Introductory Post

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

I just thought I would share my story, as people seem to like that sort of thing.

When we asked my 12y/o what he wanted for christmas, he wanted a telescope. I had to confess that although being interested in all things science, and space all my life, I had never actually bothered to "look up".

We asked all the extended family to chip and armed with a firm budget and a keyboard, I set about researching what to buy. After a couple of days research, I went back to my son, and asked him, what he actually wanted to see, and to make sure he had realistic expectations about what he would see and not be disappointed by not seeing "hubble quality" views. He was pretty cool about it, and a 6" dob came in right on budget. My neighbour has a telescope on an EQ mount that his family bought him, but hadn't seen a dob before. "How do you align it?". "Is it self levelling?" were the sorts of questions he asked. I knew I'd bought the right thing. Just drop it on the ground, point it at what you want to see. Fantastic

My son was going to count on me to guide him in this new endeavour, so I started researching all things astronomy. The internet is such a fantastic resource, obviously, and I am grateful for it.

Before christmas we headed out to a public viewing night at the ASSA's Stockport Observatory, and had a fantastic night. We were hooked. I joined us up as the fantastic dark sky site is just 30 minutes from us, and it is very affordable. Having been involved with many clubs over the years, some as treasurer, I would say it's a bit too cheap!

Our backyard at home offers fantastic dark views from the south, thru east to the north, and lousy light pollution ridden views everywhere else. The easy views were easily found. The moon is fantastic at anything less than half moon. M42 is easily found, and stunning. Jupiter at the moment is just awesome, I cannot believe it's taken me so long in life to view a planet! I've managed to find 47 Tucanae, despite being unable to see the SMC. The Jewel Box cluster near Crux. Comet Lovejoy was pretty easy to find.

Son wants to view a galaxy, and I've struggled with that one. Sculptor is in the light polluted area, and I've struggled to find anything else.

I'm have been a pretty active member on OCAU, Whirlpool and Reddit, so you might see me around there.

If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to ask.

[Kunama]

Hello Paul and welcome to a lifetime of looking up! Great to see that you will share it with your son.

[sheeny (Al)]

Welcome Paul.

Looks like you're off to a good start.

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are two of the easiest galaxies to find and view. Are you using star charts and/or a planisphere to help find your way around?

Al.

[louie_the_fly (Stew)]

Hi Paul, and welcome to astronomy. It looks like you did a lot of good forward planning there. I can see you're hooked. Lets hope your 12 year old stays interested. A Dob is a great starting scope as each session you will spend less time setting up and more time using it. Very portable as well, so you can put it in the car and take it anywhere. It's great that both of you understand and have accepted that you're not going to see all the wonderful colour enhanced images that you see on the www and in books, and it hasn't deterred you. All those years growing up looking at the saucepan, and then you finally get to see M42 in it's glorious detail. How awesome is that.

There's a few astronomy tools that will make viewing more of a pleasure and less of a struggle.

1. Download a planetarium software. There are some great free ones on the web. I use Stellarium. http://www.stellarium.org/. It's also available for android & iphone, so you can take it anywhere and wow your friends with your newfound hobby.
2. Use a planning tool so you can just go out and find stuff you want to look at. There are online & offline ones. Astoplanner is a good offline one, & I use Tonight's Sky as well. http://tonightssky.com/MainPage.php
3. This telescope simulator is good as well for getting a feel of what things may look like. http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm
4. IceInSpace forum is amazing. I've been interested in astronomy since I was just a young lad - about 40 years. Since I've been coming on here I've learned so much more than I wold have from books. Other people's experiences are a great teacher.

Most of all, use the scope as much as you can. It's important that your son sees a galaxy pretty soon so his enthusiasm doesn't wain, so I got a list of galaxies off Tonight's sky for you. It's for tonight, from 9PM for 2 hours. Then he can go to bed and not be too tired for school tomorrow. Yay... Have a crack at M74, to the west. It should appear something like the image I've attached (this is simulated through a 6 inch relfector, like your Dob, & 13mm eyepiece)


Happy viewing.

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

Originally Posted by sheeny

Welcome Paul.

Looks like you're off to a good start.

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are two of the easiest galaxies to find and view. Are you using star charts and/or a planisphere to help find your way around?

Al.

I can see the LMC with the naked eye, but haven't found anything within it yet. I can't see the SMC with the naked eye, unfortunately. We are using a combination of skycharts and stellarium. I haven't bitten the bullet on a planisphere yet.

Originally Posted by louie_the_fly

Hi Paul, and welcome to astronomy. It looks like you did a lot of good forward planning there. I can see you're hooked. Lets hope your 12 year old stays interested. A Dob is a great starting scope as each session you will spend less time setting up and more time using it. Very portable as well, so you can put it in the car and take it anywhere. It's great that both of you understand and have accepted that you're not going to see all the wonderful colour enhanced images that you see on the www and in books, and it hasn't deterred you. All those years growing up looking at the saucepan, and then you finally get to see M42 in it's glorious detail. How awesome is that.

There's a few astronomy tools that will make viewing more of a pleasure and less of a struggle.

