New Member

[Grantly]

Hi there my name is Grant , i live in Greensborough vic , i am very new to astronomy , it has always been something ive enjoyed talking about and i never done anything about it . Unitll now i got a telescope given to me and its Skywacher sw450 144mm/4.5ich with a focal length of 900mm . Well im after some tips , what can i expect to see ? LOL i look up in the sky and see heaps of stars what are they . Basically im asking what do i do from here ? I want to see the moon but seems to not be around at the moment , will my scope be able to see Saturn , Jupiter , i beleive the answer will be yes but hey will small and i lil blurry . I know alot of you guys here will say get a dob , i very well might , but i would like to get to learn my around this one and see some sights that would just persue me to go get a better scope , i would like to get the best out of this one first before i start spending money . Any tips would be much appreciated and listened to .....

Cheers Grant

[barx1963]

Hi Grant and welcome to IIS :welcome:
You will be able to see heaps with your scope. Saturn is the only planet really visible unless you wait until just before sunrise. To see saturn go outside early in the evening. Low in the eastern sky you will see 2 bright stars a bit over a handsbreadth apart. The right one is Spica the britest star in Virgo and the one on the left is Saturn. You should be able to see the rings clearly and at least one moon (Titan).
Next try for the Jewel Box cluster in Crux. Find the southern cross. At the moment the star closest to the horizon is Beta Crucis (Mimosa) the jewel box should show as a faint glow below and to the right of it in your finder. When you look at it in the main scope you will see a triangle of bright stars with a red star near the middle and a glowing group of fainter stars.
There you are, one cluster and one planet!
You didn't mention, is your scope on an equatorial mount or an alt az mount?
Anyway good luck with your endeavours

Malcolm

[Brian W]

Hi Craig, your 4.5 will allow you to have a lot of fun, develop some skills and amaze you.

Unless you already have star charts I would suggest downloading Stellarium a free planetarium system that will show you what is up in the sky real time.

Once you get your scope collimated properly some but certainly not everything will be blurry. I started with a 4.5 short tube and when set up properly there is a lot that it will show you from a dark site.
Brian

[ZeroID]

Hi Craig and :welcome:.
I started with a cheap $50 4.5" nearly a year ago and was amazed at what I could see including Nebulae ( have a look at Orions Sword ), Globular Clusters ( Omega Centauri and 47 Tuc) and planets, (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus so far).

I've since built a 10" Dob, started astrophotography and rebuilt my 12 x 50 binoculars. I am now awaiting a big solid EQ6 Pro mount to arrive so I can re-use my 4.5" as an Astrocam after modifying it for even better viewing.

Nothing wrong starting with a 4.5" but be warned it can rapidly lead to aperture fever and dissappation of your wallet contents. The folks on here will happily help you acheive that state with maximum enjoyment. And get Stellarium, a free and excellent learning tool)

( Have a look at Orions Sword asap, it will soon be gone till next year ) :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Liz]

I 2nd getting Stellarium - its free and many of us here use it.
www.stellarium.org (http://www.stellarium.org)
Pop in your coordinates and it will show you whats up there at moment.

Also, M42 in the constellation of Orion, is spectacular, as Brent said.

Buy the latest Australia Sky and Telescope for latest info, and it has a handy middle page with the night sky at the moment.

www.skymaps.com (http://www.skymaps.com) has great chart for the southern night sky too.

Is a huge learning curve that we have all been through, so enjoy!!

[Iceaxe]

Hi Grant and welcome to IIS:welcome:
Here is my two cents. Like you, I'm fairly new to astronomy.

Can I suggest joining a club / society (at least check it out).

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/clublistings.html#VIC

The info you'll pick up is mind blowing, there is more to astronomy that looking in telescopes, stuff like :- Spectrograph, Collimation, ect
The wealth of knowledge and experience of the members is great.

Hopefully I was able to help you.

Regards

Joe