1st planet to look for at this time of year.

[NIGHTBOY]

In the early morning hours dew can become an issue, but of course the higher the planet the better the seeing... If there's no fog ;-)

The big planets, especially Jupiter, are so bright that they are hard to miss.

I got asked more then once; "That's the brightest one, so it must be the north star?" - nope...

IF you have trouble finding things, binoculars are great, even a 20€ Lidl auriol or 30€ Bresser.

8x50, 10x50, 8x60, 10x60mm binoculars are a great tool, Jupiter will be obvious due to it's moons, and even Saturn will be visible as slightly oval star. Also deep sky objects become visible with 50mm aperture, and you can scan down or to the side until you reach a brighter star, and switch to your telescope and start from there.

Also check out http://7timer.y234.cn/index.php?product=astro&lon=00.896&lat=49.323〈=en&ac=0&unit=metric&tzshift=0&site= - adjust your coordinates.

It will give you a rough idea if you'll face fog, how long it will be dark, and even predict seeing conditions.

Hmm yes I never thought of that... Can dew cause damage to a scope?? Say if the mirrors start misting up??

[Superdavo]

If you're up late, Jupiter is a must see. As for learning the constellations, perhaps start with the plough, move too the summer ones (Lyra etc),  and after that, you can keep finding the constellations as the seasons pass. Obviously, if you can stay up late, find Orion, is the best constellation of all, and will guide you to many others.

Also, as you find constellations, look for objects inside them that are easily visible. (The plough contains a few galaxies that should be visible on a dark night, for example)

Also, I don't think dew can damage a scope, perhaps with the exception of a few extreme cases.

David

[NIGHTBOY]

Well that's good to know. Just been by the back door with the laptop and Stellarium and looking straing at me is the moon with Altair clearly in view. This is going to be an amazing experience

[Schorhr]

David's right, the orion nebula is hard to miss and a must-see!

The dew won't damage the telescope, but fogs up your mirrors and eyepieces. While the eyepieces can be warmed up in yoiur pocket, the mirrors/lenses must be warmed up (some telescopes have a build in heater). You van build a larger dew shield though to prevent early dew.

Don't clean your optics with a cloth and don't blow dust or dew off (salvia, bacteria make things worse)

Let the telescope dry at home, perhaps pointing down or sidewards so no dew pools up ;-)

The laptop will ruin youir night vision, even with "night mode" in stellarium, as displays will never be truly black (if you take a long exposure image even a black image on a Display will have a white glow).

A solution is to use a deep red transparency or even better print out some Star Charts and Get or build a red LED flashlight, dimmable... 9v block battery + poti + resistor + two red LEDs in some plastic container are a great budget solution.

[NIGHTBOY]

Ahh great thanks for the pointers!

Right then another thing.... How do you guys manage to get the scopes pointing at the deep space stuff?? Surly trying to find something that's not visable with the human eye and on that much magnification is impossible??

[Schorhr]

The trick is good maps ;-)

And as mentioned a few tricks, such as pointing between the bottom stars of Lyra for the ring nebula, extending the line over Albireo to the dumbbell nebula, or the diagonal through the big dipper, extend it to m81 and m82, the crab nebula is at the end of Taurus, the orion nebula under the belt of orion (three stars, the sword...), m13 is just under the arm pit of Hercules, m44 if you pan left from the twin's heads, the right V of the W of Cassiopeia roughly points down to Andromeda... Many ways to memorize the main objects ;-)

But your main tool will be printed charts or a book, and star hopping or circles if you have a telrad finder.

star hopping http://washedoutastronomy.com/content/star-hopping-tutorial-3-star-skipping-m11

Telrad is a big easier, you have maps with three circles on them, and all you need is to point your telescope so the stars align on the circles of the telrad similarly. Then your object will be in a low magnification eyepiece...

Both methods require you to start with a low magnification, and once you managed to find it, next time it will be so much easier (and requires a significant lower amount of cursing).

Turn left at orion seems to be the most popular English book as it does not only show youi where to search, but also how and what to expect to see in a small telescope. I've seen it, great book.

My favorite is the observer's sky atlas (karkoschka), it's a bit like a telephone book for the stars, compact, but contains so many objects and information... And of course a atlas with telrad maps.

