Another new Melbournialien!

[insphere]

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! :astron:

[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???

[Jeff]

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]

East side.. Mt. Evelyn to be specific. :)

[Robbie_tee]

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]

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... :ashamed:

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]

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

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!

[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.

[Eggmoon]

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 (http://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]

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]

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.

:thumbsup:

[Eggmoon]

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]

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]

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]

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]

YES!!

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

[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:stargaze:

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

[GrampianStars]

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/Planispheres/Astrovisuals-Planisphere/506/productview.aspx

Good Hunting :thumbsup:

[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.

[insphere]

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-William-Optics-Planetary-Long-Eye-relief-Eyepieces-/150925162867?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=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.

[Suzy]

Sheeesh with me the hubby is glad to throw me out the house with my telescope- he's guaranteed that's a good 5,000 words less he'd have to hear from me that night. :rolleyes:
Amazing the difference between a guy with a scope and a girl with a scope isn't it... :rolleyes: :lol::lol: Many times I've even been locked out. I swear. :help:Banging on the door to be let in at ungodly hours:help: is not an impression I want to leave my neighbours with.:screwy: On the upside, he pretty much buys me whatever I want to keep me out there. :D Uhmmm that's good right..:question: Whatever I'm doing now, I have to do it better as I want gear for sn searching. :lol: Welcome to the endless empty wallet syndrome of this hobby & we LOVE it when people ask what to buy. :P




My advice- don't get anything yet unless you're fully well educated in what's involved with purchasing eyepieces to suit your personal needs. Treat good quality eyepieces as a valued investment in this hobby- money you don't want to be spending too often- and you wont' if you get it right the first time. ;) Read through the eyepiece forum for a good education. A couple of very educational threads can be found in the links given below. Do this at your leisure and don't rush it. Yes, better quality eyepieces will offer you better light transmission thereby giving better contrast for faint fuzzies to be better visible, thus enabling more detail to be observed. That being said, it's very obvious the difference between even observing Jupiter through a plossl compared to a better quality eyepiece- ten fold. Sharper, clearer, more detail, more contrast. I keep my 10mm plossl so I can show people the difference between it and a premium eyepiece. :lol: But for the time being they're fine and good enough, you still get to see plenty of stuff thru it and make the hobby enjoyable and that's what it's all about right?!. :thumbsup:

The Best EP Under $200 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=59484&highlight=5mm+suzy)

Help On Choosing A Premium 14mm Eye Piece (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=71653)





You can't go past Australian Sky & Telescope Magazine. Each month a map of the sky is given along with lots of observing targets for that month given in detail.

Visit the Observational and Visual section (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=8) of our forum. While you're there, look at the top of the page- there's a sub forum there called "Observation Reports" (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=8). Plenty to learn here - read, read, read. You'll get some great ideas from here as to what objects interest you that you want to chase down as well as how they appear through a telescope.

Also, refer to this website monthly-Southern Sky Watch
(http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm)Every month it tells you what goodies to look for in the sky for that month.



Just a few tips....

1) Learn the brightest stars in the sky.
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/brightest.html (http://www.astro.wisc.edu/%7Edolan/constellations/extra/brightest.html)
This will help when it comes to finding constellations.

2) Learn the greek alphabet (in lower case).
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/lan.../answers.shtml (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/language/greek/label/lowercase/answers.shtml)
This will help you read maps better. ;)

3) Learn how to measure the sky in degrees using your hand.
http://oldthoughts.wordpress.com/200...ing-your-hand/ (http://oldthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/measuring-distances-in-degrees-in-the-sky-using-your-hand/)

4) Get some computer software.
Both my dobs purchased thru Ozscopes and Sirius (Saxon) came with Starry Night software. This programme will help teach you the constellations as the move around the sky and make no sense :rolleyes: and will also give you a zillion targets to keep you happy with. You can also measure (by dragging the mouse on the object) the angular distance between a star and the object. Then proceed using hand measurements mentioned above when looking at the sky. Otherwise, download Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/) (but I find Starry Nights much better).

