Rank newbie

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 09:49:17 GMT, Phil Hawkins wrote:

I won't repeat what others have said. However, being in Australia means you
don't have as obvious a point in the southern sky to use as a reference for your
mount as we do up north. That isn't a very big deal once you have an idea how
the mount works (I rarely use Polaris for alignment), but it is helpful when
starting out. I believe Perth has a rather large astronomy club. I'd suggest you
try and hook up with them and get some help from folks who've been at this
longer than you. I've never seen an astronomy club that didn't welcome newbies
to the hobby.

_________________________________________________

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

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 10:20:50 -0500, Stephen Paul
wrote:

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).

One, small correction here. Each hour of right ascension is equal to
15 degrees of arc (15 degrees * 24 hours = 360 degrees). I'm sure the
original author knows this and the above was something akin to a typo.
I hesitated to point it out at all and wouldn't have had the post been
directed to a seasoned observer but I can see where this would be a
point of confusion to someone new to the hobby. Better to clear it up
from the get-go.

Charlie Hubbard wrote:
On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 10:20:50 -0500, Stephen Paul
wrote:


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).


One, small correction here. Each hour of right ascension is equal to
15 degrees of arc (15 degrees * 24 hours = 360 degrees). I'm sure the
original author knows this and the above was something akin to a typo.
I hesitated to point it out at all and wouldn't have had the post been
directed to a seasoned observer but I can see where this would be a
point of confusion to someone new to the hobby. Better to clear it up
from the get-go.



Absolutely... thanks for the correction!!

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 09:49:17 GMT, Phil Hawkins wrote:

I won't repeat what others have said. However, being in Australia means you
don't have as obvious a point in the southern sky to use as a reference for your
mount as we do up north. That isn't a very big deal once you have an idea how
the mount works (I rarely use Polaris for alignment), but it is helpful when
starting out. I believe Perth has a rather large astronomy club. I'd suggest you
try and hook up with them and get some help from folks who've been at this
longer than you. I've never seen an astronomy club that didn't welcome newbies
to the hobby.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
Many thanks to all who have responded. I now understand the numbers and
therefore the 'strength' of the scope
I will play around with the mount to get to understand and use it
properly. (I have been trying but it hasn't yet worked the way it's
supposed to - there was no manual with it so I had to use trial and error)
I have been given the internet address of the astronomy club here in
Perth so will follow that up.

2. Once I've worked it all out is it advisable to just stick to one area
of the sky to start off with (using this type of scope) or keep moving
around to see everything?
I have been using a small (8x30) pair of binoculars up till now to get
the 'whole picture'
Thanks again to everyone for their assistance
Regards
Phil

On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 00:01:18 GMT, Phil Hawkins wrote:

Once I've worked it all out is it advisable to just stick to one area
of the sky to start off with (using this type of scope) or keep moving
around to see everything?

It is advisable to use the scope in whatever way you enjoy using it. Some people
spend a lot of time on one area, others survey. I'd probably suggest starting
out with big, bright, pretty objects like the Messiers (and some more southern
objects that you have). Once you are comfortable with these kinds of objects,
you will also have developed some sense of where you want to go from there.

_________________________________________________

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