Beginner Advice please:)

[tufftie]

Well think / hope I'll finally be living somewhere without an orange glow I love looking up at stars and the moon and when I was living in Cornwall did learn a little about them but... I know a few of the basic constellations but what I would really like is some beginners advice to star watching...everything from technical to myths
Oh and TBR a while ago you said that you promised me if i looked at the sky for 30 mins i'd see a shooting star...i'll hold you to that

[Rich_]

Don't be in too much of a rush to buy a high powered telescope Tufftie. some of the nebulae & galaxies such as the Andromeda etc can be seen with a pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars. The photos you see in books etc of Jupiter in full colour with it's red spot & the multi coloured rings of Saturn have mostly been taken through observatory telescopes using long exposures & suffisticated equipment allowing reproduction of the colours. This is not necessarily what you'll see through a modestly priced telescope.

If you know some constellations like the plough, they can be used as a signpost to navigate your way round the sky if you have a star chart. The internet makes things much easier now to find things of interest & to tell you the positions of the planets month by month.& any comets to look out for, or approaching meteor showers.

[tufftie]

Thank you for that Can you reccomend a website perhaps?

[Rich_]

Try this... BBC - Science & Nature - Space - Amateur Astronomy

Seems to tell you what to look for & where to find it for the current month. There's a good page by Patrick Moore giving advice on telescopes & binoculars.

[carlos_dfc]

Originally Posted by tufftie

Thank you for that Can you reccomend a website perhaps?

Sorry to blow my own trumpet here, but my forum is geared towards helping beginners. Lots of friendly people there, of all abilities, and the 'old-hands' are always willing to help out and advise the beginners.
ASTRO-CHAT - Astronomy Forum

Some other good UK-based astro-forums...
BBC Sky at Night
Society for Popular Astronomy
Stargazers Lounge
UK astroimaging forums

[tufftie]

Thank you both for that - will have a look at both of them Sorry Rich_ for some reason your post escaped me before or I would have replied earlier.

[mermaidspace]

Hi everyone

I'm new here and this is my first post. Was reading about stuff to get you started. I have a meade 4504, I once viewed Saturn and it was amazing, albeit a little dot in the distance with a feint ring around it. I'll have to figure out how to hook it up to the computer and use the robotic star finder it came with. Anyhow I bought this book and it has a load of information to get you started, called Be a Stargazer, it doesn't say who the author is, but it has loads of information about the size of the planets, various constellations, about the solar system, tips on using your telescope, about the universe and a history of astronomy, various star names, and loads of other stuff.

It's like a complete beginners guide.

Click here to link to the book.

Happy stargazing

mermaidspace

[mercsport]

Like 'mermaidspace' my first post here too .
My tuppence worth for anyone with even only a vague interest in the sky and a computer screen would be to download ' Stellarium ' as soon as poss. For me it's near perfect and free of the superfluous stuff that lards other 'bought' planetarium programmes , or , come to think of it , Google Sky or Microsoft's Virtual Sky . Best of all is the fact that it's a beauty to look at too . If you are savvy enough you can even use your own photo 360d panoramic horizon in lieu of the default . If you tire of the mouse the keyboard shortcuts are a cinch to learn . I don't think the html code is 'on' to insert the link so here's the pasted one : Stellarium
To know the sky passingly well I would recommend , as a start , ticking off all the Messier objects . Those that can be seen from the UK at least ( those at the bottom of Sagittarius - 30d below the ecliptic -defeat me ) . A good book is '
The Year-Round Messier Marathon Field Guide' Amazon.co.uk: the messier marathon Harvard Pennington . Binoculars at least needed , though M31 , the Great Nebula in Orion , Pleiades , and , if your eyes are particularly acute a few of the great globulars will swim into view too without optical aid .
Another great site is : Heavens-Above Home Page where the predictions for the passes of the major satellites and the space station are quite uncanny in their accuracy . The best bit , for me , are the Iridium flare timings .
Bruce

[Cumbrian]

Tufftie the book mentioned by mercsport The Year Round Messier Marathon Field Guide,by Harvard Pennington i have for sale.this book is brand new someone bought me it when i already had it.If interested let me know,Cheers,Cumbrian

[tufftie]

Originally Posted by Cumbrian

Tufftie the book mentioned by mercsport The Year Round Messier Marathon Field Guide,by Harvard Pennington i have for sale.this book is brand new someone bought me it when i already had it.If interested let me know,Cheers,Cumbrian

hello and thanks for the offer Cumbrian but at this moment i can't take on anymore books! Sorry for late reply but still working my way through all my posts after being without a pc for a while