Need some advice

[Rick King]

Can someone explain to me how you use the RA and declination to find stuff? I've googled it, but it just hasn't sunk in. 

[Dave In Vermont]

Though written around Meade ETX telescopes, this document from Clay Sherrod of the Arkansas Sky Observatory (ASO) contains much useful information on using setting-circles:

USING SETTING CIRCLES - ASO.pdf

Much very good information on many astro-subjects is available through 'Doc' Clay and the ASO:

http://arksky.org/

Enjoy!

Dave

[jambouk]

Do you mean you don't understand the concepts of RA and declination, or that you are struggling to use the RA and dec axes on your mount?

If the former, get hold of this book and read the first few chapters:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Astronomy-Explained-Gerald-North/dp/3540761365/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1490081507&sr=8-7&keywords=North+astronomy

If the latter, what is the exact mount you are using.

James

[Cornelius Varley]

This video should give you an insight into using the setting circle and also why you shouldn't use them on small mounts

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

9 hours ago, Rick King said:

Can someone explain to me how you use the RA and declination to find stuff?

To answer the question as posed: you use these numbers to point the telescope at the right part of the sky to find the object of interest, taking account of the sidereal time.  Professional astronomers have charted the positions of all objects of interest. 

You can do this in two ways: assuming your telescope is polar aligned on an equatorial mount and has circles of a useful size (eight inches to two feet in diameter), you set the circles and move the telescope accordingly.  The setting circles fitted to popular equatorial mounts as sold to amateurs are largely ornamental - it is impossible to set them with sufficient precision to get the object inside the field of view of the main telescope.

The practical way to find an object nowadays using Ra and Dec is to enter these numbers into the handset of a computerised GoTo mounting, or in a variant of this, to use a laptop attached to the mounting.

Failing this, you can look where the object is on a chart marked up in Ra and Dec, and then aim your telescope at the appropriate patch of sky, and hope you can pick up the object.

I hope this answers your question.

[Rick King]

I would like to see some satellites, rocket bodies, ect... Am I asking to much from my scope? I've got a Celestron astromaster 130 EQ MD. 

[Louis D]

50 minutes ago, Rick King said:

I would like to see some satellites, rocket bodies, ect... Am I asking to much from my scope? I've got a Celestron astromaster 130 EQ MD. 

For satellites, check out Heavens-Above.  It can help you locate the passage of bright, naked-eye visible satellites.  Other satellites tend to pass through eyepiece fields of view near the celestial equator at random moments.  I saw one go right through the Belt of Orion last night.  It was very dim, but most certainly a satellite.

[Ricochet]

How does the motor drive work? Can the scope be moved manually without the motor or is it also required for slewing? Satellites move very quickly and it will not be able to move quickly enough to keep up. In addiction, trying to use ra and dec to locate a satellite is going to be difficult considering that satellites have constantly changing ra and dec coordinates and that the scales on your mount are quite inaccurate. I would suggest it is better to learn the constellations if you haven't already and use something like heavens above to look at where the arc of the satellite will take it in advance. 

[Waldemar]

On 23-3-2017 at 01:34, Rick King said:

I would like to see some satellites, rocket bodies, ect... Am I asking to much from my scope? I've got a Celestron astromaster 130 EQ MD. 

I don't want to disappoint you, but forget about that. Instead try to find the planets first...

Even with sophisticated premium mounts it is not easy to track satelites. Most pictures you see from ISS for example, are lucky shots.
Manually tracking a satellite will be merely impossible, but...  maybe you are lucky... 

 

[Louis D]

On 3/22/2017 at 19:34, Rick King said:

I would like to see some satellites, rocket bodies, ect... Am I asking to much from my scope? I've got a Celestron astromaster 130 EQ MD. 

Most folks who track satellites download the ephemerides into specialized guiding software on a laptop and then use the laptop to directly drive the mount to track fast moving objects.  It also requires a mount that can move accurately at fast speeds.  All this is well beyond the scope of a beginner with an introductory mount.  I've tracked random satellites and airplanes manually with my dob for short periods of time.  It's not easy, but it is doable.  BTW, airplanes are more interesting targets than satellites.

[Rick King]

I actually had an airplane pass in front of my scope one time. I looked like a passenger plane. I only seen it for a couple of seconds. I wish I would have went ahead and spent a couple of hundred more and got a computerized scope. 

[Louis D]

When I hear a plane approaching (I'm almost directly under a flight path to an international airport), I look up for it, line it up in my Telrad sight, and then lead it slightly to give me a chance to look in the eyepiece (use the lowest power, widest angle you have).  Once I have it in the eyepiece, it's fairly straight forward with a Dobsonian telescope to track it across the sky.

[Cosmic Geoff]

12 hours ago, Rick King said:

 

I actually had an airplane pass in front of my scope one time. I looked like a passenger plane. I only seen it for a couple of seconds. I wish I would have went ahead and spent a couple of hundred more and got a computerized scope. 

 

By "introductory mount" the previous poster clearly meant an introductory GOTO mount won't track satellites. There is no way a SCT or SE GoTo mount like I own would ever track satellites. They don't have the right software and don't move fast enough.

11 hours ago, Louis D said:

When I hear a plane approaching (I'm almost directly under a flight path to an international airport), I look up for it, line it up in my Telrad sight, and then lead it slightly to give me a chance to look in the eyepiece (use the lowest power, widest angle you have).  Once I have it in the eyepiece, it's fairly straight forward with a Dobsonian telescope to track it across the sky.

I have lost count of the times I have seen a 'something' - a satellite or aircraft - flit through the field of view when i am observing at night.

[Louis D]

4 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

There is no way a SCT or SE GoTo mount like I own would ever track satellites. They don't have the right software and don't move fast enough.

Here's a video of what can be done with the right equipment, software, and experience.