How to find objects

[Jay1989]

Ok, so being new to all this, I have no idea how you find planets, could anyone explain how to locate a planet? Or even know of a tutorial?

I have the Skyview and the Goskywatch apps on my phone but not sure if they're accurate?

Thanks in advance

Jay

[Knighty2112]

Unless you have a Goto telescope you need to learn some of the constellations like Orion, Ursa Major, Cassiopeia etc first, and then you'll be able to start to navigate around the sky better. The bright planets Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars should be quite easy to locate due to their brightness mostly. Goskywatch will show where these are, but you need to be able to see the brighter stars in the constellations to be able to locate them easier. The planets only appear along the ecliptic, so only appear along this band in the sky, so once you know a few constellations and some of the brighter naked eye stars then locating these bright planets should be relatively easy.

[ronin]

They sit on or near to a line called The Ecliptic, being planets they do not remain in one place - hence the name.

You need to get a fairly simple sky map then identify the Ecliptic, as in where in the relevant constellation it passes through.

Stellarium has the ecliptic marked and it also marks the position of each planet.

Mars, Saturn and Jupiter tend to be easy. They are bright enough that they stand out a bit more obvious.

Venus is a morning or evening object only, it is inside our orbit.

Uranus and Neptune are distant and dim, they need work and a decent sized scope. They appear more as blue/green stars, and it is the colour that marks thems as planets.

Presently Jupiter and Mars are I believe early morning objects. So no use running out at 22:00 to see them, 05:00 is the time to go. Not sure where Saturn is at present.

Stellarium really is the package you want, as it shows the ecliptic at wahtever lcation and time and circles the plantes and put their name next to them. Makes it easy.

Binoculars will show Jupiter as a small disk, no detail, and will also show whatever jovian moons are visible, Mars remains a small red disk, Saturn also small with no detail.

[brantuk]

Using Stellarium switch on the Ecliptic line and Meridian and you'll easily find the planet your targeting. When outside with the scope you need to know your cardinal points and where the pole star is. Then face the scope south and the ecliptic will rise in the East and set in the West describing an arc across the sky from left to right. At the moment it crosses the Meridian in Gemini.

The meridian goes from North (the pole star) to South at the horizon. Once you know Gemini, the Ecliptic, the Meridian, and the Pole star, finding stuff will all fall into place nicely. It's also valuable to know the Plough and Cassiopeia in order to find the pole star. Hth

(Stellarium will show where your planet is along the Ecliptic)

[acey]

Look for the brightest stars you can see in the sky, and view them with your telescope. If you see one as a little disc (or crescent) rather than a point then it's a planet. This should work fine as a way of finding Jupiter, Saturn and Venus whenever they're in your sky (and Mars too, whenever it's at opposition). Along the way you'll get to recognise constellations you can look for on a map, then you can start finding planets using charts, apps etc.

People first noticed planets thousands of years ago, long before telescopes, because they're so conspicuous, and can easily be seen to move against the constellations over the course of nights. No technology is needed (unless you want to see Uranus, Neptune or minor planets).

[almcl]

All good advice above but in addition, if you have a tablet (iPad or Android) there are several applications which will give you a picture of the sky that you can hold up and compare what the tablet shows with what's there.  Some of the aps and devices will actually move the sky about as you move the tablet.

Takes a little while to find your way about, but once you recognise some of the constellations it does get easier.  Jupiter rises about 23.30, Mars about 02.45 and Venus (easily the brightest thing in the sky after the moon) about 05.30.  It is still just about visible as the sun is rising. 

[ronin]

The "problem" with planets is that what usually happens (certainly with me) is that you go out, look around and then you see this BRIGHT star, and you say to yourself "What the heck is that star?????".

You then go inside and start searching books, charts, software and eventually work out that is is a planet called Jupiter/Saturn, Venus I never seem to have a problem with identifing owing to when it is visible.

It never seems to work the correct way around for me, I never go out knowing where it is at first.

Mars can be easier or harder. There are not many big red stars, Betelguese is part of Orion so easy to drop that, Aldebaren is close to Orion so that gets eliminated. The problem one is Antares, so named as it can be mistaken for Mars. The name translates from the greek as "Equal to Aries", Aries being the Greek name for Mars. If you manage to get both at the same time it is a fair description. I have mistaken it at least once at about 2:00am in a field I thought Mars is coming up, it wasn't Mars.

