Hello nice astronomy experts & gurus. Hello to you all "ME" in Rawdon, Leeds

[JamieH]

My Dad bought a scope more or less two years ago - not for anything serious but to look at the Moon & to look for other things in the Sky!. Now he's not into messing around with it. So dad let me buy it from him.

The telescope is a Sky Watcher 70mm computerised SynScan AZ GOTO telescope astronomy starter kit. dad bought it from scopesnskies.com. I bought an ac adaptor for it a week or so ago. I have had one go at setting everything up in the bedroom.

However when I switched on the Synscan control it asked me something strange. But it wasn't about the Sun. I could not find out what it was asking me anywhere in the telescope manual or quick guide. It was yes or no answer. When I have a go at setting it up again, may I ask you what this is in another question please?

Also I have do not have a planterium & I am not a well adapted to identifying any stars. Although I can clearly see Jupiter tonight just pure south of the Moon. I am not sure whether the only star that is clearly visible tonight is further to my West. It might be altair, but I'm not sure.

Because I'm in Rawdon, Leeds. I will be doing the most spotting from my back garden looking up at the southwest parts of the sky.

The only problem is I am not sure how to do the two star alignment because I can't identify a Star because no Star is that clearly visible near the Moon or Jupiter.

I know that Synscan ask for Coordinates which I have. It also asks for Direction. So for me I guesse I would put in SouthWest? or South? Then it will ask for Daylight Saving Yes or No? Wich am I to use. Also where do I get the most accurate time from to put it into the control when it asks for it.

Sorry for so many questions. But I really am absolute novice noobie at this. I need to be know whether i need to be precise where I am positioning the telescope in the Sky or will it auto correct itself when I have entered the region & coordinates. Thanks.

Also I not sure how to setup the Red dot finder & use it to focus to get the alignment. I know I am not at that stage yet.

Thanks for any help from anybody that can make me feel better about this. As we have someone we know coming to tea on Saturday night & we sort of promised them that we would setup the telescope for them to have a look through it, providing the night is clear.

Thanks again

JamieH

[brantuk]

H Jamie and welcome to SGL

That's a nice scope you have there - but whatever you do don't point it at the sun because it will damage your eye and you'll go blind. To answer one or two of your questions:

1. Download "Stellarium" - it is free and will show you where everything is in the sky at your location.

2. To set up the red dot finder - do it in daylight - position the telescope on a distant object like a church steeple or top of a pylon so you can see it in the middle of the eyepiece. Then adjust the red dot so it lands on the same place exactly. This will line up the red dot finder with your scope and it's ready to use. Make sure the steeple is far away as possible.

Someone else will tell you about Synscan soon - hope you enjoy the forum

[JamesM]

Hi Jamie and welcome to the forum. A good starting point is to download a planetarium called STELLARIUM. That will help you identify what you're looking at and where it is. You can choose any two bright stars you like but it is preferable to choose two that are some distance from each other to help make your alignment more accurate. The stars can be anywhere so forget even looking near the Moon or Jupiter because it is not important for your chosen alignment stars to be anywhere near the part of the sky from where you wish to do your next observation. Synscan will ask for your co-ordinates which should look something like 52 04'N and 2 53' E the only direction question I can think of must relate to the 'N' and the 'W' in the example I gave you above. To the question regarding daylight saving, answer YES. This question is only applicable to observation dates that fall between the months of March and November. When the observation date is outside this 'zone' you will not be asked this question. The 'Time' that I choose is what appears on my computer or from the radio, it doesn't have to be accurate to the second. The other important thing that you haven't mentioned but is as valid and that is to make sure the mount is level as this can effect the tracking accuracy.

Any more questions ask away. Do you have any instructions? If not they can be downloaded from Skywatcher themselves.

Clear skies

James

Clear skies

James

[BAZ Senior]

Hi Jamie, welcome to the forum.

I don't know anything about your scope, but Iam sure someone will point you and your scope in the right direction.

[glowjet]

Hi Jamie,

A very warm welcome to SGL, hope you enjoy the forum.

John.

[Mr Spock]

Hello and welcome to SGL

[johnh]

Enjoy the forum Jamie.

JohnH.

[Rusty Strings]

Hi and welcome from me

[Brendan of Borg]

Hello and welcome!

[phattanglo]

Hello from sunny Hunslet Jamie, welcome to SGL.

[oldfruit]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

[SeedyF]

Hello and welcome from me too

I cant help with your set up as i'm not familiar with the scope but others have offered some useful tips.

[E621Keith]

Hi Jamie

Welcome to SGL. I would recommend getting yourself a planisphere. It's a circular starmap with a mask that can help you identify various constellations in the sky. Most of them also contain names of bright stars, which can be useful in helping you identifying the stars you need to align your telescope.

clear skies

Keith

[Demonperformer]

Hi Jamie

I don't qualify as an expert, or a guru, but welcome to the forum anyway.

[phillc]

Hello Jamie and a warm welcome to SGL.

phillc.

[Coco]

Hi Jamie and welcome to SGL

[SwadBaggie]

welcome to SGL Jamie

[nobbytate]

Hello from me to

[darkly]

Hello there

It's a good time of year to be starting.

once you've downloaded and installed Stellarium, the other thing I found / still find really useful was a book called Turn Left At Orion, it's full of good things to look at and how to find them right through the year.

Vega, Altair and Capella are the kind of bright stars you're after, a quick squint at Stellarium and you'll know where they are. Although you'll have to choose ones from a list on your handset I believe.

Good luck

[JamieH]

Hello again. Thanks for the useful tips everybody.

BrantUK, can I just try to position the telescope on a distant object such as a House TV Arial, it's a House - in the distance. Would that do?

