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What do I do with a telescope?

bemused

Well-Known Member
I've been watching astronomy videos on youtube recently and using my phone to find things in my sky. My wife, the good egg she is, has bought me a telescope as a surprise present so I can sit in the garden and look through neighbours windows marvel at the majesty of the universe.

The only problem is I have no idea where to start.

This is the one she got me.
 
I've been watching astronomy videos on youtube recently and using my phone to find things in my sky. My wife, the good egg she is, has bought me a telescope as a surprise present so I can sit in the garden and look through neighbours windows marvel at the majesty of the universe.

The only problem is I have no idea where to start.

This is the one she got me.
 
I've been watching astronomy videos on youtube recently and using my phone to find things in my sky. My wife, the good egg she is, has bought me a telescope as a surprise present so I can sit in the garden and look through neighbours windows marvel at the majesty of the universe.

The only problem is I have no idea where to start.

This is the one she got me.
the basic thing is you use the side telescope to see the general area and the big one for detail - eg the little one to pick out venus in the sky and the big one to actually look at it: after, as supine sagely observes, taking off the cap
 
Get a good star chart book. Also download an astronomical app like Starwalk. Start with easy stuff like the moon and the Orion nebula. Learn the constellations. Remember it takes half an hour to get your night vision going. Get as far away from light sources as you can. Be prepared to be cold.
 
Get a good star chart book. Also download an astronomical app like Starwalk. Start with easy stuff like the moon and the Orion nebula. Learn the constellations. Remember it takes half an hour to get your night vision going. Get as far away from light sources as you can. Be prepared to be cold.
and remember no one out there can hear you scream 'eureka'
 
Back when I started looking at things with a telescope. I started with a 3" refractor which my dad owned, then we upgraded onto a 100mm reflector.

The moon is a big, easy target and lots of detail.
I then went onto the planets and finally stars and satellites.

Unfortunately, my eyesight isn't really up to star-gazing these days, and I usually settle for watching wildlife and local farm animals ...
 
With that telescope have a look at the craters and mountains along the lunar terminator (a couple of days leading up to first or following last quarter are the best times - enhances surface features with reduced glare).

See if you can spot Saturn's rings (was better last summer but still viewable now before it is lost in the sunset twilight but will be at opposition again, ie closest and thus largest and brightest, in mid-August; ring angle is slowly closing as we head towards 2025). Look for the moons of Jupiter (at opposition late September is the best time but can be seen any time). Mars will be a better target in December when at opposition (in very good viewing conditions you might start to see hints of surface features).

Otherwise some classic double star pairs: Albireo (best visibility in summer), Almach (actually a quadruple star system) and 24 Comae Berenices (actually a triple star system) are striking colour pairings (gold/blue, gold/green, orange/blue), plus Castor a blue/white pair (actually 6 stars orbiting each other but you'll only make out the brightest pair).
2560px-Infographic_depicting_the_sextuple_star_system_Castor%2C_and_details_about_its_components.jpg

The open star cluster M45, The Pleiades, always a pleaser and try the Great Globular Cluster (tightly packed old stars) M13 in Hercules.

You could try the Orion Nebula (M42) too but nebulae and deep sky objects really need a dark sky location to view them from (and a larger telescope to collect more light). Obviously the darker sky observing location you can find, the better (near coasts away from major population centres, around/near national parks, etc).
 
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How much did they steal from you for this wortheless document?
NGC 355 is a galaxy, it is not a "star location",

It was a pressie from my loving eldest child, so probably not much. Certainly less than my knighthood from Sealand cost Frau Bahn a couple of years ago…
 
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