Another noob needs advice

[jp00le]

Hi all

My name is Jordon and hail from south of Perth, WA. I am new to all things astronomical. I have a Skywatcher 6in Dobsonian and recently purchased a Skywatcher eyepiece and filter set. I have just downloaded Stellarium as I have seen advised in previous posts.

I have no idea what I am doing. I can get some great views of the moon but haven't been able to find anything beyond. I am interested in viewing other planets, star clusters, nebula and other deep space objects.

The main things I don't fully understand (as well as everything else) is working out the co-ordinates of celestial bodies (I basically aim at the moon and go from there) and which eyepieces are best used for my needs.

I would really appreciate any advice that can be provided

Kind regards

[geolindon]

:welcome: Jordan,

i am also new to Amateur Astronomy, i started with magazines like Australian Sky & Telescope - good articles, monthly star chart and tours/lists of interesting viewing for that month,

then Sky map free when i got a smart phone, learnt the bright stars and easier constellations by pointing the phone n comparing the screen with the view - i realise now i was privileged to have dark skies 'cos that sure made it easier.

then the 8" dob n find my way around from charts like stellarium/printed/Wikipedia/comet chaser. a bit like u would use a street directory in an area you know - get to the general area with a few well known landmarks/stars then narrow in by star hopping using the charts.

now with the 16" i have ordered a nexus 7 tablet (android) and will be setting up SkEye app.

more conventional AND more accurate systems include Argo Navis n digital setting circles, or altitude inclinometers and printed azimuth setting circles and computer controlled Go To systems.

other IISers know far more and will chime in with great advice. all of this stuff is covered by threads you can find on the forum. have a look around n keep asking away :)

its great fun but beware aperture fever. enjoy

[CJ]

Hi Jordon. I can't help with the co-ordinates side of things but I think a lot of observers use the constellations as reference points to navigate the night sky. For starters, the night sky is at its best when the moon is'nt visible, unless of course you want to observe the moon. M42 is a classic example of this approach. If you can see the constellation Orion, M42 is dead easy to find. Search for M42 in Stellarium, go out and locate them, then use that principle to locate other objects of interest. Stellarium will show you hundreds, even thousands, of DSO's.
Cheers

[doppler]

Hi Jordon, In stellarium on the bottom tool bar you can display the equatorial grid which will give you an idea of the co-ordinate sytem.

Jupiter is an easy planet to view at the moment, its the really bright star to the east.

Have a look at Ian Musgraves monthly blog page it has easy to use info on finding the brighter stuff. http://astroblogger.blogspot.com.au/

Cheers Rick

[astro_nutt]

Hi Jordon and welcome to IIS.
Firstly, your 6 inch dob is a good learning scope for the night sky. You don't too many complications. Start off simply by recognizing the constellations and the bright stars within. These are your key stars that outline the constellation. From there you will recognize the fainter stars within the constellation and the various objects to view. Get to know your finderscope, and look along the barrel towards the area of sky you wish to view. Take note of the difference in magnification. Use the lowest power eyepiece, that is the one with the highest number, e.g. a 32mm would be most suitable to view a decent patch of sky. Relax and allow your eye to adjust to the level of light from the object you are observing, (this can take a minute of so) You will then begin to see more detail the more you look. Draw up a map of the constellation you wish to observe and when you find something interesting, mark it down for future reference, then you can increase the eyepiece power a little. I hope this helps.
Cheers!

[Cazamoline]

:welcome:

I'm a newbie too but am finding the wealth of information on these forums so useful and inspiring.

[Visionary]

Dear Cazamoline,

I am with you all the way. I have no idea and no excuse for not having got involved in astronomy much earlier. I guess I am now making up for lost time. The assistance of the experienced hands inhabiting this forum is so valuable! The learning curve has been both steep and at times intimidating but some encouraging words and wize words from the experienced hands has helps enormously. So to the experienced hands....... Cheers

[chuckywiz]

Jordan if you ever feel like a short trip up the freeway one night im more than happy to show you around the sky a little and the potential of your scope. Im an amateur too but im starting to have quite some success imaging now.. just need help with processing..

[ZeroID]

Processing help is here

http://myastroimages.com/Astro_Imaging_Tutorials/Learning_To_Use_PhotoShop_Curves/

Say thanks to Rustigsmed (Russell) for this. I was having heaps of issues getting good pix out of my sessions and this made a huge difference. You'll need Photoshop though to use it and that can be found for free on www.snapfiles.com (http://www.snapfiles.com) in the Free, Graphics section. It's only PS2 which Adobe released to free use last year but works perfectly for me in this capacity. License code is included on the snapfiles page. ( safe site for downloads btw and there is other good software there as well ).

Another very useful piece of software is Noiseware Community Edition. Again it's free and comes from Softonic but just untick all the extras it tries to download as well and get just the software itself. It's ok after that, no nags or anything.

And take Ben up on his offer, a bit of collaboration is always a good start. :thumbsup:

Welcome to the learning cycle....it's fun :D

[Eden]

This is the sort of camaraderie and willingness to assist that makes IIS such a great place :)

[Wombat68]

Am in the same situation as you Jordan....as I am sure are many others.
Always been fascinated by the stars and should have found an excuse to plunge into things alot sooner.
Recently upgraded to an 8" Dob and apart from the obvious things to find its really hard tracking things down....great fun tho especially just looking around sometimes and seeing whats up there.
Stellarium is a great tool as is the book 'Turn Left at Orion'
Still leaves you to do all the legwork of finding it tho but those are both great references to help tho

[ZeroID]

For the wannabee imagers take a look at Imaging the Southern Sky (ies?). Written especially for us Southern Hemisphere types and some good advice and ideas within.