Obsering with naked eye

[wenskir]

So I bought the pocket sky atlas online yesterday and today I bought my first astronomy book with all pictures of the constellations in the sky. I'm sorry that I might sound newby but I'm just excited that I'm regocnizing stars and constellations...

Apperently I've been seeing Ursa Minor (UMi, little bear) for years but me and my mom only knew it as 'a pan' cause it has the shape of a saucepan. And I just found out that I've been staring at Orion and Taurus for the last 3 nights.

Stargazing is fun !!

[Langy]

Welcome, it is fun and your learning more than I am about the constellations, which to be honest we should all learn first.

Your next step should be a pair of 10x50 binoculars and you will be amazed how much extra you can see.

Take a look at the http://www.heavens-above.com/? website, there are some useful lists of when satellites etc. will pass over your head.

Stellarium is also a very useful free piece of software to help you where in the sky each object etc is.

A nice dark sky area is so pleasing even just to look with the normal eye, you don't need expensive equipment to enjoy the night sky and I bet you have just as much fun.

[Stu]

Nice one. Just popped out for ten mins myself, no binos, just 'looking up' at stuff :-)

Did you see Jupiter? Big bright 'star' in Gemini, hard to miss.

Stu

[wenskir]

Thanks Langy ! Should be helpful, not that I see something and keep searching which one it is lol. And Stellarium was the first thing I downloaded when I came on this forum ! That's a lot of help right now, figuring out the names when I see something.

@Mak: that's a funny story...My mom and I have had the consumption that that was a satellite...Only to find out 3 days ago that that's actually Jupiter. So yeah, I've found it ! Where I live it's placed left diagonally above the moon and I checked it with Stellarium.

[Toymaster]

Glad you and your Mom are enjoying the sky and starting to find your way arround.

I love using binoculars when I'm out and about under the stars - certainly had some wow sights...

Enjoy,

Ade

[wenskir]

Well, Apperently I've got an observatory like 25 minutes away from my house. Each year in August when the Perseids (hope goggle translated that right) meteor shower is coming by, they'll have an evening sit outside to watch it with everyone. Think I might join them this year.

[ronin]

For meteors use a comfortable chair and wrap up well.

Quite a few use a lounger (not sure if the same in Dutch?), so they are more or less lying down.

If wrapped up well and comfortable quite a few never see a meteor, they fall asleep. :eek:

[wenskir]

I know what you mean with lounger !

Yeah, they say on the website to take that or a mattress kinda thing with you so that you can see everything well. And I'll me sure to have something warm with me !

[C7tsj]

I like the cluster of stars to the right of Orion. Not sure of the correct name but looks like 5/6 bright stars with the naked eye. Didn't know it was even there till I bought a scope and looked up.

[Langy]

I like the cluster of stars to the right of Orion. Not sure of the correct name but looks like 5/6 bright stars with the naked eye. Didn't know it was even there till I bought a scope and looked up.

I guess you mean Pleiades (Seven Sisters). They are amazing with 10x50 bins. One I always look for when I go out, but a faint cluster with the eye.

You can also spot the Orion nebula with the eye just below Orions Belt, even with a scope it is a grey smudge but when you know where it is you can identify it with the eye.

[baggywrinkle]

Welcome to SGL.

You are keeping up a long tradition of naked eye observing. We tend to forget it is only since 1608 that we have had telescopes and that many naked eye measurements were performed  and recorded for hundreds if not thousands of years before that.

Hard to imagine that and a world with no light pollution, the skies must have been stunning and people more in contact with them.

[C7tsj]

I guess you mean Pleiades (Seven Sisters). They are amazing with 10x50 bins. One I always look for when I go out, but a faint cluster with the eye.

You can also spot the Orion nebula with the eye just below Orions Belt, even with a scope it is a grey smudge but when you know where it is you can identify it with the eye.

Is that what that is? Great stuff, I thought Pleiades was elsewhere. Looks great through the EP, as does Orion Nebula (Orion's sword).

Thanks.

[wenskir]

I saw Orion's belt a few hours ago but wasn't able to find it just now. Maybe because I've got trees in my street and they were in the way.

I did find my dad's binos and apparently they're 7x50 field 7.1degrees (don't have that sign on iPad)

I don't know if that's good but I am able to see the craters in the moon, although its a real old one

[wenskir]

Was funny to look at Sirius btw, I know it's because of the atmosphere but it kept changing colors !

[Langy]

7x50 will be ideal. Not too much magnification but you will be surprised what you can see. 

For sure you will see the Orion Nebula as a grey smudge, Andromeda Galaxy as another faint smudge if you can find it. It's said if you are under 20 you can see that with the naked eye. Also Pleiades (Seven Sisters) comes alive with the bins.

