Pre-Astronomy Site Surveillance

[Debostar]

Dear Friends, thank you for your advices regading my first telescope purchase. I have still not decided to purchase a scope at the moment, but I am seriously considering the Celestron Nexstar 4SE or maybe even the 5SE.

I have read a few articles and I have realised that it would be best for me to get a little basic education on astronomy first. I have always been fascinated by the planets, but I would really like to view and know some of the brighter sky objects as well.

Over the last few days I had the opportunity to do some field work, i.e. identifying a few observation locations that I could be as far away as possible from lights and sandy places.

My flat is right above a street of bright sodium lamps and all major roads are like that. In UAE the light pollution is very wide-spread, the night in urban areas here is like the day...In fact, any road is way over-lit with more than average lights and most bigger houses have lights all along their perimeter walls. Even if ghosts did exist they wouldn't like to be around UAE!!

However...I work in a mountainous location about 40 klicks west of Fujairah and there are no surfaced roads, no lights and no people. It is an area surrounded by mountains that has even no mobile phone coverage. I kept it as my forum avatar. I could keep my scope there and do my observing from there after work or even early in the morning before sunrise. From what I managed to see today, even with a bright half-moon, with my cheap Thai binoculars that I bought from a Sukhumvit road vendor in Bangkok, the Orion Nebula is faintly visible as a silver white cloudiness...Jupiter is a nice yellow disk. The moon mountain ranges are clearly visible near the dark side. I could have viewed more objects but I am clue less of their names and positions.

I may be able to have some nice views if I get the 4SE soon...

But I think at the moment for me it is important to study my guidebook and learn the basics of the sky first.

I think that this astronomy thing is going to be quite exciting and at least interesting and educational.