First time out tips

[wastedyears1981]

Hi all,

First I would like to say hello you to you all. I've been many years out of astronomy. Had a refractor and a newtonian many moons ago (no pun intended) and my step son has just got his first telescope. A Skywatcher Heritage 150p with 10mm and 25mm EP's (eventually will upgrade after he has had a bit of practice). I think I maybe be more excited over his Christmas present more than he is lol.

All he has seen is pictures of nebula, galaxies and planets in all the books he has, and I don't want him to be underwhelmed on the first night out with it. Has anyone got any tips or ideas on the first night. I know the moon and the gas giants are a first goto, but I would like him to see some of the DSO's. We'll be travelling to some pretty dark areas well away from any light pollution. Luckily we don't live too far away from the Peak District and North York moors so finding dark places is pretty easy.

Thanks in advance.

[Kon]

This time of the year the Orion nebula is impressive and both EPs will show it nicely and I think it will definitely get him really interested. The pleiades is another target easily located. If you are in dark skies then the M31 will be a nice visual. My 5 year old son was very impressed with these targets earlier this week. We also took some moon shots through the EP and we had fun together matching them to the annotated book that I have. I am sure he will love his telescope.

[John]

There is a lovely double cluster below Cassiopeia (the W shape) which is well worth a look at low magnification. It is actually in the constellation of Perseus. Here is a chart:

The clusters are known as NGC 869 and NGC 884 (NGC = New General Catalogue) and should both fit into the same view using the lowest magnification eyepiece.

A nice pair of galaxies under a dark sky are Messier 81 and 82 in Ursa Major. Again use the lowest magnification eyepiece. Here they are:

You can "star hop" to these like this:

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by John

[John]

The best tip I can give is to make sure that the finder scope is as well lined up with the main scope view. Finding your targets when you can be confident that your scope is pointing just where the red dot or cross hairs of your finder are pointing is a lot easier !

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by John

[toshapetriji]

Remember your gloves and hat.

[Tiny Clanger]

150 Heritage, great choice !

I second the warm clothes (and socks/boots) and the align the RDF finder in daylight suggestions. Don't forget a red beam torch (or white beam torch plus layers red cellophane from festive sweet wrappers, that's my kind of d.i.y. ! ) A low box or table might be useful to put the 'scope on , depending on how tall the boy is, if he is short / young, and the 'scope needs to be on the ground, a bit of plastic like a thick bin liner under it will keep any damp from the susceptible particle board type base if it is put on damp grass.  You'd probably want a stool or chair yourself to see through the thing then !

The Orion nebula looks good in the heritage dob, and the Pleiades are another easy but impressive target. Mars is still good and high, even if is no longer as close to us as it was earlier in the year, you are unlikely to see more than a vague dark patch or line on the red planet with the stock 10mm, but it's fabulous to know when you see the planet, you are looking at the actual rocky surface of another planet, not the top of gas clouds.

Be prepared, take a hot drink and a snack to keep him (and you) going, and have fun,

Heather

[wastedyears1981]

Thanks for the feedback peeps.

Its a welcome relief to find people so warm and friendly in this forum. In my day job Im a network specialist and programmer, and the forums within that world are brutal and not so welcoming. Thanks for the maps @John, will definitely be using those on our first outing. He's getting used to some of the main constellations such as Orion and Ursa Major, knows how to find Polaris using UM.

@Tiny Clanger Ive invested in a good Thermos flask and fingerless gloves are next on this list. As for snacks......looks like turkey and stuffing sandwiches for the next 3 months. Orion Nebula will not likely be the first thing we look for after giving the Moon and any planets a good perusing. I know from previous experience all those years ago I used to struggle with mars, but I poor equipment and no patience back then.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

45 minutes ago, wastedyears1981 said:

Thanks for the feedback peeps.

Its a welcome relief to find people so warm and friendly in this forum. In my day job Im a network specialist and programmer, and the forums within that world are brutal and not so welcoming.

Yep, as a relative newbie myself I have been impressed with the tone of the vast majority of contributors here, it's a rare nice place as forums go.

Fingers crossed for clear skies for you (and all of us ) soon.

Heather

[toshapetriji]

You could download sky safari onto your phone/ipad, I find the 'tonights best' feature really useful to plan my viewing during the day.

[wastedyears1981]

1 hour ago, toshapetriji said:

You could download sky safari onto your phone/ipad, I find the 'tonights best' feature really useful to plan my viewing during the day.

