carl

Luckily it seems to be on an equatorial mount, so you can easily track stuff as it moves around the sky.

Try looking for some nebulae or other galaxies. You need a planisphere or a set of RA/dec tables (and some way of converting them without doing it on paper...) for the stuff you want to look at.

Actually there are shareware programs which will show you what's visible in your section of the sky. I think one's called Skywatch?

PS: I believe Pete Croney knows a fair bit about practical amateur astronomy

[Edited by carl - 9/8/2003 2:34:25 PM]

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Hi all

I got a Celestron FirstScope 114EQ telescope for my birthday on Saturday and , after about 3 hours of struggling with the manual managed to get it set up and was able to look at the moon which was awesome

However the manual assumes a fair degree of knowledge on the subject and I have none so I'm after some tips and advice and pointers in the direction of a good source of information for a complete novice like me on how to use it, what lenses to get and which bolt on goodies I should be looking at. Also what stuff in the sky I should be looking at, so far I've looked at the Moon, Mars and some stars

Cheers

Sal

TonyG

Nice. Best stuff to buy? 1. A planisphere - then yyou can work out what's visible when at any time of the year. Pretty inexpensive, you can get them from places like Waterstones.
Also check out the magazines in WH Smiths - ones to go for are Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, and Astronomy Now.
Huge warning - DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN AS IT WILL DAMAGE YOUR EYES. Having said that, the Sun is a good object to observe providing you use a projected image. Feel free to mail me (above)if you want more advice.

Hammy Hamster

To view everything the right way up, try turning the scope round the other way, or stand on your head.

One day you might even see a supa nova

Leslie

I think Big Sinky is well into astronomy too.

Les

Scoobychick

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the replies chaps I'll look into planispheres. I'm going to get a solar filter for looking at the sun and an erect image prism diagonal for looking at terrestrial objects the right way up

Tony, you've got mail

Keep the info coming

Cheers

Sal