41 replies to this topic

[B 26354]

Turn Left at Orion is "OK" as a beginner's guide... but I think the newest (5th) edition of NightWatch is vastly superior... and it's currently half-off on Amazon, which makes it a steal:

 

https://www.amazon.c.../dp/0228104394/

 

I've lent my 4th edition (2006) to three different folks over the years, and all three of them ended up ordering their own copy. The 5th edition was published in September 2023.

 

[WISDOC]

 Please don't assume you have just a 6" dob. It is a wonderful instrument ! As you learn to use it AND to "SEE" with it you will discover there are enough objects up there to keep you busy for a lifetime. Another name for a 6" dob is a PLANET KILLER. It is a great instrument for planetary views.
My only scopes have always been dobs. My first look through a scope as a kid was through my older cousin's 6" dob. First target was Jupiter. Been dob struck ever since. I think I was 9. I saved my lawn mowing money till Icould afford a 6" Edmond Scientific newt. I loved it. I now have an ad10. I think it is magnificent and will never part with it?

  You can see so many things with that scope you will feel silly about saying just a 6" dob.Enjoy it immensely! It deserves it.  And you will be surprised.

  Clear skies and keep looking up. Doc.

 

P.S.  My son got me an old Orion  6" dob diy kit that the maker messed up. It's been sitting covered upfor years. I love to tinker and that old scope is my spring tinker project. I can't wait for first light with it ! Ireally wanna see how my PLANET KILLER works.

[Dave Mitsky]

Here's some more on Venus, which will reach greatest illuminated extent on February 14th.

Greatest illuminated extent occurs when Venus’s day side covers the most amount of sky. It might seem strange then that this occurs when Venus’s disk illumination is only 27.2%. Venus is brightest during crescent phases because it is closer to us and as a result it looks bigger. When the planet is exhibiting gibbous phases, its angular size can be as small as 10-arcseconds. During crescent phases, it will be around 40-arcseconds.

https://www.slsc.org...uary-8-16-2025/

When plotted geocentrically – from an Earth-centered perspective – there is a highly noticeable rhythm in the motion of Venus. After eight years, it returns to the same place in our sky on about the same date. This is known as the eight-year cycle of Venus, and stems from the fact that 13 Venusian orbits (13 x 224.8 days) very nearly equals eight Earth years. As a matter of fact, the cycle was known to, and of great interest to, ancient peoples such as the Maya. Today, many know it as the pentagram or petals of Venus.
 

The word pentagram – or five-sided figure – is because, over the eight years, each phenomenon – each relative position of Earth, Venus, and the sun – occurs five times. Then, over the next eight years, they repeat five times almost identically.

 

https://earthsky.org...etals-of-venus/

Attached Thumbnails

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[WillR]

Here’s a list for you of beginner targets. 

 

By the way, Saturn will not look like the image in post 13. That is the correct size, but the rings are almost edge on now and will be hard to see.

 

I corrected a couple of mistakes in my list. Thanks, Dave Mitsky for calling my attention to them. The uploads have been replaced with the corrected files.

Attached Files

•  Will's 100 v3.pdf   45.64KB   3 downloads
•  Will's 100 v3.xlsx   76.26KB   1 downloads

Edited by WillR, 13 February 2025 - 08:15 PM.

[TheReboot]

I use Stellarium to locate things in the sky. I am a beginner like you and learn a lot here. I have a apertura 10 inch Dob. So far I really like it. The laser collimator on mine needed to be collimated before I could use it. The 30mm eyepiece is good the 9mm leaves a lot to be desired (needs more eye relief) The moon filter well it's there. You should be warned about the "new scope curse" expect sever weeks of clouds . But when you get a clear night wow  saw Jupiter and 3 of her moons. Good luck. 

Thanks for the heads up about the curse lol! I can't wait to get the scope in. Yours is a lot bigger but I hope I can still get some good views of the planets and the moon. I did forget to get a moon filter so I need to check if that's included in my scopes package or not and if not I need to buy one and possibly a sun filter too.

[TheReboot]

As the owner of a 6" f/6 Newtonian, I confirm what others have already said, you will not regret it. Under an urban or suburban sky it will not give you a great advantage over lower apertures, but under a dark sky you will notice those extra centimeters.

 

Newtonian telescopes, if they are well collimated, offer a great image quality in the center of the visual field. In your case, an f/8, the quality should cover a good part of the field. In addition, the CO is small and that impacts on a higher quality of the contrast of the details. For planetary observation I recommend you use eyepieces of a certain quality, which does not necessarily mean expensive. In my case, for example, I use orthoscopic ones (the Baader Classic), which are relatively inexpensive but of great quality.

 

You can see all the planets in the Solar System by appreciating the disk; Neptune and Mercury will be the most challenging because you will have to get close to 200x and you will need good seeing, and Mercury is always there, inserted in the glow of dusk or dawn. As for deep sky, you have at your disposal practically the entire Messier catalogue and many NGC and other catalogue objects. You just have to keep in mind that if you are looking for faint and diffuse objects, you will only be able to find them in dark skies.

