[meteorite-list] Re: Telescope

From: Gary Hansen <garyhansen_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:41:53 2004
Message-ID: <20010104155013.21341.qmail_at_web6402.mail.yahoo.com>

Art,

Congratulations! I envy you the "first time"
experience.

A few more tips for a first timer.

- Dress warm. It's cold out there, at least where I
live! Also, give your scope a chance to cool down. A
hour is not too long. Otherwise the image will look
terrible.
- Give your eyes some time to adapt to the darkness.
This can make a big difference in how much you see.
- Don't expect that the things to look like the
pictures in books. This calls for large scope and
special equipment.
- Learn whatever you can. Get a good star atlas like
"Nortons Star Atlas"; this will open up a much wider
range of things to look at.
- Get a good software package. A nice free one is at:

http://www.fourmilab.com/homeplanet/homeplanet.html.
Then you can plan ahead.
- Subscribe to a magazine like Sky and Telescope. It
has lots of good information at all levels.

I think the the appeal of a amateur astronomy is
similar to that of meteorics: first-hand experience of
the cosmos. There is no substitute to seeing or
touching something yourself.

Good luck.

Gary

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Received on Thu 04 Jan 2001 10:50:13 AM PST