[nerointegrale16v]

now you  see north (big dipper, ursus major) look right at 3 or 4  o clock in the morning and look for gemini constellation ,looks square. top left visible by eye(castor), bottom left visible (pollux) and bottom right visible, jupiter is brightest  halfway between  pollux and bottom right.

enjoy

[NIGHTBOY]

Sounds like I could do with a 'goto' mount?! I bet they make learning the sky a little easier??? Can you get the motorised mount for the Skyliner 200p??

[Schorhr]

In my oppinion, goto will be tempting to NOT learn the sky AND to jump from object to object.

Some nebula can be very faint and hard to see, it took me almost an hour to spot more details on m51 my first time, at the beginning it was just two dots in the sky...

It all sounds very confusing at first, but it really is not.

If you have a book / maps it's not hard, and before going out observing you should plan what to look at anyway.

The "popular' objects are hard to miss if you dont rush it and prepare yourself.

It all boils down to if you would rather pay more for a goto mount, or a larger telescope that will show more then a smaller telescope ever could.

[NIGHTBOY]

In my oppinion, goto will be tempting to NOT learn the sky AND to jump from object to object.

Some nebula can be very faint and hard to see, it took me almost an hour to spot more details on m51 my first time, at the beginning it was just two dots in the sky...

It all sounds very confusing at first, but it really is not.

If you have a book / maps it's not hard, and before going out observing you should plan what to look at anyway.

The "popular' objects are hard to miss if you dont rush it and prepare yourself.

It all boils down to if you would rather pay more for a goto mount, or a larger telescope that will show more then a smaller telescope ever could.

Yes I see where you're coming from. I'm just worried about getting up early in the morning to see Orions Nebua and it getting light before I've found it!! Even on 48x mag I bet it's still really hard to find as the smallest move of the scope could equal miles of movement at the other end! Is it best to look on Stellarium so you've got a good idea of where to point your scope, then using the finder scope point it that general direction, then select your lowest mag eye piece and slowly move the scope around that area looking through the eyepiece??

[Schorhr]

The finder scopes usualy have 6, 8 or 10x magnification, or 1x in case of a telrad, and together with a low power eyepiece it's not that difficult.

Also binoculars help to navigate the sky and relax a bit inbetween.

Try your telescope during the day, just strictly avoid viewing in the general direction of the sun (as it will permanently damage your eyes if you look at the sun without a suitable front filter), and adjust your finder scope on a distant church tower, power line, mountain top or what ever your local scenery has to offer ;-)

Also set up a telescope and eyepieces in stellarium, and try finding things without the search... It does not match the real experience, but it does help when you practice this way.

Also don't keep yourself up too long, astronomy should be fun, not work - else you will loose interest ;-) Orion may be visible in the morning now, but soon it will be up in the sky during the night...

[NIGHTBOY]

The finder scopes usualy have 6, 8 or 10x magnification, or 1x in case of a telrad, and together with a low power eyepiece it's not that difficult.

Also binoculars help to navigate the sky and relax a bit inbetween.

Try your telescope during the day, just strictly avoid viewing in the general direction of the sun (as it will permanently damage your eyes if you look at the sun without a suitable front filter), and adjust your finder scope on a distant church tower, power line, mountain top or what ever your local scenery has to offer ;-)

Also set up a telescope and eyepieces in stellarium, and try finding things without the search... It does not match the real experience, but it does help when you practice this way.

Also don't keep yourself up too long, astronomy should be fun, not work - else you will loose interest ;-) Orion may be visible in the morning now, but soon it will be up in the sky during the night...

Ahh how do you do that in Stellarium?? I have been playing with it quite abit but didn't know you could set up a scope on there. Is it by using 'Ocular' view or just simply clicking the telescope icon?

[Schorhr]

Alt+o, ctrl+o and right click menu, see

http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Oculars_plugin#Configuration

Set up the focal length of your telescope, the aperture and a 25mm eyepiece with 50 degree afov, another one with 10mm, and perhaps a 6mm with 66 degree for example.

Also set up a eyepiece to simulate the finder telescope, for example on 1200mm a 120mm eyepiece to get 10x (or at 650mm focal length a 65mm ep, etc.) magnification or even 150mm (8x) eyepiece.

sure, nonsense, but it will do it's intended job as finder scope.

Now in stellarium enable the telrad option to point at the generic region at the sky, then use the low power eyepiece.

