Advice and Tips

[Seb-B]

Hey, new to astronomy. Any advice or tips people could give me please. 

[Marvin Jenkins]

Welcome to this fascinating, quite often frustrating pastime. My main bit of advice is to try and not miss any opportunities to star gaze. The night you miss is the night you regret.

Dont get bogged down with equipment issues, there is an answer countering every answer. Just get viewing and keep a diary.

I am only two years in and I am 80 of the 110 M list but I have not done them justice. Rushed a bit too much, this is for the rest of our lives, take it all in.... and post on here what you see. Don’t think as a beginner your imput won’t be valid. I found other beginners imput at the beginning easier to understand.

clear skies Seb-B

Marvin Just to hold you to it, I have ticked the follow box for you.

[Ruud]

Do you already have Stellarium?

https://stellarium.org

[Seb-B]

12 minutes ago, Ruud said:

Do you already have Stellarium?

https://stellarium.org

No I don't, is it worth getting?

[Seb-B]

13 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Welcome to this fascinating, quite often frustrating pastime. My main bit of advice is to try and not miss any opportunities to star gaze. The night you miss is the night you regret.

Dont get bogged down with equipment issues, there is an answer countering every answer. Just get viewing and keep a diary.

I am only two years in and I am 80 of the 110 M list but I have not done them justice. Rushed a bit too much, this is for the rest of our lives, take it all in.... and post on here what you see. Don’t think as a beginner your imput won’t be valid. I found other beginners imput at the beginning easier to understand.

clear skies Seb-B

Marvin Just to hold you to it, I have ticked the follow box for you.

Thank you. I've ordered my first ever telescope which is being delivered tomorrow, so going to practice setting it up. 

[Marvin Jenkins]

Rudd is spot on. Stellarium is free and a great portable planetarium software which I use.

[Marvin Jenkins]

What have you got coming?

[Seb-B]

Just now, Marvin Jenkins said:

Rudd is spot on. Stellarium is free and a great portable planetarium software which I use.

Ok brill, will look into it.

[John]

2 minutes ago, Seb-B said:

No I don't, is it worth getting?

Yes, very much so. And it's free !

Cartes du Ciel is another great freeware Windows planetarium.

[Seb-B]

1 minute ago, John said:

Yes, very much so. And it's free !

Cartes du Ciel is another great freeware Windows planetarium.

Ok thanks, will look into both of those.

[Marvin Jenkins]

Seb-B 

John that just posted on this thread is someone you should follow. He is one of the people on here is mainly visual based and nothing but sense comes from his posts.

Another is Stu.

Marv

[wookie1965]

Get a good star chart like Turn left at Orion and learn the constellations which ones are up which ones follow each other in the sky.

Plan your viewing write targets down,

Dont be disappointed if you don't see what you see in books you won't.

unless you have dark skies there are only a few galaxies you can see, look for clusters much easier to see and look for the real deep sky stuff until you are at a dark sky place.

[dannybgoode]

If you’re using any kind of GOTO mount and/or computer control then spend a couple of days indoors making sure everything talks to each other as it should. 
 

Nothing more frustrating than catching a clear night only to waste it trying to get the equipment to work! Please don’t ask how I know!

[CloudMagnet]

At first, getting on top of things like assembling the telescope in the dark and making sure everything is balanced will be a great help. I would also advise to also invest in a Telrad finder as this will help getting objects in your eyepiece many times easier. You can also simulate what the Telrad circles will look like in the sky on Stellarium as well.

Also dont try to take on too much early on otherwise you might just get more frustration than it is worth. Build up slowly over time starting with the "easy" targets at first. Then once you have got the hang of polar aligning, moving the telescope around the sky and keeping an object in view, then think about what else you would like to do.

Out of interest, what is it you have bought?

[Seb-B]

1 hour ago, CloudMagnet said:

At first, getting on top of things like assembling the telescope in the dark and making sure everything is balanced will be a great help. I would also advise to also invest in a Telrad finder as this will help getting objects in your eyepiece many times easier. You can also simulate what the Telrad circles will look like in the sky on Stellarium as well.

Also dont try to take on too much early on otherwise you might just get more frustration than it is worth. Build up slowly over time starting with the "easy" targets at first. Then once you have got the hang of polar aligning, moving the telescope around the sky and keeping an object in view, then think about what else you would like to do.

Out of interest, what is it you have bought?

Ok thanks for the advice, I bought this. It was recommended as a good beginners telescope.

[Alan64]

21 hours ago, Seb-B said:

Ok thanks for the advice, I bought this. It was recommended as a good beginners telescope.

I have one like that.  It's a just a bit shorter, yet a 70mm like that one.  It just arrived, last week...

It doesn't have a finder, but then it doesn't really need one, as it's a finder in its own right.

You may wish to get a star-diagonal to use with it at night.  The included diagonal is for use during the day, for terrestrial targets.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Diagonal-Adapter-Refracting-Telescope-Eyepiece/dp/B07GPMX7BN/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=svbony+diagonal&qid=1574104670&sr=8-2

An extra eyepiece or two will enhance the experience.  You might even want a barlow...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Svbony-Multi-coated-M42X0-75mm-interface-Astronomy-green/dp/B01ET5BNHA/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=1.25"+2x+barlow&qid=1574104839&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyWFFWMzJaRkM5R05OJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODQzNDMyMktNMjZYMlJTWExJSyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNDU1MTAzMjBKUFRUVjNNUThVRyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Those are just examples of what's out there, and to make the most of it.  eBay is another source.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Alan64

[joe aguiar]

If u find using the too simple camera tripod hard to use cause it's not smooth enough and has no slow motion controls.  U can buy slow motion controls for a camera tripod. 

The problem there is it only has a pan handle so u loosen it then move it to the object and tighten it down. If u need to a just or re move it again then u have to re loosen it move it abit then re tighten. 

Then can be a chore and also not sure u know all things in the sky will move in the eyepiece and in about 30 seconds the object will be on the edge. So to keep loosen moving it is a pain so the slow motion controls really come in handy.

Joejaguar 

[Ovi]

On 16/11/2019 at 22:48, Seb-B said:

Ok thanks, will look into both of those.

There is also a mobile version of Stellarium. I find it very useful for finding things when I don't have a laptop at me (or am too lazy to bring one with me )