Questions

[Jupiter]

I'm relatively new to Astronomy and have recently bought a 10" dob, fantastic scope, however I need some help regarding Deep Sky Objects, how long do you keep them in the fov for?, I have 'found' numerous star clusters and double stars but I am unsure how long I should keep them in the fov to get the most detail.
Secondly I don't know where to look for the dso's, sure I use star charts and have got a basic idea from that but can someone help regarding where they are and how to find?
Also the milky way looks like a treasure trove of stuff to find but what do I look for?
I know these are dumb questions but I gotta start somewhere.

[ving (David)]

DSOs are everywhere!!!

you are on a star with open clusters... seen any globular clusters?
also when looking for nebulas and the like do not expect to see what you see in pictures. most of them wont have much colour, maybe green but mostly grey... most galaxies show as a grey smear and nothing else.
do your starcharts show DSOs? there are some that do.. there are plenty of programs that will give you starcharts too. i use cartes du ciel (its free just google it)....

gah! so much to tell ya

[astroron (Ron)]

Hi Jupiter Observing is a skill that you never stop learning, you just get better at it the longer you do it, that being said when you look at an object try and absorb as much as you can then move on to the next object
Get an observing Book such as Hartungs Astronomical Objects For Southern Telescopes, and of course try and get together with other Astronomers and observe together, and also continue to log on to iceinspace and lookout for any Star Parties in your state.
Astronomy is a never ending jurney

[mickoking]

I agree with astroron, observing is a learnt skill. As well as learning to find an object you then have to learn to see it as well. You also have to get used to using your equipment and remember a telescope can only see a small portion of the sky at any one time.

Happy observing

[Lester]

Welcome Jupiter,

Another South Aussie.

[Jupiter]

Thanks Lester, I was born on the EP and lived there for 13 years. Have rellies who live in Lincoln.

[janoskiss (Steve H)]

How long to look? As long as you like. Once an object stops being interesting move on. But do try different magnifications including high power for detail.

To get you started grab a guide like e.g. Southern Sky Guide by Ellyard and Tirion comes with mag 6.5 charts (just right to begin with) that cover the entire southern hemisphere. The sky is split into some 15 or so segments and there is a page on each describing (some of) the best objects in the region. Once you've done those you can hunt down the rest of the objects on the charts. This would keep you busy for quite some time (a year and then some).

If you haven't yet, get a good pair of binoculars for hand held stargazing. 7x50 (I'd say 7x42, but that's uncommon), 8x42 or 10x50 depending on how steady you can hold them. 8x42 is shaky enough for me already. Without any charts you can use the binos to look for interesting targets to point your scope at.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

I started out by scanning the milky way with binoculars, then if I saw any brighter patches or basically anything interesting, I would point the scope to it. You can do the same thing with the finderscope on your dob as its big enough to detect many of the brighter DSO's
Try scanning the milky way areas between scorpios tail and the horizon, theres a number of nice nebula and globular clusters to see

As for how long to observe any particular object, I would say not less than 30 seconds. It can take that long (sometimes more) for the eye to see all there is to see.

Train your eye to look slowly all around the field of view while being aware that very faint objects can appear when looking away from them, and can dissapear again when looking directly at them. This is what we call averted vision. This is to do with the distribution of cells in the retina. Those away from the centre of vision are more sensitive to faint light.