Stargazing

eeyore

eeyore

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eeyore
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Anyone in to looking up at the stars with a telescope?
I've just got one.... Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ-MD
(yes later on I will be trying some shots with it but for now its just eyeballs only...)

Any one got any links to some good information on how to get started or set it up?
Most of the stuff I've managed to find on-line cover the basics for building it up but when it comes to setting it up for your first view it seems to be that people have a lot of different views on how to
 
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An excellent and friendly forum for stargazers is... http://stargazerslounge.com

For your first night out don't try too much just get it on the tripod and point it at something, go for the easy targets. Moon and Jupiter are both easy to find just now though the Moon is up pretty late into the night atmo. Some of Jupiters moons are easy to spot so you should be able to achieve something worthwhile.
 
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Cheers :)
Will have a look at that site.
I'm on an android phone so any apps you can recommend would be cool too :)
 
The two apps I use most are :-
SKEye - a mapping app, shows the sky as you see it with all the objects named, there's a free version and a paid 'pro' version, free is fine.
AstroPanel - a weather app, it tells you not only if it's going to be cloudy or clear but how good the visibility is likely to be.
 
As you have an equatorial mount you'll need to make sure the axes are set up correctly (well you don't have to, but it will make keeping things in view easier) and as already mentioned Stargazerslounge is a good place for advice, quite possibly from people who have the same equipment.

Another free download for finding your way around the sky is Stellarium http://www.stellarium.org/en_GB/

Winter is a good time to get to know the sky. Orion is due south about 9:25pm just now and the seven main stars are bright and easy to spot.

Dave
 
As good (and appropriate) as Stargazers Lounge forum might be it is a shame that requests for an Astrophotography section on Talk Photography have been refused and that we have to resort to recommending other forums. There are some fantastic astro images and knowledge on TP but without a home, they appear in many different sections and unfortunately get lost in the general "noise". A dedicated section would at least give some recognition for the superb efforts of some of our resident stargazers and would provide inspiration and help for many more TP'ers who might not otherwise considered astrophotography.

Mods - any chance of reconsidering an astro section for discussion and images - or even a poll?
 
eeyore said:
Anyone in to looking up at the stars with a telescope?
I've just got one.... Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ-MD
(yes later on I will be trying some shots with it but for now its just eyeballs only...)

Any one got any links to some good information on how to get started or set it up?
Most of the stuff I've managed to find on-line cover the basics for building it up but when it comes to setting it up for your first view it seems to be that people have a lot of different views on how to
Click to expand...
I was interested in that for a while, but found the weather to be very, very frustrating. Do my stargazing on the web now. Best of luck with your new interest. (y)
 
Aye there weather is gonna have to get better... we have had nothing but dull skys since I got it lol
 
eeyore said:
Aye there weather is gonna have to get better... we have had nothing but dull skys since I got it lol
Click to expand...

That's the third law of Astronomy, "New gear attracts clouds"
 
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