Image source: Digital Camera World
Tips for Constellation Viewing & Telescope Buying
Let’s start with finding this weekender with directions to locate the constellations visible in the night sky for now. If you stand facing north, left shoulder to the west, sunset, and your right to the east, sunrise, then you have a great view of Cassiopeia and her consort, Cepheus in the NNE. Cassiopeia looks like a letter W or M and Cepheus looks like a crooked little house with the roof peak topsy-turvey down. There are two stars in Cassiopeia that lead you to the North Star, Polaris, just like the two stars of the Big Dipper asterism when it is high in the sky. These northern- sky-region star patterns are called circumpolar due to the fact that Earth's rotation is in a west-to-east motion so the stars in the north appear to rotate counterclockwise throughout the night.
When you finish looking north turn around to the south and locate Scorpius towards the west again and let your eyes drift upwards toward the zenith and see if you can pick out an elongated pentagonal shape with a few stars scattered to the east and the west of it. This pattern of stars is called Ophiuchus (O-fee-U-kus), the physician. The stars stretching out to either side are a serpent that he has divided with his hoe while working in his medicinal herbs garden. There is a great story related to this constellation and it is in a book at your local library or on several internet sites. So many connect-the-dots to create named constellation that definitely not resemble their astronomical titles but working astronomers decided long before now. Each group has a story about it and any search engine will provide backstories to enjoy.
I am hearing the plaintive voice earlier than usual from a parent says their child wants a telescope. Though for a parent $150 is a large sum, a good one will probably cost quite a bit more. You may know and older person who might want to give theirs up and that would cut down on the cost, but there might be issues with that. I am going to share Red Henry’s advice again. familiar with many kinds of telescopes. He is more than able to direct shopping for one since he is a working astronomer and shares this information often.
“There is nothing like seeing the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn through your own telescope. And it need not be expensive, but $150 will be a challenge. A long 70-90 mm refractor, or a 114 mm or 6” reflector will be fairly inexpensive but will be easy to use and will give decent views of the visible planets, double stars, and other objects. Get a long telescope, not a short one. It will make it easier to see the planets. And for a first telescope get one on what is called an alt-azimuth mount, not an equatorial one. Dobsonian telescopes are a good example of this choice. I recommend a first telescope no more than a 6” aperture. And it should NOT be a GOTO because those are electronic and don’t always serve a beginner and those are heavy and clumsy not to mention hard to store or haul around. They are distracting and take away the joy of ‘finding’ the Moon. I recommend purchasing from a reliable telescope dealer who will have someone available to answer your questions. Amazon is not a good site to look for a telescope. And look for the local astronomy organizations to help assist in getting to know your purchase.
Until next weekend, KLU.
