Rank newbie

Morning all
I subbed to this newsgroup in the hope that, as a rank newbie, I would
find assistance and support to get myself going in astronomy.

I find most of the posts are much too technical or philosophical for me.
I do not understand the technical and don't give a toss about the
philosophical.
I am not complaining about the posts (it's your site after all)

I am looking for somewhere to get advice and assistance at my level
(Kindergarten as far as astronomy is concerned)

Is there a newsgroup that caters for children like me??
I am sure that if I asked questions on this site I would get answers,
but I have not seen any questions from those at my level so feel there
must be another more suited to my needs
Thanks in advance
Regards
Phil

We were all children at one point, nature of things.
Even a mother can't understand a child words, who can't speak.
What is your question Phil, please dive in?
Julius


"Phil Hawkins" wrote in message
...
Morning all
I subbed to this newsgroup in the hope that, as a rank newbie, I would
find assistance and support to get myself going in astronomy.

I find most of the posts are much too technical or philosophical for me.
I do not understand the technical and don't give a toss about the
philosophical.
I am not complaining about the posts (it's your site after all)

I am looking for somewhere to get advice and assistance at my level
(Kindergarten as far as astronomy is concerned)

Is there a newsgroup that caters for children like me??
I am sure that if I asked questions on this site I would get answers, but
I have not seen any questions from those at my level so feel there must be
another more suited to my needs
Thanks in advance
Regards
Phil

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 01:21:54 GMT, Phil Hawkins wrote:

Morning all
I subbed to this newsgroup in the hope that, as a rank newbie, I would
find assistance and support to get myself going in astronomy.

I find most of the posts are much too technical or philosophical for me.
I do not understand the technical and don't give a toss about the
philosophical.
I am not complaining about the posts (it's your site after all)

I am looking for somewhere to get advice and assistance at my level
(Kindergarten as far as astronomy is concerned)

Is there a newsgroup that caters for children like me??
I am sure that if I asked questions on this site I would get answers,
but I have not seen any questions from those at my level so feel there
must be another more suited to my needs

Actually, you're in the right place. There are plenty of people around here who
can give you great advice as a newbie- but you need to ask the questions. The
trick with any newsgroup is to ignore the stuff that you don't need- too
technical or too off-topic philosophy- and just glean what you yourself find
useful.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

sci.astro.amateur is an unmoderated newsgroup and there is no control=20
over topics posted. Perhaps a moderated forum might better suit you.=20

There are some good Yahoo groups...

Starrynights for discussing observations
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/starrynights

Telescopes for discussing hardware
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/telescopes

Also the CloudyNights forums are quite good...
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php


-Florian
Stargazing.com

There is a CloudyNights beginners forum...

=
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthrea...ard/beginners=



-Florian

"Phil Hawkins" wrote in message
...
Morning all
I subbed to this newsgroup in the hope that, as a rank newbie, I would
find assistance and support to get myself going in astronomy.

I find most of the posts are much too technical or philosophical for me.
I do not understand the technical and don't give a toss about the
philosophical.
snip

Ask the right questions and you will get appropriate answers. This is a
little community of like-minded enthusiasts, and as helpful a group as you
will find on the net. Just like in the real world, there are some ratbags,
but they are easy to ignore. Go for it.

T.T. wrote:
"Phil Hawkins" wrote in message
...

Morning all
I subbed to this newsgroup in the hope that, as a rank newbie, I would
find assistance and support to get myself going in astronomy.

I find most of the posts are much too technical or philosophical for me.
I do not understand the technical and don't give a toss about the
philosophical.

snip

Ask the right questions and you will get appropriate answers. This is a
little community of like-minded enthusiasts, and as helpful a group as you
will find on the net. Just like in the real world, there are some ratbags,
but they are easy to ignore. Go for it.


Thanks to all who have encouraged me
I have a million questions but no answers

1. I purchased a telescope because of the price seeming " too good to miss"
It is apparently an ANDREWS with a EQ mount. I did post a request for
info on this and during the replies lost the whole thread. My fault -
not yours.

It is written that it is
D=130mm, F=900mm
Two lenses are listed as
"super ten long eye relief"
"super 20 wide angle long eye relief"

Maybe my ignorance caused me to " jump in where angels fear to tread",
but, what do the figures mean and how do I get the best use out of it,
since I already have it?

I'll stop at number 1
Regards
Phil

Hi Phil,

It is written that it is
D=130mm, F=900mm
Two lenses are listed as
"super ten long eye relief"
"super 20 wide angle long eye relief"


And LO the reply came !
the "D=130mm" is the diameter of your object lens (at the front)
the "F=900mm" is the focal length of said objective, where it brings
light rays to a focus.
Your F ratio is therefore F/D = 6.9.... call it F7
the 10mm eyepiece will give 900/10 = 90 times magnification.
likewise the 20mm WA will give 900/20 = 45 times.
Your maximum magnification could be as high as 260 X plus (optimistic)
I still work on a max of 50X per inch of aperture, others say 60X.
For a 130mm the theoretical limiting magnitude (under ideal
conditions; =never in UK) would be ~ 12.3
and have a resolving power of just under 1 arc sec. (0.91")

you might like to browse Mr.Tonkin's newbie FAQ at
http://www.astronomycentre.org.uk/UKSA/faq.htm

Good luck jc


--
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/jc_atm/

Phil Hawkins wrote:

(snip)

Thanks to all who have encouraged me
I have a million questions but no answers

1. I purchased a telescope because of the price seeming " too good to
miss"
It is apparently an ANDREWS with a EQ mount. I did post a request for

info on this and during the replies lost the whole thread. My fault -

not yours.

