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New Hobbyist from Arkansas

BennyD

By BennyD
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BennyD

BennyD

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Hello, everyone. My name is Ben, and I'm a middle school principal from Arkansas. My mom got me a telescope for my birthday. It's a beginner's telescope- 90mm aperture and 800mm focal length. 

I had my first viewing experience with it two nights ago. Right now, there are no planets or the moon available in our night sky, so I was a little worried about being able to find targets in the scope. Fortunately, I did a good enough job dialing in the finder scope that I was able to locate targets much, much easier than I anticipated. I used a combination of the naked eye, Stellarium and SkyView to locate and determine what stars to target. I found and watched each of the following stars for about 20 minutes move across the night sky: Regulus of Leo, Spica of Virgo, Menkent of Centauri, and Denebola of Leo. 

My favorite by far was Menkent. It was lower on the horizon than the other stars. It's an orange giant, and it twinkles orange in the sky to the naked eye and also in the binoculars. But, when I put the scope on it, it was a brilliant, bright yellow. It was unlike any of the other stars, and I was really fascinated by it. 

We have a fair bit of light pollution, I'm currently using the driveway, complete with streetlights and porch lights up and down the street. That said, I was very encouraged by what I was about to locate and view for my first day. I look forward to learning through experience and using the expertise on these forums to find all sorts of great and interesting things in the cosmos. 

 

 

 

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Norris Adams

Norris Adams

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Hi Ben - Welcome to the learning curve (which never seems to stop)!

Finding your way round the constellations (using identified stars) is a great way to start. It's like scouting the lie of the land. Plus, there's a host of deeper space objects lying in wait for when you're ready.

Arkansas? I bet you'll enjoy lots of warm nights and clear skies in deep South! 

Spare a thought for us 'Northerner's'...two pairs of socks and two pairs of trousers / pants are essential here from October onwards.!

Norris

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BennyD

BennyD

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17 minutes ago, Norris Adams said:

Hi Ben - Welcome to the learning curve (which never seems to stop)!

Finding your way round the constellations (using identified stars) is a great way to start. It's like scouting the lie of the land. Plus, there's a host of deeper space objects lying in wait for when you're ready.

Arkansas? I bet you'll enjoy lots of warm nights and clear skies in deep South! 

Spare a thought for us 'Northerner's'...two pairs of socks and two pairs of trousers / pants are essential here from October onwards.!

Norris

Definitely have plenty of warm nights! Wouldn’t be so bad if the humidity wasn’t so thick. We finally got a look at the Northern lights last month which is the first time in my lifetime that they’ve ever come down this far. We were also in the path of totality for the eclipse, so that was absolutely amazing. Maybe. The most surreal thing I’ve ever seen. All of these things converge in such close proximity, and it’s like a sign…start looking  up!

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Chandra

Chandra

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5 hours ago, BennyD said:

Right now, there are no planets or the moon available in our night sky.

There are no planets visible until late at night, although I am sure that a view of Saturn will be worth getting up early, after 4 am. until dawn you will be able to see it well if the weather conditions allow it, your refractor telescope will provide you with a great view. You will also have a waning Moon before dawn, you will see that observing the Moon is one of the most surprising, pleasant and inexhaustible for the amateur astronomer. Unfortunately, the light pollution conditions you indicate will make it difficult for you to make deep sky observations. Still, as you say, be sure to look up! Welcome and clearly skies!

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Tony Acorn

Tony Acorn

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Welcome tro this fascinating hobby from another (probably much, much) older newbie.

I'm not sure whether you will get it but this week we have had a "parade of Planets" just before dawn. Look to The Ecliptic intersecting with your eastern horizon immediately before sunrise to possibly see it. Here in my little corner of England, clouds have been the order of the day (and night) for seemingly months although I did get to image some of the Aurora Borealis on May 11th. I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of Comet A3 (Tsuchinshan- ATLAS) around midnight on Thursday into Friday with the new rig that was delivered from our sponsors this morning 🤞. 

 

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BennyD

BennyD

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3 hours ago, Tony Acorn said:

Welcome tro this fascinating hobby from another (probably much, much) older newbie.

I'm not sure whether you will get it but this week we have had a "parade of Planets" just before dawn. Look to The Ecliptic intersecting with your eastern horizon immediately before sunrise to possibly see it. Here in my little corner of England, clouds have been the order of the day (and night) for seemingly months although I did get to image some of the Aurora Borealis on May 11th. I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of Comet A3 (Tsuchinshan- ATLAS) around midnight on Thursday into Friday with the new rig that was delivered from our sponsors this morning 🤞. 

 

Thanks!

 

We got some conflicting reports about the parade of planets. Our local news organisations were talking it, but NASA said it wasn't going to be as spectacular as advertised because by the time all the planets got above the horizon, the sun would be out and obstruct the views. NASA said the best time to view the parade of planets would be on June 29th. We've had mostly storms and lots of cloud covers this month, so that's probably a good thing. 

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dweller25

dweller25

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3 hours ago, BennyD said:

Thanks!

 

We got some conflicting reports about the parade of planets. Our local news organisations were talking it, but NASA said it wasn't going to be as spectacular as advertised because by the time all the planets got above the horizon, the sun would be out and obstruct the views. NASA said the best time to view the parade of planets would be on June 29th. We've had mostly storms and lots of cloud covers this month, so that's probably a good thing. 

No rush with the planets they will get better towards winter as they move into the evening sky….

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Ratlet

Ratlet

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46 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

already do this in my head

A Florida Man pointed this out to me in houston about 12 years ago and I'm afraid it's become a bit of an speech impediment for me now.

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