Been interested in Astronomy for 5 minutes

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

I suggest before you purchase any new bits of gear, get yourself, son, family, & scope to a star party, informal or with an Astro club, & see what some of this other gear looks like, & even how it performs in your scope.

Until then, the gear you have is fantastic to get going for a long time still!

Mental

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Sounds like good advice to me Alex (suffered gear acquisition syndrome when first getting into DSLR photography a few years ago).

Out of interest, should there be any focus adjustment on the finder scope. Even the moon looks out of focus at this early hour but the lens appears to be clean.

[Allan_L (Allan)]

The focus adjustment in the finder scope is usually at the fat end. {technical term}.

There's a locking ring behind it which is released first.
then You focus by twisting/turning the main lens cell.
Once focused, tighten the locking ring again.

Thats how my Skywatcher finder scope works anyway.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Yes Alan , I think most ( if not all, out of east asia ) finders focus this way .
Brian.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Brilliant....had to back off the locking ring a long way before the focus ring did it's job but now the moon is in focus.

Once again the forum members come through

[Suzy]

Hi Gary &
Now that's what I like to hear- someone who's done their research and read thru the forums- good on you!

I don't think anyone ever forgets their first Saturn experience. It's very much like the "first time" of ..... ahemm you know what I mean- only better. No one's yet been able to make my heart palpitate like Saturn did.

You may be interested in an article which I did, listing easy to find, bright targets for beginners for what's in our sky at the moment. The LMC- if you're up for a very late night or early wake up call, should be high enough around 4am (check Stellarium). It's not on the list but will be in my forthcoming Summer list when it rises earlier. So much to explore there- it's crazy seeing star clusters and nebula in another galaxy!

The Virgo galaxy group isn't on my list as they're faint and may require a bit of experience to star hop and find- but have a go- it's in our sky at the moment. There are something like a thousand galaxies in Virgo! Just in one degree of sky alone, you can find 10 galaxies as in Markarian's Chain (which includes Virgo A- a giant elliptical galaxy & radio source). If you get a chance- & if you're up for a challenge- and you're 10" will be very capable of performing this task- have a go! Start with your 25mm to find it, then swap to the 10mm to observe. When I tried the 15mm on my 10" dob each time I've looked at them they were very tiny, the 10mm brought them up bigger & better to observe them.

Highlights of the Winter Sky


Regarding the focal lengths of your eyepieces, as a guide:
The 9mm & 6mm will be good for planets (going to 6mm depends on sky)
The 15mm & 10mm will be good for galaxies (sometimes the 6mm if the galaxy is bright enough and conditions are good)
The 15mm will be good for globular clusters
The 25mm will be good for open clusters and finding things in general.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Originally Posted by Suzy

Hi Gary &

I don't think anyone ever forgets their first Saturn experience. It's very much like the "first time" of ..... ahemm you know what I mean- only better. No one's yet been able to make my heart palpitate like Saturn did.

Saturn is good Suzy....so good I celebrated later with the Wife and....ahemm.

And yes, I did find reference to the article you did and printed it out for viewing in the next few nights / weeks so thanks in advance for your efforts on that piece.

I will also follow your suggestions in relation to the eyepiece uses.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Originally Posted by Allan_L

The focus adjustment in the finder scope is usually at the fat end. {technical term}......

You not going to believe my latest problem.

Now that the Finder Scope is focused correctly, I aim at Saturn through the Scope and "bang" there it is in the Eye Piece....brilliant.

I identify the Southern Cross with my eyes with the intention of finding a couple of treats that Suzy alluded to...and now when I look through my Scope Finder...I can see too many bloody stars to know which is the Crux....it focuses too damn well

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Originally Posted by Honest_Gaza

...and now when I look through my Scope Finder...I can see too many bloody stars to know which is the Crux....it focuses too damn well

Yes! I know that feeling well.
If you think there are too many stars now ...
wait till you get a dark sky (ie New Moon)

[Suzy]

I had the same problem with my finder- aye, too many stars & couldn't find anything. Quick smart I added a Red Dot Finder. You can get them for around $30 from Andrews Communications online. It's zero magnified, so looking thru it is as exactly as you'd see the sky, then you just point the red laser dot onto the star- too easy!

