Another new Melbournialien!

insphere (Adam) · #1 02-01-2013, 07:44 PM

Hello!

I thought I'd just introduce myself before I start posting.

I'm Adam and I'm from (How'd you guess) Melbourne. I'm 21 years of age.

On my 21st birthday I opened my girlfriend's present which happened to be the book 'Illustrated Encyclopedia Of The Universe' by Martin Rees. Along with a brand new Celestron 70AZ Telescope. She bought me these as she realized my interest in Astronomy.

So after some general planet observing and light reading here and there and my interest progressed, I decided to buy myself another telescope, this being a Sky Watcher 8" Dobsonian which I purchased from eBay so I could look at some more distant objects. (I'm lucky to live in a dark area!).

Which brings me here, I'd love to attend star parties and expand this new found hobby as I really love the glory of the unknown!

My other interests include, Music, Computing, Gaming, Traveling and Photography (I'll get a T mount soon!) and then there is other little phases that I often get over. Astronomy will never be one of them!

So please to meet you and I look forward to learning and discussing Astronomy with you.

Also, sorry in advance for a lot of 'noob' questions that I may ask in the future!

Cam (Cam) · #2 02-01-2013, 10:28 PM

Gday Adam. Dont worry I've been her a while and still ask noob questions. You will get a lot of good advice here. In relation to star parties what part of Melb are you in???

Jeff · #3 03-01-2013, 01:11 AM

Welcome Adam.
The ASV has some decent star parties.
The NAG (New Astronomers Group) is also pretty popular.

ASV details can be viewed at:
http://asv.org.au/

Cheers,
Jeff

insphere (Adam) · #4 03-01-2013, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam

Gday Adam. Dont worry I've been her a while and still ask noob questions. You will get a lot of good advice here. In relation to star parties what part of Melb are you in???

East side.. Mt. Evelyn to be specific.

Robbie_tee (Robert) · #5 04-01-2013, 08:07 AM

Hi Adam,

Welcome. Astronomy is one of those areas that there is so many diff areas its hard to lose intersest in it.

If your interested in Star parties and meeting people with the same interests you should look at the Astronomical Society of Victoria. Well worth the membership and members are always happy to help.

Here is a link to the ASV website. Worth a look
http://asv.org.au/ (Never mind this looks like Jeff got in before me

) lol

Clear Skies mate

Robert

Eggmoon (Geoff) · #6 07-01-2013, 11:17 AM

Adam,

Your girlfriend bought you a telescope??? She is a keeper mate... dont let her go!!!

My wife refers to my telescope as my mistress... complains that Sally (The telescopes name) gets more of my time than she does... this is of course not true at all... well... maybe a little on some weeks...

Yes, get the T-Adapter... I have been totally LOVING taking images... a huge challenge, soooooooo much to learn, but worth it. I am only a begginer myself... had my telescope for about three months now after a many year gap from my original scope.

Mt Evelyn... nice... you would get a good view from there. But still, if your trying to get to the fainter objects the light pollution will still hurt you. Planets, moon, no problem for photo's, they are bright enough that you basically bypass the pollution with fast shutter speeds. Anything Deep Sky... you end up with yukky glow everywhere. 2 solutions... a filter (or 2 or three) to block the bits you dont want... or get right out of town. I sometime drive past you on my way from Doncaster to Lake Mountain for a nights viewing... the stars are just AWESOME out there... seriously worth the trip.

Have fun... it is a great way to spend time... looking up and wondering....

Geoff.

insphere (Adam) · #7 08-01-2013, 07:10 PM

She has good taste! I don't plan to.

What scope do you possess?

Yeah, where to buy one though?! I checked eBay.. only ones are from China?

It is brilliant living there, I'm more near Silvan which is even better.

But yes, I have spent a few nights finding deep space objects but I haven't been successful. Still trying to find M31 and the Crab Nebula amongst others. I'll have to find some specific spots! Where abouts in Lake Mountain? Do you just park wherever or find a certain 'IIS' secret spot or something?

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eggmoon

Adam,

Your girlfriend bought you a telescope??? She is a keeper mate... dont let her go!!!

My wife refers to my telescope as my mistress... complains that Sally (The telescopes name) gets more of my time than she does... this is of course not true at all... well... maybe a little on some weeks...

Yes, get the T-Adapter... I have been totally LOVING taking images... a huge challenge, soooooooo much to learn, but worth it. I am only a begginer myself... had my telescope for about three months now after a many year gap from my original scope.

Mt Evelyn... nice... you would get a good view from there. But still, if your trying to get to the fainter objects the light pollution will still hurt you. Planets, moon, no problem for photo's, they are bright enough that you basically bypass the pollution with fast shutter speeds. Anything Deep Sky... you end up with yukky glow everywhere. 2 solutions... a filter (or 2 or three) to block the bits you dont want... or get right out of town. I sometime drive past you on my way from Doncaster to Lake Mountain for a nights viewing... the stars are just AWESOME out there... seriously worth the trip.

