First Night Out

[RoutineCurry]

Hopefully tonight (as long as it isn't cloudy) I'm going to take my telescope out for the first time (so excited).

What do you recommend I take a look at first?

[Nexus 6]

Hi, what to have a look at may depend on what type of telescope you own, how good your location is for observing, at what time you observe and if you have any knowledge of the night sky.

For some help with what is possible to see from your location download this...Stellarium

try some of the famous Messier objects such as M13, M27, M29, M57, M92 ...there are a good hundred or so for you to try for.

A few of the planets are also on show with Jupiter by far the most impressive.

HTH

[JimStan]

Rather than just attempting to start looking at the sky on your own, I would highly recommend that you find an amateur astronomy club nearby, and join it ! You will find many enthusiasts that are more than willing to help you get your scope set up, and able to view some of the wonders of the night sky without too much frustration.

I am the Editor of our club's newsletter, and as an officer of the club, I am highly involved with it's "outreach activities". Many of these activities include public "star parties" and "telescope workshops", but we also have many private viewing sessions in which the newest members of the club get together with the "old timers" and learn how to read sky charts and operate their scopes.

You may have a brand new "go-to" type of scope ( and BTW, what kind of scope DO you have ? ) but becoming familiar with the night sky is something that no amateur should try to circumvent! It helps soooo much if you can at least tell that the scope is moving toward the general location in the sky of a desired target !

Good luck, and do tell us more about yourself.

Jim S.

[JohnnyD333]

Hi,

Just go outside and point the scope at anything interesting. Enjoy your first night out, and maybe pick out a few bright objects (Jupiter, M13, M31). Simply looking at the Milky Way band is worth it alone. Have fun!

[swamp thing]

Hi,

Just go outside and point the scope at anything interesting. Enjoy your first night out, Have fun!

That's the way, just have some fun. Worry about finding specific objects later.

Regards Steve

[JimStan]

Well, what did you see ? ? ? one of these ?

[RoutineCurry]

Unfortunately the night didn't go as planned, and the was a lot of cloud coverage, and has been every night since I got my telescope =(. Hopefully this week I will be able to take it out and have a look =)

[DarkV0!D]

Now that hurricane irene is gone so are the clouds and thanks to some power outages there is a lot less light pollution which makes for great views! Anyways i suggest starting out by looking and finding some of the constellations, just to get familiar with the night sky. Then start looking around the constellations to find objects of interest. This is what works for me. But in the end all that matters is that you enjoy it and have fun.