Quite a few questions

[ellehciM]

Hi all,

So last night was my first opportunity to use my new Celestron Astromaster 70az refractor scope. I saw Jupiter, 3 maybe 4 of its moons and it's dark rings, I had a look for Andromeda but it wasn't very clear, I saw Orion and the red giant next to it (I've forgotten the name).

I have a few questions for next time I go out with my scope:

1. While viewing Jupiter it kept moving around the lens, sort of drifting out of sight. Is this common or is my scope just not staying steady enough?

2. Would it be worth buying a different eyepiece or a Barlow lens? I have a 20mm eyepiece and a 10mm eyepiece.

3. Would it be worth learning to read a compass to find things in the sky? I use the Night Sky app and Skysafari 4 but could only put my scope on to things I could see with the naked eye otherwise I wouldn't know where to point my scope.

4. How far into the skies will I be able to see? (Including any lens' or eyepieces I may need). I would love to see galaxies, nebulae, Jupiter's red spot and the like.

5. How enhanced are the images I see on this website and across the internet? Am I able to see the beautiful colours portrayed in the images or have they been enhanced with software?

6. If the images have been enhanced is there any free software I can download to enhance any photos I may take?

Sorry for all the questions and apologies if they're dumb questions, I'm a complete beginner and just want to get the most out of my gazing.

Thank you all in advance

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gazetilludrop]

Hi ellehciM,

The movement of Jupiter across the lens is very normal, there is no way of stopping it unless you have a tracking mount. It's the natural spin of the earth.

Did your EP's come with the scope? If they are, then quality is not as good as some of the other EPs on the market, just depends on your budget really. They should work for you and as I have been advised before as I am a noob too, its good to hold off on buying new ones until you are used to your scope and of course the sky so you don't make false economy choices. That said, mine came with a x2 barlow so it might be worth it if you didn't get one.

[AndyWB]

1) This is due to the rotation of the Earth. Unless you have a tracking mount, it's unavoidable. It is less apparent at lower magnifications. I find it's only normally an issue when using quite high magnifications.

2) Well ... the consensus is to get used to what you have a little at first, and then add eyepieces as you feel necessary. Not that I did that, though. I used this thread (http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/43171-eyepieces-the-very-least-you-need/)  to advise me on a getting a couple more eyepieces right away - and I found the BST Starguider eyepieces far better than the ones that came with the scope.

3) I don't find knowing the compass points useful for finding my way around the sky. It can be useful to be able to find Polaris (the North Star), and if you can do that, well, you don't really need a compass.

4) Depends what you're looking at. The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million lightyears - and it's one of the closer galaxies. The most distant of the Messier Catalog object is, apparently, M109 at 67 million lightyears. So pretty far.

5) This thread might be worth a read: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/ - It captures what you see very well. The photos you see are enhanced, usually, one way or another, and even if they're not, they can gather light over a much longer time than your eye can.

6) Yes, lots, but I'm not the right person to answer that.

And the red star in Orion was Betelgeuse 

[CJ77]

Hi ellehciM,

First of all, welcome to Astronomy in general, and welcome to Stargazer's Lounge. There is no such thing as a dumb question, and there will be no shortage of people here who are happy to answer anything you might ask.

As to your questions, I think that the above posts have pretty much answered them, but if you want some further reading, then there is a great book called Turn Left at Orion, which will give you all sorts of tips on observing, plus diagrams of what you can expect to see in various sizes of telescope, which i would recommend to anyone.

Finally, enjoy your astronomy! There really are some wonderful sights out there!

CJ.

[AndyWB]

Oh, yes, as CJ says, that's a good book. Gets a lot of recommendations, and I like it too!

The Andromeda galaxy can be a little tricky. If you're somewhere with a lot of light pollution you'll only see its core, which isn't very large, and is just a little fuzzy blob. If you're somewhere dark, though, and you let your eyes adjust, it'll fill your field of view - it's huge! Unfortunately, any light pollution wipes it out. And I find cloud makes that much worse - it reflects light back down at your.

If you're looking at Orion, try looking in the 'Sword' hanging beneath his belt - that's where the Orion Nebula is most visible, and it is a lovely, bright object. Or maybe you meant that already when you say you saw Orion?

Another one of my favourite objects is the Double Cluster in Perseus. You can download some free software called Stellarium that helps show you where things are in the night sky; I find it very useful, though quite often I use the paid-for program Sky Safari on my phone.

[void]

Just some thoughts on 1,2,3

1. While viewing Jupiter it kept moving around the lens, sort of drifting out of sight. Is this common or is my scope just not staying steady enough? 

Planets move around the night sky so its only natural if your telescope is stationary (not tracking) that it will drift out of view.

2. Would it be worth buying a different eyepiece or a Barlow lens? I have a 20mm eyepiece and a 10mm eyepiece.

This comes down to personal preference and quality. When purchasing my first telescope I also got a plossi kit, so I had a nice selection. Truth be told I did not really touch the kit until I was easily being able to point out objects in the sky.

3. Would it be worth learning to read a compass to find things in the sky? I use the Night Sky app and Skysafari 4 but could only put my scope on to things I could see with the naked eye otherwise I wouldn't know where to point my scope. 

Being able to read the night sky is an important skill. But more importantly than this is getting your finderscope lined up with your main scope. Being able to get the two as closely aligned as possible will save you many frustrating hours hunting around. I personally believe skywatchers should use the tools they see fit.

One point however which is overlooked a lot is try not to use any device which gives out light. It completely destroys your natural nightvision making objects harder to find. Instead use a night light and paper maps.

 

[ronin]

These days I am never sure about updating the eyepieces, the supplied ones seem to get such poor comments that I thing that at times people can be put off unless they get a better eyepiece almost immediatly. Best advice is getting to be If they are OK then use them but be prepared to buy a better one possibly sooner rather then later.

If you can get one cheap, or better borrow, then give one a try. If the improvement is noticable then maybe consider expanding.

Actually you seem to have done well, read of quite a few with bigger scopes then the 70 that cannot see Jupiters bands.

What you will/can see will depend on picking out suitable objects as much as anything.

For M31, Andromeda, use binoculars. It really is big and you will not get all of it in view so it never achieves what it should.

Nebula, at present the obvious one in M42, Orion Nebula, should be easy enough.

Another area is double stars, there are a good number of doubles that have a colour contrast, Alberio being the obvious also Almaak in Andromeda and there is one in Cassiopeia. Search for "coloured double stars" and a list from the Delaware Astro Club is one of the first.

Also search for "list of messier objects" the Wikipedia entry will likly be first. Tht is a good table of the Messier objects, you can reorder by magnitude to get the brighter ones, it can also be order by type, so galaxies, nebula, clusters etc.