Reddit mentions of Turn Left At Orion: Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope - and How to Find Them

"Turn Left At Orion" by Guy Consolmagno and Dan M. Davis. Can be found on Amazon here.

EDIT: Apparently there is an updated version of the book (5th edition).

EDIT 2: watch the delivery time - the link in my former edit says ships within 1-3 months. Might not be the best choice for under the xmas tree.

Some people like this scope, but IMHO, this isn't a telescope I'd recommend: you pay too much for too little telescope and too much for mediocre electronic and mechanical mount components. If it's not too late, my first recommendation would be to return it and purchase an 8" Dob.

BUT, if you're not able or willing to do that, and this is the scope you have, then that's that.

My next recommendation is to join an astronomy club in your area. There most likely is one, and it's the BEST place to learn more about how to use your telescope and what to see. Membership in most clubs in the US costs $50 or less per year. If you let us know where you're located, I can try looking up clubs that are local to you.

Now, as for add-ons and other accessories... the first thing I'd recommend is a copy of Turn Left at Orion. It's a great introduction to using a telescope, and very user friendly.

Next, camera mounts: none. There's plenty available, but this isn't really a telescope designed for or good for astrophotography. You could possibly capture some decent images of the moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. But that's about it. This telescope has an alt-az mount, which is not anywhere near accurate enough for the long-exposure photography required for deep sky objects (nebulae, galaxies, clusters, etc...). If you're limited to 4 targets, then it seems a bit of a waste to me to buy an adapter. Also, using a DSLR would not be recommended, as the mount isn't designed to add a lot of additional weight to the back end, and it will likely decrease the tracking accuracy, and, depending on the weight of the camera and adapting components, could potentially damage the mount's components (unlikely, but possible). Since these mounts aren't well-constructed anyway, I wouldn't recommend this. If you really badly want to try imaging planets or the moon, I'd pick up a cheap webcam and modify it (there's plenty of tutorials online for this) to use with the telescope. There's also some low-cost planetary imaging cams (basically glorified webcams) on the market. They would be a better choice than trying to connect a DSLR.

For eyepieces... that's a bit more tricky. You get a couple lower-end 25 mm and 9 mm
plossl eyepieces. Plossl is a type of eyepiece design that is fairly common these days. They tend to provide pretty decent views, depending on the specific design, for a fairly affordable price. To determine your magnification, you take the telescope's focal length (1,500 mm in your case) and divide it by that of the eyepiece. For your eyepieces, this gives you a magnification of 60x with the 25 mm eyepiece and 167x with the 9mm.

Magnification is a funny thing, however. You can, in theory, magnify an image as much as you like. However, the telescope can only produce so much useful magnification, depending on a number of factors. The key factors are the telescope aperture, the steadiness of the air, and the transparency of the air. When light enters the telescope, it begins to diffract, which manifests itself in blurring of the image. At lower magnifications, it is far less noticeable than at higher magnifications, and the larger the aperture, the more you can magnify before the diffraction creates so much blurring as to be useless. I created this example to show what happens. While this is photographic, and has a slightly different cause, the overall effect is similar. As you continue to magnify, you lose sharpness of detail until the image becomes so blurry as to be useless. In the case of your telescope, under fairly good atmospheric conditions, you might get as high as about 250x magnification before blurring is too severe. Under normal conditions, however, 150x is a more reasonable limit (the rule of thumb is to multiple the aperture in inches by 30x for normal viewing and 50 or 60x for ideal atmospheric conditions).

Thus a higher magnification eyepiece probably won't do much for you except on very good nights, in which case a 6 mm eyepiece would really be pushing your limits. On the other hand, with the 25 mm eyepiece, you don't have a very wide field of view, so you might consider something like a 30 mm, maybe a 35 mm, eyepiece to get a wider field of view (though the 35 might be too long for this scope to use effectively).

Whatever you do, do NOT buy one of those inexpensive eyepiece kits that have 3 or more eyepieces and filters. The eyepieces are usually very low in quality and you really don't need all of them. You can buy separate filter kits for less, and a Barlow lens will not be particularly useful at all to you.

This telescope will be best for planetary observation. A set of basic filters might be useful. With planetary observation, these help to increase contrast to pull out specific details. This site and this one have some pretty good information concerning which filters are best for what. For lunar observation, a neutral density filter (aka moon filter) is also helpful to cut down the brightness and glare of the moon (essentially it's sunglasses for your telescope). For deep sky objects, colored filters are not desirable, though there are some filters that do help with observing particular types of objects. In particular "nebula" filters, which are combinations of narrowband filters to allow common wavelengths of light specific to different kinds of nebula emissions to pass through. An OIII (Doubly-ionized Oxygen) filter can also be helpful for certain nebulae. I wouldn't rush out to buy one right away, however, until you get a bit more experience. This is another good reason to join an astronomy club: going to star parties will give you a chance to talk to other people about what they use and see how filters can help you.

