Patience is a virtue?

[sarahb]

Ok, so I was up and down more times in the night than a tarts knickers, looking for the tiniest gap in the clouds so that I could take my first look through my telescope. All I have managed to achieve is a sence of frustration and the need for a good sleep! I have been browsing this excellent site and surfing the net all morning looking for some information that will help me once a clear sky appears. I have taken some notes about the things that I think I must do/know/get/understand/save up for and wondered if you kind folks can tell me what I am missing for a complete novice.

• 
  [li]must allow for 'cooling down'[/li]
  [li]set latitude[/li]
  [li]Buy planisphere[/li]
  [li]learn constellations[/li]
  [li]learn basic terminology[/li]
  

Cheers everyone

[geoff_k]

Hi Sarahb

There are always a lot of questions when you are starting out.

It would help to know what bits and pieces you have already and the sort of things you want to look at.

Geoff

[CELESCOPE]

:lol:now i just love that intro , ehhehe Hi Sarah , welcome , yes loads of things to start with , guess its best to learn the sky first , then from that , decide what you want to do , carry on viewing , or to take images , , i,m sure there will be plenty of advice coming your way ,

Rog

[Jamie]

:) Hi Sarah welcome to Stargazers

Have a nice time.

[garymcgrory]

hi Sarah,

Try and persevere with your nighttime fores- unfortunately the weather is a cruel mistress/master and it toke me about 2 weeks to get any clear Sky's when i got my first scope. Suppose it gives you plenty of time to get down to the library/bookshop and get some reading done.

The most important thing to do is to get outside with a good map of the sky and learn to use your instrument, when you find your first planet and your first star cluster or deep space object (DSO) you will know why you're outside in the cold! good luck and hope Sky's clear for you/all of us soon.

Gary

[magician]

Welcome Sarah,

Like learnig to drive, or a new language it takes time,but this is the place to be,

read the archived stuff, all your questions will have been asked, and answered before, by people who know what they are about, you have got your scope you are on your way!

Cheers Frank

[sarahb]

I have a celestron powerseeker 114. I suppose someone out there knows what that means?! It was such a surprise to get a telescope for xmas; my darling partner knows I have always loved to lay under/walk under the stars and just think about what might be going on up there - I guess that we will be able to do alot of that together now.

It came as boxed set with two eye peices - a 20mm and a SR4. It toook me quite a while to put it together, as the instruction seem to presume you have an idea what all the pieces are called - thank god for illustrated instructions!

Obviously, I want to look upwards, but am not sure what I can look at because I have no idea about telescopes - although I think that it is quite possible that I will 'get the bug' and invest in whatever accessories / equipment that I need [but thats for the future] I must say that I do like the idea of photographing anything that I see and could see thats the direction I will take in the future and there is certainly enough inspiation on your image pages- but for now I will patiently await clear skies and try to do some research so I know what I can relistically look for with the equipment I have - first is the moon!

[barkis]

Hi. Sarah,

I like yourself am new to the SGL, but you will learn that all the help you need will be available to you from these guys. There is a vast pool of knowledge when you need it.

Your new telescope is a fine instrument for an introduction to the hobby. Might I suggest that if the instrument has not got a drive to enable you to track the objects in the sky, you try to get yourself a lower power eyepiece and just pan across the sky at your leisure. Drink in all the lovely sights you can without worrying about how to find certain targets. That will come later when you become more proficient.

A lower power eyepiece will allow to dwell longer on a subject before you have to manually nudge the telescope to keep it in the field of view.

Of course, if you have a driven mount, then please ignore all I have said. But a lower power eyepiece will still be beneficial to you.

Welcome to the group. And you could not have chosen a more rewarding pastime than observational astronomy. Your only enemy is the weather in the UK. Even when it is good, it is poor.

Barkis

[The Warthog]

Hello, Sarah. I must say I like your style.

A 114mm Celestron is a good place to start. I used a 114mm scope for six or seven years, with good results. You will use the 20mm ep most, as the 4 really overpowers that scope. Eventually, you can get some better eyepieces at a reasonable price. If you don't get a planisphere right away, the current issue of any astronomy magazine will have a star chart for the current evening sky that is a good place to start. Just go out with it, and spot constellations for a while, until you get comfortable with finding Polaris, particularly, and some of the brighter constellations, such as the Plough, and Orion.

Come back and ask lots of questions. That's what we do.

[mark RD]

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure your going to have loads of questions so fire away, we all like to share our knowledge so don,t be shy to ask even the silly questions.

You might want to practice focusing the telescope. Best done in the daytime to start with, If you use the 20mm eye piece to start with, look for a tree or something distant then go on the the 4 mm eye piece, you will find that with the 4mm it will take more fine adjustment to get it right. Its also worth getting to know how to move the scope to point in what ever direstion you reqire. You can also set the finder scope up in the day time, I normally pick on street lights for this or a chimney top. In the mean time get your head in a few books and definably learn your way around the sky.

RD

[Jeff RV]

Hi, Lot of good advice to be had from these people. I'd say what warthog said is spot on for a good start, You will at sometime need to locate the Pole Star in order to set up your scope, And until you know it well the easiest way is to follow a line through two of the main stars in the plough (Ursa Major) starting from ( Merak) through the brighter ( Dubhe ) x the distance by 5 approx and thats the Pole Star, The centre of the hub so to speak. And thats how you find your way around the night sky by drawing imaginary lines from here to there......Hope this helps ........Jeff.

[Kai]

I spent the first few weeks with my 114 just panning the sky.

There will be a couple of wow moments

1st time you look at the moon

1st time you see Saturn and its rings

the Orion Nebula was another wow moment for me as well

Good luck with the scope ,you wont be dissapointed

[SteelRat]

Got a small patch of blue sky above me right now. Another WOW moment - as I haven't seen the sky for AGES! (day or night). Hope we don't have to wait much longer for a clear night - though there may be wet stuff on the way soon - hmph

Edit; Yup, spoke too soon. T'was spotting with rain an hour ago - hmph again

[radioactive]

Sarah from reading your post I think you are going to do just fine you seem to have the attitude the will and determination and sense of humour needed to make this a very enjoyable hobby for yourself

Once again welcome to SGL