i cant seem to find anything

[Daniel-K]

ok i mite be new but so far i have only found the double star cluster and saturn and im getting frustrated as i keep reading all these newbies finding galxies on there first night i need a push in the right direction any help would be much appreciated

[John]

ok i mite be new but so far i have only found the double star cluster and saturn and im getting frustrated as i keep reading all these newbies finding galxies on there first night i need a push in the right direction any help would be much appreciated

You really need a good guide book to help you find your way to a range of interesting objects - "Turn Left at Orion" is generally thought to be an excellent one.

[AWR]

Here's my twopenneth...

1. A good book with things to see. I have Turn Left at Orion and find it very user friendly.

2. A planisphere is very useful until you learn your way around the constellations.

3. A good finder scope. I have a LOT of light pollution. I find the combination of a Rigel Quikfinder and a 9x50 scope very useful. I find the Quikfinder useful for getting me in the general area and then use the finder scope in conjunction with the diagrams in Turn Left.

Andrew

[earth titan]

Hang in there.

I was frustrated until I got 'turn left at orion' from the local library.

Out last night, first time with the book, found clusters, whirlpool galaxy etc.

It is worth it, but check the collimation. Mine was way out when I got it and setting it right, has made a huge difference.

[Daniel-K]

ive got everything to get me going just cant seem to find anything.

going to my local astro club on wed to see if they can help me out

[pvaz]

Yeah I agree. It's all about having a good guide, a good finder and some patience. I started to find things quickly once I bought a telrad finder. I can say, without a doubt, it's the best money I spent on extras so far.

TL@O is great to start. When you start feeling comfortable with star hoping then a good atlas such as pocket sky atlas will have much more objects for you to find.

[pvaz]

ive got everything to get me going just cant seem to find anything.

going to my local astro club on wed to see if they can help me out

Next time you're out try just 2 targets:

M13 - big globular cluster in Hercules

M57 - tiny smoke ring in Lyra (noticeable at 30x or so as a fuzzy star, best views at 100-150x)

This 2 are very easy as they have bright stars close by. Even so the 1st time you star hop can be tricky M57 toke me over 30 min the 1st time, I picked the right spot then I kept passing by it without noticing it was small, fuzzy and dim. But once you detect it, you then switch to a 10mm EP and it looks like someone was puffing smoke rings in the sky.

Here's the locations map with telrad circles overlay:

http://www.astro-tom.com/messier/messier_finder_charts/map8.pdf

[brantuk]

Get stellarium downloaded (it's free) and use the constellation lines to help familiarise yourself with the sky. It really helps you to find an object when you know what constellation it's in and which are the nearest stars to it.

Hope that helps

[Moonshane]

try this looking at the map to find the above two suggested by Paulo

M13 - this is a lovely globular

face due East. you'll see a bright reddish star which is Arcturus look over to the north (left) and you'll see another bright white/blue star (remember this one as it's also where M57 is). This is Vega (this is the large star with Lyra next to it on the map - Lyra is the name of this constellation). Roughly half way between these two is a trapezoid shape which is on the right of the map - you'll see this clearly if you look for a minute or two. This is the 'keystone' in the constellation of Hercules. M13 is 2/3rds of the way up the longest side of this shape. Either use your lowest power eyepiece or your finderscope and you'll see a faint fuzzy blob which can take some magnification but not too much. you'll see a tight fuzzy ball of stars which if you get a good view will smack you right in the chops. M92 is another globular cluster which you might also see in the same area.

M57

go back to Vega, the bright blue star in Lyra - although there's not much to see of this star, I think it looks lovely in the scope somehow so bright and tranquil - for some reason when I look at this everything feels as though it's gone quiet......anyway back to the point..... then in your finderscope locate Vega and there are two brighter stars below it (remember in your finder they will be reversed left and right and upside down so will be above Vega and not below it). there's a slightly less bright star in between them. between this less bright star and the furthest of the other pair from it, is the Ring Nebula. with the scope in this position, again use your low power eyepiece and you should see it - as Paulo says, like a smoke ring.

hopefully these notes and the map Paulo recommended will help.

don't worry - you'll get the hang of it and will start to enjoy things a lot more very soon. I cannot promise the frustration of not finding things will go away though - it never does :0)

[kniclander]

how dark are your skies? if you have much LP it is very difficult to see galaxies except the 3 or 4 brightest ones (although there are lots of other things you can see).

[richbyers]

Ive found DSO's can be very hard to spot, as alot of people are saying you can merely pass them by without noticing them.

hang in, once you spot one then the others will start to follow.

try m44 the behive cluster in cancer, its just west of mars, which will be the bright orange star in the western region

a little harder is M81/82 galaxies in ursa major, theres plenty of posts on here about how to find them, though you can draw a line between phad and dubhe and double it again and you should reach the right place http://stargazerslounge.com/observing-deep-sky/101722-trying-locate-m81-m82.html

rich

[Daniel-K]

okies i have just found what i think is m3 in my 8inch dob its like a big glowing ball is this right?

[Moonshane]

spot on!

you are lucky you have sky ;0)

look around the globular rather than in it (averted vision) and you'll start to see lots of stars resolved round the edges I should think. M13 is even more impressive.

[brantuk]

Yup It's a globular cluster - try here to confirm your finding:

Astronomy.com - Globular cluster M3

[pvaz]

okies i have just found what i think is m3 in my 8inch dob its like a big glowing ball is this right?

Congratz. M3 is more tricky then M13.

[Daniel-K]

i found Arcturus then went up and right, couldnt really see any stars around it i noticed it was postioned in between two stars.i will hvae a look next time to see if i can see more i was only using a 10mm with no barlow. will a barlow make a differnce?

[John]

i found Arcturus then went up and right, couldnt really see any stars around it i noticed it was postioned in between two stars.i will hvae a look next time to see if i can see more i was only using a 10mm with no barlow. will a barlow make a differnce?

The 10mm gives you 120x which is a good magnfication for globular clusters - the barlow will make them fill more of the field of view but I doubt you will see mre detail.

An 8" scope should easily resolve the outer parts of the brighter globular clusters into tiny individual stars which seem to surround a misty unresolved core.

Try and find M13 in Hercules - it's a really fine sight with an 8" scope - mind blowing with a 20" as I found out at the SGL5 Star Party last month