My most important equipmment

[zcdawson]

I'm new to astronomy. I started in August with the idea that I wanted to see the stars and planets with my own eyes. So my first telescope was a 10" DOB and the first night I looked through it I was hooked. Right now I have the 10" DOB, 8" nexstar evolution, starsense auto finder, a Celestron eyepiece kit, 4 X-Cel eyepieces from 2.3mm to 23mm, 2 Luminos eyepieces 25mm and 31mm and the 2.5x barlow, neximage burst color camera, 1.25" OIII filter, H-Beta, UHC/LPR, 2" Sky glo and UltraBlock narrowband filter, Hotech laser collimator and a cheshire, 2" Mead diagonal, 180 ah power center (home made), Flat box (home made) and a field table. On the way and should be here next week is a Celestron wedge pro, Hyperstar, Atik 414ex color, IDAS lp filter and a red led lamp. There is a bunch that I still want but can probably live without.

Now for the most important things.....STAR CHART.....While star hopping with the DOB and checking out all the fuzzies in the sky it sure is nice to have some idea of what I am looking at! I also recently got two books. "The Deep-Sky Imaging Primer" by Charles Bracken and "Astrophotography" by Thierry Legault. Both of these books are enlightening and I wish I would have got them first.  Another good book is "Night Watch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe" by Terence Dickinson.

I believe that I may get a little excitable when it comes to this. The books with the knowledge to teach me how to use all the stuff I have are the most important things I have.

[Dave In Vermont]

You sound like a prime candidate for Stellarium - an excellent star-charting & planetarium program. You enter your location and time information, and Stellarium will show you what's up in the sky at the time in any direction. The graphic charts are beautiful - as an extra-nice feature. This truly is among the very best software-programs you can get. And you can get this free. Yes - absolutely free to download and use right here:

http://www.stellarium.org/

One if it's developers is a member here. Alex Wolfe. And he's always happy to answer people's questions about this program.

And by the by, you can print-out charts to use in the field with your scope. As well as develop a plan of where you wish to go that night. And another excellent software-program is Cartes du Ciel - French for Sky Charts. It's available in English (Free also) right here:

http://www.ap-i.net/skychart/en/start

Sounds like you've got enough gear to keep you happy for a good while. Must have robbed the bank! We all know this can be a very costly hobby - if you get bitten by Astro-Bug. But there is hope. Some of the best software-programs out there, for a wide variety of applications, are free. All you need to do is tell members here what you're interested in, and chances are good someone will toss some links to software your way.

Clear Skies & Happy Hunting,

Dave

[zcdawson]

I have both those programs and am still trying to figure out the skychart. It's going to be cloudy till mid next week so I should have time to mess with it.

[gnomus]

I received "Astrophotography" by Thierry Legault from Santa this year.  I agree with you that this is a splendid book.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I use a combination of Sky Atlas 2000.0 and Stellarium. Great for finding your way around.

[baggywrinkle]

"Astrophotography" by Thierry Legault  looks like a very good book..it will have to wait until my wallet is out of intensive care...

[Scorpius]

I'm new to astronomy. I started in August with the idea that I wanted to see the stars and planets with my own eyes. So my first telescope was a 10" DOB and the first night I looked through it I was hooked. Right now I have the 10" DOB, 8" nexstar evolution, starsense auto finder, a Celestron eyepiece kit, 4 X-Cel eyepieces from 2.3mm to 23mm, 2 Luminos eyepieces 25mm and 31mm and the 2.5x barlow, neximage burst color camera, 1.25" OIII filter, H-Beta, UHC/LPR, 2" Sky glo and UltraBlock narrowband filter, Hotech laser collimator and a cheshire, 2" Mead diagonal, 180 ah power center (home made), Flat box (home made) and a field table. On the way and should be here next week is a Celestron wedge pro, Hyperstar, Atik 414ex color, IDAS lp filter and a red led lamp. There is a bunch that I still want but can probably live without.

Now for the most important things.....STAR CHART.....While star hopping with the DOB and checking out all the fuzzies in the sky it sure is nice to have some idea of what I am looking at! I also recently got two books. "The Deep-Sky Imaging Primer" by Charles Bracken and "Astrophotography" by Thierry Legault. Both of these books are enlightening and I wish I would have got them first.  Another good book is "Night Watch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe" by Terence Dickinson.

I believe that I may get a little excitable when it comes to this. The books with the knowledge to teach me how to use all the stuff I have are the most important things I have.

Anxious to hear how it goes with the Hyperstar. Which camera will you use for initial tests? Hope you will post some pics once you get it going.

Nice assortment of Astro-gear by the way...

[zcdawson]

If I had more brains than money I would not have got some of that stuff. Hopefully win the camera and Hyperstar show up the skies will be clear and I can post some pics.