Q&A: Is Starry Evening superior astronomy software to locate objects in the evening sky?
Problem by blackhole1027: Is Starry Night great astronomy computer software to track down objects in the evening sky?
When I got my Orion SkyQuest Xt10 typical it will come with Starry evening orion exclusive edtion. Which Starry evening is the finest just one to obtain??? Im getting complications getting DSO’s ? What do I have to have to do to locate them effortless?
Greatest reply:
Solution by delujuis
it is superior. you can also try out microsoft’s around the world telescope. it’s free of charge. http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/
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.Astronomy 2009 Official Poster
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The stunning image of the Pelican Nebula was taken at Dropped Valley Observatory by Keith Quattrocchi in 2007.
Issue by mavericksphan: I have an astronomy recent occasion to go over tomorrow with my class. Any concepts dealing with astronomy?
Subjects these as Hubble currently being decommissioned and changed in the potential or breakthroughs in astronomical science are what I am looking for. One thing enjoyable!
The deal with James Webb is anything dozens of individuals will chat about, which is why I am not keen on picking it. By the way viola… I’ve accomplished my do the job, but wouldn’t you want a special or intriguing issue not known to your viewers? Be sure to appropriate answers only!
Most effective reply:
Answer by Viola At Neon
Failing the program for the reason that you couldn’t bothered to do your homework need to rank ideal up there.
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February 21st, 2012 at 7:27 pm
starry night is a good program.
all versions of it are good.
what trouble are you having? you just need to be patient, learn the sky (you need star charts) and have realistic expectations of what you will see.
learn to use your scope. learn how to point it at things. how does it work on saturn? how about epsilon lyrae? m4? m13? m57? albireo? you should have no difficulty finding any of those.
February 21st, 2012 at 7:33 pm
Stellarium is a good free one too.
I have Starry Night 4.5 and I use Stellarium more often, but Starry Night is useful at times. Probably more useful for a beginner.
If you’re trying to view from in town, then get out into the country. Light pollution can be a big factor for DSOs.
Also know that you’re not going to see hubble space telescope images. Most things will look like little fuzzy blobs if you’re just scanning around looking. Once you figure out what you’re looking at you can get a little detail.
Are you pointing it manually or using software? If manual, point it at something you know you can find, like a distant street light, and make sure your guide scope is pointing at the same thing the main scope is. If auto, then try it manually, that will isolate if the problem is with the scope or the guiding software.
February 21st, 2012 at 7:57 pm
The main thing you need is experience. (And a good understanding of the celestial coordinate system.) Unless you have a GPS-guided motor on your telescope, it has always been somewhat difficult to find faint deep sky objects.
A classic method is called star-hopping. You print out the area of the sky around the object you are looking for, memorize the star patterns around it, then while looking through the telescope, you follow the pattern of stars to the object….usually moving from brighter stars to dimmer ones.
Failing that, because it’s much easier said than done, you use the setting circles on your telescope to get within a few degrees of the object your looking for, then simply pan slowly looking for it.
Edit: Oops, nix the setting circles comment because I see your model of telescope does not have an equatorial mount. Seriously, unless you have that GPS motor drive, it’s just a matter of memorizing star patterns or using the tried and true “pan and scan” method.
Us old farts used to do this with nothing but paper star maps. Any version of the Starry Night software is going to be sufficient for that purpose…since the software doesn’t actually find DSOs for you.
February 21st, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Sites like http://www.space.com have many articles on current events.
February 21st, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Dude, you’ve just written a great idea in you’re question – do Hubble/James Webb Telescope.
You can start with Hubble by digging up some stats on build time, cost etc. Did you know Hubble has glasses? The repair mission to fix Hubbles eye sight (the main mirror was 2 nanometers (or microns?) too flat at the outer edge, so it didn’t focus properly) was the longest space walk in history. They fitted pringle shaped lenses in the shaft of Hubble to refocus the light, and with stunning effect. These lenses had to be placed by a specially designed manouverable arm, as the interior of Hubble is razer shape and would have slice, or at least decompressed the astronaughts through cuts in their suits. Oh, hubble wears a coat to, 64 (I think) heaters stop the frame from expanding/contracting when going from sun to shade – if it didn’t have that you’d never get a decent long exposure. Hub’s been upgraded heavily over the years, multiplying it’s usefulness by many hundreds of times. Search around for the details.
The James Webb Spacescope will replace it, 2013ish which is around the time hubble is expected to die. It’s stonkingly powerful and looks stunning, but any facts beyond that you’ll have to find else where.
February 21st, 2012 at 9:06 pm
If your looking for an exciting topic consider the number of very very recent
near-earth collisions there were. One came within 45,000 miles (or so) of the earth.
The moon is 240,000 miles away !! If it hit it would have been a catastrophe. I don’t
think much was said beforehand because it might have caused a panic. Check it out
on the internet because I’m just going from my limited memory. LOL.
February 21st, 2012 at 9:51 pm
Space current events page:
http://www.spaceweather.com/