Another new Melbournialien!

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by Eggmoon

Adam,
My wife refers to my telescope as my mistress... complains that Sally (The telescopes name) gets more of my time than she does... this is of course not true at all... well... maybe a little on some weeks...

Sheeesh with me the hubby is glad to throw me out the house with my telescope- he's guaranteed that's a good 5,000 words less he'd have to hear from me that night.
Amazing the difference between a guy with a scope and a girl with a scope isn't it... Many times I've even been locked out. I swear. Banging on the door to be let in at ungodly hours is not an impression I want to leave my neighbours with. On the upside, he pretty much buys me whatever I want to keep me out there. Uhmmm that's good right.. Whatever I'm doing now, I have to do it better as I want gear for sn searching. Welcome to the endless empty wallet syndrome of this hobby & we LOVE it when people ask what to buy.

Originally Posted by insphere

In terms of expanding my eyepieces. Would the following be a good investment? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SET-of-Wi...item2323d73973

I just have some stand no name plossls that came with my scope. I'm assuming they aren't that great of quality and are restricting my viewing potential? Currently I have a 10mm and a 25mm.

My advice- don't get anything yet unless you're fully well educated in what's involved with purchasing eyepieces to suit your personal needs. Treat good quality eyepieces as a valued investment in this hobby- money you don't want to be spending too often- and you wont' if you get it right the first time. Read through the eyepiece forum for a good education. A couple of very educational threads can be found in the links given below. Do this at your leisure and don't rush it. Yes, better quality eyepieces will offer you better light transmission thereby giving better contrast for faint fuzzies to be better visible, thus enabling more detail to be observed. That being said, it's very obvious the difference between even observing Jupiter through a plossl compared to a better quality eyepiece- ten fold. Sharper, clearer, more detail, more contrast. I keep my 10mm plossl so I can show people the difference between it and a premium eyepiece. But for the time being they're fine and good enough, you still get to see plenty of stuff thru it and make the hobby enjoyable and that's what it's all about right?!.

The Best EP Under $200

Help On Choosing A Premium 14mm Eye Piece

Originally Posted by insphere

I'll definitely be needing a good field book so I might check that out and also buy myself a sky atlas.

In regards to Stellarium, I had this installed on my computer already. But I underestimated it's potential so I will try and use it more! It's a great program. That and the 'Sky Map' app.

Is there another resource though? Like the brightest objects to locate for each month? With Stellarium, I need to know what I'm looking for but I'm unsure as obviously catalogs vary at different parts and times of the world.

You can't go past Australian Sky & Telescope Magazine. Each month a map of the sky is given along with lots of observing targets for that month given in detail.

Visit the Observational and Visual section of our forum. While you're there, look at the top of the page- there's a sub forum there called "Observation Reports". Plenty to learn here - read, read, read. You'll get some great ideas from here as to what objects interest you that you want to chase down as well as how they appear through a telescope.

Also, refer to this website monthly-Southern Sky Watch
Every month it tells you what goodies to look for in the sky for that month.



Just a few tips....

1) Learn the brightest stars in the sky.
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/brightest.html
This will help when it comes to finding constellations.

2) Learn the greek alphabet (in lower case).
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/lan.../answers.shtml
This will help you read maps better.

3) Learn how to measure the sky in degrees using your hand.
http://oldthoughts.wordpress.com/200...ing-your-hand/

4) Get some computer software.
Both my dobs purchased thru Ozscopes and Sirius (Saxon) came with Starry Night software. This programme will help teach you the constellations as the move around the sky and make no sense and will also give you a zillion targets to keep you happy with. You can also measure (by dragging the mouse on the object) the angular distance between a star and the object. Then proceed using hand measurements mentioned above when looking at the sky. Otherwise, download Stellarium (but I find Starry Nights much better).

5) A Planisphere.
Most definitely as you can take it outside with you (unless you get a software programme on a lappy that you can take outside). If you choose the latter, be sure to use low powered battery mode so the screen isn't so bright or better still, cover it with red cellophane paper so it doesn't ruin your dark adaptation.
The planisphere will teach you the sky no matter what time of day or time as the stars rotate around. Remember when I said it can be confusing, well this will definitely help.
I got mine from here from Australian Sky & Telescope for $14.95 and love it.
I've gone one step further with it and have cut out using post-it notes (the sticky strip), little arrows, which I can peel off and stick on zillion times over for the point of interest on the disc. Comes in handy for marking places on maps in my books too!
I wonder if I can get rich selling sticky arrows



Some Useful Links for Telescope Observing:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/astr...tartright.html

http://www.asignobservatory.com/inde...d=88&Itemid=65

http://www.fjastronomy.com/?page_id=1092

ww.astro-tom.com/messier/messier_files/observing_tips.htm

http://http://www.visualastronomy.com/2008/01/ten-essential-astronomy-accessories.html

How to master the art of averted vision

A useful video by the staff of Orion demonstrating how to colimate a telescope

http://http://sites.google.com/site/southernastronomer/
You can't go by this!!!!
Rob H from our forum has made these charts- they are brilliant & many of us use them. Print them off and pop them into plastic sleeves and file them in a ring binder.

Originally Posted by insphere

I have another question, in regards to space weather & cloud coverage.. where do I find information about this? I checked BOM's 'space weather' but I don't think it's what I'm looking for.. either that or I have no idea how to read their graphs and charts.