There are lots more to see with the bins, age doesn't matter with them or the magnification. The important bit is that nice wide lens of 50mm.

Learn your constellations as you are doing, check out some of the brighter objects like in the checklists http://astronomychecklist.com/ look on Stellarium as to where they are and find roughly where they are by eye first and use the bins too.

[JamesM]

Nothing wrong with good old fashion eyeball observing and it's a great way to learn the constellations. Even when I set up the scope and the rest of the kit, there is still nothing quite like standing to one side to look up at that great expanse of sky to breath it all, just like our ancestors have done since time began.

Continued clear skies to you, keep up the good work and on to the next constellation!

James

[wenskir]

Thanks ! I'm gonna try to find the Orion Nebula tomorrow when I'm still able to see Orion's belt. And I'll give it a go for the Andromeda Galaxy.

[AndyWB]

I've been surprised by how much you can see with naked eyes - The Double cluster (though it looks like a single brighter patch), the Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Neb, Brocchi's cluster, M44 the Beehive Cluster - I've managed to see all of them, though you see a lot more with a scope!

[wenskir]

Langy, or someone else, I'm not getting how that checklist works...I get the row of constellations I think, but not really the rest...

And is it a stupid question if I ask where the M stands for..?

[wenskir]

I've seen a few stars now that belong to Taurus but I'm still not seeing the shape on Stellarium. I'm using the image in my book but I can't connect which stars make the lines

[Langy]

Langy, or someone else, I'm not getting how that checklist works...I get the row of constellations I think, but not really the rest...

And is it a stupid question if I ask where the M stands for..?

OK I'll go back a bit and explain how the site works first which may help to look out for the easier objects.

It's basically a spreadsheet on a web page which you can tell as it has little column and row borders on the top and left edge. Hover the mouse of the top grey columns and you should get the column title pop up. The little square in the top left says Difficulty. When you get that click the left mouse button and it sorts the whole list in difficulty order. This works on each column should you want to sort any of them. You can also click the expand button to bring up some more options, especially the seasonal options.

The site contains three lists, Messier (M), Caldwell © and Visual Binaries.

The Messier list was produced back in 1771 by a French Astronomer Charles Messier. He initially created the list (as he was a comet hunter) of objects that looked similar to comets at the time so he could mark them off as not to look at whilst on his hunt. Full details about him and the list can be see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_object I believe all the objects are in the Northern Hemisphere, but there will still be some that we cannot see due to our position in the north.

The Cakdwell list was created by Sir Patrick Caldwell-Moore (C used as there was already an M). His list was to add to the M list of extra objects people should take a look at. This list cover both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, so there will be a lot more that we cannot see. Full details here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldwell_catalogue

Now I'm guessing (and waiting to be put right) the visual binaries are all double stars to look for.

I've seen a few stars now that belong to Taurus but I'm still not seeing the shape on Stellarium. I'm using the image in my book but I can't connect which stars make the lines

In Stellarium move the mouse to the bottom of the screen to pop up the menu. The far left three menu buttons all relate to the constellations. Lines, labels and art which can all be click on to display / hide or using the relevant key c,v or r. Hopefully this will help you to find what you are looking for. Tonight the moon was just in Taurus which would obviously make some of the stars invisible to its own light pollution. As each night passes the moon will slowly rise a bit later and more what seems to the east. However as the moon gets fuller it will get brighter so may again have an impact on what you can see.

Whilst in Stellarium if you switch on the art you can move back and forth through time which is how I could see where everything is. If you know what you are looking for you can use the search. Move the mouse to the left of the screen to show more menus. Or F3 for the search window.

[wenskir]

Since I'm using the App on my iPad, I just figured out what the buttons are there so I can use it tomorrow.

I'm gonna check the list on the computer tomorrow cause I can't see column names on my iPad, but once I know them it should be easier.

Thanks for the help ! I was already writing every star/planet down on paper that I saw, but that site should be way easier.

[wenskir]

So I've been sitting on my balcony for an hour. When I found Orion, I actually saw the smudge of Orion's Nebula ! (at 8pm GMT+1) When I pulled my binos out, the smudge only got bigger lol. But I found my first Nebula yaaay ! Gonna see if I can catch Andromeda Nebula tonight.

[Tonys]

As James and others have said, the naked eye is the way to learn the constellations and in my experience it is well worth making the effort. I think the night sky looks truly awesome and majestic when you can mentally join the dots and perceive those huge figures as they rise, fall and rotate in their courses and I especially love to greet old friends as they make their first appearances during the year. I suppose it's a bit of a primeval thing.

[John101]

Thanks wenskir for sharing inquiry and all for suggestion!

I can point a radio antenna to azimuth and elevation but have very little knowledge of objects in the night time sky.

John