Some help needed.

[Desmond_T]

Hi everybody,

I went to a recent astronomy talk by Gary at the Toa Payoh Library a few weeks ago, which was very interesting by the way, and I have recently went to the Observatory at the Science Centre to look at Saturn and Crux. Also, I got some books to read up more about the Universe.

However, I don't feel like buying a binoculars or a telescope first. I wanted to learn how to read star charts and the planisphere first. But I still have trouble reading both of them despite researching it on the Internet, so I was wondering if anyone here kind enough who could help me out? Thank you very much.

[cloud_cover]

Hello!
No worries on not wanting to buy equipment. Sometimes its the best decision and there are very frequent sidewalk sessions where you can look through someone else's scope.
I suggest you download Stellarium for PC or iPhone which is a wonderful planetarium program. If you are on Android, Google sky maps is the other freeware. This will allow you to go outside and use your device to figure out which star is which. If you don't mind spending a few dollars, then Skysafari on either IPhone or Android is by far the best mobile planetarium program.
Hope it helps!

[superiorstream]

Hi,Desmond
Do look at my post on this same page--a suggested setup for newbie--handphone go to -----and take away years of learning from skymaps(must enable GPS to be effective).I really love this modern feature and it will make you navigate the night sky like a pro.;even under the hopeless sky condition of Singapore where constellation are seen with lots of missing stars found on starmap.
As for photography,afocal for beginner.By the way,I am thinking of afocal with 'electronic eyepiece'
which is very very sensitive and then take photo in the 3 color--Ha ;S2;O3 with a light bucket
and then reconstruct a colour photo electronically with computer software.Well till now;its wishful
thinking in Singapore because the govt ban ALL import of such 'night vision' equipment.This may
do away with all those complicated/expensive---guidescope;guidescope software;complicated plus heavy EQ mount;expensive CCD;take years to learn photo-editing software;and finally expensive and frequent change of computers due to changing of OS like XP to vista to what not.
Hope thats help and will give a pic of the road ahead.

[Desmond_T]

Hi there superiorstream and cloud_cover, thanks for the suggestions. I do have apps on my phone and iPad to navigate the night skies, but I want to learn the manual way of doing it - with a star chart and a planisphere in my hand. I just bought a planisphere recently, but it's the wrong one. It's 35 degrees north which is good for use in North America. Will be going to the Science Centre later to get the 0 degrees meant for use in this region. If anyone is willing to teach a noob, I will go to your preferred place of your convenience. Thanks

[Gary]

Hi Desmond. Glad to hear of your interest in amateur astronomy!

To learn more about planisphere, you can bring yours to public stargazing sessions and ask the telescope volunteers to show you how to use it.

There are also YouTube tutorials on how to use them. Here are 2 good ones:





The manual way of enjoying astronomy can be very fun. There's an amazing back-to-basics feeling to it and peace of mind that no electronics dying on you will spoil your observing session under clear skies.

Having said that, when you own a binocular/telescope and get more involved in observing, you will soon realise how rare clear nights are. Then, you may want to make use of the non-manual methods to enjoy observing/imaging as many celestial objects as possible within a short timeframe.

Armed with your planisphere now, you may want to consider getting hold of a pair of beginner binocular, read/borrow the book Turn Left at Orion and have fun doing some binocular astronomy.

Good luck and hope to see you again in future talks and stargazing sessions!

[Desmond_T]

Ah, thank you Gary. I don't know if you remember me, I was the fat guy who got confused with the UT and GMT+8 thingy and had to ask you in private after your talk. lol

Okay then, I shall bring my planisphere down when there is a stargazing session going on. That's what I was thinking. I have a love-hate relationship with technology and just in case it dies on me, I can still rely on my "sailor" skills to look for stars. Thanks for the video, Gary.