Have fun... it is a great way to spend time... looking up and wondering....

Geoff.

Varangian (John) · #8 08-01-2013, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insphere

She has good taste! I don't plan to.

What scope do you possess?

Yeah, where to buy one though?! I checked eBay.. only ones are from China?

It is brilliant living there, I'm more near Silvan which is even better.

But yes, I have spent a few nights finding deep space objects but I haven't been successful. Still trying to find M31 and the Crab Nebula amongst others. I'll have to find some specific spots! Where abouts in Lake Mountain? Do you just park wherever or find a certain 'IIS' secret spot or something?

Thanks!

Hi Adam, just thought I'd let you know that M31 is basically gone and will return at the end of October. Also, the crab is a hard target at times. have you tried more readily accessible targets that are high in the sky like LMC (and the Tarantula Nebula contained therein?) or the globular cluster Tuc 47 in Tucana just to the lower right of the SMC? M42 in Orion? Much better targets, all very beautiful. Clear skies.

Eggmoon (Geoff) · #9 09-01-2013, 09:15 AM

Adam,

Lake Mountain.... I just go up and set up in the car park of the ski resort... not seen another person anytime I have been there... well... one of my kids came with me one time. They leave the gates open all the time in the summer months... once snow starts they lock the gates at night to stop people going up and getting stuck.

T-Adapters?? Try a telescope shop... I usuall shop at www.bintel.com.au and got my t-adapters, filters, eye-pieces, powermate... etc there. I think they have half my years wages. There is another scope shop called Ozscopes or something, but I have not checked that one out yet.

My scope is a Meade 8" LX90... it's in my signature block. A lot of people on here do that, so you can generally see what they are using.

Geoff.

insphere (Adam) · #10 09-01-2013, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Varangian

Hi Adam, just thought I'd let you know that M31 is basically gone and will return at the end of October. Also, the crab is a hard target at times. have you tried more readily accessible targets that are high in the sky like LMC (and the Tarantula Nebula contained therein?) or the globular cluster Tuc 47 in Tucana just to the lower right of the SMC? M42 in Orion? Much better targets, all very beautiful. Clear skies.

Thanks for that info.
Haha as you can see I need to do a little more research. I will look into some of those! Is there an online resource that can help me find southern sky, backyard telescope targets for different months of the year?

Varangian (John) · #11 09-01-2013, 09:50 PM

www.stellarium.org/

See link above, critical resource. You download the program for free and then punch in your coords (Melbourne's is fine) and and then it will show you 360 degree views of the night sky in real time (i.e. what is directly above your head at night at that given time at that time of year).

I found a heap of stuff backyard observing using this program, Tuc 47, M45, M42, M31, Eta carinae, Jewel Box, Omega centauri, clusters around Scorpius, nebs around Sagittarius, it's a great program. Make sure you click on the nebula tabs and the constellation tabs at the bottom and it will show you where all (most?) of the DSOs are and it will also name them as you zoom in. Have a good look at the program and then go out and find them! Let me know how you go.

Eggmoon (Geoff) · #12 10-01-2013, 12:16 AM

Agreed.... always good to look at Stellaruim to see whats what. And the "Astronomy 2013 Australia" book that I got from Bintel... has so much in there about what to see and when. Always on my coffee table and handy for some browsing.

insphere (Adam) · #13 10-01-2013, 07:01 PM

I'll definitely be needing a good field book so I might check that out and also buy myself a sky atlas.

In regards to Stellarium, I had this installed on my computer already. But I underestimated it's potential so I will try and use it more! It's a great program. That and the 'Sky Map' app.

Is there another resource though? Like the brightest objects to locate for each month? With Stellarium, I need to know what I'm looking for but I'm unsure as obviously catalogs vary at different parts and times of the world.

I have another question, in regards to space weather & cloud coverage.. where do I find information about this? I checked BOM's 'space weather' but I don't think it's what I'm looking for.. either that or I have no idea how to read their graphs and charts.

I might take a big drive today! But I don't know if it's a good idea to drive so far if when I get there I see no clear skies :\.

Thanks!!

Eggmoon (Geoff) · #14 10-01-2013, 08:55 PM

I dont know about the other publications around, but the Astronomy Australia one I mentioned does have a monthly section which lists various highlights, planet information, not so much on the deep space objects for each month. But it has a list of deep space objects at the back with a column that indicates when each is at it's highest in the sky if that helps.

Varangian (John) · #15 10-01-2013, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insphere

I'll definitely be needing a good field book so I might check that out and also buy myself a sky atlas.