It is written that it is
D=130mm, F=900mm
Two lenses are listed as
"super ten long eye relief"
"super 20 wide angle long eye relief"

Maybe my ignorance caused me to " jump in where angels fear to
tread",
but, what do the figures mean and how do I get the best use out of
it,
since I already have it?

I'll stop at number 1
Regards
Phil

"D" is the diameter of the objective (the main mirror) in this case
130mm. The larger this number, the more light the telescope can
gather. 130mm isn't bad for a first telescope.

"F" is the focal length of the objective, in this case 900mm.

Your eyepieces have focal lengths of 10mm and 20mm.

With the 20mm eyepiece in place you will get a magnification of 45
(i.e. 900 divided by 20) and with the 10mm eyepiece, a magnification of
90 (900/10.) Those are good, useful magnifications for a 130mm
telescope. Does the manual state the inside diameter of the focuser
(or can you measure it?)

The EQ means "equatorial." The polar axis (closer to the tripod) needs
to be at least roughly pointed at the north celestial pole (or south,
depending on your location.)

Phil Hawkins wrote:
but, what do the figures mean and how do I get the best use out of it,

As has been pointed out, the figures are aperture (130mm), focal length
of telescope (900mm) and focal length of eyepieces (10mm and 20mm).

The EQ mount is "Equatorial", and needs to be aligned with the
equatorial grid. This is like the (lat/long) coordinate system of the
earth, extended out onto the sky. Each object in the sky has a permanent
(for this discussion) set of coordinates based on this system.

We call the "longitude" coordinate, "right ascension"
We call the "latitude" coordinate, "declination"

Right ascension is derived from the fact that as you face south, and
look up to the might sky, the stars appear to move from your left hand
side to your right hand side. This scale is in hours, to represent the
24 hours of Earth's rotation. Each hour is 60 degrees of arc, each
degree 60 minutes arc, and each minute 60 seconds of arc. As a
reference, the moon covers 30 minutes of arc (1/2 degree).

Declination is how high or low a star is on the grid. This value is
simply given in degrees. The logical reason is that _most_ objects do
not appear to move in declination, therefore there is no "arc" motion
involved.

An example of the coordinate system in action would be the very large
Galaxy in the constellation Andromeda (Messier object# 31) at RA: 00h
42m 44.3s and Declination +41* 16' 09". This is the exact location of
the center of the galaxy on the grid. If you had an automated mount, or
one with "setting circles" with that level of pointing accuracy, and
properly aligned to the grid, you could move the scope along the RA and
Dec axes, until the setting circles readout those numbers, and presto,
you're on target.

Setting circles are nothing more than the scaled RA and Dec values
embedded on the appropriate axis of an equatorial mount.

For alignment of the equatorial mount, it helps to understand the
alignment of the grid.

0 degrees declination is the equatorial line of earth, extended out onto
the sky. If you are on the equator, 0 degrees declination is directly
over head. If you are on the North Pole, 0 degrees declination is your
horizon, and 90 degrees declination is directly overhead.

If you were on the North Pole, you would aim the "polar" axis of your
mount, straight up. If you were on the equator, you would aim it due
north, on the horizon.

If you are at 45 degrees North latitude, you aim your polar axis in the
vicinity of the star, Polaris, which is conveniently near the north
equatorial pole. If you are at 45 degrees South latitude, you will have
to aim your polar axis at the south equatorial pole (a little more
difficult since there is not as convenient a "near" star as Polaris in
the north).

To effectively use your equatorial mount, you need to do some research
on which axis is which, on the mount, and how to properly align the
mount. Once properly aligned, you can manually aim (star-hop) the scope
to an object on the sky, and then "track" that object by turning the
slow motion control on the Right Ascension axis (remember, objects do
not move in Declination, so you only need to track them as they move
from the east horizon, toward the west).

Learning how to do all of this, is what this hobby is about in the
beginning. Once you are over the hurdles, this all becomes second
nature, and you will easily take everything out, align the mount, and
point the telescope at your favorite object, with the ability to stare
at it long and hard, while either manually turning the RA axis with the
slo-mo control, or having a clock drive to do the tracking for you,
freeing your hands for activities like sketching what you see.

Basically the axis that is perpendicular to the telescope, is the
declination axis, the other axis is the polar axis, and the one that you
want to "sight" on Polaris (if you are in the northern hemisphere).

Alternatively, you might be able to point the Polar axis directly
overhead, and use the mount in "altazimuth" mode. In this mode,
everything I just told you is unnecessary, and you can simply move the
scope up and down, and left and right, in order to explore the sky. In
this mode however, you will have to track an object in both the up and
down, and left and right directions, as it moves through the sky.

The idea that an object doesn't move in declination, only holds for an
eqatorial mount. The fact is, that as we face south from 45 degrees
North latitude, objects rise in the east, and travel southwestwardly
until the reach the line that separates east and west (the meridian).
They then travel from the meridian, northwestwardly.

None of this is very technical, although it is long. But the truth be
told, there is no short way to explain this. One has to gain the
experience through trial.