I got my scope for using once in a while on nice nights, to view planets and a few other objects, and to take on camping trips. Unfortunately the bug has bitten me badly (and the mozzies too) and I'm out every other night it seems.
What I'm really looking for is a book, guide or web site for beginners that lists easy to view objects with average scopes in light polluted suburbs (Southern hemisphere obviously), preferably with some images that roughly correspond with what you can see through the scope (not fancy astro-photography images)
The problem I have at the moment is that I sometimes don't know if I've got the object in my EP and that I just can't see it, or if I'm in completely the wrong area. I don't know if this is limited by my aperture (127mm/5"), the bad light pollution or both. I'm not interested in the GoTo route as that's spoiling it a bit for me.
"H I-43 (M104) is one of the brightest galaxies in the heavens, being visible in the smallest of telescopes even under bright-sky conditions."
Smallish scope under bright skies describes my set up. Will I be able to resolve it as a galaxy, or will it just appear as a blob once I've found it? I've only tried once quickly but found nothing.
Another is planetary nebula. Should I be able to find the Blue Planetary Nebula with my scope? What should I be looking for? I've seen the great astro-photography shots of this PN but what do I need to be looking for in my little monochrome view of the sky? I'd love a book that would tell me if there is even a point trying to find objects with my set up in a light polluted area.
So are there any books like this that anyone could recommend?
Although I have a number of other resources I still use this book a lot.It is an excellent and simple guide that will help you find deep sky objects (including double stars, open and globular clusters, planetary nebulae, galaxies, nebulae). It lists 5-6 objects for each constellation visible in southern latitudes, all of which are reasonable targets for amateur scopes, has simple charts, black and white images which are a reasonable approximation of what you will see.
Also worthwhile for planets and events which vary over time is Astronomy 2009 available at Bintel, York etc. Mike also sells them at the start of the year through IIS so it might be worth PMing him to see if he has copies.
Turn Left At Orion - Guy Consolmagno
Star Watch - Phil Harrington
They aren't dedicated to the Southern Hemisphere, but they're both great beginner books. They both have explicit instructions on how to "navigate" as well as sketches of what the view is through the eyepiece.
You should be able to see the Blue Planetary - it will look like a dim planet, blue/grey in colour. It's a tricky one to locate - lots of stars to hop through! Here's what I recorded through a 100mm refractor from Melbourne...
NGC 3918 - planetary nebula in Centaurus
Date: 2008/03/03 at 2300 EDT
Location: Melbourne
Telescope: 4" F5 refractor on alt-az, 11mm, 49x, 1.7 deg
Conditions: moon=-, dew=-, wind=-
Seeing: 6 (Pickering)
Transparency: 5
Notes: Star hopped from Beta Crucis across to Delta Crucis, kKept going through chains of stars until I got to the Blue Planetary. The planetary was easy to hold with direct vision at 49x, and a blue/grey colour. I bumped the power to 154x and studied it for around 10 minutes, but it didn't give up any more detail. Perhaps slightly oval.
I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm but I have a 12" scope and wouldn't bother with most galaxies or planetary nebulae in the suburbs. Too much light pollution.
The theoretical limiting magnitude for a 5" scope is 12.5 but the practical limiting magnitude is probably closer to 11. In light polluted suburbs, depending how far out you live, you could probably take off another 2 magnitudes, which would make your scope's effective limiting magnitude nearer to 9. Anything above magnitude 8 is going to appear quite dim and anything above 9 virtually invisible. So, even the "bright" Sombrero at magnitude 8 will be quite dim.
There are plenty of open clusters, globular clusters and double or multiple stars you can look at brighter than magnitude 7. As well as the Moon and planets. Save your planetary nebulae and galaxies for the camping trips.
If you are in Southern Sydney, you can always join the Sutherland Astronomical Society and do some viewing at Waterfall. If in Western Sydney, join us at WSAAG and do some viewing at Linden.
Robh - I'll agree about the galaxies from surbubia (although a few should be in reach), but there should be a good selection of planetary nebula he could find.
I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm but I have a 12" scope and wouldn't bother with most galaxies or planetary nebulae in the suburbs. Too much light pollution.
........Anything above magnitude 8 is going to appear quite dim and anything above 9 virtually invisible. So, even the "bright" Sombrero at magnitude 8 will be quite dim.
Hi Robh,
Thanks for this info, don't worry about dampening my enthusiasm, I'm quite happy to be realistic, I just want to know what's possible and what isn't.
With the tip of using a revised magnitude limit I'll have a better idea of what I can look at. Of course some parts of the sky for me are worse than others eg. West of the SCP lies the city, so it's practically daylight in that region and almost no point aiming anywhere near that.
Thanks Goober I'm going to give the Blue PN another shot and see if I can see anything. I don't mind if things are too dim, I just need practice finding them so when I do go camping I know where to look and then can appreciate the view more.
