Hi Stephanie,
Binocular observing is great fun! Many of us who own scopes still use & love our binos for the beautiful rich field view they offer. What size are they?
I have a 10" dob but a few weeks ago I bought a 4" little table top dob and I love it! I was amazed that I could easily see the two red belts on Jupiter & its moons and wow the Orion nebula was magnificent with the trapezium cluster embeded in it easily seen (that's a group of new baby stars). Best of all? It only cost $99 on sale + $30 shipping from
Australian Telescopes that's unbelievably cheap! I couldn't believe for that price it actually has a glass mirror, fully collimatable, and even has a red dot finder. Craaaazy! The focusser and dovetail & screws are plastic tho
but the tube and base are solid. The base even has black laminate
so it moves like a dream, much better than my big dob.
I find that putting it on a table makes a bit shaky, eventually setting it up on an eski which worked a treat, as did the ground.
The 20mm eyepiece that came with it is a Huygens (not the best, but does the job- not too bad, I was surprised). The highest power I can get is using a 15mm eyepiece and this hit the sweet spot nicely for higher power (ala Jupiter & Orion), large clusters are better suited for the 20mm eyepiece that comes with it (or better, replace it with a new GSO eyepiece for $30 which you can buy from Andrews Communications online.
Space is indeed "wonderful" as you put it. When I look through my telescope or even binos for that matter, I feel like I'm opening a curtain into space, and setting upon a thrilling ride through the universe.. it's a very spiritual & humbling experience. If only more people would look up- so many have no clue.
Thankfully with telescopes being so affordable these days, many like myself are in a position to enjoy it now.
Take a look at a lengthy & detailed post I did
here, see post no#3.
In the post, I've given a list of some eye candy objects, however some won't be in our skies at the moment but you should keep this list for when some of those objects come back in winter, they are kapowww objects worthy of a jaw drop or two.
I've listed some helpful starting out pointers below (it's a copy & paste from a previous post so my job is made a little easier
:
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. Also, soon enough they'll end up feeling like friends.
Then they go away and you'll become sad
, then when they return, you'll be jumping with excitement like a kid.
Okay, maybe I just do that..
2) Learn the greek alphabet (in lower case).
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/lan.../answers.shtml
This will help you read maps better.
And possible make you look smarter to other people
3) Learn how to measure the sky in degrees using your hand.
http://oldthoughts.wordpress.com/200...ing-your-hand/
Don't let neighbours see you, those hand gestures could mean something else to them.
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
6) Refer to this website-
monthy.
Southern Sky Watch. Every month it tells you what goodies to look for in the sky for that month.
7) Absolutely get Australian Sky & Telescope magazine. This too will tell you what's in the sky for that month. It also has a monthly article for binocular viewing and gives a target every month, along with how to find it, as well as a monthly star chart. It's written by our fellow forum member, Les Dalrymple.
Enjoy & have fun Stephanie,
Regards,
Suzy.
Hello, and Help. :)
to IIS.
