PopeInTheWoods

Even from suburbia I was able to get good looks at the crescent Luna, a ring-shot of Saturn, and Jupiter's cloud bands and 4 big moons (two on each side). My wife had never seen either big planet up close before. Despite the beautiful pictures in books and online, there's nothing like having these sights staring you in the face live and in real-time! I was too late to see Venus, and clouds/haziness started to set in that foiled my attempts at Mars. I hope to get a peek at Mercury some day, but my low western sky is very bright (lights from Columbus), and I don't like to get up early enough to see it in the east. Does anyone have suggestions of web sites that give such viewing info other than <a href="http://www.space.com/spacewatch" target="_blank">SpaceWatch</a> ?

Also, two nights ago while walking my wife and I observed a silent, non-blinking bright light that moved southwest to northeast for a minute or two before abruptly dimming and disappearing. Could that have been the space station/shuttle combination?

Andy

DMB

Pope: I have seen Mercury with the (protected) naked eye in daytime during a total solar eclipse. An altogether awesome experience!

gabalski

Andy, hello from a fellow central Ohioan.

My favorite web site to use for viewing info is <a href="http://www.heavens-above.com" target="_blank">http://www.heavens-above.com</a> They have a ton of info and based on your location, give viewing predictions for various "heavenly" bodies, natural and man made. I'm not sure if you can check previous days to find out if what you saw was the ISS, but based on what you said, it very well could have been.

I'm envious of your viewing capabilities. I've been wanting to get a decent telescope, but have not been able to justify it with the wife, considering all the other expenses we have. But, the advantage I have living in a small town is that there isn't a whole lot of light pollution. I live right in the middle of town and can very often step out to the backyard and see the Milky Way. It's pretty awesome.

Later,
Mike

PopeInTheWoods

DMB - Cool! I hear that Mercury is actually fairly easy to see out in the boonies if you really know where to look. For example, right now it's the closest planet to Earth, and almost as bright as Jupiter, just too damn close to old Sol.

Mike - Greetings and thanks, that Heavens Above site really kicks! My telescope isn't all that great, as it's a bear to adjust and focus, but it works. Are you still with Soul Junkies? They look like they'd be fun to see. As I'm fairly close to you (right up Rte. 256 in Pickerington), let me know when you play next (PM or e-mail would probably be best).

Andy

Pangea

Pope, I have been thinking of getting a telescope but I don't know anything about them. Could you recommend a simple base model? I want to be able to see all the bodies you mentioned and I would love to be able to take pictures of them also. I would like a good beginner model but I want to be able to see past the moon, ya know? Any thoughts?

Tim Thompson

Telescopes for beginners

As far as I am concerned, there is only one style of telescope to recommend for beginners: A Newtonian reflector on a Dobson type cradle mount. They are the easiest telescope to set up and use. They are also easy to build for yourself, if you are the hands-on type (<a href="http://tie.jpl.nasa.gov/tie/dobson/" target="_blank">Plans for building a sidewalk telescope</a>, <a href="http://members.aol.com/sfsidewalk/cdobplans.htm" target="_blank">Complete plans for building a Dobsonian Telescope</a>), or you can spend some money and buy one, either from a local dealer, or online or by mail, from a reputable source (examples, no guarantees: <a href="http://www.telescope.com/" target="_blank">Orion Telescopes & Binoculars</a>, <a href="http://www.meade.com/" target="_blank">Meade Instruments</a>, <a href="http://www.murni.com/coulter1.htm" target="_blank">Coulter Optical</a>).

However, the best thing to do is to contact your local astronomy club before you buy anything (<a href="http://skyandtelescope.com/resources/organizations/" target="_blank">Sky & Telescope Club Directory</a>). Local clubs usually have a fair share of telecope makers & telescope buyers, and you can find out from them what it's like to do either. You can see their telescopes, and find out first hand what you really want. For instance, my recommendation won't serve you well if you really want to do astrophotography.

Observing guides

Try going to the <a href="http://skyandtelescope.com/" target="_blank">Sky and Telescope Homepage</a>, and select "observing" from the menu on the left. There are several options, try them all, for sky charts and viewing hints. The already mentioned <a href="http://www.heavens-above.com/" target="_blank">Heavens Above</a> is a good site too. <a href="http://www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/diary.html" target="_blank">Skywatcher's Diary</a>, from Abrams Planetarium, is a standard source. And if you want to know about observing the planets, a good place for beginners to start, there is really only one place to go: <a href="http://www.shallowsky.com/" target="_blank"> The Shallow Sky</a>.

Pangea

Tim, thank you so much for the info. I was in 4th grade when Halley's comet came around last and we came to the school that night and got to see it through a telescope and it was a powerful experience for me. My dad bought me a small tele but it wasn't good for much more than looking in other people's windows (jk) and looking at the moon.

I am going to check out the links you gave now.