Also thanks to the others for the book recommendations.
Three other things that will help you on your way. The first is the free software Stellarium. This excellent 3D software which will show you the night sky as it will appear to you. Available for PC, MAC and Linux systems. http://www.stellarium.org/
The second is for when you are away from your computer and that is a Planisphere. This is a complete star chart which you can rotate behind a window which represents your local view of the sky at any given time of day for any given day of the year. You can pick one up for less than $30 at many book-shops as well as astro shops. Phillips puts out a 12 inch diameter plastic one which won't be effected by the dew. York optical sells a couple of types http://www.yorkoptical.com.au/ including the Phillips/ Make sure you get one for the Southern Hemisphere - 35deg. South
The third thing you'll need is mozzie repellent.
Robert
Thanks for that. It was actually playing around with Stellarium that got me interested in astronomy again and prompted me to buy my scope
The only problem with it is that it doesn't give you views for different types of scopes in different conditions. There are of course the light pollution settings, but once you zoom in to an object they don't impede your view. Stellarium gives you views of perfect conditions with a perfect scope. This is why I was looking for a more realistic guide or list of objects that are easy to see with my set up, with illustrations of what I should expect to see.
Nevertheless Stellarium is an amazing piece of software and I can highly recommend it as well. I actually managed to find the Blue Planetary Nebula and the Sombrero Galaxy last night (there was a short gap in the clouds) I used the telescope control settings in Stellarium to draw circles of my FOV for my finder scope and widest eyepiece. I reversed the view for the more zoomed in screen shots to match my mirrored view through the EP.
I then inverted the colour, desaturated and posterised the images so that they were perfect black and white with Gimp and then printed them. (see attached example)
I had no problem finding my targets this way.
Of course with the bad light pollution and my small scope, both targets were so dim, that if I wasn't 100% sure that they had to be in that spot I would never have seen them.
The Blue PN appeared slightly larger than a star, in blobish form (no disernable colour though). The Sombrero was just a slight smudge of slightly greyer sky whilst using averted vision. (The light pollution and haze last night was some of the worst I've come across since starting though)
So all in all, no real point viewing from home, but I'd have no trouble finding them again, now I know how to star hop to them. So I'm looking forward to my first "Dark Sky trip". I was probably in the right place the last time I'd tried but was expecting brighter objects but after Robh's post I realised I'd have to look real hard.
Last edited by xnomad; 03-04-2009 at 10:25 AM.
Reason: Minor mistakes, and added attachment
All I can say is, "Well done!" now that really is using Stellarium to its fullest. There is however a simpler way of getting star charts from it though. Under "Configuration" you can set up the save location and also reverse colours. Then, just press CTRL S and that takes a snapshop of the image and places a *.png file on your desktop. Double click on the file to open it into Window viewer and print.
Another equally good and free chart program, although not as spectacular as Stellarium, is Cartes du Ciel.
The Blue PN is fairly feint blurry blob in Melbourne suburbia too, although I can see the blue color. A lot depends on the night. But you can't beat dark skies!
Robert
I'm back to see how you went.
Looks like you made some real progress.
If your still looking for some straightforward maps and target objects, download "Night-Sky Objects for Southern Observers" free from my website. It is a pdf attachment called MAPS & OBJECTS. I basically set up the site for this document. I have bought several atlases but in all of them you have to turn the constellations to the north upside down to get the right orientation. That's one of the reasons I did these maps. Just ignore the dimmer objects in the suburbs. You soon get hooked on star-hopping and its the best way to learn your way around. http://sites.google.com/site/southernastronomer/
My contribution in the Year Of Astronomy 2009!
Regards, Rob.
Woah, I'm glad I started this thread. I'm drowning in excellent material. Many thanks guys!
Rob, thanks once again, some great maps there!
Glen, excellent find! Those ebooks are spot on, I've had a quick skim and there appears to be heaps of great information in them.
Paddy, thanks for your info, I went down to the local library and borrowed "Atlas of the Southern Night Sky" some good info there too. I might get my own copy if I find I can't part with it.
I'm in touch with another library to see if I can get "Turn Left at Orion" on loan from them. Well it's cloudy tonight so I'm going to be doing a fair bit of reading.
I tried finding Sombrero and the Blue PN last night again without the maps and just from memory and I found them instantly. Then I got ahead of myself and just for fun I tried to find Centaurus A. Haha, yes why bother but I had to have a go. I reckon I found the spot but nah nothing happening there far too dim.
Then I took a shot at Anatares (I've only viewed it through binos before) it was hanging in the misty glow above Manly. What a sight! I don't know if it was the bad seeing but it was like a traffic light gone mad, blinking green, orange, red and blue. [edit] It must have been the sea mist causing it to refract as it hasn't done that the last few times I've looked at it [/edit] My favourite star so far, and in my Astrological constellation too.
