Observing for Beginners

Hi,

Being new to the bug of astronomy and recently buying my first telescope the Skylux from Lidl for a bargin price of €60, I now find that I'm not sure what to do with it, :!: I've seen the moon through it and was very impressed (least I got to see something) problem is now I'm not sure what to look at or where to start.

I've bought the mag sky & tele and the maps of the sky are wonderful but it still doesn't help me, I've been reading many post on this site and it seems like there is some very knowledgeable people on it, so I was thinking there could be a forum set up for beginners maybe to discuss what to view or what we should be looking for, hope that makes some sense it's just that I looked at a star tonight but it just looked like a star with or without the scope...I was a bit unsure what a star should look like...I know not to expect hubble images but after viewing the moon I was left wondering what next??

What do you think?

Well, where do you start!

Its a good point and looking at recent posts, there have been a lot of newcomers to this site who are presumably in the same boat.

I would recommend taking a look at the 'Observing Challenges' - the link is in the box on the left hand side of this web page. You'll get a great introduction to what the 'challenge' is and you can download the challenge itself as a PDF file. It gives beginners a tremendous number of 'projects' to have a go at.

By the way, if you don't feel up to the 'challenge', you can of course still use the document to learn and get good info.

Cheers

Dave

Depends on what sorts of things you'd like to concentrate on. Some people do the 'Messier Marathon' as a challenge to view a selection of interesting objects. And there are a few other challenges on the forums here as well. (Can't remember the links offhand, I'm sure someone else will post them)

- Clusters (I'd seriously recommend tracking down the Pleiades)
- Double Stars (not as boring as they sound)
- Galaxies (Don't get too disappointed, they all look like grey smudges at first)
- Nebula (again, not much colour, but you might see some structure)
- Planets (Saturn... You'll never forget the first time you see the rings)

If you just observe individual stars, you're not going to see much. A star will look like a single point of light no matter how much magnification you throw at it. You might notice differences in the colours of stars though. Double stars is where it gets interesting.

But, your first challenge will be 'finding your way around' the sky. This is part of the fun, and even more so with the skylux, you'll have to learn some constellations and the art of star hopping.

Cheers for that I've downloaded the challenges.....

I can't wait to see Saturns rings that's all my father keeps asking me about , he seen them as a child and he still remembers...it pretty addictive all this star gazing...

Lexi - I think that most folks on these boards will tell you that if you haven't seen Saturn thruogh a 'scope a scope yet, prepare yourself!

I was gobsmacked - I still remember it vividly. It certainly puts perspective on things in a way that no TV pictures or photos can.

Saturn rises in the North East at 2 minutes to 8 but you'll get a better view later on when its higher up (if there are no clouds of course!).

Good luck with the challenges and if you need anything else, just holler!

Cheers

Dave

I would recommend taking a look at the 'Observing Challenges' - the link is in the box on the left hand side of this web page. You'll get a great introduction to what the 'challenge' is and you can download the challenge itself as a PDF file. It gives beginners a tremendous number of 'projects' to have a go at.

I'd start off with the binocular handbook actually. Yes its for binoculars, but that doesnt mean you cant use the handbook for telescopes as well. The novice booklet is more a guide to astronomy rather than just a catalouge of objects, so it may not be as much use as a quick `what to look at next guide`.

As for what to look at other than the moon, first off I'd say try for saturn. If you dont have its position marked in any of the magazines you have let me know and I'll upload a starchart. if you have a starmap look for gemini, the two main stars in it are castor and pollux, further down from pollux you will see a `star` in the sky thats not on the map, thats saturn! With the moon almost full it gets hard to see faint clusters but if you are really enthusiastic you can get up just before dawn and see jupiter and Venus in the south east.

I'd rather we didnt create a beginners forum, as that would imply that everything else here is for more advanced folks! If you have any questions no matter how basic you think they are just fire ahead and ask. And if you have any ideas on how to improve the observing handbooks let us know about that too.

Cheers,
~Al