I'll start with binocs

[Norman Soh]

I have a pair of binocs at home. Think I'll try those first. There's a big empty land near my house, and it's pitch dark. In fact, quite deserted. Any additional advice would be much appreciated.


Is there anything in particular I can look out for with just binocs? And at this time of the year?

[kayheem]

Get yourself a Planisphere for our latitude or use a free planetarium on the web.

Where do you stay?

Kay Heem

[Sam Lee]

Check out M45 (Seven Sisters) in Taurus . Magnificent open cluster for binos !

Install this software at www.stellarium.org .
Its a free PC star atlas .

Regards,
Sam

[vhuang168]

I have a pair of binocs at home. Think I'll try those first. There's a big empty land near my house, and it's pitch dark. In fact, quite deserted. Any additional advice would be much appreciated.


Is there anything in particular I can look out for with just binocs? And at this time of the year?

Binos are a great way to start and will greatly help in learning the skies. As for the area being pitch dark, I doubt there really is such a place in Singapore anymore. After you've had some experiance, follow some guys when they go to Mersing, then you'll see there are darker skies.

And then.. there is REALLY DARK!! Where the Milky Way truely looks like a milky way and you get lost in the stars. I've been to sites where it took me a few minutes to figure out where in the sky I was looking at because there were so many stars that I couldn't find the ones that make up the various constellations that are our road map in the sky.

Enjoy your trip to the stars, don't fret about what you need to get first and learn the constellations well. There are many things you can see with a set of binos and when you are ready to move to a telescope, you'll find it much easier to look for them.

Vincent

[Norman Soh]

Kay Heem,

I stay in Woodlands. There's a piece of empty land behind Christchurch Sec.

Everyone else, thanks for all the advice. It think it would be really helpful for beginners like me to visit a group that is having a telescope session. That way we can see and ask questions. Do we list such events anywhere here in this forum?

I am unable to attend the one at Science Centre as I'm only free after 10pm on Fridays due to work.

[Norman Soh]

I just realised my binocs is only 20x50! (It's really ancient) Is that any good? Maybe I should start off by buying a better pair of binocs?

[Sam Lee]

Hi Norman,

I stay in Woodlands too. Around the 888 Plaza (Avenue 5) .
Let me know if you are interested in doing some observation during the weekends. We can have one at the hard court in front of my block.

Regards,
Sam

[Norman Soh]

Sam,

Hey, great! I'll PM you.

[Norman Soh]

Anyone knows how to set the location to Singapore for the Stellarium program. Mine is set to Paris. Yikes! Don't think I can get there anytime soon.

[zong]

Under the configuration panel, there's a "location" tab. Select that and click on Singapore from the map. It's not easy because Singapore is a "little red dot"...

Alternatively, google out latitude and longitudes of Singapore and just input them at the Location tab.. that's what I did because my mouse is not sensitive enough to find Singapore.