In regards to Stellarium, I had this installed on my computer already. But I underestimated it's potential so I will try and use it more! It's a great program. That and the 'Sky Map' app.

Is there another resource though? Like the brightest objects to locate for each month? With Stellarium, I need to know what I'm looking for but I'm unsure as obviously catalogs vary at different parts and times of the world.

I have another question, in regards to space weather & cloud coverage.. where do I find information about this? I checked BOM's 'space weather' but I don't think it's what I'm looking for.. either that or I have no idea how to read their graphs and charts.

I might take a big drive today! But I don't know if it's a good idea to drive so far if when I get there I see no clear skies :\.

Thanks!!

For cloud/seeing/transparency forecasts try Skippy Sky and/or 7timer. They source the same data I believe. For the brightest objects in the sky try the 2013 Astronomy book that eggmoon suggested. It provides a month by month coverage of the night sky. Cheers.

Eggmoon (Geoff) · #16 10-01-2013, 11:22 PM

YES!!

www.Skippysky.com.au is a very valuable resource.... good call! I use that site almost every day....

insphere (Adam) · #17 11-01-2013, 01:08 AM

Well so I ended up driving somewhere a bit further than Mt. Evelyn. I ended up in Kinglake in a nice spot away from all the trees. I really wanted to drive to Lake Mountain, but my girlfriend wouldn't allow it -- and thankfully she didn't because if she did then by the time we got there we would see nothing but clouds!

But thankfully in Kinglake we got about an hour gazing.

And I found some new objects too with my 8". Things like Orion's Nebula and the Pleiades. Nearly caught the LMC but then we lost it within some clouds. Saw some others I've seen before like Jupiter and Sirius.

Amazing though, Orion's Nebula looked like a small weirdly shaped cloud amongst all the stars. Really cool to look at! Got it with my 10mm and 20mm. The Pleiades didn't look as detailed as I would have thought but still awesome nonetheless.

Overall quite a nice drive there and back whilst having wonderous conversations with the girl about the universe! Ah how it makes us wonder

Excited to go back out there and find some more!!

GrampianStars (Rob) · #18 11-01-2013, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insphere

......
But thankfully in Kinglake we got about an hour gazing.
And I found some new objects too with my 8". Things like Orion's Nebula and the Pleiades. Nearly caught the LMC but then we lost it within some clouds. Saw some others I've seen before like Jupiter and Sirius.
.......
Excited to go back out there and find some more!!

Here's some easy ones for your scope......
Also get youself one of these "Plamisphere's" if you haven't one already
http://www.bintel.com.au/Accessories...oductview.aspx

Good Hunting

Varangian (John) · #19 11-01-2013, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insphere

Well so I ended up driving somewhere a bit further than Mt. Evelyn. I ended up in Kinglake in a nice spot away from all the trees. I really wanted to drive to Lake Mountain, but my girlfriend wouldn't allow it -- and thankfully she didn't because if she did then by the time we got there we would see nothing but clouds!

But thankfully in Kinglake we got about an hour gazing.

And I found some new objects too with my 8". Things like Orion's Nebula and the Pleiades. Nearly caught the LMC but then we lost it within some clouds. Saw some others I've seen before like Jupiter and Sirius.

Amazing though, Orion's Nebula looked like a small weirdly shaped cloud amongst all the stars. Really cool to look at! Got it with my 10mm and 20mm. The Pleiades didn't look as detailed as I would have thought but still awesome nonetheless.

Overall quite a nice drive there and back whilst having wonderous conversations with the girl about the universe! Ah how it makes us wonder

Excited to go back out there and find some more!!

Hi Adam, where did you go up at kinglake? Being in the inner north of Melbourne I'm always looking for a safe dark site and Kinglake is only 45 mins for me. Much shorter than the 1.30 mins to LMDSS. Regards, John.

insphere (Adam) · #20 11-01-2013, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Varangian

Hi Adam, where did you go up at kinglake? Being in the inner north of Melbourne I'm always looking for a safe dark site and Kinglake is only 45 mins for me. Much shorter than the 1.30 mins to LMDSS. Regards, John.

Sorry actually I forgot, it wasn't Kinglake at all! We did end up driving around Kinglake but we weren't successful. There was just too many trees.

Instead we ended up on 'Hunts Lane' off Melba Highway, past Coldstream.

Also, thanks for that Planisphere! Perfect.

Maybe I'll purchase that Bintel Accessory Pack which includes a Planisphere, a red torch and the Astronomy 2013 Australia guide.
3 Things I need!

In terms of expanding my eyepieces. Would the following be a good investment? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SET-of-Wi...item2323d73973

I just have some stand no name plossls that came with my scope. I'm assuming they aren't that great of quality and are restricting my viewing potential? Currently I have a 10mm and a 25mm.