Venus, Jupiter and crescent moon...

[Stu]

2 hours ago, Chaza said:

What is it I'm looking at 

As per the title, it is Venus, the Crescent Moon and Jupiter from left to right.

[Chaza]

25 minutes ago, Stu said:

As per the title, it is Venus, the Crescent Moon and Jupiter from left to right.

Thanks for that,  I'm just delving into this  hobby. What are you using to get this, I  currently looking to buy some binoculars before I invest in a scope.

[adyj1]

@Chaza, the pictures you quoted were still of the crescent moon, but because they were a quick pic taken with a smartphone on auto settings, the camera tried to balance exposure across the whole shot, over-exposing the moon and making it look more like the sun. With a camera on manual settings you could force a shorter exposure, and shooting in RAW format would also give you a chance to sort it out in software... 

[Stu]

37 minutes ago, Chaza said:

Thanks for that,  I'm just delving into this  hobby. What are you using to get this, I  currently looking to buy some binoculars before I invest in a scope.

These were all just using the phone on its own. Using binos to learn the sky is a good option while you work out which scope you want. Even afterwards they will be useful.

Through a scope, many more things become possible.

[Chaza]

10 hours ago, Stu said:

These were all just using the phone on its own. Using binos to learn the sky is a good option while you work out which scope you want. Even afterwards they will be useful.

Through a scope, many more things become possible.

Cheers, I've just bought 20 X 80 bins, I hope I'm not disappointed,  trouble is I hope don't understand  the dam sky maps or where to find, or what I hope I hope im looking at. But I suppose I'll get there, or not.

Thanks

[Stu]

26 minutes ago, Chaza said:

Cheers, I've just bought 20 X 80 bins, I hope I'm not disappointed,  trouble is I hope don't understand  the dam sky maps or where to find, or what I hope I hope im looking at. But I suppose I'll get there, or not.

Thanks

20x80s are pretty chunky, do you have a tripod to use them on? They will be challenging to hand hold.

Various apps out there that are useful. Stellarium and Skysafari are two good ones.

[adyj1]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

20x80s are pretty chunky, do you have a tripod to use them on? They will be challenging to hand hold.

Various apps out there that are useful. Stellarium and Skysafari are two good ones.

As well as needing the tripod to hold things steady, it will also allow you to look away from the binos to refer to your planetarium software (I use SkySafari) and then look back at exactly the same view - which is quite helpful when trying to learn the sky

[Chaza]

10 hours ago, adyj1 said:

As well as needing the tripod to hold things steady, it will also allow you to look away from the binos to refer to your planetarium software (I use SkySafari) and then look back at exactly the same view - which is quite helpful when trying to learn the sky

I got the sky safari star chart,  it's a good one. I'm kind of getting it. But we'll see, my bins have not come yet, the thought of sitting outside in the cold ain't making me jump for joy.