think "What next?" is one of the biggest problems.

Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Andromeda and then Orion Nebula and unfortunately that is often as far as many get.

You/We really need some simple lists of items to cover What next, I made up small lists of 5 items in most "catagories", Planets, Double Stars, Nebula Galaxies etc. Suppose I should increase to 5+5 as in 5 easy and 5 not so easy.

As you are in the US then perhaps this site for clubs: http://www.go-astronomy.com/

Then you also have: http://www.astroleague.org/

Look under Observe, then Programs.

You may well find additional ideas of things to search out.

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nameunknown

nameunknown

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Andromeda is a "naked eye" object - find the big square in Pegasus, skip down a line of stars to the left, then "up a bit" and there it is (may need "averted vision"). It is always worth learning how to find it - I believe it is as far as you can see with the naked eye and the light from it is 2.5 million years old.... wow.

P

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Selek

Selek

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Ronin, thanks for those links.  A club sounds like a good idea.  

Thanks to this thread, I do have a full agenda of "What's Next".  Don't worry, I won't get discouraged.  I am getting a big kick out of just looking at stars -- I'd never paid attention to their color before!

Tonight was a case in point!  I did find Andromeda tonight with binoculars, hopping "left" (west, I guess) from Pegasus to Mirach, then "up" two hops to the Andromeda Galaxy.  But I struggled to repeat that victory with my scope.   I'm still getting used to the finder scope; my hands just don't want to move it "backwards" when my eyes say to move it the other way.  I'll get better with practice, I'm sure.  Repeatedly, I'd hop to Mirach, and then from there I'd always set off in the wrong direction.  Then clouds rolled in, and about the only star I could see in the sky was Mirach -- so I just sat and enjoyed its amazing orange-yellow color.  I didn't even know about its Ghost until I came inside to read about it, so I didn't think of strapping on a higher-magnification eyepiece, but I had a great time looking at it all the same. 

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NotSoSuperNova

NotSoSuperNova

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Something that I looked at when starting out was finding my way around constellations. It's something that's done relatively easily, can take a bit of time when you're starting out and stays with you as you progress. I found it helped me visualise things when people said things like 'just up a bit from Taurus' as well. 

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