Hello!

[KatieG]

Hi everyone, nice to meet you all. I'm pretty new to this - got interested in looking at the night sky as a bit of mindfulness/relaxation during the stresses of the first lockdown and 7 months of furlough. My husband bought me a telescope for my birthday (Skywatcher 130eq reflector) which I am loving, and having watched a couple of night sky tips videos on youtube, I bought a moon filter and an 80a filter. At the moment I'm really keen on looking at planets, and the moon and I've already had some really nice views of Mars and the moon, and managed to spot 3 of Jupiter's moons on a very clear, still night recently. I'm loving it! I find it peaceful, and I'm sometimes a little bit wobbly when I think about how massive those tiny specks of light are and how far away! I got pretty emotional the first time I got a good view of the moon! 

Annoyingly, I live in a city, there are two street lights over my back garden and a massive tree next door, houses all around, so probably not the best conditions, but my in laws live in the middle of the countryside with amazing views of the Milky-way when the skies are clear - once we're allowed again, we'll be heading over for a visit and the telescope will be coming with us! 

If anyone has any advice for making the most of my back garden conditions, I'd love to hear it ❤️

 

[Craney]

Welcome to the forum Katie.

Oh yes...  don't talk to me about street lights and trees....!!   my advice is to take advantage of having a garden and  learn the skies, how to jump between stars and locate objects.

Once you are out in the countryside, then you will save so much time because you will have learned your way around the heavens and  you will maximise the very infrequent clear spells we have these days.

Maybe buy a decent second hand DSLR and learn the basics of star trail  photography,  long exposure meteor recording and then connect it to the scope....and off you go...

So much to discover.

Good luck.

Sean.

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[Tiny Clanger]

Welcome Katie,

Well done for having by passed all the angst of deciding which 'scope to buy by getting one as a gift ! 😀

Is the tree an evergreen ?  If not as the leaves fall,  your view might get a tiny bit better ...

Heather

 

[Mr Spock]

Hi Katie, welcome to SGL 

[Floater]

Welcome. So glad you’re enjoying the hobby. My only advice would be to continue doing so ... oh, and perhaps be very careful of those who would entice you  into the Dark Art of astrophotography ...

1 hour ago, Craney said:Maybe buy a decent second hand DSLR and learn the basics of star trail  photography,  long exposure meteor recording and then connect it to the scope....and off you go...

Be afraid, be very afraid. 😈

Only joking of course. Just have fun with the hobby - that’s why most of us do it. 🙂

[Craney]

Indeed.  Good point.   

My  camera field of view is less than 1/2 of a degree.   There are another 179 and a 1/2 degrees up there that I'm missing on a clear night.  

[banjaxed]

Hi Katie, welcome to SGL, a lot of us have to put up with light pollution, but the rare clear nights are worth it.

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

[Stu1smartcookie]

Hi Katie , Welcome to SGL . 

Firstly ... i can speak from experience , that people on here are a friendly bunch . If you have a question ... always ask ! 

Good point about light pollution , most of us unfortunately suffer it . Make the most of your garden though , some people have to view from a balcony or out of their windows . Download stellarium ... utilise the program to plan your viewing times . ( you can even photograph a panarama of your garden and introduce it into stellarium which basically gives you a personalised accurate viewing platform) . I have the same problem as you , a nasty street light that wants to destroy my views every night , but it can't dampen the enthusiasm for this fascinating hobby . 

Clear Skies to you   

[sloz1664]

Hi Katie, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

[Starwatcher2001]

Welcome aboard SGL Katie, good to have you with us.

If the streetlights are shining into any bedroom (and I'm sure are interfering with your sleep), you can have a word with the council and ask them to fit shields to them.  Some people have had good success with this. Failing that, some simple shielding (like pegging a blanket on a washing line) can sometimes be used to block out unwanted light.

There are some great objects to be seen, even in light polluted skies (I'm in very poor skies just down the country from you in Teesside). There's lots of beautiful open star clusters to see, such as Pleiades, starting to appear now in the East.  There's the "double cluster" (NGC 869 and NGC 884), which are in Perseus. Those are beautiful and I can look at them for hours. If you look carefully, you'll see that one has more red coloured stars than the other, which shows it's probably a much older cluster. There's some nice ones in Auriga which is also coming into view right now. Cassiopeia is another good constellation with some nice clusters (and is helpfully overhead right now which can help with light pollution). My wife's favourite cluster in there is the "Owl" (NGC457). There's a bright double star that looks like eyes and with not too much imagination the remaining stars look like wings and the body. Currently it's just a bit higher in the sky than the double cluster.