I'll give that a try. Ive got Night Sky app at the moment as it links in with my Apple Watch too which is a handy little feature. For laptop software Ive been playing around with Stellarium and KStars. KStars is OK for me, but I think would be too clunky and complicated for my step son. Stellarium seems a good piece of software with a nice Red mode function to make sure you don't blast away your night vision.

[Tiny Clanger]

19 minutes ago, wastedyears1981 said:

I'll give that a try. Ive got Night Sky app at the moment as it links in with my Apple Watch too which is a handy little feature. For laptop software Ive been playing around with Stellarium and KStars. KStars is OK for me, but I think would be too clunky and complicated for my step son. Stellarium seems a good piece of software with a nice Red mode function to make sure you don't blast away your night vision.

The download version of stellarium is brilliant ( I always appreciate a .org free bit of well thought out software developed by enthusiasts ) , it is possible to take a 360 degree panorama of your back garden ( and/or any number of other locations you frequently view from) and add it to the list of landscapes available . Bit of a fiddle to photoshop your sky transparent and to get the compass points/horizon height a close match to reality, but I've found it very handy, I can see when Jupiter will be vanishing from my view as it hides behind my shed, what time the Orion Nebula plays hide & seek behind a neighbour's tree, etc etc. 

There's also the stellarium 'ocular view' plugin, where you can set your own telescope's parameters (including that it flips the image, an important detail !), and those of your eyepieces. Then you can select an object ( It worked for me to see Uranus with the heritage 150 for instance ) , choose ocular view, select your scope/EP combo, and stellarium shows you what you will see in the EP. I find it of particular use when there is a faint thing like Uranus or a M object, with an array of faint stars nearby: just get to the right part of the sky, scan  around a bit with a low power EP, recognize the pattern from ocular view and you know exactly what you are looking at. Naturally the plugin works in red mode too.

Heather

[wastedyears1981]

2 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

The download version of stellarium is brilliant ( I always appreciate a .org free bit of well thought out software developed by enthusiasts ) , it is possible to take a 360 degree panorama of your back garden ( and/or any number of other locations you frequently view from) and add it to the list of landscapes available . Bit of a fiddle to photoshop your sky transparent and to get the compass points/horizon height a close match to reality, but I've found it very handy, I can see when Jupiter will be vanishing from my view as it hides behind my shed, what time the Orion Nebula plays hide & seek behind a neighbour's tree, etc etc. 

There's also the stellarium 'ocular view' plugin, where you can set your own telescope's parameters (including that it flips the image, an important detail !), and those of your eyepieces. Then you can select an object ( It worked for me to see Uranus with the heritage 150 for instance ) , choose ocular view, select your scope/EP combo, and stellarium shows you what you will see in the EP. I find it of particular use when there is a faint thing like Uranus or a M object, with an array of faint stars nearby: just get to the right part of the sky, scan  around a bit with a low power EP, recognize the pattern from ocular view and you know exactly what you are looking at. Naturally the plugin works in red mode too.

Heather

Ive been playing around with the ocular view and trying different eyepieces etc but not been able to get out to see how it matches to the parameters on the scope.

How accurate the parameters against 'real-life' (obviously light pollution and weather permitting) ?

[Tiny Clanger]

As far as star patterns go, as in my example of confirming that blue green dot really was Uranus,  I guess the ocular views' accuracy will depend on how close to the truth your info is about the scope stats,  EPs focal length and FOV , all stellarium is doing is some maths.

I suspect that some of the parameters given for astro kit in my sort of price range are going to be rounded numbers ! Still, for practical purposes , it works fine for me.

 

[John]

1 hour ago, wastedyears1981 said:

...How accurate the parameters against 'real-life' (obviously light pollution and weather permitting) ?

If you get the settings right, the depiction of the size of the field of view will be accurate but as for the visibility or other wise of the object itself, I would take that with a very large pinch of salt.

Observing conditions, observer experience and equipment make a really big difference to what is actually seen "at the eyepiece".

I've just looked at Stellarium and zoomed in on Orion using the parameters of one of my scopes and eyepieces. It shows a couple of nebulae there (the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula) rather clearly but the reality is that these objects are really, really difficult to see even for experienced observers under dark skies with big scopes.

So the size of the view can be accurate but not necessarily it's contents !

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by John

[Isaac 49]

Hi, I also got the Heritage 150P for Christmas as a first telescope and this thread has given me loads of targets for the first clear night when I finally get one! So than you from me too.

Cheers, 

Isaac

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @wastedyears1981 & @Isaac 49 and welcome to SGL. 

I am not a great fan of filters, but the one I use most is the Baader Planetarium Neodymium. It does tease out some detail on DSO's, etc., though an UHC or Olll will tease more.

[Sunshine]

Welcome to SGL!