 

Another field that you can also enjoy with your telescope is the observation of double stars, many of them with beautiful colour contrasts, such as gamma Andromedae or the so-called Albireo of winter (HJ3945, in Canis Majoris).

 

Here are some representations of how Jupiter and Saturn look with different telescope sizes; yours would correspond to the central representation.

Tamaños de Júpiter y Saturno vistos con telescopios de diferentes aberturas y a distintos aumentos.jpg

Thank you so much that's a lot of help!! As cool as it would be to see Neptune, I understood when buying the scope that I wouldn't be able to see much more than a tiny blurry ball if anything at all. 

I guess I have been underestimating the scope though as many people have said that it's much better than I think. I can't wait to get it in!

[TheReboot]

Welcome, I can feel your excitement. A 6" reflector will give you all you can handle as a beginner. I can't overstate what's been said about a good guide/star chart.

 

Two things I'd like to add: Start out with low magnification ep's, 25mm to 35mm, until you find your targets. And second; I can't stress enough the value of a pair of binoculars. My go to's are 10x50, but anything will work. You can see large swaths of sky and familiarize yourself with the star fields your targets are hiding in. IMO, it'll save you hours of hunting with a scope. 

 

Good luck.

Thank you for the recommendation! What can I really see with the binoculars though? From my understanding, unless I'm in dark conditions where I can zoom in on some galaxies, everything will still just look like a bright ball in the sky without being able to make out any details.

[TheReboot]

Here’s a list for you of beginner targets. 

 

By the way, Saturn will not look like the image in post 13. That is the correct size, but the rings are almost edge on now and will be hard to see.

Thank you so much for attaching that! I do have a question about it though. Is this list accurate for all times that the object is visible because I know obviously some times of the year certain things aren't visible and other times of the year things can get dimmer or brighter based on their positions relative to the sun. Are the numbers there considered their average brightness and recommended viewing or are they at peak conditions?

[WillR]

Thank you so much for attaching that! I do have a question about it though. Is this list accurate for all times that the object is visible because I know obviously some times of the year certain things aren't visible and other times of the year things can get dimmer or brighter based on their positions relative to the sun. Are the numbers there considered their average brightness and recommended viewing or are they at peak conditions?

The relative brightness of the targets is pretty much fixed. Their visibility is another question. All objects are best from darker skies, when they are close to culmination (When they are highest in the sky) and without a bright moon. But all these targets are the brighter ones, so they hold up well to light pollution. The numbers are simply my attempt to quantify the relative brightness and interest of the targets.

 

By the way, Dave Mitsky pointed out a few mistakes, so I updated the files and put them in my original reply to you.

Edited by WillR, 13 February 2025 - 08:20 PM.

[Bungee]

Thank you for the recommendation! What can I really see with the binoculars though? From my understanding, unless I'm in dark conditions where I can zoom in on some galaxies, everything will still just look like a bright ball in the sky without being able to make out any details.

I'm under B3 skies, B4 (mol) is not far from what I work with. Unless you travel beyond New England, I doubt you'll see anything better than a 3. At B4 you should be able to identify the basic constellations naked eye with no magnification. Surrounding those are asterisms, which are recognizable groupings of stars within the boundaries of the constellations. Many are still too large for a scope, but too dim for the naked eye. These are the keys to DSO's. Binoculars are the perfect size for locating asterisms, reducing the area needed to search for a target. When you become familiar with the background stars in any given constellation, you can begin the "star hopping" process visual observers use to find DSO's.

 

Two quick examples:

Orion is a large constellation. The belt and the sword are considered asterisms. Within the sword is the great nebula M42. Within that is another asterism called the Trapezium. Each get successively smaller.

Leo is presently rising. It's easily located by the crescent of stars called the "sickle", another asterism. Follow the sickle around and down to the bright star Regulus and you've found a nice double. Follow that to the back leg and there's a grouping of galaxies under the middle of his belly and behind the leg.

 

Binoculars will show the lesser stars in a larger field that will make star hopping easier. When you do point your scope, having binos can verify you're looking in the right place. Most Messier objects can be easily viewed with a 6" scope under B4 skies. The trick is finding the stars that lead you to them. I hope I didn't offend your intelligence with this over-simplification.

[Dave Mitsky]

Within that is another asterism called the Trapezium.

Well, perhaps, but I only consider patterns of unrelated stars to be asterisms, and the stars of the Trapezium are part of a larger open cluster.  For example, the Coathanger (Collinder 399, Brocchi's Cluster) was originally designated as an open cluster.  When it became clear that it was not in the latter years of the 20th century, it became an asterism.

