Astronomy help for a beginner!

[andyandy]

I've just started to take up astronomy as a hobby. Therefore I'm looking for any help or advice on good websites, good books, good telescopes, etc etc.

I've got a couple of books already, one by Patrick Moore and Nightwatch by Dickinson. In Nightwatch the author recommends a six to 10 inch Dobsonian mounted Newtonian reflector as "an ideal beginner's telescope". Taking into account something that is easy to assemble and transport, something which functions to a good level, and something which is in the £200 to £300 category, does anyone have their own recommendations?

Also, which are the best websites to use? In particular ones in which planetry motions are given and ones which give good night-time forecasts for UK skies.

Any other discussion of astronomy welcome! How about astro photography? Does anyone do that, any pictures to show?

Cheers :)

[learner]

Might be worth checking if there is a local astronomy club nearby. Good luck.

[The Sopwith Turtle]

You might find Stellarium ( http://www.stellarium.org/) useful. If I remember correctly, it includes planets, and has a grid overlay that would be very useful with a telescope.

[Dancing David]

I would suggest just star gazing to start, get some maps and some binocs and get out and look at the sky. (You wil want a red light for the map reading.) Look at the sky. It is cool.

The weather is always an issue, there are some great meteor showers in Oct. , unfortunately they are almost always obscured by clouds.

[MrQhuest]

I know this is not quite what you are looking for, but it is a perfect scope for beginners.

https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/

mrq

[Monketey Ghost]

Spend your money on a "Dobsonian light-bucket" scope. What you want is aperture. Try 12 inch, the bigger the mirror the more you will see. The best eyepieces can't help you see light the scope isn't gathering if it's not big enough. Aside from this, you want a good stable mount, preferably with setting circles.

Word to your mother.

[MG1962]

In terms of software

http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/index.html

An excellent program that as your experience grows, the program can be adapted to your needs. Start with the basic download and go from there

I would join this forum. Its the best astronomy forum I know of. The founder Phil Platt, is a professional astronomer, and has a major connection to the JREF organisation

http://www.bautforum.com/

In terms of books. I done believe you can go past David Levy's The Sky, A users manual. Excellent introductory text on the various types of observing available and the equipment you would need to do it.

Finally as someone suggested, join a local club. During their star parties, telescope owners are happy to let you look through the scopes and answer questions about their equipment, the strenghts and weaknesses of various desgins

You could start at this page perhaps

http://www.ringsurf.com/ring/iomastrosoc/

The number one rule of choosing the best scope for you. Choose the one that will get used the most

[Monketey Ghost]

Get the three volumes of Burnham's Celestial Handbook. They're old but they're classic and fascinating and exhaustive. Quite a treat. The discussions of the bizarre objects all over our sky are quite good.

[MG1962]

I would suggest just star gazing to start, get some maps and some binocs and get out and look at the sky. (You wil want a red light for the map reading.) Look at the sky. It is cool.

The weather is always an issue, there are some great meteor showers in Oct. , unfortunately they are almost always obscured by clouds.

Thats an extremely good suggestion. If you are looking to purchase an unguided scope you need to make the night sky your new best friend. Many people start with a quality pair of binoculars, if they find they don have the passion for astronomy, the binoculars have other uses

And yes simply going out at night and simply just looking up is about as cool as it gets

[The Sopwith Turtle]

And yes simply going out at night and simply just looking up is about as cool as it gets

Even better if you do it with a friend.

[MG1962]

Get the three volumes of Burnham's Celestial Handbook. They're old but they're classic and fascinating and exhaustive. Quite a treat. The discussions of the bizarre objects all over our sky are quite good.

Not to derail the thread, but have you ever read the story of what happened to this poor guy?

[shadron]

Another software planetarium package like the one that the theturtlemoves mentioned above is Celestia. It allows you to move the viewpoint off Earth to any location, so you can see what a viewer on the moon would see during a lunar eclipse, for instance. Both are freeware from SourceForge, so GNU-licensed source code can be downloaded.

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

Thunderf00t uses it to illustrate a video about observing Saturn here (starting at about :13):
Fbac3zQgq0g

[andyandy]

Some great suggestions so far, many thanks. I'll look into both the software and any local clubs.

I agree with the suggestion that it's best to get acquainted with the sky first before splashing out a few hundred pounds on a telescope, I'm just planning ahead! Even with just the naked eye it has been pretty spectacular over the past week.

Anyone feel free to use this thread as a general discussion on astronomy, btw! :)

[Skwinty]

Not to derail the thread, but have you ever read the story of what happened to this poor guy?

apparently he died poverty stricken in his early 60's. his family and friends only found out some years later.
what a pity.

PS andyandy:
The other posters have given you good advice so I shan't put my 2 cents in.

[Earthborn]

The Neave Planetarium (http://www.neave.com/planetarium/) is a pretty neat planetarium. Changing the location is a bit fiddly, but otherwise it does almost everything you need in planetarium software.

