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Any tips for a Londoner?

Skillganon

By Skillganon
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Skillganon

Skillganon

Posted
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Hi everyone,

From london. I was at Curry/PC world at stepney (London) when I saw a telescope on display. I fell in love with it straight away and it piqued my life long interest in Astromony. I alway's wanted to watch the night sy and wanted a telescope but never had the courage to buy one as I had no Idea I would be dissapointed with the equipment given the build quality. Anyway the telescopeon display looked strudy and great build with a reasonable price.

The following night I googled for a budget telescope and came across Celestron Astromaster 130EQ (EDIT), it has good reviews for a budget telescope and being Ideal for biginners as I didn't wan't to splash out.

Come to think of it the scope that was on display was an Celestron Astromaster

I am here to learn much as I can from you guy's.

I got a question, how is the London for viewing the night sky?

Thanks.

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carastro

carastro

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Where abouts are you in London, suburbs or right in the centre.

I live in the suburbs and naked eye astronomy is very limited, but with a telescope you can see quite a lot it's knowing where to look when you first start.

I could not find the Celestron Astromaster 150EQ by googling not even on the celestron site, so I am wondering whether it is a discontinued model, but if it's bigger than the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ then you should get some good views through that and if it is motorised then even better.

If you decide later you might want to take things further and do astro-photography you could still use the telescope even if you need to replace the Mount.

Enjoy.

Carole

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carastro

carastro

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Not absolutely sure. I know some-one who does some fantastic imaging from East London.

I don't know whether you are a beginner or some-one who knows some theory and not really done anything about it. However as a test - If you know the constallation of Orion (there might be some clear skies over the next few nights), this is in the Southern sky just after it gets dark. Count how many stars you can see inside the big four corner stars and this will give you/us some idea of your light pollution. (Don't count those four corners stars). If you can see the 3 diagonal stars of the belt and possibly a faint star below (Orion's sword) then you can see four stars the same as me. Give yourself about 10 minutes to adjust your eyes to the dark before counting. I am just on the edge of the London light pollution and I do a lot of Astronomy and imaging.

You should be able to see the Moon, the planets, Saturn is rising late and will be in the evening skies end of the month. That will blow you mind. I can also see the Orion nebula, Andromeda Galaxy you can see the bright core, but most deep sky objects will look like a fuzz through a telescope as all those fantastic images you see are done with long exposure.

Hope this helps.

Carole

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Skillganon

Skillganon

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You been immense Carole help, thank's for the great tip.

My Astromaster has not arrived yet, expecting it around the 10th. I been star gazing with the naked eye, and with the help of Google Sky Map on my phone. So I am an absolute amaeture. I would keep you all updated with the progress.

Thanks. Going out for a night stroll.

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carastro

carastro

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One more tip as you are new to Astronomy. Download Stellarium which is free. This is a planetarium software and it will show you what is in the sky at night (you need to set it to your part of the world), and you can change the time, the date, and even location if you are going on holiday and want to see what will be in the skies where you are going.

You can also join up the constellations with lines and labels to identify them and also search for objects, and zoom in.

It will help yu find your way round the sky and if you don't know Orion (as mentioned above) it will help you identify it.

Carole

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samir_ansari

samir_ansari

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I live in central London and personally don't have too much of a problem seeing things. With my 100mm refractor I can quite easily see nebulosity around the Orion nebula, heres a 25 sec exposure I took of it tonight:

orion.jpg

Not that great I know but also not as bad as people might think living in the city.

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi and welcome to the forum,

Just a small comment on the scope. The red dot finder I'm afraid is not one of the best and is far too bright and a bit fiddly to adjust in my honest opinion. They enclose a planetarium which is fine but I think te suggestion of Stellarium is a go one and its FREE!

A lot of the problems with the 'budget' scope is in fact not the scope itself but the mount which in my view is too flimsy. Every time you touch the scope whether to move it or to obtain a better focus, the image keeps bobbing about. I was given as my first scope a 4" Meade on a very similar tripod - absolute nightmare, but when I later transferred it to a more solid mount the viewing experience was completely different. I don't want to sound as if I'm being too critical of your recent purchase but wanted to advise you of some of its problems.:)

Clear skies

James

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Skillganon

Skillganon

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I live in central London and personally don't have too much of a problem seeing things. With my 100mm refractor I can quite easily see nebulosity around the Orion nebula, heres a 25 sec exposure I took of it tonight:

Not that great I know but also not as bad as people might think living in the city.

Wow!! Great pic Ansari. That's a blessing to hear. I was worried for a while that I paid £128 and would not get any pleasure out of it after I found out from my brother that light polution makes it impossible for telescope.

I am really looking forward to looking down my scope. What Camera you use and how do you attach a Camera?

Also is it possible to attach a digital Camera?

Hi and welcome to the forum,

Just a small comment on the scope. The red dot finder I'm afraid is not one of the best and is far too bright and a bit fiddly to adjust in my honest opinion. They enclose a planetarium which is fine but I think te suggestion of Stellarium is a go one and its FREE!

A lot of the problems with the 'budget' scope is in fact not the scope itself but the mount which in my view is too flimsy. Every time you touch the scope whether to move it or to obtain a better focus, the image keeps bobbing about. I was given as my first scope a 4" Meade on a very similar tripod - absolute nightmare, but when I later transferred it to a more solid mount the viewing experience was completely different. I don't want to sound as if I'm being too critical of your recent purchase but wanted to advise you of some of its problems.:)

Clear skies

James

Well noted, I would look into getting a better tripod and other accessories after I get settled.

Any improvisation tips?

Thanks guys.

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Whippy

Whippy

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Welcome to SGL :). TBH, you're going to struggle to pick out all but the brightest nebulae and galaxies from Stepney (born & bred east londoner here :p ), but objects like open and globular clusters, double stars, Saturn, Jupiter and of course, the moon should be do-able. One of my colleagues on the mod team specialises in observing double stars and he lives near Heathrow!

Your 130EQ should make a good introduction to the hobby, I hope you enjoy it when it arrives :(.

Tony..

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kniclander

kniclander

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moon :) (best thing in the sky IMHO) planets, double stars, open clusters, some globulars, definitely 3 galaxies and maybe up to a dozen or so more. all in all I would reckon about a third to a half of the messiers are achievable (that's just a hunch -I've not counted )

filters will help with some things (eg planetary nebula) but not galaxies.

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Skillganon, a warm welcome to SGL, to help stop the shakes in your tripod when you get it, try suspending a bag of sand from the center, not the 25 Kilo types from the builders merchants though :) try a couple of kilo bags of sugar to start with or some items in a shopping cargo net, you will soon see if this helps.

John.

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samir_ansari

samir_ansari

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Thanks for the kind words Skillganon! This picture would be even better if I stacked it so alot more is actually possible. I do however recommend a baadar light pollution filter, it's not exactly a night and day difference but every little helps.

I used a canon 450D for that picture and attached it to the telescope using a t-ring and t-mount.

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Capricorn

Capricorn

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Search for: Baker Street Irregular Astronomers.

They meet in Regents Park once a month.

Seem a friendly bunch and would be a good start to get some information possiby help and a few ideas on where to view.

Website:

BSIA News

Next meet is March 30, Wednesday.

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