[Jay1989]

Thanks guys, I've just got round to installing Stellarium on my computer, going to have a fiddle on that now, have been doing a lot of research today, think I'm slowly getting the hang of it, doesn't help that its cloudy out, so cant go and look at the mo.

[Stub Mandrel]

I use Stellarium and use the 'oculars' plug in (with the mirror buttons) to work out what I need to see in the finder. Tracked down Neptune and Uranus this way.

[Jay1989]

Thanks, I'll have a look into that in a sec

[Jay1989]

The cloud cleared earlier for half an hour so went out for a bit, I managed to find M45 almost instantly, with the help of the Goskywatch app I have on my phone of course, after viewing that for 10 mins or so I thought I'd have a hunt for M31, according to my phone it was directly over head, I spent a good while trying to find it but was unsuccessful and that's when it clouded over again when I get another clear night I'm going to have another hunt for it, hopefully get my camera mounted to it as well so I can grab a few shots

[D4N]

For finding planets at the moment it is fairly simple.

Before sunrise the bright object next to the moon is Jupiter.

The really bright object in the East where the sun is rising is Venus.

These can be easily seen without binoculars or scope.

Half way between Venus and Jupiter there are two slightly less bright objects close to each other, the blue one is Spica and the Red one is Mars.

Slightly closer to the horizon from Venus is Saturn, this will be hard to see because of the Suns glow.

Mercury is on the other side of the sun so can be seen just after sunset following the sun down in the West.

/Dan

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[shelby90]

Jay1989-- I'm relatively new to the hobby as well and agree with what others have said. I LOVE stellarium. It is really a fantastic tool, which I'm sure you've seen for yourself by now. I only started feeling comfortable under the sky when I could start identifying constellations and find my own way around based on info I knew, but that's just me. As for M31, I was able to see that with 15x70 binoculars (found it using Cassiopeia, which I recommend), so you will definitely have luck with that one soon  . Granted, the view through my bins was not much more than a grey smudge, but fantastic all the same!

[Jay1989]

I do have Stellarium but I've got to admit that I don't use it very often, I think today I'm going to fiddle with it and get to know my way around it a lot better than I do now

M45 really caught my eye last night, I went out to look to see if the cloud had cleared at all, it had, I spent a couple of minutes looking at the stars, there was one star that I was looking at that every time I looked away it turned into a cloud so I just had to go get the scope and have a look at it, it was M45, if only all of them were that simple to find lol

[Astro Imp]

I do have Stellarium but I've got to admit that I don't use it very often, I think today I'm going to fiddle with it and get to know my way around it a lot better than I do now

M45 really caught my eye last night, I went out to look to see if the cloud had cleared at all, it had, I spent a couple of minutes looking at the stars, there was one star that I was looking at that every time I looked away it turned into a cloud so I just had to go get the scope and have a look at it, it was M45, if only all of them were that simple to find lol

 Well done you've discovered a very useful trick, known as averted vision, to help find faint stuff.

Good luck and clear skies.

[brantuk]

Andromeda galaxy (M31) is dead easy to find - after you've found it for the first time. On a very clear dark night you can even see it unaided because it's the only naked eye galaxy visible from Earth. But you have to know where to look and star hop to it initially. Peg and Cas are by far the easiest constellations to help find it - here's a useful guide:

http://www.space.com/7426-starhopping-101-find-andromeda-galaxy.html

Hth

[shelby90]

I do have Stellarium but I've got to admit that I don't use it very often, I think today I'm going to fiddle with it and get to know my way around it a lot better than I do now

M45 really caught my eye last night, I went out to look to see if the cloud had cleared at all, it had, I spent a couple of minutes looking at the stars, there was one star that I was looking at that every time I looked away it turned into a cloud so I just had to go get the scope and have a look at it, it was M45, if only all of them were that simple to find lol

The Pleiades are very beautiful. The Orion nebula is a nice one, too (and easy to find). I've tried to find the Horsehead nebula in Orion but haven't had luck with my binoculars. Light pollution is a nuisance.

Jupiter is really nice to view with its Galilean moons. It's my favorite planet to observe because of its moons. Also, I've found that keeping an observation log to be helpful. Since I record the position/date/time of what I'm viewing, it helps me focus on the celestial positions/movements. Good luck with your observing!

[Jay1989]

I did end up finding M31 earlier Orion Nebula us up and a piece of cake to find, I've not looked at it through the scope yet, I'm going to go in a mo then stare at for a while, I've tried taking pics of M45 and M31 but had no luck, all I get is completely black pics using these settings 30secs, f/5.6 and iso 1600

[shelby90]

I don't know much about astrophotography but I'm sure others can give some insight into the effective settings to use. I've only tried to take some picture through my binoculars with my phone, which don't give great results. My problem now is that its so cold out! I can barely get out there for more than a few minutes before chickening out 

[rockystar]

The only thing I know about astrophotography of DSOs is that it isn't that easy and requires long exposure times.

Shelby, there is a long thread on viewing the horsehead with a very large telescope and very dark skies - it seems this is the requirement. Some of the best Astor accessories I have are things to keep me warm, first cold session lasted about 45 mins, but I managed nearly 2.5 hers last night as I was much more prepared for standing around in the cold.

[Gazabone]

Hi Jay,

I notice you're from Cornwall. Cornwall Astronomy Society are running 2 telescope workshops in January, one near Helston and one in Mabe. You may find coming to one of these will help you. If you're interested, jet me know and I'll give you dates etc.

I'm also in the Roseland Observatory which is based in mid Cornwall and has lots of people only too willing to help.

Happy New Year.

[swamp thing]

 I've tried to find the Horsehead nebula in Orion but haven't had luck with my binoculars. Light pollution is a nuisance.

The horse head nebula is an extremely tough target visually. It requires good transparency and dark skies. Aperture helps a great deal too.

It is too small to really be a realistic target for most handheld binoculars if I'm honest.

Although I have read some amateurs have spotted it from exceptional skies with apertures as small as 4" most mere mortals need a scope of considerable size to see it.

To avoid disappointment I would try finding some easier targets The rosette nebula is a nice binocular target and a good test of ones skies 

Have fun out there. 

[D4N]

I did end up finding M31 earlier Orion Nebula us up and a piece of cake to find, I've not looked at it through the scope yet, I'm going to go in a mo then stare at for a while, I've tried taking pics of M45 and M31 but had no luck, all I get is completely black pics using these settings 30secs, f/5.6 and iso 1600

Are you imaging by holding the camera to the eyepiece? This is quite difficult to do and only really works on bright objects like the moon and planets.

If you are doing this with your 150 dob I'm afraid that it isn't really designed for imaging, the scope itself is f7.8 and the dobsonian mount doesn't track.

For imaging it is normal to use a tracking mount to prevent star trails.

Another option is to use short focal length lens and short exposures. It can be a bit trial and error as camera sensors vary but 6-8 seconds at 50mm works well. You can stack multiple exposures in processing to improve the image.

/Dan

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[shelby90]

The only thing I know about astrophotography of DSOs is that it isn't that easy and requires long exposure times.

Shelby, there is a long thread on viewing the horsehead with a very large telescope and very dark skies - it seems this is the requirement. Some of the best Astor accessories I have are things to keep me warm, first cold session lasted about 45 mins, but I managed nearly 2.5 hers last night as I was much more prepared for standing around in the cold.

Two and a half hours is impressive! I think you're right-- I need to invest in some good, warm clothes. And maybe a container for tea or coffee. I already have a nice chair, so the attire shall come next. Thanks 

The horse head nebula is an extremely tough target visually. It requires good transparency and dark skies. Aperture helps a great deal too.

It is too small to really be a realistic target for most handheld binoculars if I'm honest.

Although I have read some amateurs have spotted it from exceptional skies with apertures as small as 4" most mere mortals need a scope of considerable size to see it.

To avoid disappointment I would try finding some easier targets The rosette nebula is a nice binocular target and a good test of ones skies 

Have fun out there. 

Very good to know! I figured since Orion was there, I might as well give it a shot. But I wasn't aware it was such a difficult sight to see. I'm planning on borrowing a telescope from my local astronomy club soon and I'll try to take it to much darker skies. Hopefully there's some better luck there. For now though, I'm pretty pleased with what I can see since everything is pretty much new terrain. Thanks for the advice 

[Dave In Vermont]

If anyone would like to download the instructions for Stellarium in a Pdf. format so you can read the instructions without being connected to the internet, these instructions are nearly up-to-date:

http://barry.sarcasmogerdes.com/stellarium/stellarium_user_guide-new.pdf

It's a rather large file, so you'll need a few minutes to download it.

Dave