Some tips for a better experience of stargazing using 76 mm telescope

[ayush solanki]

I bought the celestron firstscope about 4 to 5 months ago.in the beginning I was pretty excited and enthusiastic but as time wore on,I found myself away from the scope.now I want to restart astronomy but I would like some tips to make it more fun and interesting so that my scope don't end up again in my closet.I have an interest in astronomy and would like to enhance it.what sorts of more things can I watch with the firstscope.thank you.

 

[davenn]

hi there Ayush

Have you installed any of the sky map programs onto your computer yet ?
One of the better and free ones is Stellarium. you can set up the default location to where you are in the world
so that every time you start the program, it will show the sky from your location for that time of day and time of year

you can use it to see the location of deep space objects ... star clusters, nebulae, galaxies etc.
Many will be beyond the reach of your small scope. But as the seasons and sky changes you will be able to log many of the brighter objects

#1 start an observing diary ... make notes for the objects you view every time you go out.
this will give you a way of keeping track of what you have and haven't observed
here's a sample out of my diary

2005Date Time (EST)
Object Constell. Comments
July 2005
From Home
03 1600

Sun Many spots visible clear umbral and penumbral regions visible

1830-1900

Jupiter 2 moons, 4 belts visible good viewing overhead
Mercury low in West a bit fuzzy
Venus low in West, bit fuzzy, looked gibbous phase
Omega Cent Glob; Ex.Brt, clear easily resolved
NGC6121/M4 Glob; Just resolvable
NGC6475/M7 Op Cl;

2015-2100

NGC6405/M6 Op Cl;
NGC6388 Glob; Mag6.7, Just resolvable, small, compact
NGC6514/M20 Trifid Nebula; Fnt, just visible
NGC6531/M21 Op Cl; Brt

--------------

2013Jan. 04 … got the CPC925 out to see if I could see Comet C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)
I was out the nite before with binoculars and thought I had found it
But using the scope tonite, I found I had been looking at M37 and or M36
A couple of faint fuzzy open clusters that the binoculars couldn’t resolve
into individual stars but the scope did.

After 2 hours of searching, I finally found it at the location it should be.
This comet was definitely not visible in binoculars as had been reported. It was a very faint fuzzy blob in the scope with a 40mm eyepiece.
Estimated magnitude at ~ 9.5 – 10.
Jupiter also looked really good during this time

May 10 … Partial Solar eclipse. Viewed and Photo'ed from Thornleigh

Aug 16–20 Nova Delphini. The nova appeared with a magnitude 6.8 when it was discovered and peaked at magnitude 4.3 on 16 August.
Viewed from home and from Bobbinhead Rd, jst N of Sydney. Photo’ed from Bobbinhead Rd,Cheers
Dave

 

[Chronos]

Take advantage of the computer stuff then learn how to find things by 'hand', that should keep you amused for a year or so. Back when I bought my first scope [6" criterion] computer locating had not been invented for amateur scopes. It was all red flashlights, paper charts and setting circles. Yes, that was old school. I was really into variable stars which added more a sense of purpose than just gawking. Finding familiar patches of sky night after night and recording changes in star brightness was intoxicating.

 

[ayush solanki]

Yeah I did the sky map in my phone.I'll try stellarium and the diary.thank you.it was a great help.

 

[ayush solanki]

Take advantage of the computer stuff then learn how to find things by 'hand', that should keep you amused for a year or so. Back when I bought my first scope [6" criterion] computer locating had not been invented for amateur scopes. It was all red flashlights, paper charts and setting circles. Yes, that was old school. I was really into variable stars which added more a sense of purpose than just gawking. Finding familiar patches of sky night after night and recording changes in star brightness was intoxicating.

Yea,my scope also is not a Bluetooth supporting one and nor a computerised one.so I too do it manually.

 

[Chronos]

Manual locating is part of the fun.

 

[ayush solanki]

Yeah it is.it gives me a satisfaction of finding something on my own which I can't get with a computerised one.

 

[russ_watters]

What model is the scope? What have you seen? What eyepieces, barlows and other accessories are you using?

 

[ayush solanki]

The model is firstscope.I hv seen moon and Jupiter and a star cluster which i don't know about.I don't use any accessories except the eyepieces which came with it.

 

[tfr000]

Do you know the constellations? If not, learn them. Once that's done, it becomes much easier to decide what to look at. You will need star charts. Wikipedia's aren't bad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)#/media/File:Orion_IAU.svg

 

[davenn]

Do you know the constellations? If not, learn them. Once that's done, it becomes much easier to decide what to look at. You will need star charts. Wikipedia's aren't bad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)#/media/File:Orion_IAU.svg

yes but awkward to use outside at nite

programs that run on laptop, PC or smartphone eg Stellarium are the way to go these days
as I suggested way back in post #2

Dave

 

[ayush solanki]

Ok,I will learn them.thank you.

 

[tfr000]

You'll also need some kind of app to tell you which constellations are above your horizon tonight. In the old days, we used a planisphere... I still have one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planisphere

 

[davenn]

You'll also need some kind of app to tell you which constellations are above your horizon tonight. In the old days, we used a planisphere... I still have one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planisphere

Yes, that is what the mentioned Stellarium is for :)
you should try

 

[ayush solanki]

Yes,I tried stellarium. It is pretty amazing and helpful.sky map is a nice app too.