Observing for Beginners

hi Lexi,

good to see you are in the South Dublin area . . . the next SDAS meeting is on December 2nd in Ranelagh and we're a bunch of people who just like the social side of the hobby as well as doing a fair bit of observing. We've no membership fee either as Gonzaga College graciously let us have a meeting room for free. Drop me a note on the Private Message link with your own email address and I'll add you to our mailing list (will be sending out a notice of the meeting next week). The meeting in December in fact will be more a member's night with a bit of fun thrown in.

in terms of where to start in observing, I agree with John and Mark's posts. Just to add though, I recently picked up a copy of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's Beginners Observing Guide and it is brilliant. It's written by Leo Enright (nope, a different one) and describes all that a person starting off in the hobby needs to know. Any book by Terence Dickenson is well worth buying too as he is incredibly knowledgeable about astronomy and is a great communicator of what it has to offer.

I thought I had seen the RASC handbook on sale via the Society for Popular Astronomy www.popastro.com/home.htm but I just checked their booklist and it doesn't seem to be. Might be worth dropping them a line though in case their list hasn't been updated. Sky and Telescope sell it but the postage is horrendous (as I found out!)

atb,

John

Nice images there Mark.
I see you caught the "L" in Clavius also.
Since trying to see it about a year ago, I've only seen it once.
Takes certain lighting conditions to see it from what I understand.
Well done!

You'll have to expand on this for the rest of us!



Seanie.

The L shape is 6 tiny craters in an L shape that is above the biggest crater in the main floor of the crater. it looks more like a > from the current orientation. It's to the the right of the small crater that's above the biggest crater in the floor of Clavius? is this clear?


M

The "L" in Clavius is a small feature in the shape of a sideways "L" and is white in colour. If you look at Mark's image closely you can see it, yea??

OK, to make this easier I've got out my spray can and ruined Mark's lovely image in order to show it to you all!


Sorry Mark!

Seriously, there was an article on this in S&T about a year ago. Like I said, I've only seen it once as it takes precise timing to get it. I had tried several times to see it but failed. It was only a couple of months later when I wasn't even thinking of it that I managed to see it. However, it was a bit more prominent to the eye than shown in the image above.

Clear skies,

At SkyMaps.com you can download a detailed sky map, a monthly sky calendar, and a list of some of the best objects to see with binoculars, a telescope, or just your eyes. It can be download from:

www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

I found this great when I first started and still use it.
Another great site for a skymap and what's currently up there is:

www.heavens-above.com/

It also gives times and directions for seeing the ISS and other satellites.

Happy hunting!

(Re: the 'L' thingy...)

Thanks Mike & Mark! No wonder I couldn't spot it! You would actually have to know it was right where you indicated Mike in order to spot it! A complete amateur like me would never have spotted it otherwise!

Nice image Mark, lots of details there! I like it! Shame on Michael for defacing it!

Seanie.