Shadowy Man

Well, you probably don't need averted vision for Jupiter, it's so bright, but yes, it helps very much for diffuse objects like galaxies and nebulae.

It does get you aggravated though, since you don't have nearly as good image quality in the corners of your eyes, even though you have more light sensitivity.

Walross

You do if you're using my puny little 4' newtonian...

Walross

AbbyNormal

Good tip. Here's another one that I recently picked up. While looking through your eyepiece, gently tap the optical tube with your finger to add a slight wobble to the image. The human eye is better at sensing motion than non-motion and this little trick will sometimes help bring out some detail. I've tried it with varying degrees of success, depending on what I'm looking at.

Regards,
AbbyNormal

Albion

Well, you could always hope for another comet collision with Jupiter. That was absolutely amazing.

A Sun filter will let you see sunspots and eclipses directly, and that can be really interesting. My husband's a solar physicist, so the Sun filter was just about the first accessory he bought for his telescope.

Shadowy Man

Did you get to see it with a telescope? Where I was, we were clouded out for the actual impacts, but I did get some good images of the debris spots rotating by on the disk of the planet.

Flyboy

I wish I could afford a telescope, but alas college is expensive and I am poor.
I am hoping that the stars won't go anywhere before I can get a telescope.

Asha'man

Hey Flyboy,

Go find a local astronomy club. Ours has public events all the time, and every stargazer I have ever met loves sharing the view through the eyepiece.

Wyz_sub10

Puck bought a pair of binoculars first. This is a great start. You can get decent binoculars for a fairly low price, and can become acquainted with the sky that way.

Plus, you can still see *much* more with binoculars than you can with the naked eye, and the moon is pretty amazing through them.

Lobstrosity

I certainly miss the skys of my youth. I grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii, out in the middle of nowhere . They even had laws there against light pollution since astronomy is such a big industry. I can't convey how beautiful it was to look skyward at night! Then I went to LA for school and was treated to a slightly different sky--one that was perpetually orange all night and where all of the "stars" turned out to be helecopters, planes, and Jupiter.

Albion

Yes we did. I didn't see any of the actual impacts (my husband is much more dedicated than I am to the concept of sitting up all night with the telescope if something interesting is happening) but the effects were visible for a long time. I also had a meteor whizz through the field of view while I was looking at the Jupiter collision sites, which was a bit surprising.