Newbie Intro/Question

[snoops]

Hi All,

Firstly fantastic forum, I only found it tonight while browsing the web.

I bought my first telescope yesterday and I set it up tonight (I am in Launceston, Tas).

I purchased a SkyWatcher 102mm Maksutov-Cassegrain on EQ2 Mount. I got a 10 and 25mm Super Plossi (I am still researching the meanings of all this) ;).

Anywho, I got it all setup and started with the moon (I also got the a moon filter) - which makes a massive difference - doesn't burn my renta out after a 20+ seconds. Fantastic!!! I am now hooked...

Then I went searching for things, I am using some demo software called Voyager 3 - which seems pretty good once I got my head around it - but all I can seem to find are bright stars - I tried to look for planets - I think I may have found Uranus - but it looks like a colorful star ?!?

My question is - with the above telescope should I be able to view planets or get any sort of detail ?

Thanks for any information - though I may be doing something wrong - but I will keep looking till the sun rises ;)

Thanks againfor the great forum - I will be doind alot of reading now.

Cheers,

SnOOps

[ballaratdragons]

Hi Snoops, welcome to the madhouse!

Yep, your Mak should show you quite a few things. Uranus does look a bit like a bluish star unless you increase the magnification a bit more. To recognise if it is Uranus, it should look like a small (very small) disc rather than a bright pinpoint of light.
I am not familiar with Maks and their observing capability so don't take too much creedence in what I say :lol:

If you are going to stay up all night you will be able to see Saturn quite easy in the low East about 4am. It looks fairly good even in el-cheapo scopes so your Mak will show it great!

The best way to spot a Planet amongst the Stars is that Planets don't twinkle, Stars do. Find it using your 25mm Plossl (Plossl: type of eyepiece). Once you've found it, centre it in the Eyepice and switch over to the 10mm Plossl. Then you'll see the rings of saturn quite clearly.

You'll get lots of tips in here, so keep asking. :thumbsup:

[snoops]

Phew - Thanks for your response, I was crossing my fingers (after reading the forums on here) that I had blown my money and should have bought a dob ;).

I will keep a look out for Saturn - this is really amazing stuff - I even woke up my 5 year old son and got him rugged up (pretty cold/high winds etc..) and showed him the moon - he loved it - he still thinks it is made of cheese though and my wife wanted to see the American flag they put on the moon in the 60's .. pfft... I can't win em all.

Thanks again for your reply, you have helped out a great deal.. no wonder I was having some troubles - I was only using the 10mm and found it very frustrating trying to line up my red dot scope ;).

Cheers,

CJ

[stephenmcnelley]

Snoops a red dot or reticle finder does make things hard to find if you are learning the night sky, fortunately the odd 2nd hand magnified finderscope comes up sometimes for sale new or second hand at the forums. Your scope is capable of showing most all the local planets, but without great detail, and also bright deep sky objects under the 8th magnitude like the Orion nebula, Andromeda galaxy and various others that are even dimmer at dark sky sights with little light pollution.
Half decent eyepieces are the key to satisfying viewing as many others have said before, and the EP's you get with a scope are often lacking in terms of the width of the field of view but your super plossl's are probably good EP's. If the mirrors and plates of a scope are its heart and soul then the EP's are its brain, i can only recomend to use the search funtion on the toolbar above to help answer most basic questions at first.
Enjoy and clear skies to you and yours i often wish i owned a little Mak:)

[styleman333]

Hiya there Snoops
The technical side of the convo ill leave to the guys knowing what they are on about to .....but im a newbie to this hobby too and this forum . Great bunch of people here who do everything they can to help ya out , its awesome .But anyway welcome mate ,
Happy Viewing
Steve

[acropolite]

Hi snoops, welcome to IIS, another Lonny boy, you can get a free printable skymap for the southern hemisphere with a list of targets (Stars, Planets etc) at this site (http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html). There are a group of us in Lonny that get together every month on the new moon at Photon's place (Although I usually manage to miss it :( ).

