Brief night sky guide

[DaveHKent]

Is anyone aware of any very brief night sky reference guides out there?

While there are many excellent books about, as a relative newbie, I do suffer from the problem many beginners do. You get a clear night, get your scope setup, sort out the alignment and then think "now what do I point it at?". At that point I don't want to be sitting in the garden reading long passages in a book by red torch light. I want to point, observe and read up later (or before).

I have started producing a note book, detailing what constellations are visible at around 10:30pm in the UK for each month of the year, and for each one, I have made a small table of interesting things I am likely to see, and the info required to put it into my GoTo, eg:

Albireo Double star Mag 3.18 Dist 430ly HIP95947 SAO87301

Producing this is slow going. Is there anything similar that already exists? If not, would this make a useful web resource for others?

[Bat502]

Turn left at Orion is a must. This is their website too: http://www.cambridge.org/features/turnleft/

Also try this too: http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html Updated monthly. Scroll down the page to the PDF download section.

Also get yourself Stellarium. A free PC package: http://www.stellarium.org/

This should keep you busy for awhile.

Hope this helps.

[dwc]

I was also going to suggest Turn Left At Orion.

[ronin]

If you get something like the monthly sky guide by Ridpath then for each month it has a prominimet constellation and basically lists whatever is in it. However I thought TLAO did the same.

The "manual" option is something like Stellarium, set the time to say 22:00 and swing it round so that you are "looking" South East and take a vertical line. Anything more or less on that line is in a good aspect for viewing. Set the DSO setting to mark anything that is Mag 6 or better and you should have a choice of brighter items.

Problem is that 2 clear nights and you can get a lot if you put your mind to it.

[cotterless45]

You'll soon get used to where the constellations are. Think of it as map, you can find USA and many other places. The intersting thing is that as the seasons change, so does the map. A notebook of what you've seenor hope to will help,

Nick.

[AstroJOE]

Have to agree with previous replies. Turn left at Orion is what you're after by the sound of it. Really simple to follow, no fancy images to mis-manage your expectations, simple star hoping instructions, a straightforward reference guide so you know what you can realistically expect to see, where it is and when it's observable, plus some basic info on what you're looking at. Best book I've bought since getting into this hobby 10 months ago.

JOE

[Astro Imp]

From what you have said I would think, like other posters, that Turn Left @ Orion is what you are looking for.

[DaveHKent]

Cheers. Turn Left At Orion does look like a good book, but does not contain the catalogue numbers for stars, which makes life easier with a goto telescope - so some level of preparation and a notebook to go with it will be needed.

I do use Stellarium, which I find excellent for showing me what I can (or should) be able to see. What it does not highlight is what is worth seeing.

[glowjet]

Dave, I can see from your thread that you have a eye for detail and want to record what you see and to also set the co-ordinates into your GOTO to find your targets for a nights obs. I would go along with what has been recommended, TL@O is an excellent choice, but there is perhaps one book which might fulfil your needs, the 329page paper back, Star Hopping by Robert Garfinkle. This really is a work of information, as not only does it show you how to star hop, without such as GOTO, to the many single/double and various other star types, galaxy's, nebula and many items of interest, which can be found in the popular Constellations throughout the year, but it gives you the respective co-ordinates ( epoch 2000 ) and other relevant and interesting details ( including constellation mythology ) about each target to be looked at. Detailed information on the Main Sequence star types is especially useful, I acquired a copy from the States s/h quite cheaply through Amazon some time ago and I always have it to hand. Another book I regularly use is : The Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders, this is also a very informative work, very popular among some of the forum members, but does not have quite the same co-ordinate info as Star Hopping

john

[KevUU]

I've been lent a copy of Objects In The Heavens which gives, per constellation, what can be seen with a simple map of where they are, and an idea of the brightest and/or most interesting ones etc. Includes messiers, NGCs, stars and double stars, etc. I use it to figure out what to look for, then go to Pocket Sky Atlas to actually find it.

It might be worth a look, sounds like the sort of thing you're after.

[Paulb3098]

I use the The Illustrated Guide to Astronomical Wonders - it also give the coordinates of some good double stars which is good for goto's.

[brantuk]

I agree with John - I've no idea what he's on about cos I've never seen those references - but he does know his stuff big time and won't put you wrong.

I also have TLAO and Astornomical Wonders - both great guides especially for newbies - but perhaps lacking the extra depth you seem to require.