There's some stunning looking double stars that are usually visible even in poor skies. Mizar and Alcar which are in the handle of the Plough. With care you can usually see there two of them with the naked eye, but put a telescope on them and you'll probably see that one of them is also a double - three for the price of two. Albireo in cygnus is probably the finest example in the sky with two very different coloured stars. Almach  (Gamma Andromedae) is a similar little gem.

Have fun with your telescope Katie!

 

[Zermelo]

Welcome to the forum Katie, it sounds like you've made a great start in (a) getting a scope that is right for you and (b) that you're enjoying it (and amazingly, some clear weather at the moment).

If you look at the locations in people's profiles, you'll see that quite a few are based in urban locations, and it's surprising how much can be achieved from bright spots. If you're interested in quantifying your level of light pollution, this website will give you an idea, and may be of some use in locating nearby "dark sites" (it's not perfectly accurate as it's based on satellite data, but it's close enough). You'll find people here discussing their own pollution levels either as "SQM" (a scale where higher is better, and 22 is as dark as it gets) or more commonly on the "Bortle Scale" (1-9, with 1 being best).

The overall light pollution level is mostly determined by nearby urban areas but, as in your situation, it can also be impaired by individual lights. The old-style low pressure sodium street lights (the dull orange ones) are a bit easier to handle, as a simple filter in your eyepiece will remove most of it without affecting the overall view very much. The bigger problem are the newer LED lights, which are very white and generally far too bright. There are no really effective ways of dealing with these. Some forum members have had success in persuading their local authorities to install a directional shield to stop stray sideways light. Depending on the positioning of the lights, it may be feasible for you to arrange some kind of screening. I got hold of some curtain blackout lining and made up some movable screens. Even with a decent sky and no moon, nearby lights do make a difference, especially when observing fainter objects (like galaxies) because even looking at one briefly will ruin the dark adaptation of your eyes for 20-30 minutes. You might also be interested in this zoom seminar on Sunday dealing with the topic of light pollution - Bob is an excellent speaker.

Another tip is to look up some  local astronomy clubs. They usually have a wide range of experience levels and often have people who are willing to give advice for new starters. You may even be able to try out other scopes, eyepieces or filters before splashing out any more cash.

Happy viewing.

[EDIT]

A couple more current threads about various aspects of back garden light pollution:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/363938-diy-street-light-screen-for-obsy/

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/364657-neighbours-security-lights/

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Zermelo

[rwilkey]

Hi Katie and a warm welcome from me too, way down south.  Good luck & clear skies!

[KatieG]

What a lovely warm welcome, and some great advice. Thanks, everyone 😊 My husband has an old DSLR camera in the loft which I will dig out and have a play with. I might take some photos of the views from my garden (when it's not so wet and windy!) 

I'm so looking forward to this new adventure 😁

[Neil H]

Hi and welcome so we can expect  to see photos in 4 months then lol 

[toshapetriji]

Hi Katie , Welcome to SGL

[PXR-5]

Welcome to SGL Katie

Thanks for joining us 😊

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Katie, welcome. 

[KatieG]

I had some great views of the moon yesterday evening from my back garden (managed to get outside before the clouds came!) and got some nice sharp images of stars, but I've found that when I look at Mars I can see a disc of light with the shadow of the little mirror and its struts at the top end of the telescope (I'm clearly mastering the terminology here!) I've tried with different eyepieces - the 10mm and 25mm ones that came with the telescope and with the new 17mm plossl which arrived yesterday. I've tried them all with and without the barlow lens and the same thing always happens! 

Any advice? 

[Tiny Clanger]

To me (and bear in mind I'm pretty much a beginner myself ) that sounds like the sort of out of focus view I get when swapping from plossls to my 8mm BST, or adding in the barlow to any of them. Have a look and make sure nothing bad has happened to the focus device on your 'scope, and it still has full travel in and out .

It's another 'I never realized that' thing which surprised me when I found I had to re focus when changing between some eyepieces. Now I know why some eyepiece adverts boast the range is 'parfocal' , and why it is a good feature !

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire 🙂