A "six to 10 inch Dobsonian mounted Newtonian reflector" does not seem to me to be the "ideal beginner's telescope". Seems like overkill. The ideal beginner's telescope is this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binoculars).

[I Ratant]

get the three volumes of burnham's celestial handbook. They're old but they're classic and fascinating and exhaustive. Quite a treat. The discussions of the bizarre objects all over our sky are quite good.

.
Yes!

[I Ratant]

I picked up an 8" Meade Dobsonian at a Riverside Telescope Makers Conference 20 or so years back, and ginger-breaded it up with a wooden tube, and an equatorial mount, just because I like to work with wood.
(If you can go to RTMC, it's well worth the trip.)
http://www.angelfire.com/indie/aerostuff/WoodScope.htm

[Tim Thompson]

I've just started to take up astronomy as a hobby. Therefore I'm looking for any help or advice on good websites, good books, good telescopes, etc etc.
Telescope:
Go for the Dobsonian. It is very common for newcomers to the hobby to get the wrong kind of telescope, and quit in frustration. Small cheap refractors are hard to use, and high end computerized telescopes cost too much and take too long to set up. A Dobsonian will be relatively inexpensive and easy to set up & use. I like the idea of big aperture, but don't go larger than you can conveniently carry by hand or in your car. Consider also a good pair of astronomical binoculars (the lens coatings are different from sporting binoculars, and the optics are usually better as well). The wide field view of binoculars gives views of the Milky Way, and clusters like the Pleiades, which no telescope can give.

Astronomy Clubs
There are amateur astronomy clubs all over the world, and there is bound to be one near you. Join it. You can learn a lot from others who have already made mistakes that you can avoid, and there is a lot to be said for sharing a common fascination for anything with other like-minded people, which is why people join all kinds of clubs & societies. It's a good way to see and try out different kinds of telescopes, so you have some idea from hands on experience, what kind of telescope you want.

Books
I confess to being unfamiliar with beginning & amateur astronomy books, so I can't give lots of good advice here. The 3 volumes of Burnham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burnham,_Jr.)'s Celestial Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/Burnhams-Celestial-Handbook-Observers-Universe/dp/048623567X) are good reference, despite being old. Of course Sir Patrick Moore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Moore)'s books are well known & popular. If you are at all interested in history, then try Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (http://www.amazon.com/Star-Names-Their-Meaning-Astronomy/dp/0486210790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238346725&sr=1-1) by Richard Allen. The book was written in the 1800's, before the current constellation boundaries were established, so don't let that confuse you. But if you ever wondered where the stars got those weird names, this is the book that will tell you. It's old, but in constant reprint and easy to find.

Websites:

http://www.shallowsky.com/
Shallow Sky is a good website, maybe one of the best, if you are interested in observing the moon & planets.

http://www.nineplanets.org/
OK, now there are only eight planets, but that can change. Nevertheless, this is a really good site for information about the planets & other stuff in the solar system.

http://www.spaceweather.com/
Aurora alerts and constant monitoring of the sun, the solar wind, coronal mass ejections & etc.

http://www.heavens-above.com/
Will show satellite over flights wherever you are, and monitors visible comets.

http://www.exoplanet.eu/
The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia.

http://www.seds.org/messier/
An excellent site for information on the popular objects of Messier's list (which was not really Messier's list, and he never wanted to see any of them anyway, but we do).

http://www.cometography.com/
All about comets by Gary Kronk.

http://www.solstation.com/
A very good site for information on bright & nearby stars.

http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/
The Level 5 Knowledgebase is a large collection of more advanced reading on astronomy.

Software
It's best to have software on your computer that will show you the sky, so you can anticipate what's visible. I use Starry Night, but The Sky is also popular. If you join your local astronomy club, you can get advice from others on what software they use.

[Shalamar]

The site I visit is www.cloudynights.com. Good information, excellent forums, and they have a ton of reviews.

I have a refractor. Here's a pic:
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh180/Shalamar01/telescope.jpg

Its a smal telescope as such things go. Its an 80mm semi-APO with a rather nice alt-az mount. I got this scope because its easy to move and transport. Packs up nicely, and I was able to take with me to Hawaii to the top of Mount Haleakala. Amazing views.

Dobs are probably one of the best telescopes you can get. Big aperture, low price. The trick is that they do have a significant cool down time, and they can be a pain to transport. If you have a LOT of trees around you, or if the light pollution is pretty bad and you want to haul your telescope around, you'd likely want a more portable telescope, or you can spend the extra money to pick up a Larger truss-tube dobsinian. The truss tubes break down, but do require some time for setup and break down along with collimation and cool down.

Your best bet is to visit the local Astro club first. See the different telescopes, and take a look through them. Good way to get a feel.

You may also be interested in a computer driven go-to mount. Tell it what you want to look at, and it'll find it in the sky for you, and perhaps even track it.

I also picked up a Sky scout: http://www.celestron.com/c3/product.php?CatID=57&ProdID=394

Point it at something in the sky, and it'll tell you what you're looking at. VERY handy along with some of the computer programs suggested.

