I use Sky View Free, SkySafari and Starlight. They are each really good. I also have an app called Nightshift, that shows you what the expected viewing conditions are in your area, and things to look for.
Printable View
2. Stellarium for your computer; Google Sky Maps or similar for your app-y devices.
1. Since Stellarium can be set for any date/time/location, that's a good resource to discover what should be visible (assuming good skies). Apart from that, check out
This Week's Sky at Sky & Telescope: https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/sky-at-a-glance/
or https://stardate.org/
Autumn Sky Tour: http://www.rocketmime.com/astronomy/Fall/fall.html
Clear Sky Clock: https://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/prov/Maine_charts.html
Planet-wise, you should be able to see Saturn and Jupiter low early, but you won't see details without a telescope. Mars later, Pleiades toward midnight (great in binoculars!), and if you get up in the middle of the night, you might see the great nebula in Orion (binoculars minimum).
3. Yes, binoculars, esp. if you aren't otherwise hauling a telescope. There's a table on that Autumn Sky Tour page toward the bottom that lists several highlights, many of which require at least binoculars (Double Double, Coathanger, Albireo, Double Clutser, M15 Globular Cluster), some are naked-eye visible but having binoculars can't hurt (Mizar & Alcor, Andromeda, d Cephei, Algol the Demon Star), while only the Ring Nebula requires a telescope). Even a small 8x21 pair will help, and that's not a huge burden when backpacking 3 mi. Note that dedicated stargazing binoculars tend to have much larger objective lenses (50 ish and up).
Have fun - I envy your dark skies! But note, if you're in the woods and the leaves are on the trees, you may only see skies straight up, at most. You'll have to have a large clearing or an overlook (dangerous at night) to see much of the sky. It's one of the conundrums of backpacking and stargazing out east.
Kidding aside, I'd take a pair of binos (and some bug spray if you're in the interior of Maine!)
There are lots of astronomy sites to check out particulars of planet locations, etc. A new moon, you should have some good opportunity to see some satellites cruising by. It's always fun to check to see if you can see the ISS from your location. https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ You can enter your location in ME and it'll tell you if there's good viewing, location in the skky, etc.
This bad boy arrived recently. We have no idea what we’re doing. Anybody got any advice?
Attachment 11497
Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I couldn't spork a couple of you, so you will have to accept my thanks instead.
I downloaded SkyView and Starlight and played around with them a bit last night. It was kind of cool to know what the night sky would look like from the couch in my living room if I didn't have a roof and wasn't surrounded by significant light pollution!
Lots of great stuff here. Based on the Clear Sky Clock it looks like conditions should be pretty good tonight (who knew there were so many factors involved in the clarity of the night sky). We will be camping on the south shore of a fair sized lake, so we should have a good view of the north sky. If we get a bit bold, I may be able to convince my wife to take a canoe out on the lake for a more complete view of the sky.
You have given me looks of good things to look for. I have taken a bunch of notes. That being said, I will be content if we can see the Pleiades and Mars through binoculars - something I have never done before. I would really love to find Andromeda, but I don't have much confidence in my sky searching abilities.
Cool. Looks like the ISS will be passing overhead for 4 minutes tonight starting at 8:16. I will definitely plan to look for it.
It'll be hard to keep the canoe still for specific object observing, but the constellations should stay in view just fine.
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all visible with the naked eye; you just have to know that those are planets, not stars. They tend to be a little brighter than the surrounding stars; Mars will be a bit orange usually. Note, you're not likely to see any detail on Mars without a substantial telescope. Through binoculars it'll just be a slightly bigger orange disc. But even a relatively modest scope can reveal the rings of Saturn and a couple bands on Jupiter. And some of their moons. Not sure you'll get that with binoculars, but that's OK. Seeing Pleiades will make you consider a Subaru for your next car. It's their logo - and it's really something else.
Just stepped outside to enjoy the cooler temps before going to bed. (Less than 11 hours til we beat up BC!) Looked up, and for the first time in a few nights saw a light in the sky.
Mars is way high up, which I'm stoked for. That position is really great for the 8" dobsonian that I've been looking forward to checking it out with. It is basically vertical. (The telescope holds horizontal just fine, but I'm 6'4" and don't like bending over to stare.)
Side note, I ordered a 7-24mm Zoom eyepiece tonight. It got really good reviews, and I like the idea of simplifying the number of eyepieces I take on site. I'm always swapping them out, and am truly fearful that I'm going to misplace one or just leave one behind after packing up.
Grab it out of the box and set it up. :rolleyes:
So I looked this up, and it's interesting. Knowing that you are an outdoor camping hippie dippie type, this scope is probably great for you and your lady. It packs light without taking much space, and is essentially "point and see". So the cell phone adapter may help with that. It also may be a pain in the azz, and you don't use it much. IF you take the time before you take it on site and site the finder that comes with the scope, that's probably all you need.
And here's the bad news. The C word.