JBM1165, Thankyou for explaining the Coordinates for the Stellarium Software. Have I got this right. I am only suppose to choose Daylight saving between March & November, & say no any other Month of the year? Also thanks for the tips on making sure my scope is balanced. My fam reckon our backyard flags are not level. So they reckon I should put a Spirit Level on top of scope, adjust the legs until the Spirit Level reads Level. Is this okay? Also thanks for mentioing which time I am to use. I thought this needed to be quite accurate. So if I use the (UTC) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, this should be accurate enough shouldn't it?

Thanks BAZ Senior, nice little joke lol, I'll bear that in mind!

Hi Glowjet, Mr Spock, JohnH, Rusty Strings, Brendan of Borg, Phattanglo, Oldfruit, SeedyF, DemonPerformer, philc, coco, SwadBaggie, nobbytate. I'm really useless at the moment but I guesse you'll all help me change that very soon.

E621Keith, Thanks on buying advice Planisphere. I was wondering which one to Buy from ScopesNskies.com, would you suggest a good one in particular, thanks?

Darkly, thanks to you too for, I will seek about buying that book. I look out for that - Turn Left At Orion.

How great, all this advice, really grateful, but I'm still unsure about how to enter & Input the correct numbers & which Coordinates to miss out when inputting them properly into Stellarium or Synscan. They both accept them differently. Here is my example, not exact coordinates,

LAT North 53degrees 51' 24", LONG WEST 1degree 40' 42". I need to know how to enter these properly in the Stellarium software & into the Synscan controller. The Stellarium software doesn't seem to like the coordinates input in the exact way I have show here. Looking at Synscan only further puzzles me which ones I enter & which ones I don't enter, so you guessed it I'm in need of help with figuring this out?

I was suprised that the Bright Object in the Sky just left of the Moon was Jupiter. Since I have never connected it with Jupiter before. This was exciting. For a few weeks now I have been watching Astronomy & Nature centre videos & other youtube videos. I also came across http://www.popastro.com/youngstargazers/thismonth.html That is the site that prompted me to get my binoculars out & notice that the bright star that was not twinkling was the Planet Jupiter. I have never seen Jupiter all my 27 years of living with my Naked eye. It was an awesome moment when I could identify it. I was told by the site that it's unusually bright in the Sky this year this month. I can't remember which other Planet they mentioned is also just above Jupiter which is very faintly visible! However I couldn't see it that well.

I used the Stellarium software last night. I went outside & found out that their is a Star almost at the same height in the Sky as the Moon, further almost pure West it was the brightest, like Jupiter is like Pure South almost. Could this be Altair? I noticed it tonight & it seemed to look like it was Altair. Because all the other Stars weren't as Bright at the same height, their was another Star as bright, but it was higher than the trajectory of the Moon when you pan your finger across the sky or eyes. So is Altair at the same height as the Moon or slightly higher?

All in all I enjoyed going out & trying to pinpoint some of the Stars & Planets. I can't wait to get out there again soon. I have been told that you need to allow any telescope, a refrator's or reflector's lenses or mirrors to adjust to the temps. So do they need to be out for 1-2 hours before you get the best light gathering possible. Thanks on this one too.

I will be trying to set up my Telescope tomorrow through the day in house.

Thanks again, everyone here

Hope to speak Soon,

Jamie

[E621Keith]

Hi Jamie

I found the Philip's planisphere very good. The laminated plastic ones is a bit more expensive (by a few pounds) but last a lot longer than ones made of papers and cards. I bought mine in the local WHSmith 10 yrs ago and I'm still using it.

Scope n Skies packaged the planisphere with books, but since I haven't read any of them I can't make any recommendation.

clear skies

Keith

[JamieH]

Hi Keith. I don'r know which Planisphere on Amazon to buy? There are different degrees ones. Ones for different countries? I have seen this one David H. Levy's Guide to the Stars: Amazon.co.uk: David H. Levy: Books=

Would you recommend any in particular for me with a link. It's ok if not.

Thanks for your help

Jamie

[Venus_is_my_friend]

Hiya Jamie,

I live in Burley-in-Wharfedale and used to live in Yeadon 2 years ago, so it's good to have a local to share in the street lights.

Do you have an iPod touch or iPad because you can get some great astronomy software I mainly use "Starwalks"

Best advice someone gave me is to spend some time outside just following the constellations using a planisphere, that way when you use Stellarium you will know where you are looking. I have found that having and iPod with the nights sky on is great, that way I don't need a planisphere or a laptop outside with me just a little iPod touch.

Anyway I can help, just let me know.

Neil

[JamieH]

Hello Venus_Is_My_Friend, Neil.

Thanks for your help. I don't have a Planisphere yet. But I have been looking up at the Moon & spotted Jupiter looking South last night & thought I spotted Altair over to the West just a bit further round to right of the Moon at same height. So am I right that when I turn right from Standing South, I am looking West not East? I was poor a geography at school & messing with compass a few weeks ago & South is looking upto Moon & jupiter I'm sure. I sure that West is to my right, right? the Planisphere confused me it shows East on the right side of the Planisphere & South at the Top. What's going on How can I be looking at the Planisphere wrong?

I don't have an Ipod Touch I'm afraid. All I have is Stellarium which I have downloaded yesterday & used since last night a bit. I'm not sure which Planisphere to buy. But I liked the Yellow looking one. David Levy's Guide to the Stars Map. I don't know which Phillips one to buy from Scopes n skies. Is that Starwalks free to use?

Thanks,

Jamie

[E621Keith]

Hi Jamie

You are correct, Planisphere are made for a specific latitude. For UK, you will need the 51.5 deg North, for Northern Europe, Northern USA and Northern Canada. The difference a few degree usually doesn't matter. It's only when you visit places much further South/North (e.g. Italy), before you'll need another one.

Keith

Keith