Come join the friendliest, most engaging and inclusive astronomy forum geared for beginners and advanced telescope users, astrophotography devotees, plus check out our "Astro" goods vendors.
Come join the friendliest, most engaging and inclusive astronomy forum geared for beginners and advanced telescope users, astrophotography devotees, plus check out our "Astro" goods vendors.
We all started somewhere! We are a friendly bunch! Most of your questions can be posted here, but if you are interested in Astrophotography please use the new Beginner Astrophotography forum. The response time will be much better.
For those getting into the hobby and recently acquired a new scope we usually recommend to start with the Moon and planets. They are bright, easy to find and rewarding targets. But what to observe beyond that? What would be good targets to ease in and build experience and confidence?
Here are a few ideas. They have been discussed before but no harm in revisiting.
When I got back into observing with my daughter we had lots of fun following Skymaps monthly Evening Sky maps. For each month they list a few easy targets for naked eye, binoculars and telescope. Good way to learn constellations to.
Messier catalog is a great gateway into exciting world of Deep Sky Objects (DSOs). It contains slightly over 100 objects of all DSO types, with many beautiful, large, bright and easy to find targets. Yet it also contains enough fainter stuff and a couple of really hard targets to hone your observing skills. I like Astronomical League Messier list. They list targets by seasons and then constellations which I find convenient when planning observing sessions.
Double and multiple stars are another rewarding category of targets. There are plenty for any aperture from small binoculars to light buckets. They stand well to the light pollution and can be observed even with full Moon out. There many beautiful and even more challenging pairs to keep you occupied for years. Again, I suggest to start with Astronomical League Double Stars Observing Program. They have 100+ carefully selected pairs observable with 3" or larger scope. To get to the printable lists scroll down and click on the yellow hyperlinks.
Gabrielle See Far Sticks: Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser 127/1200 BV, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS 100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885 EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, SXP2, AXJ, AXD Az/Alt: AYO Digi II, Stellarvue M2C, Argo Navis encoders on both Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102 Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Tak prism, TAL, Vixen Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss (1011110) The only culture I have is from yogurt
I also have a soft spot for open clusters. If you have seen NGC 4755 or NGC 3532 in the southern hemisphere then you will know why, even IC 2602 is spectacular from dark skies and amazing through binoculars.
Eyeballs, binoculars, sketch box, Scopes n stuff. Some people don't understand why I love astronomy so much, I cannot understand why they do not!
I noticed that you included several links to the Astronomical League Observing Programs. I find them to be a good resource for ideas. I look over all their programs and choose the ones I am most interested in.
Rob Telescopes: 50mm refractor, ED80 triplet, 90mm makcass, 10" dob, 8"SCT, 11"SCT
Mounts: Celestron CGX, Orion Sirius + several camera tripods
Cameras: Canon 6D, Canon 80D, ZWO-ASI120MC
Binoculars: 10x50, 12x60, 15x70, 25-125x80
Observatory: SkyShed POD XL3 + 8x12 warm room
AL Projects Completed: Lunar #645, Outreach #0280, Universe Sampler #93-T, Binocular Messier #871, Messier #2521, Messier Honorary #2521, Constellation Hunter Northern Skies #112, Planetary Transit Venus #1, Galileo #26, Outreach Stellar 0280, Meteor Regular #157, Solar System Telescopic #209-I, Observer Award #1
AL Projects Currently in Process: Double Stars, Comet, Lunar Evolution
The double cluster seen through a 10" equatorial mounted reflector at a neighbor's house in Southern California in the latter 70's hooked me. Gorgeous sight. Of course back then such large aperture scopes were quite rare. Either you could buy a Cave Astrola or a newfangled Meade "research grade" Newtonian featuring the scientist in a white coat in their print ads. This was all before the Dobsonian revolution which made large scopes affordable, or better yet you could build your own.
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
Living in RSA most of the time we have constant power cuts so people have installed their own lights , its like New York at times , cant even see planets , crazy but moon is ok , I have given up at home , we have a part share in a game lodge that is great so no big scope for now , but plan is to get a big scope on the lodge I hope to build an observatory with a 20inch newt , but no ones agrees , what do you say watch some game during the day and stars etc at night ?
Reflectors GSO 200 Dobs
Refractors None
SCT C5 on a SLT mount
Mak 150 Bosma on a EQ5