Jut got telescope - not clue what to do with it.

[bemused]

One of my lovely friends has bought me a telescope so I can sit in my garden and look at planets, the moon, the great reset death star - normal stuff.

The thing is I have zero ideas on how to do it, I have an app that shows when the planets are up and about but it doesn't help because it's too light.

Any tips, advice, or gentle mocking is welcome.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Does it have a ring-pull?

 

[two sheds]

you look down the narrow end

well actually you look up the narrow end

 

[Leafster]

I don’t have a telescope but have an app called planisphere on my phone which has helped me locate things in the night sky before. It’s got a night mode so it’s not so bright that it stops you finding things in the sky.

I should probably get out in the garden more at night but I’m always a bit self-conscious of what they neighbours might think.

 

[Storm Fox]

Do not stare at the sun with remaining eye.

Can you post a picture of it or let us know the model?

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

 

[bcuster]

I received one as a Christmas present. Light pollution & obstructed views were more of an issue than I'd've thought. Also, the best views and clearest skies tend to be in the dead of winter, so dress warmly!

If you can work around these issues, the galaxy is your oyster...

 

[Leafster]

I received one as a Christmas present. Light pollution & obstructed views were more of an issue than I'd've thought. Also, the best views and clearest skies tend to be in the dead of winter, so dress warmly!

If you can work around these issues, the galaxy is your oyster...

I've laid on my lawn watching meteor showers in the middle of winter before. It's bloody freezing even in normally warm clothes!

 

[Spymaster]

The thing is I have zero ideas on how to do it, I have an app that shows when the planets are up and about but it doesn't help because it's too light.

Do it at night time.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

My dad found that taking it to our place in Ireland was the best option for him.

London is kinda shit for light pollution.

Seeing andromeda as a spiral with my own eyes kinda blew me away.

I knew that the star was in fact a galaxy in an abstract way but seeing it physically made it connect in a breath taking manner.

 

[Steel Icarus]

What sort is it? I've got a nice 5.25 inch reflecting scope with laser sighter.
First thing I'd advise is getting acquainted with the major constellations so you can navigate by sight around the sky. Winter is best - clear winter nights with not much or no moonlight are perfect. It can take your eyes half an hour to adjust.

Is there much light pollution where you are?

 

[2hats]

How large is the primary (what's the diameter across the widest end that you point at objects if all lenses or the back end if it uses a mirror*). Hand held or on a mount (tripod) of some description? What is local light pollution like (bad - urban; mild - rural; dark - national park/rural coastal)?

* Often indicated by/as part of the model number.

 

[weltweit]

Plenty to look at even only on the Moon.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Plenty to look at even only on the Moon.

For sure. The book I got advised starting with the moon (well a halfmoon) and suddenly through a telescope it's like it changed from 2D to 3D. I could look at mountains in craters and find out online how high they were

 

[8ball]

Plenty to look at even only on the Moon.

Can that new super-dooper telescope see the buggy on the moon?

I remember being a little disappointed that the Hubble couldn't.

 

[Leafster]

Can that new super-dooper telescope see the buggy on the moon?

I remember being a little disappointed that the Hubble couldn't.

The James Webb telescope? It’s at L2 (further from the sun than earth) looking out of the solar system so isn’t pointing in the right direction.

 

[8ball]

The James Webb telescope? It’s at L2 (further from the sun than earth) looking out of the solar system so isn’t pointing in the right direction.

This fits in suspiciously well with the claims of those people who think Whitey was on the moon in the 60s.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Have a look at the International Space Station when it passes over.

International Space Station

See the International Space Station! As the third brightest object in the sky the space station is easy to see if you know when to look up.

spotthestation.nasa.gov

Or the Northern Lights? https://twitter.com/aurorawatchuk

 

[Leafster]

It doesn't turn around?

To keep the telescope cool so it can detect things it needs to keep it’s heat shield between it and the sun, so no, it can’t turn around.

 

[8ball]

To keep the telescope cool so it can detect things it needs to keep it’s heat shield between it and the sun, so no, it can’t turn around.

Oh yes, fits in right well with my edit, that does.

 

[danny la rouge]

They’re for looking at far away things.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Have a look at the International Space Station when it passes over.

International Space Station

See the International Space Station! As the third brightest object in the sky the space station is easy to see if you know when to look up.

spotthestation.nasa.gov

Or the Northern Lights? https://twitter.com/aurorawatchuk

It'll be moving too fast

 

[Throbbing Angel]

It'll be moving too fast

Oh

 

[Steel Icarus]

Oh

Or rather it's so close that with a simple scope the field of view will be so small the ISS will whizz through it.

 

[A380]

Download the StarWalk app to your smart phone. I think you have to pay but it is worth it. It will tell you what is in the sky and once you line up the phone (by pointing it at the moon (or something else you know in the sky)) it shows you where things are in augmented reality.

I'm not an astronomer but i do have a 5inch reflecting telescope and this apps lets me find things to look at.

 

[petee]

i was given a telescope once and i loved loved loved it. (i wanted to be an astronomer when i grew up, then i took a physics class and that was that.)

my issue was that you point it, say, mars, and you look in the lens and you don't see mars because you're 1 mm off but you don't know that. i hope you got a smaller scope to go with the telescope, it will give you a broader field of view and then you can narrow in.

 

[T & P]

Look through it the wrong way to observe ugly local landmarks you don’t like, to give the impression they’re located far away from you.

[/Viz Top Tiips]

 

[mojo pixy]

Telescopes are great. My favourite astronomy site is in-the-sky.org

(I recommend getting a red dot finder, too, helps pinpoint where your (tiny!) field of view actually is)

Most home telescopes will only make stars from tiny dots of light to slightly larger dots of light, a few obvious, easy objects you may want to try first, are
1. The Moon (amazing at any magnification)
2. Jupiter, for its bands, colours and largest moons
3. Saturn, for the rings.
4. Orion, for the Orion Nebula (not quite up yet in the uk, but by the end of October it will be)
5. Pleiades, just because they look very cool magnified
6. Andromeda galaxy (personally I love gazing at something whose light left it before the human race even existed...)

You can find them all by using the website I linked to - use the 'planetarium' link