Rookie in Melbourne

[soundscape]

Hi All!

I'm just starting out in hobby astronomy and wanted to introduce myself, and ask a few beginner questions.

I got my first telescope for Xmas 2013, a Celestron AstroMaster 130 (with standard equatorial mount and accessories), and only had the chance to use it once so far.
I took it out to my folks place in Yarragon, VIC on a pretty clear summer night, but was only about to get pretty ordinary, shaky sightings of Jupiter and Saturn.
I was using the 10mm eyepiece at the time, and I was wondering if I need to buy a sub-10mm eyepiece to get a better view? Or is the shakiness more symptomatic of atmospheric conditions/telescope setup? Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

I was also wondering what you guys can recommend for good viewing spots to the north of Melbourne. I live in Preston and I'd like to get out with the scope more often, so anything within 1-2 hours drive N/NE of Melbourne I'd like to know about.

Thank you guys!

[barx1963]

Hi Soundscape and welcome to IIS :welcome:
Firstly with the view of Jupiter or Saturn. There are a number of factors that contribute to the "shaky" view. Firstly, if the planets are still low, the atmosphere can seriously degrade the image. Secondly at higher powers, any shakiness in the atmosphere is more apparent, and your 10mm eyepiece is fairly high power for your scope. Thirdly, at higher power any small movements of the scope are magnified, and these basic EQ mounts can be a little less stable than others. So overall I probably wouldn't try higher power as your best bet is to try for better atmospheric conditions.

As to viewing locations, we are running the Snake Valley Astro Camp near Ballarat over the new moon weekend in March (March 20-23) which has excellent dark skies, on site accommodation, kitchen dining hall etc. Camps are a great way to meet other observers and learn about gear and how to use them. The thread with info about the camp is here http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=130984 and you can PM me if you have any queries.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Moon]

Hi soundscape
The ASV has a dark sky site (http://asv.org.au/facilities) for members up near Heathcote. There is a public event coming up on Sat March 14th the annual "Messier Star Party" you are most welcome to attend. You can bring your scope and take look through the clubs' 25 inch to see how it compares :-)
Details will be on the website soon. http://asv.org.au/
James

[traveller]

Welcome to IIS soundscape,
As Malcolm said, the shakiness can be from atmospheric seeing or mount or both. Assuming you have the mount properly balanced and on a solid surface, you should get plenty from your standard 10 and 20/25mm EPs.
As for nice spots, snake valley and heathcote are both good spots. John (Scagman) has a nice spot in kinglake area which he invites a few ppl over at times.
Cheers,
Bo
Ps, just realised you are from Preston, so we are neighbours!