Ursa major

Hi there,
I am as new to astronomy as ten minutes before this message.
from the back of my garden lying very low on the horizon is (with a little
help from a kiddies book) the Plough.
Where could I find the 'little saucepan' and what is its name?
I have an old telescope which I haven't used for years and it has a 25mm
lens. Would this be powerful enough under the right conditions to see
planets and where might those planets be in the a north facing direction?
Thank you to anyone that gives me some advice!!!

Dave B.

In article ,
says...
from the back of my garden lying very low on the horizon is (with a little
help from a kiddies book) the Plough.
Where could I find the 'little saucepan' and what is its name?

Straight above it, about 45 degrees above the horizon. Ursa minor.

I have an old telescope which I haven't used for years and it has a 25mm
lens. Would this be powerful enough under the right conditions to see
planets

Certainly. In fact all of them except Neptune and Pluto are visible to
the naked eye, although Mercury and Uranus are a bit tricky.

Whether the telescope will show any worthwhile detail on the planets I
don't know -- it depends on its quality. Try it and see (but be warned
that Mars is always difficult to see any detail on: Jupiter or Saturn
would be much better bets, but they're not around at the moment).

and where might those planets be in the a north facing direction?

Unfortunately for you the planets tend to be positioned to the south
(for the same reasons that the sun is never seen in the northern part of
the sky), but Mars is due east at the time of posting, and about the
same height as the Plough. Do you have a view in that way? It's the
brightest thing in that direction, so you can't miss it! It'll get
higher (but also more southerly) later in the night.

--
Cheers,
John

John Aldridge wrote in
:
from the back of my garden lying very low on the horizon is (with a
little help from a kiddies book) the Plough.
Where could I find the 'little saucepan' and what is its name?

Straight above it, about 45 degrees above the horizon. Ursa minor.

I thinmk Ursa Minor must be one of the hardest constellations to see.

I've *never* made it out after lots of trying.

It seems to be to big to get a hold of with bins, even x8s, and to faint
for my eyes, though this may be my near London skies.

I just thought I ought to mention this, in case Dave B has as much trouble
with it as I do!

mike

"mike ring" wrote in message
. 1.4...
John Aldridge wrote in
:
from the back of my garden lying very low on the horizon is (with a
little help from a kiddies book) the Plough.
Where could I find the 'little saucepan' and what is its name?

Straight above it, about 45 degrees above the horizon. Ursa minor.

I thinmk Ursa Minor must be one of the hardest constellations to see.

I've *never* made it out after lots of trying.

It seems to be to big to get a hold of with bins, even x8s, and to faint
for my eyes, though this may be my near London skies.

I just thought I ought to mention this, in case Dave B has as much trouble
with it as I do!

mike

That will most definatly be because of light pollution. If you can get out
into the country, under a dark sky it'll be easier to spot. For me this
difference is very localised. From my front garden, it's impossible due to
the skyglow caused by the villiage that I live in. However, if I jump into
the car and go to the other (north) side of the villiage, this places the
local skyglow behind me and it's then possible to see ursa minor. Although
it's still not as easy as Ursa Major. However, going to the lake district,
about 3 hours away, it's very easy to see, but there's so many stars that I
become disoriented.

Regards

Colin Dawson
www.cjdawson.com

Although it's still not as easy as Ursa
Major. However, going to the lake district, about 3 hours away, it's
very easy to see, but there's so many stars that I become disoriented.

I think dark skies are a bit too far away for me.

But, about getting disoriented, I find that if I have too many stars
displayed on a planetarium prog, I haven't a clue what's what

mike

John Aldridge wrote:

In article ,
says...
from the back of my garden lying very low on the horizon is (with a little
help from a kiddies book) the Plough.
Where could I find the 'little saucepan' and what is its name?

Straight above it, about 45 degrees above the horizon. Ursa minor.

I have an old telescope which I haven't used for years and it has a 25mm
lens. Would this be powerful enough under the right conditions to see
planets

Certainly. In fact all of them except Neptune and Pluto are visible to
the naked eye, although Mercury and Uranus are a bit tricky.

Whether the telescope will show any worthwhile detail on the planets I
don't know -- it depends on its quality. Try it and see (but be warned
that Mars is always difficult to see any detail on: Jupiter or Saturn
would be much better bets, but they're not around at the moment).

and where might those planets be in the a north facing direction?

Unfortunately for you the planets tend to be positioned to the south
(for the same reasons that the sun is never seen in the northern part of
the sky), but Mars is due east at the time of posting, and about the
same height as the Plough. Do you have a view in that way? It's the
brightest thing in that direction, so you can't miss it! It'll get
higher (but also more southerly) later in the night.

I'm a very occasional and casual watcher of the night sky, currently
with 10 x 42 binoculars.

One site I always find fascinating is the four Galilean moons of
Jupiter, which are easily visible with half decent binoculars, provided
there isn't too much light pollution. And over a fairly short period,
their positions relative to each other and Jupiter clearly change.

I've very recently realised that the Andromeda galaxy is also relatively
easily seen and much larger than I had realised, roughly the angular
size of the full moon. Currently, at ~9.00 pm ish it's almost directly
overhead.

The nebula in Orion's sword is easy to see, as well.
--
Larry Stoter