Collimation. As a now seasoned owner of a Celestron scope, what you get out of the box is not optimal. At all. (To be fair, my pricier Orion was even worse.) There are three things that make your scope work. The primary mirror, the secondary mirror, and your eyepieces. The primary is the big one at the back. The secondary is the little one at the front that you look right into...through your eyepiece. I'd read that most telescopes only need adjustments on the primary, even after shipment.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. My secondary mirror in both of my scopes was wayyyy off.
Out of the box, as a newbie, I was loving my Celestron 130. (A very small step up from your 114) It was SO cool to see far away stuff so close. But, they weren't really "crisp". I just coughed that up to not spending lots of money. Then I did some research, and ultimately bought two collimaters. One was a manual, one was a laser. In hindsight, I'd only do the laser, but the manual one opened my eyes.
My scope was way out of whack. After I tuned it in, the difference was stunning.
So, after all that typing, my suggestion is to order a laser collimater, and enjoy your nights. With what you have, planetary objects will be lots of fun. Add a barlow lens, and you'll be able to check out the rings of Saturn in clearer view than you expected, but probably also the bands around Saturn. Being a manual scope, a wider view will be more enjoyable; you might get frustrated trying to stay on track as the objects zoom across your field of vision.
The moon will amaze you.
In summary...collimate. And have fun.
(And as a now seasoned owner of my Celestron scope, I love it. I just needed to learn how to use it.)
PS to my reply to Wilson.
I just realized that I've not shared pics of my telescopes. This is both in one shot. The equatorial mount (the Celestron that I've learned to love) is in the background, and my 8" Dobsonian is in front. They both have their pros and cons. I was getting way frustrated with the EQ, which is why I bought the Dob, but I'm now sticking with both. Patience pays.
Attachment 11504
Attachment 11505
Hey Buffs!
Went out this morning (early) and was treated to a bright pumpkin colored Mars to the West, Orion in its full glory to the south, and Venus to the East. Like most scrubs, I love 'garbage time'.
Perhaps this is unsolicited, and a bit much for the original thread, but:
Anybody who is REALLY into Mars, in terms of Space Science, should probably follow newly minted PhD Dr. Tanya Harrison, on Twitter. I've followed her for a few years. She has shown up in a few places, such as Marshall Shepard's Weather Geeks (a fun show for anyone interested in all things weather).
In this feed, Tanya's guest, Phil Stooke, gives a 'Heads Up' on what is going on with planetary science (and space missions) in the upcoming year. Much more than you probably wanted to know, but you can fast forward to your favorite planet, asteroid, or section if you'd like.
https://t.co/TmWdXdRWLc?amp=1
I presume that folks in this thread are as interested in Space programs as well as what we see in space through telescopes. You guys interested in this stuff?
This seems like a better place than the UFOs thread.
<We now return control of your television set to you, until next week at this same time, when the Control Voice will take you to... The Outer Limits.>
Larry
DevilHorse
we did star gazing in Sedona last year - pretty impressive...
great shots by the way...
My backyard has lots of trees, but faces South, so last night was a good clear one for seeing Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon and Mars all spanning across the sky. I had to stay up way too late to finally scope Mars (damn trees). I did though, and it was pretty great viewing. I'm going to to take some video of the Moon tonight, but I got a couple nice shots with my cell phone last night.
Attachment 11568
So, do you want to get your name on some astronomical object?
How about something that might keep you up at night? (other than something from the UFO thread).
Space is a dirty dirty place. Not something rated R on Cinemax! But there are lots of schmutzy Asteroids out there that are discovered over the course of the year, including as many as 80 or so passing within the moon's orbit so far this year. Don't worry; they are no bigger than a bus, which explains why we don't see them until they are upon us or past us.
One was discovered a couple of days ago that passed us today.
Here is more comprehensive list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._Earth_in_2020
It isn't exactly the Star Registry:
https://www.star-registration.com/?g...8aAut5EALw_wcB
But it is closer to home and gets your attention.
Larry
DevilHorse
Sending out October with a Halloween blue moon.
Attachment 11777
An interesting article about Cosmic Radio Bursts, which you hear about from time to time in the media (not so much on your radio).
https://apnews.com/article/astronome...a44c501b5ade11
Magnetars it seems are the source of these transient blasts. I recall first hearing about Magnetars in Scientific American. Very cool celestial objects (explained a bit in the article).
This is made more interesting in that it was co-discovered by a doctoral student's handmade detector, using cake pans. Astronomy is everyone!
Larry
DevilHorse
If you're looking for candidates to "practice" Asteroid/Meteor deflection on, it looks like we have a candidate that we might need to work on:
https://www.space.com/asteroid-apoph...e=notification
What's more, amateur astronomers will get a chance to make observations in 9 years of this big boy.
If the US election doesn't keep you up, perhaps this will.
Larry
DevilHorse
Folks,
Minor Lunar Eclipse happening soon.
https://www.space.com/beaver-moon-lu...e=notification
Also notice Saturn high in the sky in the evening.
Larry
DevilHorse