Remember: The best telescope you can get, is the one you use the most.

[The Atheist]

I've just started to take up astronomy as a hobby.

Oh my god!

You buy gold and manage to single-handedly destroy the markets for gold, US dollars and pounds Sterling.

Buying a telescope will be the harbinger of the Apocalypse!

Please, think of the children, DO NOT buy a telescope.

[kookbreaker]

Oh my god!

You buy gold and manage to single-handedly destroy the markets for gold, US dollars and pounds Sterling.

Buying a telescope will be the harbinger of the Apocalypse!

Please, think of the children, DO NOT buy a telescope.

The hell?!

[The Atheist]

Looks like I broke the dollar ;)

That's some serious karma going on there.

[I Ratant]

The hell?!
.
I can think of (have) any number of hobbies that overall cost more than astronomy in the long run!
Once a reasonable telescope is acquired, it's not going to need new parts all the time as it's used, like toy airplanes or women! :)

[MG1962]

Remember: The best telescope you can get, is the one you use the most.

Also dont forget the golden rule. The amount of cloudy weather will be in direct proportion to the amount of money invested in the scope.

I would love to know how much someone spent on their scope to explain whats happening in Idaho right now

[andyandy]

Brilliant! I've got enough reading now to last several months ;)

I went to the top of a local hill last night to take advantage of a particularly clear night, parking my car in the park car park. For quite a secluded spot there was a remarkable amount of traffic turning into the car park, driving around and then driving off again. Probably 20 cars in the space of an hour. I thought it was rather strange so mentioned it at work, and apparently it's a well known local spot for "dogging" (watching other couples having sex in their cars). I hope no one saw me turning in and got the wrong idea :)

who'd have thought that astronomy could be so racy?

[andyandy]

I have a question about what I saw last night. Whilst looking at the sky last night (Saturday) I noticed a movement in my peripheral vision. Turning towards it I saw something apparently moving very fast at an incline of about 30° to the vertical. The object was very bright, and as I watched flared to a brilliant green. After about five seconds it had disappeared behind the tree line.

My first reaction would be that it must be a firework or flare. However, this was at 1230 in the morning in a rural area, there was no fire work activity in the hour either side, and it didn't look like any fireworks I have ever seen before. But what is the alternative? Some space debris burning up in the atmosphere? A meteorite? How likely are these events to be witnessed?

For corroboration, I was in the North West of England looking at an area between and below Leo and Gemini.

Any ideas? :)

[wollery]

Could be an Iridium satellite (http://www.heavens-above.com/).

[Tim Thompson]

I have a question about what I saw last night. ... For corroboration, I was in the North West of England looking at an area between and below Leo and Gemini.
Any ideas? :)

http://www.heavens-above.com/
Will show satellite over flights wherever you are, and monitors visible comets.

Check the Heavens Above website for satellite overpasses for your location. The International Space Station (which flew over me on Saturday night) and the Hubble Space Telescope can be quite bright, as well as the Iridium Flare already mentioned. If it was a meteor, it will not show up on Heavens Above, but that is still a possibility if you find no candidate overpass.

[andyandy]

I made the same post on an astronomy forum, and got this reply:

I saw it too. It was a super bright Bolide Fireball. My watch said 12.35am. I thought it flared up below Denebola in Leo. Much Much brighter than Venus. It had a massively bright sparky tail and then over the western side of Virgo it blew apart into 3 or 4 pieces which each themselves were trailing bright sparks. Faded out below Arcturus and above the eastern side of Virgo.

Absolutely spectacular sight and we were both very lucky to see what might be a once in a lifetime Bolide Fireball. (Of course these happen all the time but the odds of us just looking up at the right time at the right part of the sky for another of such brilliance is slim.) Could be decades at least before we personally see another like it.

I've been trawling all the astro forums I am a member of all morning to see if anyone else saw it

Found someone else in Cork Southern Ireland who saw it.

If you saw it under Gemini and Leo, maybe someone can help us triangulate it!!. Afraid the other Irish guy can't give us the third reference point as he seems to have his compass points mixed up. He said it was in the north going from East to West. It would be to his north if it was between me and him but it still would have been traveling west to east and not east to west like he said. He didn't mention Constellations either and this was on a non astro specialised forum.

unfortunately, despite the fact that the time, the description and the general direction in the sky seem to match, the object was definitely travelling east to west. Which is a bit incongruous! I'll check the links above and see if any of those phenomenon fit.

[andyandy]

Perhaps it was a fireball:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7985093.stm

Security cameras in Northern Ireland may shed some light on the cause of a massive fireball in the sky on Sunday.

The shooting star was reported at about 1230 BST by people living as far apart as Donegal and Cork.

David Moore chairman of Astronomy Ireland said they were fairly certain it was a rock from space which could have landed somewhere in Ireland.

He said they were very keen to hear from anyone who has footage of what is suspected to be a meteor falling.

"We're fairly certain that it was a rock from space, a meteor which may have dropped a meteorite," he said.

[iiwo]

You might also check out http://www.astronomycast.com/