Beginner Help? Anyone?

Hi Ciaran,

Welcome to the wonderful world of astronomy!

As Dave says, a good astronomy magazine will be a great help to what is up in the sky in any particular month.

That information is also on the internet. Have a look at the following links;

www.spaceweather.com

www.skymaps.com (printable star chart for the month)

www.jodcast.net/ -- download an MP3 of the night sky this month

www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/nightsky.html -- sky notes for the current month

www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?p=52720 -- Neill McKeown's sky notes posted to this site

A good star atlas is a must when you start seeking out deep-sky objects (everything beyond the Solar System!). I highly recommend the Collins Atlas of the Night Sky at www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-Atlas-Night-Storm-Dunlop/dp/0007172230 The added bonus of this book is that it contains a very good atlas of the Moon to get you started. There are a few errors on the star charts but nothing to be worried about when starting out.

Also worth getting is Turn Left at Orion ( www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundred.../203-0877389-7119956 ) which gives an idea of what the objects look like in a telescope.

Any of the magazines have a good sky notes section but The Sky at Night, Astronomy Now, and Astronomy and Space, are geared to observers in Ireland and the UK.

Don't forget the Observing Challenges linked to on the front page of this web site! Have a look at the SDAS links page also ... www.southdublinastronomy.org/wiki/Links

A free printable star atlas btw is available from Toshimi Taki at www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zs3t-tk/index.htm

Other free stuff includes the wonderful Sky Globe, a DOS program that quickly gives you details of what's up in the night sky ( www.sidewalkastronomy.com/skyglobe.html ). A realistic sky program is Stellarium -- download it from www.stellarium.org

Happy star gazing!

John