[NIGHTBOY]

Yes I've sort of got it (although more practice is deff needed!)

I'm just a little curious of how to set your finder scope on a nebula that cant be seen with your eyes??

And thanks for all the help Schorhr, it really is appreciated!

[Schorhr]

The maps will show you what stars a nebula is nearby. Sometimes they are close by, or inbetween stars (such as the ring nebula), or you can draw an imagninary line along other stars to find your object ("star hopping").

Without maps (or sketches you made yourself when playing with stellarium, check out http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/174240-star-hopping-my-easy-method/ ).

Often the finder has a low magnification and brighter nebula will be visible in the finder, or at least fainter stars that will guide you to the object.

I think the English site with free maps is http://freestarcharts.com/

but "turn left at orion" is a great book that helps you get started.

Also a planisphere can be of help, a larger one even might include a few DSO markers.

A red flashlight is mandatory to preserve night vision though, easy diy project or get one from a forign eBay seller for a few £/$/€.

[NIGHTBOY]

The maps will show you what stars a nebula is nearby. Sometimes they are close by, or inbetween stars (such as the ring nebula), or you can draw an imagninary line along other stars to find your object ("star hopping").

Without maps (or sketches you made yourself when playing with stellarium, check out http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/174240-star-hopping-my-easy-method/ ).

Often the finder has a low magnification and brighter nebula will be visible in the finder, or at least fainter stars that will guide you to the object.

I think the English site with free maps is http://freestarcharts.com/

but "turn left at orion" is a great book that helps you get started.

Also a planisphere can be of help, a larger one even might include a few DSO markers.

A red flashlight is mandatory to preserve night vision though, easy diy project or get one from a forign eBay seller for a few £/$/€.

Great stuff, I'm on the case! and thank you

[Schorhr]

Good luck and many clear nights, it's amazing once you get the hang of it :-)

[NIGHTBOY]

I just followed that gude on steelarium and found drawing the line very helpful indeed. When I changed to the view throught the scope it imaged reversed, is this what happens when looking through a telescope??

[NIGHTBOY]

I just followed that guide on stellarium and found drawing the line very helpful. When I changed the view to the telescope view I found that the image had been reversed. Is this what happens when looking through a telescope? ?

(In English now haha)

[Schorhr]

Yes, the image will be 180deg/upside down with a newtonian, http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/179638-telescope-setup-in-stellarium/, but that get's less and less confusing after you get used to it.

As the objects in the sky can be viewed either way up, it simply does not matter, and correcting the orientation would require more optics (mirrors/prisms) decreasing contrast.

[NIGHTBOY]

Jeez I feel like I'm taking one step forward and two back. So through the scope I'm seeing the image upside down and inverted? I feel like my heads about to explode!!! Surly this makes star hopping ALOT harder when trying to follow maps/drawings etc??

[Schorhr]

Not if you are doing a headstand ;-)

But seriously, depending on the type of telescope you can just print the map flipped... Or.... The secret method for newtonians... Turn the book/map upside down ;-)

[nerointegrale16v]

nightboy dont feel overwhelmed, im in the same boat.

just started the hobby, had my 200p just over a month and sometimes i think should have brought a goto mounted scope, but i think thats too easy (in an hour or so you have seen what Galileo spent a life time viewing) im prosuming half the fun is learning and finding it yourself.

martin

[Schorhr]

Indeed, it can be a lot to comprehend, and the main advantage of our age is the amount of information at our finger tips almost anywhere, anytime :-)

Galileo would have had a bläst with today's telescopes... But it's amazing what he was able to achieve through observation even with the small Instrument.

[AndyWB]

So through the scope I'm seeing the image upside down and inverted? I feel like my heads about to explode!!! Surly this makes star hopping ALOT harder when trying to follow maps/drawings etc??

Yup, if you're using a Newtonian reflector telescope. Other types of scope can, depending on how it's being used, have the image the right way up, but flipped left to right. Don't panic, you get used to it surprisingly quickly. Occasionally, for hard to find stuff, I've been known to print screenshots of the 'telescope view' in Stellarium for reference.

There's also the deep sky hunter atlas; it looks pretty good. I'm thinking of trying to get it printed/laminated somehow.

http://www.deepskywatch.com/deep-sky-hunter-atlas.html