Friar Bellows

When I lived on a farm (in the Southern Hemisphere) I used my telescope almost every night it was clear. The planets were cool (managed to find every one except Pluto). Saturn was my favourite, I could see the Cassini division in the rings, plus several moons hovering around the main planet like moths around a light (including Titan). Jupiter was neat, with the cloud bands and the red spot, which I found rather paler than the photographs suggested. Mercury and Venus were only interesting for their phases. Mars was fun with its polar ice cap. I also managed to identify one of the asteroids, Vesta, I think it was. I saw a bunch of comets, including Halley.

Then there was SN1987A, the supernova which occurred in the nearby LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy). That was just bright enough to see with the eye (for a short time), but the view through the telescope was spectacular because it showed the Tarantula Nebula in the same field. You ain't seen a nebula till you've seen the Tarantula. Well, OK, the Orion nebula is pretty cool. Oh hang on, I'm forgetting the best nebula in the sky, the Eta Carina nebula (NGC 3372). Now that blows you away every time.

The poorly-named planetary nebulae were pretty. I'm not sure which was my favourite: the Ring Nebula or the Dumbell nebula. I only managed to catch the Helix Nebula on one particularly dark night: it was huge, filling the view, but very faint.

Galaxies were cool. My favourite by far was the Sombrero galaxy. You could see the dark dust lane running across it. I rarely got a glimpse of the Andromeda galaxy 'cause it was too close to the horizon most of the time. But I was rewarded with views of NGC 253 in Sculptor, not too far from the South Galactic Pole. There was a nice spiral in Pisces, I forget its name, I think it was a Messier object.

Open star clusters could be fun. There were several in the Carina and Vela and Puppis region which blew me away every time. The Jewelbox cluster in Crux was gorgeous. Many clusters have associated nebulae, so that can be visually stunning.

But my favourite objects by far were globular clusters. I never ceased to be amazed by Omega Centauri. I could resolve the individual stars in that one, and it was at least 2/3 the angular size of the Moon. 47 Tucana, near the SMC, is the my next favourite globular. It appears more centrally condensed, giving it a more 3D appearance. Then there's the double globular (I forget their names) where you can see two globulars in the same view (about 15' seperation). All up, I managed to observe about half of the Milky Way's 140 globulars. Much of my time at the telescope was spent searching for them.

Oh, by the way, I had one of those 8" Celestron scopes (although I started with a 60mm Tasco refractor). I have to agree with Tim, though. Dobsonians are the best. Particularly since they give the most bang for the buck, or light-gathering potential per dollar. The modern truss designs are also quite portable. But I've been away from this hobby for far too long, living in an inner-city apartment. One of these days...

For finding these objects I used Sky Atlas 2000 by Will Tirion. Nowadays there are computer programs which let you print out any portion of the sky, at just about any magnification, with stars at or beyond the limit of your telescope. One such application is called <a href="http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/index.html" target="_blank">Cartes du Ciel, Sky Charts</a> and it's free! But it's a big download if you include all the catalogues.

Asha'man

Dobsonian telescopes are nice, but they have a few flaws. They provide a great deal of light gathering power for little money, but little else.

Unless you spend a lot more for computerized drive, you can’t put a clock drive on a Dobsonian. This means that you will constantly have to nudge the scope to follow the apparent rotation of the sky. It is also difficult for a novice to locate things in the sky, and a Dob won’t help much there either.

For a true beginner, I might suggest one of the new Goto telescopes. They have a small computer in them that knows where lots of interesting things are, and small motors to point the scope in the right direction. Both <a href="http://www.astronomics.com/main/tCelestron.asp?n1=2&t1=4" target="_blank">Celestron</a> and <a href="http://www.astronomics.com/main/tMeade.asp?n1=2&t1=1" target="_blank">Meade</a> are making Goto/computerized scopes aimed at the beginning astronomer. You spend alot more time looking at things than searching for them, and that is worth something to me.

I would also be careful about your budget. If you get a really cheap scope, it will perform poorly, and you won’t enjoy stargazing. A shaky mount and bad optics has destroyed the interest of many a novice stargazer. Keep your expectations realistic, and think about spending a little more for some quality.

If you aren’t ready to spend much yet, you might think about an astronomy club. My local club (The Atlanta Astronomy Club) has a few scope of it’s own, and plenty of members ready and willing to share the view through the eyepiece. Using this method, I’ve recently looked through 20” and 24” giants, and the view is breathtaking. Also, you get lots of good advice on buying or making your own scope, or may be able to pick up a used scope for a good price.

On the other hand, don’t believe most of what I’m saying. I just ordered a <a href="http://www.starmastertelescopes.com/html/new14.htm" target="_blank">14.5” Dobsonian</a> for myself.

(added some links)

[ April 17, 2002: Message edited by: Asha'man ]</p>

Asha'man

For taking pictures, an equatorial mount with a clock drive is pretty much essential. (Don't buy anything until you understand exactly what I just said, and why I said it!)

However, photography is somewhat advanced, I'd stick with pure visual oberving for a while.