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#1
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Help with astronomy planning SW
Folks,
I am planning a vaction to the deserts of CA next week (no comments about the heat please ) I plan on draggin my 80mm scope with me. I am getting back into astronomy after many many years and I am trying to do my preplanning to make sure I make the most of the dark skys. I was hoping for something that could help me plan the nights on an hour by hour basis. Is there a good recommendation for planning SW that I can use to print skymaps based on my locale ? Cheers |
#2
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Help with astronomy planning SW
Get Cartes Du Ciel, its FREE and if you know the location your going to you
can put it into there or just pick a newby city (L.A.) and you can get maps and print them out for hours of the night. BTW, I live out here in the High Mojave Desert of S.Cal and I love the heat, it reached 105 again today and I liked it. What part of the Desert you going to? -- The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond Telescope Buyers FAQ http://home.inreach.com/starlord Sidewalk Astronomy www.sidewalkastronomy.info Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net In Garden Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/ingarden Blast Off Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/starlords Astro Blog http://starlord.bloggerteam.com/ "Sam The Cat" wrote in message . .. Folks, I am planning a vaction to the deserts of CA next week (no comments about the heat please ) I plan on draggin my 80mm scope with me. I am getting back into astronomy after many many years and I am trying to do my preplanning to make sure I make the most of the dark skys. I was hoping for something that could help me plan the nights on an hour by hour basis. Is there a good recommendation for planning SW that I can use to print skymaps based on my locale ? Cheers |
#3
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Help with astronomy planning SW
Starlord,
I'll be in Joshua Tree for three days Cheers "Starlord" wrote in message . .. Get Cartes Du Ciel, its FREE and if you know the location your going to you can put it into there or just pick a newby city (L.A.) and you can get maps and print them out for hours of the night. BTW, I live out here in the High Mojave Desert of S.Cal and I love the heat, it reached 105 again today and I liked it. What part of the Desert you going to? -- The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond Telescope Buyers FAQ http://home.inreach.com/starlord Sidewalk Astronomy www.sidewalkastronomy.info Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net In Garden Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/ingarden Blast Off Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/starlords Astro Blog http://starlord.bloggerteam.com/ "Sam The Cat" wrote in message . .. Folks, I am planning a vaction to the deserts of CA next week (no comments about the heat please ) I plan on draggin my 80mm scope with me. I am getting back into astronomy after many many years and I am trying to do my preplanning to make sure I make the most of the dark skys. I was hoping for something that could help me plan the nights on an hour by hour basis. Is there a good recommendation for planning SW that I can use to print skymaps based on my locale ? Cheers |
#4
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Help with astronomy planning SW
Thanks for the tip ! BTW
"Starlord" wrote in message . .. Get Cartes Du Ciel, its FREE and if you know the location your going to you can put it into there or just pick a newby city (L.A.) and you can get maps and print them out for hours of the night. BTW, I live out here in the High Mojave Desert of S.Cal and I love the heat, it reached 105 again today and I liked it. What part of the Desert you going to? -- The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond Telescope Buyers FAQ http://home.inreach.com/starlord Sidewalk Astronomy www.sidewalkastronomy.info Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net In Garden Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/ingarden Blast Off Online Gift Shop http://www.cafepress.com/starlords Astro Blog http://starlord.bloggerteam.com/ "Sam The Cat" wrote in message . .. Folks, I am planning a vaction to the deserts of CA next week (no comments about the heat please ) I plan on draggin my 80mm scope with me. I am getting back into astronomy after many many years and I am trying to do my preplanning to make sure I make the most of the dark skys. I was hoping for something that could help me plan the nights on an hour by hour basis. Is there a good recommendation for planning SW that I can use to print skymaps based on my locale ? Cheers |
#5
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Help with astronomy planning SW
Sam The Cat wrote:
Folks, I am planning a vaction to the deserts of CA next week (no comments about the heat please ) I plan on draggin my 80mm scope with me. I am getting back into astronomy after many many years and I am trying to do my preplanning to make sure I make the most of the dark skys. I was hoping for something that could help me plan the nights on an hour by hour basis. Is there a good recommendation for planning SW that I can use to print skymaps based on my locale ? Why not just use a planisphere? No batteries, nothing to go wrong. Handy for lots of "what if" questions. Cheap, too. Laura Halliday VE7LDH "That's a totally illegal, Grid: CN89mg madcap scheme. I like it!" ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - H. Pearce |
#6
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Help with astronomy planning SW
laura wrote in response to
Sam The Cat's Folks, I am planning a vaction to the deserts of CA next week (no comments about the heat please ) I plan on draggin my 80mm scope with me. I am getting back into astronomy after many many years and I am trying to do my preplanning to make sure I make the most of the dark skys. I was hoping for something that could help me plan the nights on an hour by hour basis. Is there a good recommendation for planning SW that I can use to print skymaps based on my locale ? Why not just use a planisphere? No batteries, nothing to go wrong. Handy for lots of "what if" questions. Cheap, too. Heretic - How Dare you suggest something not only practical, but also simple and for the most part infallible. Who knows what someone might suggest next - Do a bit of preplanning and mark it with x's in the areas he might want to look for objects of interest! ;-) Laura - Great suggestion. Crazy Ed |
#7
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Help with astronomy planning SW
Sam The Cat wrote:
Folks, I am planning a vaction to the deserts of CA next week (no comments about the heat please ) I plan on draggin my 80mm scope with me. I am getting back into astronomy after many many years and I am trying to do my preplanning to make sure I make the most of the dark skys. I was hoping for something that could help me plan the nights on an hour by hour basis. Is there a good recommendation for planning SW that I can use to print skymaps based on my locale ? Cheers On top of Laura's suggestion... Get a Telrad. Messier Telrad Charts are available online in pdf format for printing. I printed them off at work and put them into a three ring binder. Smartest thing I ever did for those nights when I want to spend more than an hour poking around with the non-computerized scopes. Not sure if there's a planisphere with the Messier objects included though, so a pocket map with them included might be a good idea. |
#8
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Help with astronomy planning SW
Stephen Paul wrote:
Not sure if there's a planisphere with the Messier objects included though, so a pocket map with them included might be a good idea. I use the Firefly planisphere, which is the biggest I could find: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1552977862. It has the brighter Messier objects on it, as well as a few NGC and IC objects. It's big. It works. In the field I supplement it with Sky Atlas 2000. Note to the original poster: do you want to plan, or do you want to observe? I'd take it easy on the former, and concentrate on the latter. Especially coming back after being away for a while. Allow yourself some time to just wander around the sky. It's a beautiful, scenic place, an experience to be savoured. Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..." ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte |
#9
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Help with astronomy planning SW
Laura Halliday wrote:
I use the Firefly planisphere, which is the biggest I could find: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1552977862. It has the brighter Messier objects on it, as well as a few NGC and IC objects. It's beautiful, a work of art. And it's hefty, too--quite thick and solid. It won't fold, by any means. Incidentally, mine has all the Messiers. I have a review of it at http://astro.isi.edu/notes/firefly.html -- Brian Tung The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/ Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/ The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/ My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html |
#10
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Help with astronomy planning SW
Brian Tung wrote:
It's beautiful, a work of art. And it's hefty, too--quite thick and solid. It won't fold, by any means. Incidentally, mine has all the Messiers... I stand corrected: the Firefly planisphere does indeed have all the Messier objects on it. I have it right in front of me. One of the more novel things I've done with mine was using the analemma and the time of local noon to determine my longitude. Laura Halliday VE7LDH "That's a totally illegal, Grid: CN89mg madcap scheme. I like it!" ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - H. Pearce |
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