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Ok everbody, dont laugh but im a bit of a newbie to astronomy. I mean, I have always gazed up into the sky at night in awe and wonder. No doubt about that. But rarely have I used a telescope to do so. Thankfully,all this will turn around this weekend when I go camping in the desert. This is when the true astronomer in me is going to emerge! So, the question I have is where do I start? I have a telescope but I am not sure how good it is. I guess im just going to point it into the sky and see what I can find with it. But do does anyone have any suggestions of what I should be looking for? Where I should look? Anyone?
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Re: Hmmm...
Tue, October 3, 2006 - 12:16 PMThe night sky of this weekend will be dominated by a full, or nearly full, moon. Full moon actually occurs on October 6. This event will pretty much ruin the night sky for the viewing of anything but it for a newbie. There are some brighter open clusters tens of degrees away from the full moon which would be visible but rather uninspiring considering the brightness of the background sky caused by the moon. As for the moon itself, a full moon can be a letdown through the telescope for the entry level amateur astronomer. It is rather featureless due to the flat lighting of the surface. . .but
THINGS GET BETTER!!
The early morning hours will reveal Saturn to you and with power above 30x or so you should be able to see its famous ring structure. I have put an image of the sky in the photo section of this tribe showing the planet's position at 5 a.m. in the morning of October 7. The view is looking directly east. To make the image big enough to see, click on "view full size image" which to the right of the smaller image.
Have fun. -
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Re: Hmmm...
Wed, October 4, 2006 - 7:25 PMAwesome man, thank you. I look forward to this.
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