5) A Planisphere.
Most definitely as you can take it outside with you (unless you get a software programme on a lappy that you can take outside). If you choose the latter, be sure to use low powered battery mode so the screen isn't so bright or better still, cover it with red cellophane paper so it doesn't ruin your dark adaptation.
The planisphere will teach you the sky no matter what time of day or time as the stars rotate around. Remember when I said it can be confusing, well this will definitely help.
I got mine from here (http://www.austskyandtel.com.au/BooksProducts/tabid/643/language/en-AU/Default.aspx) from Australian Sky & Telescope for $14.95 and love it.
I've gone one step further with it and have cut out using post-it notes (the sticky strip), little arrows, which I can peel off and stick on zillion times over for the point of interest on the disc. :D Comes in handy for marking places on maps in my books too!
I wonder if I can get rich selling sticky arrows :D



Some Useful Links for Telescope Observing:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/astr...tartright.html (http://www.wwnorton.com/college/astronomy/astro21/sandt/startright.html)

http://www.asignobservatory.com/inde...d=88&Itemid=65 (http://www.asignobservatory.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=65)

http://www.fjastronomy.com/?page_id=1092

ww.astro-tom.com/messier/messier_files/observing_tips.htm (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/ww.astro-tom.com/messier/messier_files/observing_tips.htm)

http://http://www.visualastronomy.com/2008/01/ten-essential-astronomy-accessories.html (http://http//www.visualastronomy.com/2008/01/ten-essential-astronomy-accessories.html)

How to master the art of averted vision (http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/feature/how-guide/how-to%E2%80%A6-master-art-averted-vision)

A useful video by the staff of Orion demonstrating how to colimate a telescope (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAVGcGEBmCE)

http://http://sites.google.com/site/southernastronomer/ (http://http//sites.google.com/site/southernastronomer/)
You can't go by this!!!!
Rob H from our forum has made these charts- they are brilliant & many of us use them. Print them off and pop them into plastic sleeves and file them in a ring binder.



I like and use this site and I find it pretty reliable so far. :D Everything you need to know for a good nights observing- cloud cover, seeing, transparency etc!
http://7timer.y234.cn/index.php?product=astro&lon=153.017&lat=-27.533&lang=en&ac=0&unit=metric&tzshift=0&site=

Don't forget! The moon widget on the left hand side of the blue menu bar on this forum. If you click on it, it will give you the all important rise and set times of the moon. You don't want to be observing deep sky objects when the moon is out as it washes out the sky making those faint fuzzies very hard to see.

For question regarding books, I'll have to continue it on the next post as I'm pretty certain I'm coming close to limit of words per post I'm allowed here. One day I'll get myself moving into doing this into a proper article to be posted in the Projects & Articles section (blue menu bar), which should have been done aaaaages ago. I embarrass myself now with these long posts! :rolleyes:

[Suzy]

This is a continuation of my previous post....


The Messier book along with Collins "Stars & Planets" are my right hand at the scope.


The Southern Sky Guide (David Ellyard)...
I just could never get into this book.
For me, I find the maps difficult to read and having the constellations broken up makes it even harder. The descriptions on the facing page aren't well laid out either as the object descriptions are merged thru large paragraphs instead of being listed.


Hartungs Astronomical Objects for Southern Telescopes...
I did a thread on this a while back.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=63394&highlight=ha rtung's (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=63394&highlight=hartung%27s)

This is an observers companion book describing the objects beautifully. There are no maps however. Anyone that owns one of these books, displays it with pride of place on their bookshelf I'm sure (as I do).




In summary...
I doubt that you'll find one book that will do it all. Like me, you'll probably find that you'll wind up with several books and maps. Some books cater for the brighter objects and are quite easy to read and navigate thru, others are intense, some books cater more for "observing", i.e. more a teaching guide on techniques and what to look for in objects (such as Stephen O'Meara's Deep Sky Objects- Messier Objects- fantastic book, and Hartung's), some books list the astrophhysics and objects of interest better or clearer than others, etc. I have lots of books/maps- each used for different observations.



