Summer or winter?

[popeye85]

Have decided to get my wife a scope for her 30th birthday which is in July however would it be better to present it to her earlier? is there better viewing depending on time of year or is it just different things to see at different times of year? bear in mind that we have a young baby so would be easier to get a babysitter to stay till 10 than 1am! any experienced advice would be appreciated!

[Charic]

A telescope could be for life, the baby will have left home by 25?

Look around your viewing area,  that remains constant, street lights, Trees spoiling the views ect.

Seasonally , the skies overhead will be different, Orion is a Winter constellation, plus the nights are longer/darker through the Winter Months.

I hardly use my telescope this far North during the Summer months ( about 4 hours North of you, so not too dissimilar skies! )  so  for about three Months at least, its just too bright to warrant setting up my telescope, using binoculars instead, so there's another option, somewhere between 8x40 or 10x50, and any powerful i.e. over 10x requires supporting on a tripod or similar.

I would consider Binoculars now to see if there is a real interest, and if that interest matures, a good telescope will follow, that said, get a good telescope now, and you can both share the rewards.

Sitting outside, with a baby monitor should not be an issue! The issue is the cold this time of year, and timing?  giving any telescope  the time to acclimatise to its surroundings, temperature wise, in order to get the best from the optics!

[ronin]

As it appears you are in Edinburgh I would expect that in June/July you get little or no chance to observe, I would not expect the sky to get dark to any real extent.

You are likely to get told few things to view in summer, not because there are none but the light nights mean not many people view so (like myself) have little actual idea of what is around to look at. If you look you will see a lot of astronomy clubs cease holding meeting from May to August.

Check when Jupiter and Saturn are visible.

Jupiter is at it's best in March, Saturn is early June. So either of them should be visible even in not dark skies.

I would say that you will find nebula and galaxies more difficult but there are double stars which will show up - thinking of the coloured doubles Albireo, Almaak etc.

Reading the book I use the constellations prominent around June are Virgo, Hercules, Ophiuchus, Lyra and although reasonable there is not a lot that would shine through a semi-dark sky. M13 in Hercules might but not show up at it's best.

What scope are you comtemplating?

If it is to be a "surprise" then I generally suggest dropping the surprise bit and asking what design/type the recipient wants.

[popeye85]

I am looking at the skywatcher discovery 150. She used to be into it when she was younger when her father took her out but has not had much if any chance over the last few years however she still talk about it with a real passion so hopefully this will get her going again as well as something we can a do as a family.

[Pete Presland]

Winter for me as well as Ronin said the skies don't really get dark at the height of summer.

[Knighty2112]

Winter is the best time for astronomy, due to the longer darker nights. The flip side of that is that it is obviously much colder to view in over summer time, and the normal British weather does make quite a lot of the nights a no no anyway due to cloud cover, but when you can get out in winter (remember to wrap up well!) the views are just sublime!

[rockystar]

It might actually depend how old your baby is (or will be). The above comments are all true - There is more darkness in winter than summer (especially the further north you get).

I got my scope in July and did get some good skies, though not great for nebulae hunting there are plenty of other things to view in the not overly dark summer skies - anything in the summer triangle (Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra & I can never remember the third one, Altar in Aquila?) which will be overhead in July is viewable.

The reason I mention the age of the child, is that I also have 2 young children that I need to put to bed, so I very rarely have much of a chance to get outside before about 8:30 anyway.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I typically observe from mid-sept until late may.

[Stu]

Late July and August are actually lovely times to observe. You have to stay up later of course, but it is generally warm(ish) and there are fantastic targets to see. The Milky Way streams overhead through Cygnus and the Veil and North America Nebulae are well placed, amongst others. It's one of my favourites times of year!

Generally though, there is something to be seen most of the year round, but around June is a bit hopeless with no full darkness (depending on where you live) so I usually focus on solar around this time.

[Stu]

The Milky Way? I have heard about that. Hope to see it some day.

Light pollution.

It's often there, above the clouds [emoji20]

I can't see it from my house, but normally go camping in the late summer somewhere dark and it is wonderful to see. Well worth making the effort.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I only really saw TMW for the first time in the summer of 2014. Just after i moved into the new house i went out and about scouting for a dark location to observe from. Being in a semi-rural location it only took me about 5 minutes walk (wheel) before i was on a dark country road with nothing but fields around. I looked up and there it was reaching across the sky. I'd seen it before from my old house but it was very faint and wispy. 

[Telescope40]

Hi. My only observation is that  the word " Cloud " is only mentioned a couple of times  LOL

How's the weather ??   Reply shud always be - Gotta window ??   Open it !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Regards and clear skies     John

[LukeSkywatcher]

Hi. My only observation is that  the word " Cloud " is only mentioned a couple of times  LOL

How's the weather ??   Reply shud always be - Gotta window ??   Open it !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Regards and clear skies     John

Save yourself some time...............

You dont even need to open the window to see what the weather outside is like. I never go by weather forecasts. I just look out the window. If its clear i will go out.The temp outside doesnt bother me one bit. I prefer cold weather to hot weather (not that we get that much here in Ireland).

[Ouroboros]

Looking at Sky Safari I notice that Jupiter, Saturn and Mars will be visible low in the southern skies just after sunset at around 10pm in July and August. So not too late and good objects to excite the beginner. There's even a nice conjunction between Mars and Saturn and Antares in August. I hope they're visible from Edinburgh anyway.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Looking at Sky Safari I notice that Jupiter, Saturn and Mars will be visible low in the southern skies just after sunset at around 10pm in July and August. So not too late and good objects to excite the beginner. There's even a nice conjunction between Mars and Saturn and Antares in August. I hope they're visible from Edinburgh anyway.

Fair play for planning ahead. All i am thinking of right now is how good the Geminid meteor shower will be on the 15th Dec.

[popeye85]

Well have decided to bite the bullet and ordered it earlier today! We are heading up to western Isles for Christmas so hopefully get some good sightings up there. In the mean time anyone got any tips about what to look for in Edinburgh or advice die or first night out?