[cjamo9 (Clinton)]

i use acrux to find myself, its easy to identify because of the other little star rite next to it. the red dot finders are brilliant not only for getting to the stuff you want to look at but for knowing exactly where in the sky the thing you just found is. befor my RDF i would take my eye away from the scope and be completely lost even with the finderscope.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Again, I stumbled about the sky tonight....having great difficulty in finding my bearings. Eventually, I was able to use the "Pointer" stars to slide across to the Crux and believe I successfully located the Jewel Box NGC 4755 referred to in Suzy's guide. I really must get the RDF that a few of you have suggested (I'm assuming that these don't upset Police Helicopters)

Where I am completely lost is finding any Nebulae....so would welcome any hints / guidance on how to locate such a beast

Of course, when it was time to pack up the scope I had to take yet another look at Saturn....still amazes me

[Allan_L (Allan)]

When Orion comes back around, the easiest (and perhaps most spectacular) nebula to find is M42 The Orion Nebula.
It is simply the "middle star" in the sword or Orion.
[some people might know it better as the middle star in the handle of "the Saucepan"]

But for now, the easiest to find is Eta Carina nebula.
Start by looking at Crux.
(roughly) follow the cross arms about 2 widths to the right.
You can naked eye see the nebulous glow.
Point your red dot finder at that, then use your finder scope to zero in on the bright section.
Then look through the eyepiece and be prepared to be amazed.

Another one, when the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is up, is Tarantula Nebula. I think it is located by pointing at the top left hand edge of the LMC. (I could be mistaken, that could be the "through the lens" appearance (ie reversed image). LMC is perpendicular to the two pointers, going through the South Celestial Pole, maybe 6 times the distance between the pointers.
That fuzzy blob! you can't miss it. But it sets pretty early these nights I think.

Check them out on Stellarium, to fine tune your star hopping.

Enjoy!

[cjamo9 (Clinton)]

the RDF's only project on to there own little screen so the cops wont mind, Allans rite about the keyhole nebula in eta carina plus if you stay on that side of the crux there are lots of other faint fuzzys around it. there is a cluster i love to see, if you take the pointer star closest the crux and the star from the crux closest to the pointers draw a triangle with that line as the base, aim at an imaginary third spot above it and you will see ngc5139 or there abouts. thats one mother of a cluster.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Thanks Allan and Clinton.....will try and get my hands on an RDF today and try my luck tonight.

I did get to see Jupiter this morning around 6:30am (along with a small portion of Venus) but thought it was a bit too cold to wake up the young fella.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Red Dot Finder mounted and aligned....what a huge difference

A must have for all beginners. Now we'll go searching for some of those Nebulae.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

No luck so far Coffee Break....then back at it.

[cjamo9 (Clinton)]

the moon light robs us of a lot of good seeing, hope it buggers of before the weather comes back again. for that big cluster its not an equalateral triangle the sides pointing at it are about 2 times the lenght of the base. hope that helps. with my 12"f5 dob the view of it is amazing with a 30mm ep, almost fills the whole field. with so much light out i recon the keyhole nebula in eta is the go over the other side id say omega and the eagle nebula i think will be visable with your scope. stellarium is a great free download and will lead you in the right direction also. i would still be blind without it.

[Honest_Gaza (Garry)]

Very disheartened...couldn't find the Eta Carinae Nebula. Found a couple of Star Clusters but didn't see any cloudiness around it and as per Alex's comment on another thread, I'm assuming that I'd have known if i had found it.

Allan, you mentioned I should be able to see it with the naked eye...but maybe I have too much ambient lighting around me...I got nuthin'

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Can you see the Milky Way as it shoots out from either side of The Southern Cross?

Just out to the right, about one cross span, is a bright spot.
Then about the same again is another.
That is eta Carina.

But if you can't see the Milky Way you will have trouble finding it.

Most of us dont even bother looking when the Moon is this full.

In two weeks time, it will be easy to spot.

Be patient, and in the meantime, look at it in stellarium.