If you found a new telescope under the Christmas tree, congratulations. You’re launching into what will hopefully be a great adventure that will take you deep into our universe — at least visually.
Last week in Starwatch I put together a list of dos and don’ts that can help you get the most out of your scope. If you don’t follow some basic rules you can be in for some real frustration, so make sure to read last week’s column if you haven’t already.
As I wrote last week, my best advice is be patient. Take your time with your new scope and thoroughly read the instructions. First and foremost, get to know your way around the sky. That new telescope won’t magically download celestial navigation. Some telescopes have built-in navigation systems that can help, but nothing beats getting to know the constellations and where they reside and how they move. There are many books, software programs, and websites that can help you make the stars your old friends.
There are some really important things you need to do before you begin. First, make sure your telescope sits outside on solid ground for at least 30 minutes before you use it. It has to acclimate to the cold outside temperature, otherwise whatever you gaze at could be a little fuzzy. Also make sure that your small finder scope, or other finding device like a the laser that comes with some scopes, is in sync with the main telescope.
For more details on finder scopes read the instructions that came with the telescope (or last week’s Starwatch column). When it’s dark enough and you’re attempting to get that celestial target in your sights use a low-magnification, wide-field eyepiece. Once you find your target you can go to higher magnification eyepieces, but you will notice diminishing clarity with increasing magnification. This is normal.
Here are some easy targets to get you started:
1. The Moon: Right now the moon is out of the evening sky, but it will be back Thursday or Friday as a thin but growing crescent in the western sky. By Sunday evening the crescent will be large enough so you can see things on the surface of the moon. Your best views will be right around what’s known as the terminator, the line between the sunlit and darkened part of the moon.
With the long shadows you can see a lot more detail, such as crater walls and mountains, and can get more of a perspective of how high they are. You can often see the tops of the mountains poking out of the shadows on the dark side of the terminator. The best times to view the moon is when it’s between a thin crescent to just over half full. Full or near full moons are tough to look at because the brightness and the high angle of the sun make seeing details on the surface a lot more difficult.
2. Jupiter: Currently Jupiter is lighting up the eastern sky. After about 8 p.m. it’s high enough to see with the naked eye, but I would wait to check it out with your telescope until after 9 or 10 p.m. if you can stay up that late. By then Jupiter will be high enough in the sky to escape the blurring effects of Earth’s thicker layer of atmosphere near the horizon.
There are a lot of bright stars in the eastern evening sky right now, but Jupiter will be the brightest star-like object in that part of the night sky by far. You should be able to resolve the disk of the giant planet and easily see up to four of Jupiter’s brighter moons that circle Jupiter in periods of 2 to 17 days. If it’s clear enough, and the winds are calm both near the ground and aloft, you may also see some of Jupiter’s cloud bands made of ammonia, methane, and other gases. Again, look at Jupiter with long continuous views. Make yourself comfortable with a chair or stool. The longer you look at one time the more detail you’ll see.
3. Pleiades Star Cluster: This is the best star cluster in the sky. It’s easily seen with the naked eye in the high eastern sky. Through even a small telescope you can see dozens of very young stars over 400 light years away. One light year equals almost six trillion miles! It’s actually more visually attractive with a low power magnification, wide field eyepiece.
4. The Perseus and Double Star Cluster: This is real eye candy! It’s nearly visible to the naked eye, especially in the dark skies of the countryside. Aim your scope very high in the northwest sky between the constellations Cassiopeia the Queen and Perseus the Hero, as you can see on the diagram. It’s one of my very favorites, as you’ll see two distinct clusters of stars side by side. They’re both 7,000 light years away. I know you’ll love what you see.
Like the Pleiades it’s more visually attractive with a low power magnification, wide field eyepiece because you’ll be able to take in all of the glorious sight!
5. The Orion Nebula: This is simply wondrous through the eyepiece of your telescope. You can easily find it with the naked eye as a fuzzy middle star in the three stars that make up the sword of Orion the Hunter. Through your scope you’ll see a glob of gas with a little bit of a greenish tint to it. It’s a giant cloud of hydrogen gas around 1500 light years away. Within it you should be able to see four faint stars arranged in a trapezoid. They are very young stars less than a half a million years old that were born out of this nebula. These stars are producing so much ultraviolet radiation that they’re causing the surrounding nebula that they were born in to glow like a neon light.
6. The Andromeda Galaxy: The next door neighbor galaxy to our Milky Way is very high in the northwest sky, not far from the Perseus Double Cluster in the constellation Andromeda the Princess. At first glance you’ll see a fairly large, bright, fuzzy spot and a smaller, slightly fainter one. The bright fuzzy spot is the nucleus of the main Andromeda Galaxy and the small fuzzy spot is a nearby satellite galaxy of Andromeda. If your skies are dark enough, and the seeing conditions are good, you may faintly see part of the structure of the galactic arms of Andromeda, but honestly don’t expect to see much detail. These two galaxies are more than two million light years away. There’s a reason the Andromeda Galaxy is at the bottom of my new telescope target list.
7. Comet Lovejoy: It’s not a spectacular comet, but Lovejoy is certainly something you’d hopefully enjoy spying on. This frozen pile of rocks, gravel, dust, and ice is on its way in from deep space is partially melting and is shooting out a cloud and tail of gas and dust. Right now comet Lovejoy is a little over 50 million miles from Earth and is approaching its closest point the sun, going through maximum melting and visibility.
If you have dark enough skies you may even see it with the naked eye. Currently it’s in the high southern sky in the evening between the bright Pleiades star cluster and the small constellation. Check out the diagram. One more important thing I want to leave you with is that the clarity of whatever you’re viewing can vary because of subtle differences in Earth’s atmosphere. High winds in the upper atmosphere can have a definite blurring effect that can vary from night to night, hour to hour, and even minute to minute. That’s the reason you should take long continuous looks. This is especially true for planets.
Atmospheric blurring due to winds is referred to by amateur astronomers as “bad seeing.” With the naked eye it’s difficult to detect bad seeing conditions. The sky can look as clear as a bell, but the view through the scope may not be. One indication of possible bad seeing conditions you can see at a glance is how much the stars are twinkling. The more they twinkle, the more bad seeing you have. If everything looks fuzzy in your telescope try looking another night. Again, when using telescopes you need to stay patient.
Celestial Hugging this week: Venus and Mercury are still in a fairly close conjunction in the low southwestern sky in the evening twilight, visible about 45 minutes after sunset. They’re the two brightest star-like objects in that part of the sky, easily seen with the naked eye. They’re a little over 6 degrees apart with Venus is by far the brighter of the two, shining to the upper left of Mercury. What really makes this celestial hugging special this week is that the two bright planets will be joined by the new crescent moon on Jan. 21 form a lovely triangle with the planets, just to the right of Venus. You won’t see much detail on the planets with a telescope because of the thicker layer of Earth’s atmosphere near the horizon, but it’s quite a sight with the naked eye. The moon will all be a little fuzzy as well.
Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications available at bookstores at http://www.adventurepublications.net.
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