Guides on what is best viewing.

[Marios (Marios)]

Hi Guys


To help make a descision on which object is the best to image this time of year are there any online guides?. I imagine objects rise and fall away from the Zenith.?

[traveller (Bo)]

Hi Marios,
Get a copy of Stellarium (free), set your coordinates, and you can have a virtual tour first.
Plenty of objects to image, including Eta Carina, M42, Pleaides, 47 Tuc, the Jewel Box (a bit low), watch out for the moon...
Bo

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Bo's suggestion is good. There are several other free planetarium programs like Cartes du Ceil, C2A and Hallo Northern Sky.

Tonight's Sky gives you a list of what is visible today, and you can choose from types of objects as to what it shows.

[pfitzgerald (Paul)]

I use SkySafari (iPhone, iPad, Tablet) as it has a 'Tonight's Best' feature as a menu option.

However, it isn't a free program like Stellarium. Although I notice that the iPhone/Tablet version isn't free either.

Paul

[Marios (Marios)]

Originally Posted by traveller

Hi Marios,
Get a copy of Stellarium (free), set your coordinates, and you can have a virtual tour first.
Plenty of objects to image, including Eta Carina, M42, Pleaides, 47 Tuc, the Jewel Box (a bit low), watch out for the moon...
Bo

I actually have Stellarum, I should have thought of that........

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

maybe try the moon and Jupiter - which just reached opposition so its pretty much at its max apparent size for a while. Mars in the mid early morning.

all the best
Russ

[Tony_ (Tony)]

2 of my favourite websites (both free) for searching for objects are:

1. messier45.com

you can use this to search by constellation, magnitude, size, object type etc. It then shows an image of the object and location maps. It has objects from most of the deep sky catalogues and links to other websites. It is one of the most extensive and easy to use search sites that I have found so far.

2. Worldwide telescope

This is a photographic survey of the whole sky - you can search for objects that look interesting, it also gives information about its magnitude etc.

Regrads,
Tony.

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Long long ago when dinosaurs ruled the Earth and books were popular, Burnham's celestial handbook was the guide of choice. I still have pleasant memories of curling up in bed on a rainy night, flipping through the pages planning my next session on a clear night. There's probably an electronic version available somewhere...

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Tonight ... Possibly an aurora if you get away from the city lights

[RickS (Rick)]

Another option is to just look at what is being posted in the Deep Space forum

[Screwdriverone (Chris)]

Calsky is another good one that shows you little thumbnails and when the best time to view/image is.

I have found a number of pretty galaxies with this, when all Stellarium shows is a little yellow dot.

It's great

Chris

[Marios (Marios)]

Originally Posted by Tony_

2 of my favourite websites (both free) for searching for objects are:

1. messier45.com

you can use this to search by constellation, magnitude, size, object type etc. It then shows an image of the object and location maps. It has objects from most of the deep sky catalogues and links to other websites. It is one of the most extensive and easy to use search sites that I have found so far.

2. Worldwide telescope

This is a photographic survey of the whole sky - you can search for objects that look interesting, it also gives information about its magnitude etc.

Regrads,
Tony.

Thanks mate just what I was looking for a quick preview and some recommended beginner targets.

[Marios (Marios)]

Originally Posted by cometcatcher

Long long ago when dinosaurs ruled the Earth and books were popular, Burnham's celestial handbook was the guide of choice. I still have pleasant memories of curling up in bed on a rainy night, flipping through the pages planning my next session on a clear night. There's probably an electronic version available somewhere...

You're absolutely correct, I just missed out on Gen Y by a year so no excuses. I remember those little hard bound things with scribble lines and pictures.

[Marios (Marios)]

Originally Posted by rustigsmed

maybe try the moon and Jupiter - which just reached opposition so its pretty much at its max apparent size for a while. Mars in the mid early morning.

all the best
Russ

I'm going to try Jupiter this Saturday, if the weather holds at Mt Martha.