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About to go on my first adventure


Zauriel

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Hi SGL, as I'm sure you can tell from the title I'm about to attempt my first look through a scope I plan on doing this on my own my son wants to come but seeing as its the first time and kids being kids the dad I'm bored, dad there's nothing to see can get rather tedious for both father and son and that in there lies the problem being a complete newbie to this and not knowing what, where or even how to find anything ( have just started reading turn left at orion this week ) can anyone suggest some basic guidelines to follow  that will serve me well, I'm sure once I've had a few outings and seen at least something learnt how to use a scope etc. having my son along to experience it will be worth the wait not just for him but for me to see and hear his reaction.

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How old is your son? I agree, if he's really young, he might get bored or frustrated while you're figuring out how to use the telescope, but once you get accustomed to setting it up , pointing, and focusing, then it can become a common goal to find objects to look at, and you can both learn together. A good book or some guide to celestial objects can help with the decision of what to look at on a given night, plus educate you about what you're looking at. If you haven't discovered it yet, Stellarium is an excellent computer program to add (it's free). It's a virtual sky, and when you go to it, it shows the sky as you see it in your back yard, so the stars and constellations will be in familiar places. It's also great for those cloudy nights, or rainy days, when you want to look at things and can't go outside. You can go forward or backward in time, so daytime viewing can be for that night's sky.

Just take your time, it will all come together. Skywatching truly is an adventure.

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I’m new too! I’ve dragged the kids out too many times now! It took me a while to reconcile the expectation with what I was actually seeing which at first sight was underwhelming. I found learning about the targets was really useful in helping understanding what I saw.

For me the children friendliest targets are definitely the moon, Jupiter, saturn, mars in that order. Jupiter is a big favourite especially around 75-100x as you can start to see some colour. My kids aren’t that fussed but I managed to get four 13 year olds to stop watching fast and furious and come outside to queue at the eyepiece for Jupiter so must be fairly popular!

M45 the Pleiades is also popular and M13 although that’s gone now I think for a while.

Personally I like to browse TLAO, or whatever is to hand, pick two or three new targets only and bookmark them well ahead or time and then devote an evening to them. If I find them I force myself to stay with them for at least 15mins as it takes that long for me to really “see” the target and absorb it properly. Then I always do a quick sketch and report - this really helps reinforce what I’ve seen (I’m no artist but that doesn’t matter), If I have any time after that I’ll look at an old favourite so you always finish on a high!

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Hi Zauriel,

What kind of scope do you have? If it has an Equatorial mount you will need to know how to set this up.

First things first though, make sure your finderscope is aligned with the scope. Point the scope at a distant target like a church spire or aerial a mile or so away and align the finder. This makes life a lot easier at night.

Basics..... the eye pieces you have will be marked with a number. This is the focal length of the eyepiece and the larger the number, the lower magnification it will give and the wider field of view. So, start off with your lower power as this makes finding targets easier.

The easiest target to start with, and to show your son, is the moon. This is the brightest, highest contrast object out there and showing your son the craters on it will hopefully capture his imagination. It is best seen when at a partial phase because then the shadow line between illuminated and dark area of the surface (called the terminator) creates long shadows and the craters and mountains are much more easily seen.

There is a free program called Stellarium which you can load onto a pc or mobile which will help you learn the sky and tonkniw where to find objects.

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I've found the moon gets the most wows. If you check out where it will be you can plan a session when it's convenient time wise for the kids. For example around the 29th November it will be well placed at 6pm so no need to be up late.

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thanks for the advice so far, I have borrowed a skywatcher 200p dob as I'm thinking this will most likely be the one we go for. Unfortunately I don't own a computer ( phones and tablets are plentiful in my house ) so will download the app. I was thinking probably start at the moon once I figure out how to use the scope and become comfortable with it although I believe it's currently a new moon. I guess for the time being it'll be trial and error and my nose in a book with the odd venture outside.

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200p will show you plenty, nice scope.

I guess you have a 25mm and 10mm eyepiece, any others?

As mentioned, M45 is a nice one before the moon returns, and also try the Double Cluster which will be near overhead around 9 or 10pm.

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When my daughter was young, we went as a family to Kielder star camp, along with a friend and her dad. When the sky was clear they would take much interest in learning the constellations, the Spring, Summer star camps can be a stimulating adventure for children and the event weekends can be quite structured. Therefore where small children are concerned, the experience for being out under a dark sky attending a local astronomy event can be highly engaging. Then and now she had only fleeting interaction in looking through tripod mounted binoculars or a telescope, but she has grown to develop a strong interest for being in the great outdoors and an academic curiosity for understanding science.   

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If this is eventually to be a father+son occupation then take your lad with you. Reason is simply that you need to find out if both of you can get along with and use a dobsonian. Also even if you both can you both have to learn to and that takes time.

Do not be surprised if one of you can and one cannot, which if happens to be the situation do you go ahead and buy a 200P. Dobsonians are good for one person but if you find an object and call son over do not expect it to be still in the centre meaning he has then to start over again and reacquire the object from scratch.

You say once you have learnt to use the scope but you knowing how to use the scope is irrelevant to him using the scope, both you and he has to learn to use the scope, not just you.

Targets: Pleiades, Orions Belt, Orion Nebula, Hyades, M13 (if stiil up).

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