Stargazing

lixxus

lixxus

lixxus

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2006
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London
Having watch the 3 part series of startgazing on bbc2 with Brian Cox and dara o'briain.

What websites do you use to follow whats happening up there in the sky ?

Be it smartphone apps/ computer programs etc

There was a website where you could use a public telescope to take a picture that was sent to you after processing.

Dara used it in the series. I cant remember the website name.

Can someone shed some light i cant be bothered to go through the episode again since i don't know which part it was.
 
Stellarium is all you need - any flavour of pc.

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Starwalk is pretty good, if you have an iPhone. You basically point your phone at the stars and it'll show it on the map where you can touch and get more info. :)
 
One of the best shows I have seen in a long time. Only parts I didn't like where when Jonathan Ross was involved.

I actually went outside tonight and used the Google sky map on my HTC. Very interesting app but the only things I could see due to cloud cover was the Moon and Jupiter.

The program has definitely sparked an interest and ill be looking into astronomy a bit more. Pitty im so skint or I would be hunting for a telescope by now.
 
I thought Brian Cox was excellent on this. That man really does know what he is talking about and unlike other presenters I have seen on astronomy type programs he is really likeable.
 
Stellarium is an amazing bit of software. The google sky map app is pretty handy to.

Watch Sky at Night every month (normally the first week of the month) for some info and interest.

One of, if not the, best source of info I use is the jodcast(subscribe in the about page) podcast. I really can't express how good it is even if you just have an interest in astro stuff.

Apart from that you don't need a super duper spanky telescope to get into it. Your eyes on a meteor shower is one of the best events you can catch. Apart from that a decent set of binoculars will more than do you to start as many people can be a bit underwhelmed upon getting there first scope and loose interest quickly unless they know what they are seeing. Try and find the Pleiades with your naked eye and you see a smudge of maybe seven stars about the size of a full moon. With binoculars on the same patch of sky your view will be filled with dozens of stars and you'll be grinning ear to ear.

edit:
Binoculars and a steady hand can also show Jupiter as a disc and it's 4 major moons are clearly visible. You will need to rest on something, use a cheap tripod or have to breath like a sniper, but it is easy after 10 minutes of practice to find what works.

Also get a copy of Patrick Moore's Yearbook of Astronomy 2011.

As far as what binoculars to get. You want a large objective lens to capture as much light thus allowing you to see fainter objects. Magnification doesn't really matter so go for around 40 mm or more. Binoculars are described by the system magnification x objective lens size i.e. 7 x 40. A £50 set is all you need.
 
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Lookuptonight isn't too bad on WP7 either.

Saw the ISS fly over earlier, it is so easy to confuse it with a plane.
 
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