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bri

By bri
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bri

bri

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Hi everyone thanks for all the welcomes.

Just like to share with everyone that i dug out a refractor with a very crude and unsturdy mount that i've had for years which I got so frustrated with because of the flimsy tripod and wobbly fixtures and fittings and that everytime I adjusted anything and then let go, the subject would move out of view, plus i had no clue what i was looking for but since my recent readings from various sites about the wonders that are up there and where some of them are, i decided that tonight, I will give it another try.

And you know what? After a bit of luck, I saw the andromeda galaxy for the first time albeit very feint and smudgy but was still happy that i found it.

Next, was Jupiter. I was able to just see 2 red rings on a small, white dot along with, I think 4 of its moons which were very tiny but shined brightly. Brilliant.:rolleyes:

Now I have to see what else I can find that is bright enough to pick up until I get some money together for a more capable scope as this one and the bins aren't gonna cut it for long.....Oh dear...I may have to sell my bike!:glasses2:

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  • 2 years later...
Andy Stout

Andy Stout

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Hi fellow stargazers,

I'm so old maybe I should call myself a star-geezer!

I joined this forum with one goal in mind.

I want everyone to be aware of a wonderful old book my parents gave me when I was only 10 years old. There is nothing else like it.

You can see every page of it on Amazon.com.

(No, this is not a commercial, Please read on and see.)

This 1952 book, "The Stars" by H. A. Rey, presents all the constellations in the shapes that represent their names.

Leo (the Lion) looks like a lion; Gemini (the Twins) look like twins, Aquarius (the water carrier) looks like a person carrying a vessel of water, etc., etc..

Suddenly, stargazing is completely easy and way more fun. Until this book, the only familiar shapes I could identify 

 in the night sky was the Big Dipper and Cassiopia. That's because they had recognizable shapes (duh!).

But shouldn't all the constellations be shown like that, instead of a bunch of lines connecting the stars arbitrarily so there is no recognizable shape?

Ancient stargazers recognized constellations as shapes, but more than that—as old companions that greeted them each night and announced the seasons year by year.

The star charts in this book are better than anything I have ever seen. They show the night sky for each month, every 2 hours!

You heard me right. And that's for the northern AND southern hemispheres. The author doesn't stop there: Each star chart in the book shows the constellations WITHOUT the lines that join them—then on the opposite page, the same night sky is shown WITH the lines that  form their shapes. This allows you to practice recognizing the constellations as they actually appear in the sky. Isn't that cool?

It gets better. On all the star charts, each constellation is assigned a little number. That number corresponds to a page

which provides great info about that constellation; it's origin, mythology and what galaxies, nebulae, clusters, etc., it may contain and where they are located! Bingo. Now it is EASY to find these celestial wonders with a telescope or even binoculars.

If that weren't enough, this book has an amazingly easy way to immediately find where the planets are within 2 hours!

I have never seen any charts that can match these.

Also, (yes, there's more!) the book explains fairly complicated stuff like how to calculate sidereal time in terms that a 10 year old kid can understand. No wonder. The author is H. A. Rey, the creator of Curious George. So this book is written like a children's book with charming cartoons, like an early Egyptian drawing a constellation in the san for his son, and a kangaroo looking for the Big Dipper.

In case you think it's just a silly "kid's book" consider that Albert Einstein wrote the author saying "Many thanks for your lucid and stimulating book. I hope it will find the interest it deserves."

It's on Amazon.com for around $10.00. The hard cover version has a cover that converts to a huge ingenious star chart that rotates and shows the night sky 2 hours apart, 12 months of the year. Current issues are soft covered, without this bonus, but the planetary chart will be up to date. (Personally, I recommend the hard cover issue.)  Either way, you will not regret this purchase.

I still use the hard cover book my parents gave me and truly cherish it. 

This is the BEST Christmas/Birthday present for your child or an old star-geezer, like me. 

-Andy Stout

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