Quote:
Originally Posted by Monstar
Is SkEye android only, I can't seem to find it in the iPhone App Store. I have iPushto and it is ok to get you in a rough area, I'm laying it on top of the scope just by hand so that may be why. I recently bought a planisphere, as I'm a noob, and this seems to be the better option for me at the moment, I'm finding star charts incredibly confusing. I've searched for a "how to" guide but can't seem to find one aimed at my level, anyone know of one?
I've also found that planning what to search for before hand is important to me as most of my observing is done from my backyard or balcony and the observable portion of sky is partly blocked by my house. I also enjoy the 'hunt' anyway but after some time it would be nice to just press a few buttons to show me a position of a target.
|
Hi Johnny, you're holding a push-to device with your hand? Is that an Argo Narvis unit? I wouldn't expect too much accuracy from hand holding a device but I think you're finding that out
.
Johnny, keep your learning curve simple. Go slow. The sky is not going anywhere. The best advice I can give- in my experience anyway- which is how I started, is this:
* Stay in that same patch sky. South is a great place to "stay" as there's so many goodies in a fairly small patch of sky- around the Southern Cross, Carina and Vela.
* Use the planisphere. It's simple and non confusing and only gives really bright easy to see & find objects on it.
* Start learning the 26 brightest stars in the sky. Start with the ones that are in season now. These are your guide stars to show you where the constellations and objects are. They will become old friends of yours & you will get excited seeing them each season, I bet you!
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/con...brightest.html
* Learn how to measure the sky with your hand. This way you will know how far away from that bright star the object is.
http://oldthoughts.wordpress.com/200...ing-your-hand/
* Get a computer sky programme. Stellarium (is free) or Starry Nights. Amongst many things it will help you with, it will tell you how many degrees away from those bright stars those objects are. Then you measure the sky with your hand and can see for yourself where it should be.
Eventually- it won't take too long trust me- star hopping will become much easier and a lot more fun. And rewarding! If I can do it, anyone can- I've always been hopeless with road maps but I can now read the sky pretty well- so there's your incentive
.
I always recommend time spent star hopping before going to push or go-to devices. Aside from getting a connectivity with the sky that manual star hopping gives, it also assists greatly when looking for things out of the ordinary like faint objects such as asteroids, comets and supernovae and your newly acquired skills will excel here! And also when your devices fail and batteries go kaput
.
And read posts #13, #14, and #15
here by moi
.
Practically everything you need to know on how to get you started is in those posts. And most of all- take your time and enjoy! You will definitely get there as I did.
All the best.