- Stars & Planets (http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stars-Planets-Ian-Ridpath/9780691135564) by Ian Ridpath & Wil Tirion
One of my favorite hard working books. Covers general astronomy at the beginning of the book and the rest is dedicated to maps with the facing page to each map detailing objects of interest and the astrophysics. It will tell you what the spectral classes of the stars are, nice doubles to look at, and each object of interest nicely detailed. Beautiful pics accompany them. Each constellation has its own map- very easy to use. Great book for beginners. Even though it's more specific to telescopes, many of the objects and stars in it are viewable through binos or the naked eye. I highly recommend this book also.

I've attached some pics here for you...

130080
130081




The Night Sky Observers Guide. (http://www.willbell.com/HANDBOOK/nitesky.htm)
The Night Sky Observers Guide series is a great book. It's quite intense and covers a ton of deep sky objects with finder charts for everything, sketches on lots of objects, and observation notes as to what can be see through different sized apertures.
At the beginning of each constellation it gives a large table listing of binocular objects and stars of interest. It's a hard cover book with a whopping 504 pages!

There are a lot of dso's in this book more specific to larger scopes, but there's still plenty of stuff in it for 8-10" scopes, not a lot for 4-6" scopes, and pretty much favors 12-14" and in particular 16" scopes. Many feel this book is a bit advanced at beginner level as it goes quite deep but I love this book and wouldn't be without it.. a book I will grow into as I get more experience. Many of us on here own this book/series.

Our own Paddy has done a wonderful review of it here in this forum.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/46-627-0-0-1-0.html



Atlas of the Southern Night Sky. (http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/search?searchTerm=atlas+of+the+sout hern+night+sky&search=search)
Another thick and fantastic book. Beautiful colour photographs, descriptions of the objects, followed by a map on the facing page.
Paddy has done a review of this book also (good work Paddy!)
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/bookreviews.html



Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas. (http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Sky-Telescopes-Pocket-Sky-Atlas-Roger-Sinnott/9781931559317)
Being spiral bound, it's easy to handle on your lap by the scope as it stays open. It's filled with a ton of goodies that go deeper than "Collins Stars & Planets", but for a first book, I would recommend "Stars & Planets" first because the pocket atlas book is mainly maps. The Pocket Sky Atlas even has a Telrad circle to use with it's maps.
It's so cheap at only $20 from the Book Depository in the UK (free shipping!) - great value!



Deep Sky Companions: The Messier Objects, by Stephen O'Meara. (http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780521553322/Deep-Sky-Companions-The-Messier-Objects)
It's an observing book and tells you all the little details to go look for, and also a little black & white pic (for every object) of what to expect to see out of your telescope. Lots of sketches too- so you can really get a nice sample of what to expect at the eyepiece. He observed with only around 4 inches of aperture, so everything he says is within reach for most of us. Some astro physics are given on each object too, and basically its about a page per object. It is a hard working companion of mine.

130082
130083




Galaxies And How To Observe Them (http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Galaxies-How-Observe-Them-Wolfgang-Steinicke/9781852337520)
I love this book- it's a teaching guide on how to observe galaxies- everything you need to know is in this book!
The link I've given has a google preview for it.

"This book is a unique work satisfying the need for a modern, comprehensive review of all major aspects of galaxy observation. It is the only book to specialize on visual observation of galaxies and will appeal to beginners and experienced stargazers alike.

This book is a unique work satisfying the need for a modern, comprehensive review of all major aspects of galaxy observation. The book combines the physical background on the nature and data of galaxies, the relevant instrumentation and viewing techniques, and finally the targets and their individual appearance in telescopes of various apertures. A comprehensive sample of galaxies, including quasars, groups and clusters of galaxies is presented. This combination of theoretical knowledge and practical information guarantees successful observing sessions. Furthermore, the book is clearly structured with outstanding images and graphics."

[insphere]

Wow Suzy!

Amazing post, thanks for your help.

Heaps of good advice here, I'll be sure to keep referring back to it!!