New Telescope....but need help....quite a bit of help.

[Chilli]

don4l said:

A couple of suggestions for things to look at.

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) should be visible shortly after sunset. If you have dark skies, you might even be able to see it with the naked eye. It won't look very interesting until to consider that it consists of 1 trillion stars and is hurtling towards us at over 200,000 miles per hour. Nevertheless, it won't collide with the Milky Way for 4.5 billion years, by which time the Earth may have been gobbled up by our own Sun.


By 10 o'clock the Perseus Double Cluster (NGC869 and NGC884) should be in view. This, IMHO, is one of the most beautiful objects that you can see through the eyepiece. One of them looks like a diamond ring to me.

Jupiter and 4 of its moons should be visible by about 11:00.

Don
--

Good God Don......How do you sleep knowing this kind of stuff???!!!
Thanks for the advice. I hope I see something of interest else I'll give up and put the tely on!

Cheers.

[Eric Mc]

Jupiter is always a sight to behold. You should be able to see its four main moons - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto - without too much trouble.

[nellyleelephant]

Eric Mc said:

Jupiter is always a sight to behold. You should be able to see its four main moons - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto - without too much trouble.

Pretty sure that Stellarium gives the names and positions fo the moons too.

If it does, you can check to see when the next transit happens, you should (eyepiece depending) be able to see the shadow of the moon as it crosses Jupiter.

[VxDuncan]

If it's like the meade scopes, you might not need to know which stars are which - they can match bright stars from the database to get an alignment. Job for the manual I think! To keep thinks easy for yourself, make sure the tripod is levelled properly (will help the alignment), and line up the finderscope which the main telescope in daylight, will save lots of time.

The Google sky map software on Android is great for finding your way round using the built in accelerometers. Sure there is also something for iPhone if you are that way inclined!

[Chilli]

Very helpful, many thanks gents.

Didn't get a chance to play last night, won't now till the weekend.

Thanks again, all good stuff.

[Nom de ploom]

Chilli said:

nellyleelephant said:

A word of warning about using the telescope on a roof.

You get a lot of warm air currents from buildings, these will mess up a stable view. Being directly on top of a building really isn't going to help you. If you can get away from a built up area you'll have a much better time with your scope.

Hiya mate,

I live in Dubai

Well, you're a bit closer then already ;-)

[Tycho]

Eric Mc said:

Jupiter is always a sight to behold. You should be able to see its four main moons - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto - without too much trouble.

Jupiter was the first planet I spotted through a scope and it was an awesome feeling. Saturn is another amazing sight.

[Eighteeteewhy]

I picked this up very cheap today, it's a bit dirty but looks like it's all there. I've never had a telescope before I was just wondering if I've set it up right?



Thanks

[nellyleelephant]

I'm afraid not, but never fear as there are loads of tutorials about.

Have a read of this http://www.themcdonalds.net/richard/index.php?titl...

[Eighteeteewhy]

Thankyou Nelly, I think I've got it now..



Just waiting for the clouds to move now.

[nellyleelephant]

That looks better.

The important thing is to have the correct latitude set, and have the telescope pointing north. When I used an equatorial I used to rely on a compass aimed down the length of the tube, that was accurate enough to keep things tracked (good enough for visual anyway)

Also, is the finderscope aligned with eyepiece view? Best to do that during daylight at something far away, or a streetlight at night, not a star....they move....

Edited by nellyleelephant on Sunday 14th October 20:55

[Eighteeteewhy]

Yep, I've just been looking at that on the great link you posted. There's more to this than I thought.

Still cloudy.

[Chilli]

Eighteeteewhy said:

Yep, I've just been looking at that on the great link you posted. There's more to this than I thought.

Still cloudy.

I hear ya!
Luckily for me, I have been really busy and not had a chance to set her up yet....This weekend, this weekend!