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From: (Dave)
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Subject: New telescope, new user - First steps
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Date: 19 Dec 2003 16:15:38 -0800
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Organization: http://groups.google.com
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D Hi all. I have just purchased a beginner telescope for my 10 y/o
D daughter (and myself) for Christmas. I got a Hardin 6" dobsonian
D reflector. I have always had an interest in astronomy but have never
D purchased (or used by myself) a telescope. I think I have 2 primary
D questions. What will the initial setup be like. Right now I have 2
D boxes, which I haven't cracked (poor word choice) open yet. I was
D planning on getting it ready for use on Christmas Day eve. How much
D time should I plan on taking for initial setup? Hours? Days (nights)?
D What are some quick and easy sights to see for the first night's
D viewing. The Moon is not available then. Saturn? Others?

The assembly should be easy being that a Dobson has only a few
parts to it. I would open the boxes and take inventory now and
mentally go thru the assembly process. You and daughtwer can do the
real work on Christmas day together. I suspent the tube and optics are
in one box and the base is in the other.
Have an assortment of screw drivers and pliers to hand; they will
come in handy if not actually required.
As for the first views, first get orented with the sky. Pick out
the main stars by eye, like Capella, Cassipeia, Pegasus, Orion's belt.
If you got a planisphere or computer planetarium, study it with your
dausghter. Be mindful of the shift from a two-dimensional flat
screen/plate to the 3D bowl of the heavens. A bit tricky at first.
If the scope has a finder, align it in daytime or early twilight
on distant landscape fieature, like a steeple or power pole. Pick a
feture on the pole you see in the main scope and hold that scope
still. On a Dob this may mean your daughter grips the tue and holds it
steady. You then fiddle with the finder to get that same feature on
or very near the crosshairs, then tighten it in place.
You may have to go thru this exercise every evening you observe,
specially if you carry the scope and accidently bump it. That's life.
There's no Moon for the Christmas days. WOnderful for deep sky
hunting!
Look at the bright and easy things first. Saturn (in Gemini, the
stranger star in that group if you'r using only a planisphere).
The rings are still almost fully open this season. Next year they'll
be noticeably closed up a bit.
Venus in evening twilight following the Sun in southwest. It's
still a gibbous so the phase may not show up right away. Mars is
getting too small, from increasing distance, to show much other than a
pinkish dot. Yet you two ae looking at the real place where the Mars
probes are arriving right now. Mars is in south at noghtfall about
halfway up.
Pleiades, the Seven Sisters cluster. Orion's sword and nebbula;
explore the area around it for clusters. Rosette cluster in
Monoceros. Beehive cluster in Cancer (later in the night). Double
Cluster in Perseus. Pazmino's cluster in Camelopardis (so your
daughter can see something a real home astronomer disvoered).
If you got S&T or Astronomy or a planetarium program with
asteroids, look up Ceres near Pollux. This may be tricky for this area
has lots of stars that can be mistaken forCeres, which itself looks
just like a star. Save this for later when you two get some experience
working the scope.
The scope will move the 'wrong' way when you nudge it. You push it
from the side you want to field to move TOWARD. This can be awfully
confusing at first! More over, the compass directions are all
topsu-turvy. Let the scope alone. The stars float out to the west. The
other compass directions are then N-E-S-W counterclockwise around the
eyepiece field.
Strong wind may shove the scope off target. Set up in the lee of
a house or put up chinese curtains or similar to bblock the wind.
Use the lower power eyepiece to find and center the target, then
gently switch eyepiece to increase the power. You'll learn that each
night limits the power you can usefully apply, due to turbulance in
the air, shimmy from wind, field drift from Earth rotation. You'll
likely have the best most pleasing views with powers up to 100.
Have fun!`y

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