[toetoe]

G'day snoops and welcome to IIS :thumbsup: Sounds like your hooked good and proper, and with the moon making it hard to see the night sky, just wait till there is no moon and see the difference in the night sky :eyepop: enjoy your stay here.

[matt]

Hi Snoops:hi:

Get along to a meeting of other IIS members in Lonny.

Best way to learn and I'm sure they are good company:D

[Tamtarn]

Hi Snoops

Welcome to IIS you'll gain a wealth of help and info here. :hi:

One of the first purchases to make is a guide to the night sky book called "Astronomy 2007 Australia "

This is a must for beginners. It has monthly charts of what's happening in the sky, such as the position of planets to the nearest star to help you find it, and much much more.

You can get it from Bintel Melbourne they have it on special for $20

You can order by phone ...... 03 9822 0033

Or on their website http://www.bintelshop.com.au/welcome.htm and click on Books in left column

Barb & David

[snoops]

Hi All,

Thanks so much for your welcome's. I would love to meet up with other ppl from Lonnie to get some tips and see just how some experienced ppl do certain things (ie. getting the EQ mount setup so the elevation and azimuth - if I get my terminology correct - are perfect etc..) - as I am on a huge learning curve. I will order that book ASAP (thanks Barb/David) and thanks for the link Phil. Can I assume that meeting places in Lonnie are posted to this site or is there a website etc ? - EDIT: Sorry phil I misread your post and thought "Photon's place " was "Photon's Phase" i.e: when the moon was full or something .. haha.. I'll PM Photon ;)

I had to give up at 5am this morning - the moon had dissapeared around 3am-ish- and it was real dark, makes a huge difference - but I still could not find Saturn - makes me want to go out again tonight ;)

Yes I am hooked - this is amazing - I can't wait to get some friends to look through the scope now.

Thanks again !!

[Ric]

Hi Snoops, welcome to IIS, you'll find lots of great people here to asist you with this great hobby. I've been hooked for 30+ years and the enjoyment only increases.

cheers

[Tamtarn]

Thought this may help in finding Saturn Snoops

This is a small section from the sky view for December in Astronomy 2006

20266

Try from around 2am Saturn will be higher on the horizon

Barb

[ballaratdragons]

Snoops,

Here is a diagram from a program called Stellarium, which shows realistic style night images. It shows you Saturn (I have circled it for you) amongst the stars. It may help you recognise the area. It is in the North East. Just star-hop using the image.

This is Saturns exact Location at 3am tonight. :thumbsup:

You might be able to just see the Horizon at the bottom of the pic.

[ving]

hiya snoops!

got a few lonny boys here i believe. you should hoook up with some of them for an observing night :)

sounds like a great scope you have there :)

[MakMan]

Hi SnOOps and :welcome:
As a fellow Mak owner I'm sure you'll find there is plenty to observe through your scope to keep you busy for quite a while!

In addition to "Astronomy 2007 Australia ", may I also recommend you visit http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html and download the lastest skymap. It's a great tool for beginners. In addition to a skymap for the current month it also lists a number of objects visible for the month using "naked eye", "binoculars" and "telescopic".
You can subscribe here http://www.skymaps.com/index.html to get an email each month when the new map is available.

PS
Sorry Phil, just noticed your post
Cheers

[rmcpb]

Snoops,

If you are running Windows then you HAVE to download Cartes du Ciel (http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/). It has to be one of the best free downloads available.

Also, if the moon tickles your fancy then Virtual Moon Atlas (http://astrosurf.com/avl/UK_index.html), a big download but worth every MB.

BTW welcome to IIS :)

[snoops]

Thanks all, I have not been able to stay up again to view Saturn, but will probably try again in the next few days. I will check out all those programs and thanks "BallaratDragons & TamTarn" that helps alot...

I should get the Astronomy 2007 Australia in the next day or so - I am really looking forward to it. These forums are great - I have also picked up alot of tip from reading through the forums.

Thanks again!!

[Shawn]

You stumbled in the right direction , great bunch here..

Good to meet.

S

[RB]

G'day SnOOps,

Welcome mate !

:hi: