General stargazing

Re: What are some good consellations to start looking at?

starramus — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:22:15 GMT

In addition you might pick up a planisphere such as David Levy's available at your local Barnes and Noble. This will help you identify which constellations are visible at certain times. I found a planisphere very helpful when I was starting out.

Regards and clear skies,

Re: What are some good consellations to start looking at?

tkerr — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:38:26 GMT

deathstorm wrote:
What are some easy consellations to find? I have tottaly lost my knowledge on astronmy,

If you're talking about which ones to explore and learn in the night sky I suggest starting with the most popular. Those are the constellations that move through the sky near and or along the celestial equator. Those are also known as the constellation of the zodiac.
Then you have the others popular constellations such as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
This time of year if you have nice dark skies you should be able to see the dense area of stars reaching from the SSW sky on through the NNE sky after it first gets dark. Starting in the south you will see the constellation of Sagittarious, an area dense with clusters and nebula. Then from there folow the milky way on up through Cygnus.

There are so many I could suggest but that is a good start.

But perhpas these could help. These are some very nice and free planetarium/astronomy programs.
http://www.winstars.net/english/index.html
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html
http://stellarium.sourceforge.net/

Have A Nice ____________

Re: What are some good consellations to start looking at?

chipdatajeffB — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:26:57 GMT

This time of year from the Northern Hemisphere:

Cygnus (aka "The Swan" or "Northern Cross"): almost directly overhead from sunset through midnight. Right in the Milky Way. Lots of neat DSOs there, or nearby. Use widefield observing (binoculars, for example) first.
Scorpius (aka the "Scorpion"): due south at sunset; looks like a big fishhook in the southern sky. Impossible to miss. It contains a fine globular cluster (M4) right next to a red giant star (Antares) and the tail or "stinger" area is adjacent to several star clusters and star clouds -- not to mention several dark nebulae.
Sagittarius (aka: "The Archer"): due south at sunset, and east of Scorpius. Just west and north of Sagittarius (it looks like a teapout with steam rising from its spout) there are many fine DSOs, including star clusters, emission nebulae, dark nebulae, etc.

This is prime binocular observing time, too. If you do not already have a copy of Nightwatch, by Terence Dickinson, get one!

Online star maps at www.skymaps.com are great for cruising the major constellations naked-eye, and for binocular observing as well.

What are some good consellations to start looking at?

hardrockerguy — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:35:22 GMT

What are some easy consellations to find? I have tottaly lost my knowledge on astronmy,