My silly beginner questions [magnitude/sky charts, etc.]

[pevsfreedom]

Hi there everyone, it's my first post.

I've been out stargazing 6 times now I think. I live in Los Angeles so my conditions aren't totally ideal. The 'faintest' thing I can see with my naked eye is probably ~4.5, with my 10x50 binoculars I can decently make out the three stars at the 'base' of Triangulum (for some reason that's what I use as a reference point). 

1) Now, realistically, how far can I expect to go with binoculars in a location such as this? I don't view from the city, I drive to my 'favored' hiking spots that are much clearer and have much better skies, but are still intensely light polluted. 

2) Would I be better off going to these 'semi-sort of dark' locations 3-4 times a week [15 minute drive], or just going once a week [hour drive at least] to a 'as dark as it gets around here' site? 

Also, I've been using the Pocket Sky Atlas from S&T in conjunction with Night Watch for my observing. Night Watch is fantastic but I'm having some issues with Pocket Sky Atlas.

1) What does RA range and what is 0h, 1h, 23h, etc. signify? I looked everywhere and couldn't find anything. 

2) In the atlas I've found tons of cool stars so far, but what is the 'process' really of distinguishing WHAT to look at? For example I find tons of DSO's in the charts, but there's no reference to how bright they really are, or if I have any hope of seeing them. My 'work-around' has been to say find a constellation, find a DSO that interests me, and look it up in Stellarium to see the magnitude. Is there any more convenient way to do this, or is this my best bet? I guess an example I saw online was the Sky Atlas 2000 COMPANION chart, is there anything like that for the Pocket Sky Atlas, just listing magnitudes (so I can decide if it's even worth looking for the object). 

Thanks everyone. 

[pevsfreedom]

Also I can't seem to find an edit function, I had one more question:

Would a telescope do me much good in this 'bright' environment? I was planning on getting one in a few months but I don't want to waste the money if it won't do me much better than my Pentax 10x50's. 

[michaelmorris]

Hi and Welcome to SGL

Firstly there is no such thing as a silly question.

You have loads of questions, so I'll restrict myself to answering the second two.

RA is 'Right Ascension' and is one of the two element of the co-ordinates system for describing the position of objects in the night sky.  There is nice guides to this here http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/what-are-celestial-coordinates/ and here http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/astr_250/Lectures/LECTURE_01.HTM

Nightwatch should give a great starting point to what to look at in the night sky.  Turn left at Orion is also a great guide.

http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/0521153972/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423601968&sr=1-1&keywords=turn+left+at+orion

I hope this helps

[michaelmorris]

Also I can't seem to find an edit function, I had one more question:

Would a telescope do me much good in this 'bright' environment? I was planning on getting one in a few months but I don't want to waste the money if it won't do me much better than my Pentax 10x50's. 

The edit button is only available after you have 250 posts.

Pentax 10 x 50s are going to be a good pair on binoculars, I would stick with them for a while.  For advice on buying a telescope I would find out where your local astronomical society meet and go along to a few meetings. They may have observing evenings.

[pevsfreedom]

Those links helped a lot, thanks. 

[Charic]

pevsfreedom.......Welcome to SGL.

I prefer wide angle,  low powered binoculars for the expansive views they offer, and the fact that I can take in a whole constellation in the view, and I use an  8" reflector telescope for the details apparent on the Planets, like Jupiter,  and more so for  the deeper space targets like M31 Andromeda Galaxy, but there are many others.

The darker the skies you have, the better the results you will get.  Binoculars are a great way to start,  and offer far more Stars to view than your eyes alone,  and under almost any conditions.

Down load the freeware program called Stellarium. Its a gateway to the night skies. It may take a while to learn all its abilities, but a fantastic resource for learning.

Your journey is just beginning, enjoy it.

[rowan46]

if you have a smart phone or tablet sky safari is a very good app and if you can't get to really dark sites more apparture is the next best thing

[wheresthetorch?]

Check this book out as well:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1770853251/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1423606116&sr=8-1&keywords=urban+astronomyπ=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=51RUO2j2l%2BL&ref=plSrch

[pevsfreedom]

if you have a smart phone or tablet sky safari is a very good app and if you can't get to really dark sites more apparture is the next best thing

I'm in the stone age, no cell phone over here.

[pevsfreedom]

Check this book out as well:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1770853251/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1423606116&sr=8-1&keywords=urban+astronomyπ=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=51RUO2j2l%2BL&ref=plSrch

Cool find, thank you. And everyone else. 

[trynda1701]

As well as the above advice, have a look a this site here...

http://binocularsky.com/

...which may give you some useful advice for getting the most out of your binoculars. I followed the mounting advice of trigger grip and monopod found here, and it has improved my enjoyment of using my 25 year old 10x50 binoculars. Stephen Tonkin is regarded as an expert source here on SGL for binocular advice. The site even has a monthly Binocular Newsletter to download to give you some targets to go for.

Personally, when I use the binoculars in my back garden, there is a street light directly outside. But if I keep it behind either the garden fence or the fir trees at the bottom of the garden, not having that light directly in my line of sight helps immensely in observing.

If you look at my signature below, you'll see I have a Celestron C8 telescope as well. But sometimes, either for that brief gap of an hour or so in the clouds (this is happening a lot at the moment in the UK!), or because the set up for the C8 is more effort, having a good set of binoculars is a boon. Personally, since Comet Panstarrs in March/April of 2014, I've used my binoculars more than my telescopes.

As the books and other advice show, there is still a lot you can see in them.

Mark

[pevsfreedom]

I actually used his website to help me choose my binoculars after buying/trying [and returning] a few that were less than stellar. Funny enough my pistol-grip just came in the mail today and I'll try it out tomorrow night probably, thanks for the recommendations regardless. 

[Dave In Vermont]

Greetings & Welcome to SGL! And we LOVE to answer questions here. It's why many of us prowl about looking for them - and if they are within our personal fields of study - we enjoy helping others learn. And soon you will be doing this too. This place is a major course in astronomy on a universirty level! So ask away!

Clear Skies,

Dave

[pevsfreedom]

Greetings & Welcome to SGL! And we LOVE to answer questions here. It's why many of us prowl about looking for them - and if they are within our personal fields of study - we enjoy helping others learn. And soon you will be doing this too. This place is a major course in astronomy on a universirty level! So ask away!

Clear Skies,

Dave

Good to hear. I like it so far (I've been lurking for a few weeks). 

[pevsfreedom]

Does any one have any advice for the bottom question? Thanks. 

2) In the atlas I've found tons of cool stars so far, but what is the 'process' really of distinguishing WHAT to look at? For example I find tons of DSO's in the charts, but there's no reference to how bright they really are, or if I have any hope of seeing them. My 'work-around' has been to say find a constellation, find a DSO that interests me, and look it up in Stellarium to see the magnitude. Is there any more convenient way to do this, or is this my best bet? I guess an example I saw online was the Sky Atlas 2000 COMPANION chart, is there anything like that for the Pocket Sky Atlas, just listing magnitudes (so I can decide if it's even worth looking for the object).