Asterisms are a group of stars that appear to be associated with each other but are not.

https://www.astrolea...erving-program/

[WillR]

Binoculars are an indispensable tool for an observer, but for learning the night sky, their FOV is too narrow to be effective. IMHO. The larger asterisms like Leo’s sickle won’t fit in the field. However there is one binocular that is useful in this regard, and that is what are called constellation binoculars. An example is Orion’s 2x54s. I have a homemade pair made with Nikon teleconverters and I use them every time I go out. They turn my Botle 4-5 skies into Bortle 3-4 and show an entire constellation, about 25 degrees of sky.

 

However I do have a 10x50 RACI I use to ID smaller parts of the sky when star hopping. This is more like what Bungee Is talking about.

 

I recommend naked eye views for learning the sky. That said, there are plenty of targets that look best in binoculars, but not the Messiers. They are best observed in a telescope with the notable exceptions of M45, the Pleiades and M44, the Beehive. Some Messier open clusters are small in binoculars, but resolve well. These include M7, M41, M34, M24, and M39. Other good binocular targets are the Collinder and Melotte clusters including the Coathanger, the Alpha Perseii Cluster, the Coma cluster, Orion’s Belt (Collinder 70), and the Hyades.

[Nerdalert]

There is so much to see with a 6” 😃 I bought mine 25 years ago and have only just upgraded it this year. The M42 Orion Nebula is fantastic! M13 in Hercules, M57 in Lyra and the Veil Nebula in Cygnus are among my favourites. A 6” is in my eyes often an overlooked size, it is easy to carry outside, great for planets and there is almost endless amount it can show from a dark sky Congratulations on it 🔭🔭

Edited by Nerdalert, 14 February 2025 - 01:32 PM.

[Dave Mitsky]

Thank you for the recommendation! What can I really see with the binoculars though? From my understanding, unless I'm in dark conditions where I can zoom in on some galaxies, everything will still just look like a bright ball in the sky without being able to make out any details.

I routinely observe dozens of asterisms and deep sky objects from my light-polluted red zone home using binoculars.

The only galaxy that will appear "large" from most of the northern hemisphere using typical binoculars is M31, which does require dark skies to fully appreciate.  Very few galaxies can really be considered to be bright, but many are visible using binoculars, nevertheless.
 

You may want to take a look at the section on binocular astronomy in my post at https://www.cloudyni...mers/?p=5184287

[WISDOC]

 For better than you will get with the supplied eyepieces I would recommend a zoom eyepiece. A very good starter zoom is the Svbony SV135. It is a 7-21 zoom. New cost me $40.00 on the bay. it gets a lot of positive reviews here and I quite enjoy mine. It will give you a nice range of magnifications to play with. I can't stress enough that you not underestimate your new scope. Get it well collimated and it will give you excellent views of celestial targets for years.

 When you do start viewing take time to really look and analize what you see. Just relax and enjoy what you see. I have spent hours on a single target trying to observe details in what I see. I keep a log of my observations. If I get a night of exceptional seeing I will go back to some targets and spend time looking to see if I can record any details I may have missed on a less than perfect night of seeing.

  Don't rush things. Visual astronomy is about what you "see". take time to learn the night sky, learn about your scope

(by using it often) and enjoy. It's supposed to be fun. Do what's fun for you with your scope. It can make you very glad you bought it. In a few/many years when you feel you have got everything out of the scope you can, maybe think about a 10 or12" scope to show you more. I have the ad10 and have no plans on replacing it. I see so many things and enjoy what I see.

 Clear skies and keep looking up. Doc

[radiofm74]

Turn Left at Orion is "OK" as a beginner's guide... but I think the newest (5th) edition of NightWatch is vastly superior... and it's currently half-off on Amazon, which makes it a steal:

 

https://www.amazon.c.../dp/0228104394/

 

I've lent my 4th edition (2006) to three different folks over the years, and all three of them ended up ordering their own copy. The 5th edition was published in September 2023.

 

I respectfully disagree.

 

I love Nightwatch. It is a wonderfully written introduction to astronomy and to the hobby – core scientific notions, useful tips on gear, etc…. It is a must-read for the novice astronomer. However, while it offers a few pages of observing tips, it is not remotely comparable to Turn left at Orion as a field guide. I would recommend buying both, but if only one for now, then let it be Turn left.  

 

To the OP: we can make plenty of lists for you, but you need a proper guide giving you detailed indications on how to find the object, and on how to interpret what you see at the eyepiece. Turn left is just that and will keep you busy for at least one year, likely more. It covers all aspects of the hobby: lunar, planetary, DSOs, multiple stars. 

 

Another ressource that I feel is super-useful to the novice DSO hunter is Tony Flander's Urban Messier Guide… an amazing write-up on finding and appreciating the 110 Messier objects.

[RickylMcc53]

 I too have a 6 inch dob. 1177mm focal length . I love it for looking at star clusters, globular and open. I use a 26mm 2", 70 FOV and also a 38mm in the same configuration. Learn how to star hop, it will help you find things easier. Like other people have suggested, stay at lower powers most of the time.