Hello guys,
I am a new member and eager to learn from experts. From reading the interactions, I have understood that I should not hurry to buy a telescope. So, I was wondering if there is a meetup anytime soon and whether I can join without any telescope to learn from your experience and understand which instrument suits my needs.
Please let me know if there is some basic information one should be aware of before coming to an event.
Hello Antriksh, welcome to our club. You have already made an excellent choice by checking out earlier comments and not rushing to buy a scope. A Star party is long due so watch out for the next one or even check if other members who have a scope are near you and see if they can help you view through and view their scopes. Generally, the answer would be yes. That way you can have a first hand experience of the type of scope they have helping you form a better opinion about the type of scope and also your interest. If you prefer reading about it, you can check this page from my local club here https://www.flamsteed.info/beginners-guide-to-telescopes
Information related to some of the new types of telescope purely used for EAA are not given in the above page. However, I wouldn’t suggest that either unless you are living in a really cold area under bortle 9 skies.
Hello gnana I’m dinesh from k.k nagar as of now I’m observing the clear sky with my naked eyes and tracking out few constellations and planets.i just want some guidance and Support to take my observation a bit Further and to learn more with the same.
Hello Dinesh, it’s great that you are tracking some of the constellations. This is the best way to learn how to navigate the night sky. There are various tools that helps you find some interesting things to look for. You can try Star charts and planispheres like how I learnt. But, you need to read and understand some books about them to be able to use them effectively. However, I could give you a cheat sheet which is good to an extent and free as well. It is a planetarium software called Stellarium. The only drawback to this is it is not designed with the naked eye observer in mind. You can configure it to mimic naked eye observation, but, you need to control yourself to stop zooming in as the software will start showing a lot more stars and other details which you never see with naked eye. Star charts and planispheres for your latitude range, you may have to pay for them unless you are lucky to have someone give it to you. Am not sure if there are downloadable ones available, probably are at this day and age. If they are, you can download and make your own planispheres. So, give it a try and let us know if you need some more help.
Google helped identify Make your own planisphere - In-The-Sky.org where you can download one for either 10 or 15 deg North. I guess the 15 deg North might be the closest for you, it will anyway cut off some of the southern Stars close to your horizon, but will also show some which you may never see in your Northern horizon. As these are not made for your exact latitude, you have to use your imagination a bit to adjust for what altitude they appear in your skies.
All the best.
Could you suggest some books to have a brief idea
Thank you so much for your valuable support and thanks for Sharing your ideas with me it was so helpful.surely I’ll implement those points and explore the clear sky out there
Hello Dinesh, if you are after a book to understand how to use the planisphere, then I guess there’s information about that in the link I shared earlier. However, if you are after books to read about nightsky in general and to start stargazing, there’s loads of them out there.
A few books that I had got for my sons are,
Hi, My name is Aarnav. I’m 12 years old and I joined this club because there was no age restrictions. I read in the forum about some star parties organized by the club. As the summer holidays are fast approaching my father and I would like to know when the next star party is so we can join too.
Ps. Do I have to learn the name of each and every constellation in the sky? This is because I am having difficulties spotting and making out the simplest of constellations such as Ursa Major.
Hey @R0bertGoddard, welcome to CAC! Star parties are organised by @siva and @kishan and details regarding them are posted either here or on the WhatsApp group (Link to join the WhatsApp group). You don’t have to learn all the constellations of the sky as you can identify prominent constellations such as Orion, etc., with the help of a star chart or an app like Stellarium. Stellarium also has the feature where you can point your device to the sky and identify the object you are seeing (sensor mode)(only in the mobile app) which makes locating constellations easier.
Clear skies,
Lohitaksh
Hello @R0bertGoddard, (Arnav), love your enthusiasm. As Lohitaksh mentioned, do not fret yourselves with the name of all the constellations to start with. You’ll pick them up as you go. You also need to think about what constellations you can see at what time of the year and at what time at night. You also need to think about which part of the sky you expect the constellation to be. So, plan for it before you go out at night and start looking up if you are after a specific object. Ursa major should be well placed for you now a days as I have it literally overhead where I am. As it is closer to the north celestial pole, you need to look for it towards your north maybe at an angle of about 30 degrees high.
As suggested earlier, you can plan with some Planetarium software like Stellarium which will be very handy during day time.
All the best with spotting Ursa major and many more.
Thank you for your help