Locating Planets

[Michael8t1]

Hi Folks,
I am new to the hobby and recently purchased my first scope which is a Celestron Nexstar 130SLT. I have been pressed for time but managed to get it out for short viewings over the past fortnight. I am hopeless!

I can find the moon :) which has been fun to look at. I know that saturn is visable at the moment but i tried to find it over the past 2 outings and came up short. I am trying to find it by myself with out the "go to" option. I downloaded a star map app on my phone and i have the one which came with the scope, but i am having no luck. I was trying to view what i thought was Saturn, but even under a 6mm Ep, all i got was a bright object with no defining detail.
What is my best star mapping method or option? How did you learn?
I have a weekend away in the country and want to have something down prior to that.
Thanks for the help

[raymo]

Why don't you use the Go To? If you can't get it up and running in 15 minutes there's something wrong. You can do the alignment routine
using any three bright objects; you don't have to know the names of any
stars.
raymo

[Somnium]

Welcome to the hobby and to the boards :)

a couple of thoughts on pointing your scope, first make sure you can identify which object in the sky is Saturn. this shouldn't be too difficult, Saturn is one of the brighter objects in the sky. i have used planetarium apps before and they work pretty well when you manually direct them rather than relying on it being accurate when you point to the sky. find some reference points like the moon and bright stars like Antares (which is bright and orange) from there you should be able to have some confidence that you can find Saturn. then make sure your finder scope is aligned to the actual telescope, it can be adjusted while pointing at a known target like the moon. slew your telescope to point at Saturn, centre in your finder scope then look through your main scope. Also the GoTo function is never going to be perfect (at least it hasn't been for me) unless you have a high end mount and perfect calibration but it will get you 95% of the way. also, when looking at planets you generally need high magnification. in your scope with a 6mm eye piece, Saturn will still be small (although i would have thought you could see the rings), a barlow will help to magnify it and give you the views you are looking for, 650mm of FL is not really enough.

Happy hunting !

[N1]

Know how to figure out where the ecliptic is, ideally without any gadgets. Otherwiese flat batteries or some silly malfunction means you pack up and go home. Not good. A good way to achieve that is to know your constellations, especially those along the ecliptic/zodiac obviously (Scorpius is arguably the most prominent of those). The planets will always be near that line.

Edit: Saturn, for example, is currently near the front end of the Scorpion. It is by far the brightest object in that area. See attached pic, taken a couple of months ago. The view at present is still close enough to this.

[PSALM19.1]

Hi Michael...welcome to a rewarding but sometimes tough pass-time! Be encouraged, you will slowly start to know your way around the sky...I started with a much smaller scope than yours and it had no 'finder scope' on it or Goto...so I just kept at it! Using the Goto is fine BUT I do think there is some kind of satisfaction when you can find things yourself...:)

[xelasnave]

Welcome from me.
Try using ep higher than 6mm until you find what you seek.
Try to get as wide a field possible and increasing when on target.

[Shiraz]

another thing that can help is that the planets are not quite point sources so they do not twinkle much - look in roughly the right area for Saturn and pick out the bright "star" that appears steadiest.

[sil]

6mm eyepiece is probably going to be a disappointment unless you have great seeing and its a quality eyepiece. Start with something more like 20mm, the view will be sharper and the wider field of view helps to navigate around.

[Michael8t1]

Hello again friends. A little update...I have successfully located Saturn and have had many opportunities to view it over the past few weeks. I was looking at the monthly sky chary from sydney observatory and saw Mars is going to be close to Saturn this month. I tried looking for it based on the chart but had no luck. Any help?
Thanks guys

[BeanerSA]

The most recent star chart on their site was for August, and I didn't see any mention of Mars on it. Even if it did, it would be incorrect.

Do you have a link for the chart you are using?

[bugeater]

Mars is visually close to Venus, Jupiter and the sun at the moment. Not sure if you can see it easily due to the sun's glare, but it will rise a bit before the sun.

[ZeroID]

That also puts it about as far away as it can be on the opposite side of the solar system so it will be extremely small and probably glared out. I'd give it a miss for about 6-7 months and we might catch up with it a bit by then.

[Michael8t1]

http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/category/astronomy/monthly-sky-guides/page/2/

Its been up for a little bit already.

This map also shows that mercury will be visable in the fortnight. Will this also be tough to view?

[BeanerSA]

That is a starchart for September 2014! The star info will be pretty close, but the planets will be way off!

Mercury is visible in the west, just after the sun goes down at the moment. It is the brightest object in the western sky. (until the moon starts to crescent)

Use these charts instead http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

[ralph1]

I also use a 650mm focal length telescope, and Saturn is clearly 'Saturn shaped' even with a 30mm eyepiece, the rings becoming visible using a 15mm.

On the evening of the 19th, The Moon will be close to Saturn, with Saturn being below and to the left of the moon.

I used the Go To to find the planets when I was starting out, but learned the sky by looking for fainter objects, which because of the Go To's innacuracy weren't in the centre of the field. I am using the Astronomy 2015 Australia Quasar Publishing yearbook for the planets and the Bright Star Atlas 2000.0 for fainter objects.