Astro Tutorial #1.2: A brief orientation in the night sky

[@Ed-hz2um]

Another good one. Astronomy was my first hobby as a child. I learned the "pointer" stars & constellations early. Many years later, I used that knowledge to aid me in obtaining my Aeronautical Navigator Certificate. I found that finding your position on the Earth's surface by sighting stars was as much an art as a science. During trans-pacific flights on which I was the captain, I would always ask the navigator to let me take the shots and reduce the data. It was...and still is...fascinating.

[@catchingphotons]

Wonderful story Ed, thanks for your thoughts. Navigating by stars in the night sky is truly a civilisatory trade that gets lost. I'm a teacher in Germany and we don't even have astronomy as part of our physis curriculum... And in light polluted cities the kids never see the dark sky, nor star signs... Sad but true.

[@pats.4268]

Thank you very much for this. I didn't know where to start. From a newbie

[@catchingphotons]

You are very welcome!

[@satvikvarun6386]

The background music makes me cry :)) Thank youu

[@catchingphotons]

You are very welcome! The background music was initially chosen not to distract at all - obviously failed :-D I hope you could follow the content nevertheless! Clear skies dude!

[@satvikvarun6386]

@@catchingphotons broo I mean cry of happyness

[@hassanyahya]

Great channel, this is my first time here and I've learned a lot. Thanks for all of the knowledge!

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks Hassan! You are very welcome!

[@andregrodahn461]

Hey Chris!Thx again! As a total Beginner stellarium(-web) saved my Live...eg my teleskopes live 😁 orientating me with the named eye gets realy easy with this Tools, but i have enormous problems finding my self back again If i look through my finderscope. Suddenly there are so many more stars and the field of view gets so small...in the first nights this drove me crazy

[@catchingphotons]

Yea that's true for me, too. What helped me back then was the trick to open both eyes: one looking through the finder-scope and the other glancing at the night sky. So my "free" eye could look out for constellations and than in the finder-scope I can refine the first "judgement". But ether way: I remember me - before the plate-solving thing became a thing for me - fiddling for an hour to find M33 in the constellation of Triangulum. :D That was fun! So clear skies to you and glad you are around here! This new "channel on KZbin"-thing is so exciting for me! Greetings Chris

[@MrGoatflakes]

I have the shitty green dot so called finder scope that came with my Tasco Galaxsee 46-114500. It is bloody atrocious. Not only do you practically have to lie down to line up something at zenith, the glass has no magnification (which has its pros and cons), but the glass is partially silvered so as to better reflect the dot! Which means anything is _significantly_ obscured. Three nights ago I managed to view Jupiter and Saturn. But despite Saturn being the second brightest thing then in the sky, brighter it seemed to me than even the Southern Cross, brighter even it seemed to me than Alpha Centuri, _I could barely see it through the glass!_ in the end I got it nearly on and found it by moving in the direction of the glare. I'd just installed Stellarium on my phone, upgraded to pro, and it showed several interesting globulars and such. I didn't have a hope of seeing them, let alone properly aligning the (incredibly awkward even when used properly, which requires a good bit of learning and practice) equatorial mount using the very dim Sigma Octans, which is what passes as a pole star in these parts. When I got the durn thing sixteen years ago and my eyes were much better I saw Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, the Orion Nebula, a Globular, and random looks at the Milky Way. It's always been a frustrating experience. Wish I bought that 8" Dobson mount Newtonian I could have had for the same money, but some damned fool convinced fool me I needed an equatorial mount :v But at least I've ordered a new view scope :P

[@MrGoatflakes]

Oh, I forgot to say. The 46-114500 is a 114mm/4.5" objective Newtonian with a focal length of 500mm, giving it an f number of roughly f/4.4. I thought till literally just now it had an objective of 6 inches! I've been had worse than I thought! ._.

[@MrGoatflakes]

By the way, I'd highly recommend Stellarium mobile for its augmented reality mode. Point at the sky and it will track an show you constellations. And planets. Great for noob me that can only tell Orion, Taurus, Scorpio, Southern Cross, and Alpha and Beta Centuri ☺️ You can set red only night mode and turn down your phone/tablet's brightness to save your night vision. Upgrade to pro and you can pinch zoom to see the deep sky stuff.

[@tomassaavedra4543]

Thanks for the video! Yesterday I went outside the city (Melbourne) and tried to read the night sky using a star chart, red flashlight, and binoculars, but it was almost impossible due to the excessive light pollution. I miss the clear night skies from the Atacama Desert...

[@catchingphotons]

Uhh... Atacama must be great! Was in northern Australia once: that was amazing, too. "If the milky way casts a shadow, something is just how it should be." ;-)

[@stuarttaylor6895]

2:47 I think you mean 'fifty four degrees'

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks

[@vaibhavrothe3820]

Thanks a lot!

[@catchingphotons]

Great to have you here!

[@angelinephilo2005]

hey, im really late but what's the background music you used here?

[@catchingphotons]

It's a long time ago but the end screen insists on "Scott Buckley - a new year" from KZbins free music section. Clear skies!

[@angelinephilo2005]

@@catchingphotons Thanks, and clear skies!

[@texdoms]

Starting to learn all those names :)

[@catchingphotons]

Do that, it is so helpful to have a first rough orientation :-) Clear skies!

[@smitakhamkar4487]

you are great!!!

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks Smita, you are too kind!

[@MrGoatflakes]

Heh. So weird to think that up on the other side of the world Orion signals winter or that you have an actual pole star :P

[@catchingphotons]

... and imagine that you are standing upside down? ;-) Greetings and clear skies! Chris

[@MrGoatflakes]

@@catchingphotons well definitely Orion is standing upside down the silly sod! I saw him last week when I fed the animals. Before dawn. That Jupiter and Saturn convinced me to get my cranky old telescope working again ;)

[@typhoonnamikaze1567]

It is better to know the night sky before starting astrophotography.

[@catchingphotons]

true