Another filter you might come across is what we call a Light Pollution Reduction (LPR) filter. These are a mixed bag, and more of a personal choice. They do not make viewing from a light-polluted area like viewing from a dark site. They do, however, for some objects, help increase contrast to make them more visible. This is another place I'd experiment before buying.

If you're interested in solar viewing, you do have some options, but proceed with caution. You can get a white-light solar filter (or make one yourself) for simple solar viewing. These will only show you the disc of the sun, sunspots, and, every few years, a transit of Mercury (the next transit of Venus isn't for another 100 years or so). These will not show you the solar granulation (the texture of the sun), nor solar flares/prominences. For those, you would need a dedicated solar Hydrogen Alpha kit (which is NOT the same as an Hydrogen Alpha filter for deep-sky observing). The white light filters can be made for under $30 and purchased for around $100 or less. The Hydrogen Alpha solar equipment would be several hundred dollars for your telescope. Whatever you do, do NOT use an eyepiece filter for solar observation. Some companies have produced these (I don't know if anyone still is), but they are NOT a safe option.

Ok, lastly, you asked about software. There's not much you'd need. One option is Stellarium. I believe Stellarium has drivers for Celestron telescopes, so you only need the cable connection equipment (sold separately, of course) from Celestron. However, I don't see much need for this. The hand control on your mount is just fine for finding objects, assuming you're properly aligned. A good phone or tablet app for determining what's above you right now would be helpful, but you don't need a computer connection unless you're doing imaging, and, as I said above, that's not highly recommended.

In the long run, I'd still recommend an 8" Dob instead - the 8" aperture is capable of showing you quite a bit more and doesn't require power (nor is there much to break down). But if you intend to keep this scope, you can make the most of it.

Good luck and clear skies.

The best book I’ve found for locating things in Sky is Turn Left at Orion. Has illustrations for where to look for different objects, what they should look like so you know when you’re there, as well as ease of seeing based on type of telescope.
As for collimating, there are a few ways to, and plenty of YouTube videos on how to. Easiest is with a laser collimator. But unless you know someone who has one, cost money. Another involves lining up with a bright star, usually Polaris as it doesn’t move, moving your focus out until the star looks like a donut, then adjusting your collation into the “hole” is in the center.
Another option is to look up any local astronomy clubs to you and see if they have any public outreach events. The purpose of these events is for the general public to come out and view. Those with new gear are always welcome to come out to be helped with their new stuff as we (as amateur astronomers) would rather have someone with an interest know how to use their gear and enjoy the experience than get frustrated and give up the hobby altogether.
Hope this helped.

Turn Left at Orion is by no means outdated! In fact, it just recently got a revised fifth edition out!

Besides, the night sky doesn't change that fast, and guides/atlases written 20-30 years ago are just as good now as they were on the date of their publishing.

The absolute best telescopes for beginners is a good 8 inch dobsonion. If you are willing to take the time to learn the night sky and don't need goto a good one is 400 or so new. For 650 you can get a push to 8 inch scope that allows you to tell it what you want to see and it will tell you how to push the scope to see it. True motorized ones are much more expensive

The reason 8 inches is the best starters is it's big enough to provide great views of everything from the moon, the major planets and all the brightest deep space objects. The dobsonion type scope is easy to setup,very stable, and light enough that it's not a big production to get it out and ready.

If you get a scope order the book "turn left at Orion" on Amazon. It is a great book that gives you easy to understand directions on where to point a scope any time of the year to see the best objects currently in the sky. Also see if there are any astronomy clubs in your area because they are normally very willing to help you get started

Astrophotography is a whole other can of worms and requires specialized telescopes mounts cameras etc

Below are some examples of Scopes and good reading:
https://www.amazon.com/SkyWatcher-S11610-Traditional-Dobsonian-8-Inch/dp/B00Z4G3PRK/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=skywatcher+dobsonian+8&qid=1569033244&s=gateway&sprefix=skywatcher+dobs&sr=8-3


https://www.telescope.com/mobileProduct/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/Classic-Dobsonians/Orion-Limited-Edition-SkyQuest-XT8-Classic-Dobsonian-Bundle/pc/1/c/12/sc/13/101452.uts

https://www.telescope.com/mobileProduct/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/IntelliScope-Dobsonians/Orion-SkyQuest-XT8i-IntelliScope-Dobsonian-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/27/102012.uts

https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/1108457568/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=turn+left+at+orion&qid=1569034887&s=gateway&sprefix=turn+left&sr=8-1

I can go over some of the math too. That telescope has a 130mm primary mirror, hence the 130 in its name. In inches that's about 5", this is also called the aperture. The maximum magnification on a very clear night is 50x your aperture. 50 x 5=250. So you don't want to go above 250 power. I looked up the focal length and it is 650mm. This is important because you divide the focal length by the mm of the eyepiece you're using to get magnification. Your telescope will come with a 10mm and a 25 mm, so 650/10= 65x and 650/25= 26x. These will be good for viewing the moon, and a decent view of the planets but not for galaxies, nebulae or star clusters. Reversing the math, if you wanted an eyepiece that gave you the full 250 magnification that you can theoretically get you'd need about a 3mm lens. 650/250=2.6.

