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Can't Wait!

Andrew*

By Andrew*
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Andrew*

Andrew*

Posted
Posted

Hey,

this is a pretty special place really! You got space for the totally ignorant, like me, and also for the top pros! It's so friendly and well attended

Anyway, I'm trying to get my hands on a first scope, and, as i've never tried it before, I don't exactly wanna splash out!

I've actually bought a Tasco 4.5" for £85 on eBay, but since found out that I'll want a motor for it cos i'll want to be doing astrophotography. I'll probably sell that soon for a more well-recommended scope.

I'm in Aberdeen, just a mile out of town, so it's not the best positioning, but on some nights it's just stunning. I'm really impatient to get in there!

Maybe you could give me some tips on what to start looking for. I'm aware of the big constellations (I know where Betelgeuse is! That's about as good as my knowledge goes so far!) and I know what Jupiter, Venus and Mars look like. I'll have some experiments and keep you updated.

So far, this is my best success as far as star trails (pff!!!) go. I want shots of Andromeda, thank you very much!

image.jpg

Thanks for the welcome!

Astrophethean

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G1ZmO

G1ZmO

Posted
Posted

Welcome :D

You'll pick up an RA drive for your scope fairly easily which will help with your astrophotography.

I have a 4.5" tasco that I use (occasionally) for imaging and you can get some fairly decent shots with it.

See

http://www.paulstephen.com/astro-jupiterpics.htm

and

http://www.paulstephen.com/astro-saturnpics.htm

Are you using a webcam? You'll need a modded one for DSO imaging to get longer exposures.

You should manage to get some fairly decent dark skies if you go inland a wee bit.

Glasgow is even worse than the granite city I can assure you :rolleyes:

Cheers

Paul

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MartinB

MartinB

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Welcome to the forum astrop. Keep an eye on the observation section to see what people are looking at. The imaging section shows you stuff but images show far more than you can see through a scope so don't be misled. Get yourself some decent star maps or preferably planetarium software. Steve at First Light Optics has a great deal on Starry Night Pro - well worth the expense. Don't want to keep spending your money but... it would be well worth your while investing in a cheap red dot finder. Using this along with your finder scope will help enormously in tracking things down.

Good targets at the moment during civilised hours are M31 - Andromeda nebula, M27 the dumbell nebula and M57 the ring nebula. M13 is still well up early in the evening. The moon of course makes spectacular viewing and should show up particularly well with your scope.

If you are ok for getting up early in the morning then you can get ahead by looking at the winter targets - Saturn, Orion nebula and some nice open clusters in Auriga. There's just so much to go at!

When looking for some of these fuzzies lower your expectations. They can appear extremely faint, sometimes little more than a tiny wisp of cloud. Get your eyes properly dark adapted. Don't be put off if you fail to find your target, it does take a bit of practice. Just aligning and handling the scope takes practice and it is easy to tie yourself in knots when everything is new. Persevere because things start to come together and the thrill of finding hard to get targets is something else :rolleyes:

Lots of advice for you here so post away and ask the dumb questions, they wont be as dumb as you might think!

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Albireo380

Albireo380

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Posted

Hi Astrop., Good to have someone on the Forum from further north than me - I was beginning to think I was at the edge of civilisation.

You should get really dark skies just a little to the East of Aberdeen City - Deeside might be okay, or perhaps up at Kintore. Another possibility might be up at Balmedie ???.

Tom

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G1ZmO

G1ZmO

Posted
Posted

Hi Andrew,

You may like to download Google Earth as it now has a light pollution overlay which may help you finding darker sites close(ish) to Aberdeen

The overlay can be found here:

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/269432/an/0/page/1#269432

Looks like a good area to the North of Inverbervie and also west of there

Cheers

Paul

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Andrew*

Andrew*

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Quick tip mate, buy some curtains so that your house lights don't shine straight into your lens. :rolleyes:

I get the point, but that was intentional. I ran around the house turning on all the lights for effect...

