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Locating stars..... Newbie advice!!

Newbie karl 1

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Newbie karl 1

Newbie karl 1

Posted
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So I am currently doing my best to learn as much as possible to be able to make the best of my new scope. I have various sky map aps but wondered how can I work out what will be overhead say in 3 hours time?

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mcinek82

mcinek82

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Hello,

many applications (for example Stellarium, but also apps for smartphones) give the opportunity to set the time to any desired point on timeline. So it's just a matter of checking in options how to do it.

You just need to set the location and later: see above (as mentioned in above post)

[Just wasn't as quick in typing the answer  :grin:  ]

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ronl

ronl

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Stellarium has to be one of the best, you can put the clock forward

or back and it gives you exactly what you will see, just put in the nearest

town to where you live in the drop down and away you go. 

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ronin

ronin

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Planisphere, also have a look East, what is there will be high up (overheadish) in about 3 hours.

Always find a decent book of constellations and what they contain the best, taking a laptop/PC outside with Stellarium on just doesn't seem practical.

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Marky1973

Marky1973

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Karl, I worked on the first example (the Orion Nebula) in turn left at Orion and the main problem to contend with was the reverse/upside down image in my Reflector - once you have that down, the guide was pretty good - going to start working on the April section soon.

I've used SkEYE, Stellarium, Google Sky map, Star Chart and even paid for Mobile Observatory. Stellarium is the one I keep coming back to - free on PC, but I think there was a charge on the mobile ap - but less than two quid. Mobile Observatory is good for events and information, but found their sky map to be less useful than Stellarium, which I keep coming back to and used, successfully, to find M5 on Saturday night - took me about 40 minutes, but I found it. You can pinch-zoom the image to get more stars in view and make it easier to hop.....

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Langy

Langy

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One extra thing to think about is a pair of binoculars, especially if you sit a pair of 10x50 on a tripod can make the wider FOV easier to navigate flipping between scope and bins.

As a starting point learning the constellations and main stars gives a good point to start from, of which I have a lot to learn my self. However as the views change I try and learn a little bit more each time.

I really struggle myself sometimes to find objects. When I looked for M81 / M82 I don't think the moon light helped but in the end I swept the sky in the general area looking for objects that were not stars. Once I located one I used Stellarium to check the neighbouring stars and quickly spotted the other, even though they were both possibly visible in the EP together at once their dullness did not make it easy to find.

I'm sure the most experienced in here will admit that they are still learning, it's just very hard to get started but once you start to learn things pick-up quickly.

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Marky1973

Marky1973

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Langy makes a good point about the binoculars - which I need to heed as well - but also about learning some of the easier stuff first. Apart from looking at Jupieter/Satrun?mars and the Moon, the first 3 weeks of my viewing has been largely in and around Orion, learning the names of the stars, peeking at Betelguese and Rigel and finding the Orion Nebula.....there is so much to see in just one constellation, that you can spend hours exploring and, before you know it, you are familiar with your scope and developed the confidence to go further afield.....of course, this all comes with the caveat that I am a newby myself, so just how I am finding it......

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Wetsparks

Wetsparks

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I brought myself a used (seller refurbished) Celestron Sky Scout for about 120 quid. It can either tell me what star I'm looking at or guide to to a star.It needs a bit of getting used to as regards looking through the optics on it but as with all things the more you use it the easier it gets. The main reason for me going this route is my deteriorating short term memory, I can sit and identify a star and repeat it's name a dozen times, but 5 mins later and its gone. Doc recons it's because of all the med's I'm on including a lot of Morphine and Ketomine, so that's why the Sky Scout is just so useful to me.

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scarp15

scarp15

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Planisphere, also have a look East, what is there will be high up (overheadish) in about 3 hours.

Always find a decent book of constellations and what they contain the best, taking a laptop/PC outside with Stellarium on just doesn't seem practical.

Yes definitely a planisphere.

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StarSapling

StarSapling

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As a few others here have already advised, I would suggest starting off with paper and cardboard (planisphere and star charts), before you go digital.  If you start off with the digital route, it will be easier to locate objects at first, but it will take much longer to truely learn your way around the sky.  The "old school" route can (will) be frustrating at first, but the failures and repeated attempts will pay off in the end with lasting knowledge of the sky.  I know many observers who have been in the hobby for many years, and have spent many hours at the eyepiece observing hundreds of objects, yet, because of their over reliance on digital aids, can't tell you what constellation the object they are looking at is in, unless they look at the display on their scope controller.  I'm not opposed to digital aids,  just to the over reliance on them that deprives new observers the opportunity to develop an intimate knowledge of the sky.

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Langy

Langy

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I am trying to learn star names this year. I know more constellations than stars, which seems upside down. After all, constellations aren't event real.

I would say constellations are the starting point as it is easier to find objects from a constellation than a specific star.

Plus when you know a constellation is comprises of several stars and just by using one of those stars as a reference point to find something else is far easier than actual star names.

The best example has to be on how do you find polaris. Simple look for the plough, I don't know any of the star names in the plough but I can find polaris everytime, well when we don't actually have any cloud.  :clouds1:

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Newbie karl 1

Newbie karl 1

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Thanks all for the advice... I did go for stellarium download and then since the clouds don't seem to want to leave, and I don't seem to want to be bothered to go upstairs to the computer, a book it is!!!

Like having the best of both worlds for the (sometimes) lazy astronomer!!

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iam4208

iam4208

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Star maps and planispheres are all well and good, but I found it very difficult to point the scope at objects in the sky until I bought a Telrad finder. There are a number of different types of finders, but I find the Telrad and a 9x50 finder with a right-angle corrected view makes it so much easier. You will find lots of different advice on this aspect, but there is no substitute for going observing with others and trying out what they use, then get what suits you. Some people just use a 9x50 finder, others use a red-dot finder. Good luck and clear skies (you'll see this posted a lot).

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