1. Download a planetarium software. There are some great free ones on the web. I use Stellarium. http://www.stellarium.org/. It's also available for android & iphone, so you can take it anywhere and wow your friends with your newfound hobby.
2. Use a planning tool so you can just go out and find stuff you want to look at. There are online & offline ones. Astoplanner is a good offline one, & I use Tonight's Sky as well. http://tonightssky.com/MainPage.php
3. This telescope simulator is good as well for getting a feel of what things may look like. http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm
4. IceInSpace forum is amazing. I've been interested in astronomy since I was just a young lad - about 40 years. Since I've been coming on here I've learned so much more than I wold have from books. Other people's experiences are a great teacher.

Most of all, use the scope as much as you can. It's important that your son sees a galaxy pretty soon so his enthusiasm doesn't wain, so I got a list of galaxies off Tonight's sky for you. It's for tonight, from 9PM for 2 hours. Then he can go to bed and not be too tired for school tomorrow. Yay... Have a crack at M74, to the west. It should appear something like the image I've attached (this is simulated through a 6 inch relfector, like your Dob, & 13mm eyepiece)


Happy viewing.

I had literally never looked up. The only thing I could have ever identified in the night sky (other than the moon) would have been Orion's belt. An asterisms at best! Who would have known there was such a beautiful sight so near to it?!

We use stellarium on a multitude of devices, as well as a couple of other android apps. I tend to spend 10 minutes on stellarium and check https://in-the-sky.org/ before heading out, as well as a few publications that I acquire

Viewing to the west is awful for anything but the brightest of objects, due to the stupid street lighting. Thanks for the tips and info, and if we get clear skies tonight, we'll be out.

[jenchris (Jennifer)]

Ghost of Jupiter is quite a sight at the moment too.
Bright enough to pick up colour in a 6"

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

Originally Posted by jenchris

Ghost of Jupiter is quite a sight at the moment too.
Bright enough to pick up colour in a 6"

I hadn't heard of that one! Researching now.....

[mariner10 (Steve)]

G'day Paul,
Welcome to astronomy and to ASSA.
I've been a member for a few years now and they are a great bunch of people and you'll get all the support and advice you need to see you through everything you and your son want to get out of this game.
I know Stockport VERY well and I may see you up there one night. Just make yourself known and you'll be engaged in one conversation or another pretty soon.
You'll see plenty of Dobs on the pads up there on most member and public nights and the owners will be happy to show you what's what above your head.
Should be interesting to see where this hobby takes you both.
There I was minding my own business happy to observe and now I spend hours sitting down with a totally different set up taking photos.
See you at Stockie.

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

Originally Posted by mariner10

G'day Paul,
Welcome to astronomy and to ASSA.
I've been a member for a few years now and they are a great bunch of people and you'll get all the support and advice you need to see you through everything you and your son want to get out of this game.
I know Stockport VERY well and I may see you up there one night. Just make yourself known and you'll be engaged in one conversation or another pretty soon.
You'll see plenty of Dobs on the pads up there on most member and public nights and the owners will be happy to show you what's what above your head.
Should be interesting to see where this hobby takes you both.
There I was minding my own business happy to observe and now I spend hours sitting down with a totally different set up taking photos.
See you at Stockie.

Cheers Steve,

We made the Jan 17 member's night at stockie and enjoyed the dark skies. Might catch you at a future meet.

[SkyWatch (Dean)]

Hi Paul, and welcome to IIS too.

Good to see a couple of ASSA members have made themselves known, and that Steve thinks we are a "great bunch". I like your comment about the low fees too: there was lots of angst last year on the committee about increasing the fees, so it is nice to hear they aren't too high even after the increase!

Regarding galaxies: it was great to see people pointing you the right way, but I can't see anyone mentioning NGC 253 and NGC 55. They are in the west at this time of year, and while you said you have bad light pollution in that direction I think you still might be able to spot them as they are relatively bright, and quite large: NGC 253 in particular. It should be right across your field of view at moderate power. Well worth a try!

The Ghost of Jupiter is a very nice planetary nebula (the remains of a dying star): and these are another fascinating type of object that are worth chasing down as you gain experience.

All the best, and happy viewing!

Dean

[BeanerSA (Paul)]

Originally Posted by SkyWatch

Hi Paul, and welcome to IIS too.

Good to see a couple of ASSA members have made themselves known, and that Steve thinks we are a "great bunch". I like your comment about the low fees too: there was lots of angst last year on the committee about increasing the fees, so it is nice to hear they aren't too high even after the increase!

Regarding galaxies: it was great to see people pointing you the right way, but I can't see anyone mentioning NGC 253 and NGC 55. They are in the west at this time of year, and while you said you have bad light pollution in that direction I think you still might be able to spot them as they are relatively bright, and quite large: NGC 253 in particular. It should be right across your field of view at moderate power. Well worth a try!

The Ghost of Jupiter is a very nice planetary nebula (the remains of a dying star): and these are another fascinating type of object that are worth chasing down as you gain experience.

All the best, and happy viewing!

Dean

Thanks Dean. You might be able to point me in the right direction at Pembroke, if we have time