The problem with scotland as that the weather's so changeable, so leaving a camera out on a long exposure for a couple of hours for some decent star trails is likely not to work, cos any clouds whatsoever will likely just ruin the image.

I've been thinking about repeating an attempt at an interesting effect I did. It involves a multi exposure (at least 5) of 30 seconds each every 5 minutes so you get dot trails rather than a continuous line. Kind of worked, but it was in midsummer and the sky was too light.

Astrophethean

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Andrew*

Andrew*

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... it would be well worth your while investing in a cheap red dot finder. Using this along with your finder scope will help enormously in tracking things down.

Yeah, what's with these? why does it help so much? And how much do they cost?

Astrophethean

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FLO

FLO

Posted
Posted

Nice pic :rolleyes:

Personally, I think it works better when a bit darker.

image.jpg

As for the Red-Dot-Finder: It is a simple 1x (does not magnify) finder that projects a red-dot on a window/lens. When the sky is viewed thru the window/lens you need only move the scope until the red-dot is positioned over the star/area to center it (at least in a low-power eyepiece). The size and quality of the window and the clarity of the dot governs its cost. They start at around £15-20 and get seriously posh at £59 http://tinyurl.com/htck9

Hope that helps.

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Fife Astro Bloke

Fife Astro Bloke

Posted
Posted

Fit like min? :D - welcome to SGL. I'm new myself and the guys on here are just great. Full of useful advice and practical tips (dos and don'ts - that sort of thing).

I'm from Aberdeen originally (but now in Fife - duh!).

Have you considered joining the Aberdeen and District Astronomical Society? I was a member yonks ago (c. 25 years ago, when I was a teenager). They were really friendly and helpful then, and I imagine not much has changed since.

Like you, I'm hoping to get into astrophotography (see my recent posts), and have opted for the webcam approach before I get into using a Digital SLR. As I say, the guys on here are really helpful, and - it appears - no question is too naive! :rolleyes:

Dark Skies!

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The Warthog

The Warthog

Posted
Posted

Well, welcome, astrop.... I recently sold my Tasco 4.5", which was a very good scope, as 4.5" scopes go. You can do a lot with it. I don't do serious asstrophotography, but I don't think the Tasco is really the scope for it. I would suggest you save the money for the motors towards a better, motorized scope, and use the Tasco for learning the sky in the meantime. You have lots of time.

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Andrew*

Andrew*

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Will my scope have a two hole fitting, cause I've found this finder on scopes and skies for just £9 without the mounting bracket thing. There wouldn't be any real drawback to this nice looking thing from Bresser, would there?

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/Bresser/astronomy-accessories/finder/led-red-dot.html

I'll buy it immediately once I get teh thumbs up

Astrophethean

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  • 2 weeks later...
Andrew*

Andrew*

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:) :) :) I'm one happy bunny now! My first scope (Tasco 1000/114mm) arrived this afternoon and I've spent the intervening hours setting it up and generally gawping at it! I'm so excited about my first light and so on. I've balanced it, set the red dot finder, and tried out all the (rubbish) eyepieces. Everything's in good working order (except the polar fine tuner lever for the mount is missing. Is that important?)

I'll give you an update once I've tried to locate various clouds, :) and then the stream of annoying questions will commence. For now there's just one - what shall I look out for tonight, and where will I find it?

:)<so happy!> :)

Andrew

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Andrew*

Andrew*

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well, no clouds tonight, so I had a good hour of attempting to find somethign to look at. The best success was the Pleiades. I was really happy that I managed that. The worst thing was that my red dot finder decided to cloud up, making it almost useless. Why did this happen,and how can I avoid that?

I couldn't see any planets. What's up at this time of year before 12am? How do I find them?

I'll also need some practice and advice about how to manoeuver the equatorial mount. Is it correct to leave the polar alignment at 57* (my latitude), because that way i couldn't view anything directly above? if i loosen that, the whole scope just tips over.

Very pleased with my first light. Many more nights to come. :)

Andrew

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