new fish, advice needed

hello everyone. I'm new here, and this is my first post. I'm new to the
hobby and would love any advice anyone has to give. I own a Orion 130mm EQ
reflector and a short tube 80mm refractor. I mainly use the 80mm for
terrestrial viewing but I use it for lunar observing at times.

I guess my question is, what pointers do you have for a 21 year old newbe,
who lives in dark location in Maryland.

Thank you in advance

"Joe" wrote in message
et...

I guess my question is, what pointers do you have for a 21 year old newbe,
who lives in dark location in Maryland.

What is it you want to do in the hobby? If you'd like some pointers, it'd
sure be helpful to know what you'd like to DO at this point. Do you want
observing tips... if so, what do you like to observe? Equipment tips? Where
to find good star charts or other info? Let us know what you would
eventually like to accomplish here, I'm sure many of us can help you out.

Jackie

I love new fish.

I have an astroscan , a celestron C5 and a pair of Oberwerk 15x70 binos.

Are you coastal?

Cathy





Joe wrote:
hello everyone. I'm new here, and this is my first post. I'm new to the
hobby and would love any advice anyone has to give. I own a Orion 130mm EQ
reflector and a short tube 80mm refractor. I mainly use the 80mm for
terrestrial viewing but I use it for lunar observing at times.

I guess my question is, what pointers do you have for a 21 year old newbe,
who lives in dark location in Maryland.

Thank you in advance

Buy a BIG Dob! ;}



--
"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

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"Joe" wrote in message
et...
hello everyone. I'm new here, and this is my first post. I'm new to the
hobby and would love any advice anyone has to give. I own a Orion 130mm EQ
reflector and a short tube 80mm refractor. I mainly use the 80mm for
terrestrial viewing but I use it for lunar observing at times.

I guess my question is, what pointers do you have for a 21 year old newbe,
who lives in dark location in Maryland.

Thank you in advance




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I guess my question is, what pointers do you have for a 21 year old newbe,
who lives in dark location in Maryland.

Thank you in advance

My suggestions:

1. Don't focus on observing goals, focus on enjoying observing. Get out and
explore the night sky and see what you can see. When you find something neat,
look at it and try to figure out what other people call it.

2. If you don't have any Astro software, consider downloading Cartes du Ciel.
This is a top notch program that can print chart and help you find you way
around the heavens. www.astrosurf.com/astropc

Its free and worth a whole lot more IMHO.

3. If you don't have some star charts, I suggest buying Orion's Deep Map 600.
Less than $15 and lots of interesting targets.

jon

"Joe" wrote in message
et...
hello everyone. I'm new here, and this is my first post. I'm new to the
hobby and would love any advice anyone has to give. I own a Orion 130mm
EQ
reflector and a short tube 80mm refractor. I mainly use the 80mm for
terrestrial viewing but I use it for lunar observing at times.

I guess my question is, what pointers do you have for a 21 year old newbe,
who lives in dark location in Maryland.

Thank you in advance

1.) Don't get married. It will put a crimp in your equipment purchases.

1a.)The exception being, of course, if you married another amateur
astronomer (or, gopod forbid, a *professional* astronomer).

2.)Attend meetings of local amateur astronomers. If there are no meetings,
start one.
3.)Have your eyes checked. You may have astigmatism and will spend countless
hours trying to get the collimation right on the big dob in your future,
only to find the problem with the scope is in your eyes. Also, this may
help with item 1a above.
4.)A subscription to S&T.
5.)Timothy Ferris' "Seeing in the Dark", at a used bookstore, $5-8. A nice
winter evening's read, touches on most aspects of amateur astronomy. You
may find it helpful in setting your initial course in the *hobby*.
6.)Keep your eye out for a mini-van. You will need it later.
7.)Try to find work where you can cat-nap during the day. Public
employment, like around Silver Springs, might offer the best opportunity.
Failing that, try running for congress.
8.)Avoid discussing religion with trolls.
9.)If a date asks "What sign are you?" Leave.
10.)Help other newbies.
11.)Loan money to other amateurs who need it for eyepieces. This could get
you the president's seat in your local astronomical society.
12.)Make a haj. Stellafane. RTMC. Become holy.
13.)Stop smoking pot. It does nothing for your night vision and you now have
other, better ways to spend your money.
14.)Don't buy astronomical equipment because it's cheap. Good astronomical
equipment isn't cheap. It's expensive as hell, unless you make it yourself.
If you buy cheap equipment, others will laugh at you. If you make your own,
they will be respectful and possibly frightened. This goes double if the
equipment produces good images, triple if the equipment can track celestial
objects.
15.Remember the VW Beetle? Now it is called the Celestron C-8.
Good luck and welcome to the brotherhood.

Etok



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Joe wrote:

hello everyone. I'm new here, and this is my first post. I'm new to the
hobby and would love any advice anyone has to give. I own a Orion 130mm EQ
reflector and a short tube 80mm refractor. I mainly use the 80mm for
terrestrial viewing but I use it for lunar observing at times.

I guess my question is, what pointers do you have for a 21 year old newbe,
who lives in dark location in Maryland.

I'm also a relative newbie:

Get a reasonably detailed sky map and/or some planetarium software to
help you find your way around. For instance, Cartes du Ciel is excellent
free planetarium software, highly recommended:
http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/index.html

Next, I'd get a list of the Messier Objects and try to find some of
them, just to get started. They were all discovered with small scopes,
so you will be able to find them, and they look amazing.
list: http://www.eanet.com/kodama/astro/docs/hb-messr.pdf
pictures, info: http://www.maa.agleia.de/Messier/

Thank you all. This will be a lot of help. You will be hearing from me
again.

Buy a copy of Sky Atlas 2000.0. If you can't find all objects on it with your
ST80 from a fairly dark location I'd be really surprised. Have fun, and good
luck!

Scott