question

[james]

what do i need to know the degrees and location of waht i am looking at.
will a compass be good or is it something else?

[gaa_ian]

Hi James
There are 2 types of measurments
ALT (degree's above the horizon)
AZ (compass bearing)
EG: ALT 45 +45 deg. above the horizon
AZ 90Deg (from north)

Equals Up 45 Deg & in the east.

There is a more complez RA & DEC measurement
Someone else can explain that one :P

[atalas]

james a good place to start is the sky chart out of a S&T astronomy magazine . Find you brightest stars and the you can go from there.
You will see what I mean when you try It.


Louie :astron:

[james]

well the 2 brightest stars i seen was jupiter and 2 stars so close to each other.

[seeker372011]

James

what you need to do is go to

http://skymaps.com/

and down load a skymap for the southern hemisphere

that will give you a great list of stuff to look for with your new dob


start with the Bino objects and then go on to the telescopic objects..and with your dob you can just star hop( go from the nearest bright star to an object of interest) and dont really have to worry about the co-ordinates ...just for the moment, when you are just starting out

[ving]

try to learn you bearings in you backyard (or whereever you observe) as this will help tremendously. if you know where north, south, east, and west are from you observinf position then you will know which direction to look when you find something on your skychart. use a compass to get your bearings if you like.

use bright stars on you skychart as guide stars as they will be the easiest to see inthe sky and then starhop from there. :)

ps: get a skychart.
once you get to know some of the constellations it becomes easier :)

[toetoe]

Hi James,
As the posts say above, get a skymap/skychart/starmap and now where North, South, East and West are and it will help a great deal. What i did was look at the chart and find the brightest star then find it above my viewing location then hop from that star to another bright star and so on. I did not worry about the fainter stars as i found it easier to use the bright ones first. I did it this way because i became flustered trying to find everything at once. Start on the bright ones then work your way around the the dimmer ones bit by bit and you will be set once you master this. I am still doing this method myself as i am still trying to read the sky.