Night sky navigation

[SilverAstro]

19 minutes ago, JOC said:

 in my favourite bit of sky, easy to find, interesting to view once I get there, findable in the goto unit, above the horizon before about 11pm, -  Yup I want it all!!  LOL

Hehee dont we all

This is why clouds were invented, to give us time to sit at a PC with a big screen and watch Stellarium !

Then you are master of your own universe and can command the time forwards to see what will be in your sky when , ,  or backwards to see what you missed LOL !

But seriously though : dont worry about RA (yet!) Stellarium will tell you the Alt & Az of your chosen objects for when the time comes. If the Alt is positive it will be above your horizon (obviously?) and the Az will tell you if it is going to be N,S,E or W, and so you can relate it to that offending tree of yours They are not obvious in Stellarium, they are buried in a load of other RA and stuff in a jumble of text (in the top left of my PC screen) 

Later in the cloudy times we can direct you to whizzo gadgets like a sidereal clock for your mantleshelf to tell you what RA the time is outside Once upon a time it was easy to convert a mechanical clock to do siderial, but not so easy with digital ones and a PC on the mantle above a log fire is not quite so elegant !

 

[popeye85]

I'm a fan of using magazines to come up with ideas about what to view.  Most magazines have one if not more lists of targets of varying difficulties that can be seen that month, you can always be sure that they are above the horizon and usually you get a bit of advice on best ways to find and also observe these targets.

P.s although I am still a beginner and only seen a minute number of targets that are available I have located all of them with a either a star map or planisphere- have never even considered trying to find one using the coordinates system, although that being said it might be a interesting wee challenge further down the line to do so!

[JOC]

10 minutes ago, popeye85 said:

I'm a fan of using magazines to come up with ideas about what to view.  Most magazines have one if not more lists of targets of varying difficulties that can be seen that month, you can always be sure that they are above the horizon and usually you get a bit of advice on best ways to find and also observe these targets.

These sound similar to the lists that a chap, apparently called Graham posts on a Cornish astronomy website, and these (lists generally) sound the best route for me so far.  Maybe I'll not bother with these numbers at the moment then - it seems many of you manage without them anyway.  The lists for each month certainly sound the way to go.  It's not as though I'm needing to occupy my time for hours and hours.  2-3 hours before about 11pm is about all I get - I'd really get it in the neck if I crept in or out too late at night, and caused the dogs to bark and woke the whole house up.

[rockystar]

also check the Observing Reports section, see what others are currently looking at

 

[JOC]

rockystar - that's another good idea :-)

[Astro Imp]

From reading this thread it strikes me the Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas may help. The back has an index sorted by object type together with a listing for The Caldwell and Messier Catalogues.

Download Stellarium to see which constellations are up for you location and observing time and check before you go out.

HTH and good luck.