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Old 09-02-2020, 05:40 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Startrek is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Sydney and South Coast NSW
Posts: 6,057
I’d recommend you download the latest version of Stellarium on your laptop or desktop. It’s a free planetarium and will enable you to learn the motion of the night sky and it’s objects hour by hour , night by night , year by year
After I purchased my 10” Bintel dob nearly 4 years ago , IIS members back then recommended to me to down load Stellarium to get to know the night sky and within a few nights observing over a month , I had a reasonable understanding of the motion and objects in the night sky including notable stars, clusters and Nebula and of course the planets
I initially looked at the cardboard Star charts and constellation wheels etc.. so confusing , Stellarium was like my “live” window into the universe, so intuitive and so many features. You can fast forward time to see what’s up there hours , days and weeks later.
I still use it for observing to identify locations of objects. Previously I use to plan a nights observations with the laptop next to me on a small fold out table and select objects noting there locations via notable stars ( star hopping ) Now I have a 12” Goto dob and don’t need to star hop anymore , but it taught me a valuable lesson in knowing the night sky all year round
For my imaging I use Stellarium to navigate to my objects using a program called EQMOD
Stellarium is a valuable tool for any amateur astronomer, beginner or intermediate to experienced
Cheers
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