blinky Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 I have got Trun left at Orion and have found it very useful. The only problems with it is that for winter it only has one target and that is Cassiopea. It is nearly overhead and I would like some other targets to find. I quite fancy some nice double stars. Does anybody have any recomendations for good stargazing guides? I have not yet figured out using setting circles and only just roughly set up polar alingment so I am really looking for something along the same lines as Turn left @ Orion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonCopestake Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 I would take a look at buying a planetarium program instead and taking a look at what targets are available and which are in your part of the sky. Stellarium is free and quite good, Starry Nights 5 is better but costs money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iancandler Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 red shift 5.1 isnt bad either.. it's much improved over the older versions.If you want a good book for targets then try : The practical astronomers deep sky companion. by jess k gilmour ( from patrick moores astronomy series) it has loads of deepsky objects covered along with detailed information on each one, a local starfield map to aid finding them, even imaging information ( fields of view etc for scope size and focal length and a real photograph of each object.Its organised into constellations and the cover is water resistant so you can take it outside with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul t Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 Give Burnhams celestial handbooks a go. There are three volumes in all and are old by todays standards but in my oppinion one of the best guides for serious deep sky observers. If you are like me, once you sus out the symbols used to describe the objects you will find them invaluable with excellent descriptions of many objects. give them a look, I'm glad I did. Best wishes and clear sky's.....Paul T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinky Posted November 29, 2006 Author Share Posted November 29, 2006 Thanks for the replies. I have starry night pro but the problem is I am not sure if I can see the obkjects that it shows. For example betelguise is a double star according to starry night, but can I split it in my 'scope? I have not tried and likely will since its an easy target but I dont want to go searching for some faint nebula and waste a night looking for something I could not have seen. I will check out the books mentioned above all of them sound pretty good. Thanks for the recomendations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iancandler Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 Heres a copy of that book on ebay..http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ASTRONOMERS-DEEP-SKY-COMPANION-Astronomy-Book-NEW_W0QQitemZ170053957817QQihZ007QQcategoryZ7526QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem quite a bit cheaper than the regular price Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binarymizar Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 I would recommend a planetarium program too, and an excellent FREE one is Stellarium.I`ve reviewed it on the Equipment Reviews section, together with a link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazOC Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 The best Messier book IMO is Steven O'Mearas "The Messier Objects". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G1ZmO Posted November 29, 2006 Share Posted November 29, 2006 I'd recommend Nightwatch by Terence Dickinson which I bought recently on the recommendation of Warthog.It's Spiral bound, has Star Mag notation and nice clear charts.CheersPaul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinky Posted November 29, 2006 Author Share Posted November 29, 2006 I have added all the books mentioned above to my wish list on Amazon Thanks for all the suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Warthog Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I'd recommend Nightwatch by Terence Dickinson which I bought recently on the recommendation of Warthog.It's Spiral bound, has Star Mag notation and nice clear charts.CheersPaulGlad you like it! I have been looking about for "Turn Left at Orion," but haven't seen it on any bookshelves. I have turned down many books after leafing through them and decided I wouldn't be able to read them under a red torch. What are it's charts like? I like them to be black on white. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macavity Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 Glad you like it! I have been looking about for "Turn Left at Orion," but haven't seen it on any bookshelves. I have turned down many books after leafing through them and decided I wouldn't be able to read them under a red torch. What are it's charts like? I like them to be black on white.The "Turn Left..." charts are most certainly black stars on a white page. They are hand-drawn - Star sizes approx. indicating magnitude. There is an "Overview" (large scale constellation view). An "In the Finderscope" and an "[object] at low|med|high power". A minor quibble is that the finder images are for an inverted: South/top, West/Left view (i.e. not like my RACI finder!). The object view is North/Top, West/Left. Although I should doubtless learn to "invert" the image, I invested in an additional, cheap 6x30 inverted finder. (Uhm... In my copy (5th printing 2005 - Data upto 2011 etc.), there are about 30 pages of "Winter" objects? ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blinky Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 30 pages eh? Need to have another look. All I can see for winter is 10pages or so of Cassiopea and its clusters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G1ZmO Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I have "Turn Left" too but it is a hardback and as such is hard to keep at the right page unless you weigh them down. I think spiral bound books are the business for use at the scope. I have also some telrad charts and scanned charts from other books which I have laminated and put in a folder which is also very handy.I'm sure my "Turn left" has more winter pages than just cass. Will check when I get home tonight.Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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