some advice

[Peduk]

Hi
for some reason it must be mid life crisis, but never been into astronamy, but now i find i have a interest, it comes from being out one evening trying to help a mate with some night photography for owls, and it was clear , he started pointing out odd stars and through my ignorance i had no idea what he was on about,

i would say when i saw the moon change to red i got fascinaited so i thought " i want to know more"

so having nearly hit the 50 mark, i have no idea were to start, so many books ect,

i am fortunate i have a good pair binos, and a very good bird watching scope.

any way sorry to bore you, but any help on how to get started be much obliged.

thanks all in anticipation
regards
Steve

[earthman]

Hi there Steve, I'm kind of in the same boat as you, I bought a pair of 15x70 binoculars a few weeks ago and now I'm looking to buy my first telescope. What's the spec of your bird watching scope, I'm guessing that it's not really suitable for astronomy?
I'm trying to decide between a 5" reflector and a 4" refractor both are around the £200 mark.

[Wild Times]

I took a group on a visit to a realitively local Observatory last week.

The astronomer was great, very enthusiastic. He said the best way to start was just to focus on one or two constellations. Get a book/star chart, even a good atlas will probably do. Then get out away from street lighting as much as possible and just look. There really is so much to take in.

After a while of just staring you will get a feel for the difference in look between planets and stars. You will also see satelites travelling around the earth if you look carefully.
All this can be done with the naked eye, in fact I would say it was best to start with the naked eye rather than get hung up on what equipment to use. Gallileo just used his eyes after all.

[Madz]

Originally Posted by Wild Times

He said the best way to start was just to focus on one or two constellations. Get a book/star chart, even a good atlas will probably do.

I started off familiarising myself with the constellations by reading childrens reference books. Everything is greatly simplified. You learn the broad brush strokes, then fill in the details later.

Have fun Steve as I'm sure you will

Madz

[bernieboy31]

Originally Posted by Wild Times

I took a group on a visit to a realitively local Observatory last week.
You will also see satelites travelling around the earth if you look carefully.

Hi,

FWIW I use Welcome to Heavens-Above! for Satellites and always take listings with me when we go away - can see nothing where I live in N London. doubtless there are other sites but I have found this one to be excellent.