Viewing Object Advice - Please

[jasondh]

Right I am getting really hopeful of some clear skies this weekend.

I have received by obligatory copy of 'Turn Left at Orion'.

But to save me spending time looking at nothing could you great folks suggest a few 'complete beginner' objects for me to start my experience?

I will read this book cover to cover but if we get a clear night I will not be able to resist to give my Dob a test drive so would love some waypoints to start off with!

[ronin]

Where about are you?

Have you set up the finder with the scope?

What do you want to look at?

Basically your location will determine what is possible/sensible, light pollution. If the finder and scope are aligned then you should be able to locate something in the finder and be confident of it being in the scope.

Not much use giving a list of pretty coloured doubles if you want to see galaxies.

Other then TLAO what other books have you?

[Aussie]

Sure, the very easiest thing I can think of to find other then the Moon, is the Pleiads Star cluster. It is easily visible with the naked eye so relatively easy to find with a telescope and the view is amazing. The Pleiads is to the east, over 70-80 degrees off the horizon, 90 degrees being straight up.

Jupiter is also extremely easy to find with the naked eye as well as a telescope, viewing Jupiter is truly an awesome sight. look in the south sky for the extremely bright looking non twinkling star and thats Jupiter.

If you know the big dipper then have a look at the second star from the left, If you can imagine the big dipper being a pot, it would be the middle handle star. that is a very nice double to see.

Trying to describe where to look with DSO is very hard to do without pictorial help. But im sure in Turn left at Orion there will be charts that show you where to look. And finding constellations is extremely easy and you can see which star is which bit on each constellation so it gets extremely easy to use them for size comparisons.

Best advice I can give you is: If you don't find it at first keep looking, it took me awhile to find my first galaxy even with the pictures, but once I did... phew what a sight that was.

Good luck with your hunt, Aussie.

[jasondh]

Thanks for the advise so far.

I'm in Lancashire in the U.K.

I'll do a bit more reading. Just thought there might be a newbie list to get started. Like a tourist 'must see' guide for beginners.

[brantuk]

If you do go outside with the scope - don't forget it's fireworks weekend and be wary of ash on mirrors - especially dobs.

[Bizibilder]

Have you downloaded "Stellarium"? It is a free star atlas that runs on your computer and gives a pretty good "real" view of the night sky - you can even get the light pollution right!! You can use it to find your way around the basic constellation patterns and then maybe try to find a few easy "specials" like Jupiter or the Pleiades.

[jasondh]

Have you downloaded "Stellarium"? It is a free star atlas that runs on your computer and gives a pretty good "real" view of the night sky - you can even get the light pollution right!! You can use it to find your way around the basic constellation patterns and then maybe try to find a few easy "specials" like Jupiter or the Pleiades.

Yep, got that and it comes on Mac too. I was getting worried that I might have to return to the dark side (PC) to get useful software.

Thanks.

[jasondh]

Please excuse my ignorance but I saw a few images of a circular do-nut shaped nebula. Is this something I can look for?

Perhaps if you could name it I could do a search.

[NGC 1502]

The book you have, 'Turn Left' is an excellent 'must see' beginners guide,

hard to improve on.

As already said, get your finder lined up. Start with your lowest power eyepiece,

the one with the largest number, like 25mm, to find your target, before changing

to a higher power if necessary. If you struggle at first to find anything, then have

a look at Jupiter, well placed in the evening sky at the moment.

Good luck ! Ed.

Edit : the circular donut shaped nebula is probably M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra,

always worth a look.

[brantuk]

Maybe M57 or M27?

[jasondh]

Just put M57 into my Star Walk iPad app and I think you have it.

[Ags]

The ring shaped nebula is probably the Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra. I'm a slave to GOTO but even i manage to find it without GOTO. Stellarium will show you exactly where. It is getting a bit late in the year to look at M57 so have a look soon. It is a good target in a small scope.

If you stay up late, have a look at the Great Nebula in Orion - it is large and bright and unmissable.

My favorite double star at the moment is Almach in Andromeda (Gamma Andromeda). It is the third bright star in the line of bright Andromeda stars counting from the Square of Pegasus. The primary is a rich pumpkin color and the secondary is a dreamy blue.

[brantuk]

The ring is a very nice object - especially in colour photos

[jasondh]

Thanks all, I'm getting pretty excited for tonight.

The skies are lovely and clear at the moment.

[callisto]

If you do go outside with the scope - don't forget it's fireworks weekend and be wary of ash on mirrors - especially dobs.

Good advice

[Ags]

One thing you need to know about M57 - it's very small, at a low magnification it might just look like a fuzzy star. Once you think you've found it try higher magnifications until you get the best view.

[jasondh]

One thing you need to know about M57 - it's very small, at a low magnification it might just look like a fuzzy star. Once you think you've found it try higher magnifications until you get the best view.

Highest mag I have is 5mm. Am I going to get a good view with that?

[Ags]

I've enjoyed viewing M57 at 80x and 150x magnification. The best magnification depends on the conditions - light pollution, transparency and so on. M27 is also good (but harder to find) and I find a lower power like 80x works better on it.

I don't know what scope you have, but I'm guessing it is a dob with a focal length around 1200mm. In which case the 5mm gives 240x magnification which might be just a bit too much. But try it and see.

[jasondh]

I've enjoyed viewing M57 at 80x and 150x magnification. The best magnification depends on the conditions - light pollution, transparency and so on. M27 is also good (but harder to find) and I find a lower power like 80x works better on it.

I don't know what scope you have, but I'm guessing it is a dob with a focal length around 1200mm. In which case the 5mm gives 240x magnification which might be just a bit too much. But try it and see.

Yep, bang on with the spec. 240x.

I also have a 25mm & 10mm.

[astronymonkey]

As a beginners guide I would go for:

M31 - galaxy in Andromeda

x,h persei - double cluster in perseus

M45 - Pliedies cluster - taurus

M42 - Orion Nebula

Jupiter

Saturn

Moon

M35 - Beehive cluster in Gemini

All of these shoould be easy in a lower power eyepiece (ie the one with the highest number of mm on it !).

To set your finder then its often goodto do this during the day by finding something far away in the main scope and then adjusting the finder. Trying this at night on a star can be tricky as the sky is turning as you are trying to target the finder with the scope.A distant chimney pot is always good for setting a finder.

Cheers,

Astro

[jasondh]

As a beginners guide I would go for:

M31 - galaxy in Andromeda

x,h persei - double cluster in perseus

M45 - Pliedies cluster - taurus

M42 - Orion Nebula

Jupiter

Saturn

Moon

M35 - Beehive cluster in Gemini

All of these shoould be easy in a lower power eyepiece (ie the one with the highest number of mm on it !).

To set your finder then its often goodto do this during the day by finding something far away in the main scope and then adjusting the finder. Trying this at night on a star can be tricky as the sky is turning as you are trying to target the finder with the scope.A distant chimney pot is always good for setting a finder.

Cheers,

Astro

Thanks for that.

I am going to go with that list.

I have aligned my finder scope already as you suggested. I did it in the daytime using a distance roof apex on a gable end!

[Capricorn]

Would be today.

Today, Nov 6th is a new moon.

So try for the moon another day, when there might be one.

[jasondh]

Would be today.

Today, Nov 6th is a new moon.

So try for the moon another day, when there might be one.

No chance of anything today. Cloud cover and loads of smoke!

Not going to bother with the moon soon much. Seen it loads through my 500mm DSLR lens.