I like and use this site and I find it pretty reliable so far. Everything you need to know for a good nights observing- cloud cover, seeing, transparency etc!
http://7timer.y234.cn/index.php?prod...zshift=0&site=

Don't forget! The moon widget on the left hand side of the blue menu bar on this forum. If you click on it, it will give you the all important rise and set times of the moon. You don't want to be observing deep sky objects when the moon is out as it washes out the sky making those faint fuzzies very hard to see.

For question regarding books, I'll have to continue it on the next post as I'm pretty certain I'm coming close to limit of words per post I'm allowed here. One day I'll get myself moving into doing this into a proper article to be posted in the Projects & Articles section (blue menu bar), which should have been done aaaaages ago. I embarrass myself now with these long posts!

[Suzy]

This is a continuation of my previous post....


The Messier book along with Collins "Stars & Planets" are my right hand at the scope.


The Southern Sky Guide (David Ellyard)...
I just could never get into this book.
For me, I find the maps difficult to read and having the constellations broken up makes it even harder. The descriptions on the facing page aren't well laid out either as the object descriptions are merged thru large paragraphs instead of being listed.


Hartungs Astronomical Objects for Southern Telescopes...
I did a thread on this a while back.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=63394&highlight=ha rtung's

This is an observers companion book describing the objects beautifully. There are no maps however. Anyone that owns one of these books, displays it with pride of place on their bookshelf I'm sure (as I do).




In summary...
I doubt that you'll find one book that will do it all. Like me, you'll probably find that you'll wind up with several books and maps. Some books cater for the brighter objects and are quite easy to read and navigate thru, others are intense, some books cater more for "observing", i.e. more a teaching guide on techniques and what to look for in objects (such as Stephen O'Meara's Deep Sky Objects- Messier Objects- fantastic book, and Hartung's), some books list the astrophhysics and objects of interest better or clearer than others, etc. I have lots of books/maps- each used for different observations.



- Stars & Planets by Ian Ridpath & Wil Tirion
One of my favorite hard working books. Covers general astronomy at the beginning of the book and the rest is dedicated to maps with the facing page to each map detailing objects of interest and the astrophysics. It will tell you what the spectral classes of the stars are, nice doubles to look at, and each object of interest nicely detailed. Beautiful pics accompany them. Each constellation has its own map- very easy to use. Great book for beginners. Even though it's more specific to telescopes, many of the objects and stars in it are viewable through binos or the naked eye. I highly recommend this book also.

I've attached some pics here for you...







The Night Sky Observers Guide.
The Night Sky Observers Guide series is a great book. It's quite intense and covers a ton of deep sky objects with finder charts for everything, sketches on lots of objects, and observation notes as to what can be see through different sized apertures.
At the beginning of each constellation it gives a large table listing of binocular objects and stars of interest. It's a hard cover book with a whopping 504 pages!

There are a lot of dso's in this book more specific to larger scopes, but there's still plenty of stuff in it for 8-10" scopes, not a lot for 4-6" scopes, and pretty much favors 12-14" and in particular 16" scopes. Many feel this book is a bit advanced at beginner level as it goes quite deep but I love this book and wouldn't be without it.. a book I will grow into as I get more experience. Many of us on here own this book/series.

Our own Paddy has done a wonderful review of it here in this forum.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/46-627-0-0-1-0.html



Atlas of the Southern Night Sky.
Another thick and fantastic book. Beautiful colour photographs, descriptions of the objects, followed by a map on the facing page.
Paddy has done a review of this book also (good work Paddy!)
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/bookreviews.html



Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas.
Being spiral bound, it's easy to handle on your lap by the scope as it stays open. It's filled with a ton of goodies that go deeper than "Collins Stars & Planets", but for a first book, I would recommend "Stars & Planets" first because the pocket atlas book is mainly maps. The Pocket Sky Atlas even has a Telrad circle to use with it's maps.
It's so cheap at only $20 from the Book Depository in the UK (free shipping!) - great value!



Deep Sky Companions: The Messier Objects, by Stephen O'Meara.
It's an observing book and tells you all the little details to go look for, and also a little black & white pic (for every object) of what to expect to see out of your telescope. Lots of sketches too- so you can really get a nice sample of what to expect at the eyepiece. He observed with only around 4 inches of aperture, so everything he says is within reach for most of us. Some astro physics are given on each object too, and basically its about a page per object. It is a hard working companion of mine.







Galaxies And How To Observe Them
I love this book- it's a teaching guide on how to observe galaxies- everything you need to know is in this book!
The link I've given has a google preview for it.

"This book is a unique work satisfying the need for a modern, comprehensive review of all major aspects of galaxy observation. It is the only book to specialize on visual observation of galaxies and will appeal to beginners and experienced stargazers alike.

This book is a unique work satisfying the need for a modern, comprehensive review of all major aspects of galaxy observation. The book combines the physical background on the nature and data of galaxies, the relevant instrumentation and viewing techniques, and finally the targets and their individual appearance in telescopes of various apertures. A comprehensive sample of galaxies, including quasars, groups and clusters of galaxies is presented. This combination of theoretical knowledge and practical information guarantees successful observing sessions. Furthermore, the book is clearly structured with outstanding images and graphics."

[insphere (Adam)]

Wow Suzy!

Amazing post, thanks for your help.

Heaps of good advice here, I'll be sure to keep referring back to it!!