Beginner any advice welcome

[Jev75]

Hello all 

just bought a celestron 114 astomaster.

i am a complete beginner. I have always been interested in the stars so decide to jump in with both feet and acquire my 1st scope.
what would be the best things to try and search for 1st? 
any hints or tips would be very welcome  

many thanks  

 

[Owmuchonomy]

Welcome. When I first started I used an excellent book called ‘Turn Left at Orion’. That was 2007 and I’m still using it. I would strongly recommend you invest in that. You won’t regret it.

[Jev75]

Thank you. I will defo look up that book. 

[Neil H]

Hi Jev  I second that book it's really good try and get the latest one if you can't don't worry as Cambridge press has the update pages on line , Orion is a great place to start there is rigel a blue super giant then Betegeuse red super giant , the Orion nebula just below his belt 

[sloz1664]

Hi, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge 🙂

Totally agree with Chris's recommendation.  ‘Turn Left at Orion’.  Simplistic way of navigating the heavens to find those wonderful sights & a fascinating read, also.

Steve

 

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by sloz1664
typo

[Jev75]

Definitely going to purchase this book. 
thank u. 
 

[Jev75]

 Book is on its way. 

[Neil H]

Just in case you need this 

https://www.cambridge.org/turnleft

[Jev75]

Thanks for all your help. Got a feeling this lounge is going to be very useful 

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL 

[Jev75]

Thanks for the warm welcome 

[banjaxed]

Hi Jev, welcome to SGL.

[richard ashbee]

Welcome to the group, hope you get plenty of opportunities to use your scope

[Jev75]

Fingers crossed. Goin try n get out later. 

[Floater]

Welcome. Hope you have lots of fun. 🙂

[Jev75]

👍

[old_eyes]

Welcome to the forum, and this amazing, if frustrating hobby.

As everyone has said, Turn Left at Orion is a brilliant resource.

There are also some great freeware tools that helped me learn my way around the sky. My favourite is Stellarium https://stellarium.org. It shows you what is in the sky and where for any date and time. You can zoom in for a closeup, search for objects that you have heard about, get useful information on everything visible. I could go on. If you have a computer at all it is a great tool for learning and thinking about the shape of the night sky. I still use it every session for planning what I am going to look at.

In terms of starter targets for this time of year, it is a bit late for the magnificence of Orion, but the Hercules Cluster (M13) is pretty and easy to find. Late in the night (or a bit later in the year) Albireo - the head of Cygnus is a lovely double star. They have strong different colours  (mindblowing!). Venus is high (and bright) in the evening sky, and Jupiter and Saturn are visible predawn. Venus is a bit meh, but Jupiter and Saturn look great in a small telescope. and with Jupiter you always have the four Galilean moons to look for - astronomy and history in one package. The Double Cluster between Cassiopeia and Perseus is a great binocular object, although I find it sort of falls apart as you up the magnification.

The Pleiades is a great object for a small telescope to explore. It is very low where I am, but you may still be able to see it. Then there are galaxies - the faint fuzzies. I have seen M81 near the Plough with binoculars, so you should be able to see it with a small scope.

And the moon will always be back, to the annoyance of the deep-sky imagers. When I did some astronomical outreach stuff with a kids' natural history club, the most popular things to look at and talk about were the moon (excited shouts of "It's got mountains!") and M13, which one kid confidently identified as the "galaxy far, far away", where Star Wars was set.

A last thought - all the astronomical magazines have a section on what's good and interesting to look at this month; usually graded by naked eye, binoculars, small scope, large scope. I found that immensely useful when I started.

Have fun.

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi there, welcome.

[rwilkey]

Hi Jev, the Moon is always a good place to start, get some sharp focus on that and you will be amazed.  Also, download some planetarium software called Stellarium from

http://stellarium.org/

It is a free program and will tell you what is in the night sky on any given evening. 

Good luck and clear skies!

[Jev75]

Thanks for the great tips. I am especially  looking forward to getting a close look at the moon. 

[soldave]

Welcome. I'm very new to this too! Turn Left at Orion and Nightwatch have proven to be really good buys :)

[Anakin Skywalker]

welcome to SGL! you wont regret it🔭👊

[ronl]

Hello and welcome to the community, hope you enjoy your time here in SGL,

see you around the forums.

Clear Sky's.

[Jev75]

Thanks everyone 👍

[Beardy30]

Welcome 🔭