The Svbony or similar Gold Line series is highly touted on here. Under $100 for 4 lenses that are very good you get a 6, 9, 15 and 20 mm lens. If you pair that with a 2x Barlow, which is a lens you put your other lens into that doubles its magnification, you can stretch those 4 lenses into also being 3, 4.5, 7.5 and 10 mm. So for ~$130 you can get the most out of your scope and not have to buy anything for a long time.

What I've been getting the most use out of is a Celestron zoom lens. It can go from 24mm to 8 mm by just twisting the body of it. At its lowest magnification it can't see very much of the sky, so it isn't super popular because it's hard to find what you're looking for, but when you zoom in it really opens up what you can see. If I can't find what I'm looking for I switch to a 25 mm lens with better field of vision then put the Zoom back in. The zoom is ~$70.

Lastly buy the book Turn Left at Orion. Note: Don't accidentally buy Turn Right at Orion!! This book gives you history, cool facts and will help you find hundreds of cool objects in Space. If you just cruise around without a guide you'll lose interest quick. Best advice I got for using this book is to rotate the book in your hands until it matches what you're seeing in your scope. Don't assume up is up or left is left. The book is on sale right now for a better price than I got, might want to scoop it up now. It's the current edition and just came out this year.

If I confused you with anything I can clarify!

Svbony Goldlines

2X Barlow

Celestron Zoom

Turn LEFT at Orion

No problem! Only other thing I'd recommend is this book -

Turn Left at Orion: Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope - and How to Find Them https://www.amazon.com/dp/1108457568/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_S5w4DbPS7Q07S




To help them find things in the sky.




If you wind up getting all this, you'll have some extremely happy parents and you will probably find yourself making some trips out to enjoy it with them 🙂

> Would the Star Adventurer be controllable by ASCOM?

To the best of my knowledge, no...I don't know of an ASCOM driver for the SA, it not being a GoTo mount. However, if memory serves, it DOES have a guide port, so it's possible there's something out there.

> How would I use APT, Stellarium, and the tracking mount to do automated plate solving?

No experience with APT, so I can't speak to details of configuration. I know it will DO plate solving though.

Stellarium doesn't really enter into the equation here as far as plate solving goes, though I suppose you could use its Sync command to sync the mount once you found where you were.

---

Without a GoTo mount you're unlikely to have any success automating the plate solving process. While there's dozens of different utilities to DO plate solving, and dozens more for sequencing and ASCOM device control and so on, the general process is going to be the same...and require a GoTo mount :

1. Ask mount where it thinks it is.
   

• Take picture
  
• Plate Solve picture
  
• Tell mount where it actually is
  
• Tell mount to slew to desired RA/Dec
  
• Repeat 1-5 until "Mount thinks it's at X" and "Mount is actually at X" agree.
  
  What you CAN do however is exactly what you asked about, manually :
  
  > So I guess I’m looking for guidance with finding, framing, and focusing with a motorized mount.
  
  
• Use Stellarium, google, whatever, to get the RA and Dec of the object you want to image.
  
• Polar align your mount (a topic in and of itself)
  
• Use Stellarium, or whatever other "planetarium software" you wish, or Star Charts, or a copy of Turn Left At Orion to point yourself more or less in the right place.
  
• Take a picture
  
• Upload/feed/open/post that image to whatever your platesolving engine of choice is. The astrometry link above is probably the easiest option here
  
• Get the results. They will tell you exactly what RA and Dec your scope was pointing at when it took that picture.
  
• Use setting circles, hand controller, or a wild guess that you eventually get better at with experience, and adjust your mount in RA and Dec in the direction of your intended target.
  
• Lather, rinse, repeat.
  
  ---
  
  Is this "better" than "Take a long exposure and hope you see the target"? Who knows? Depends on a zillion variables like "How faint is the target?" and "How sensitive is the camera?" and "How patient is OP?" and "How good is OP at recognizing other objects/star patterns/indications nearby?" and so on. None of us can know all those variables.
  
  Some of us enjoy "star hopping". Maybe you're one of those. If so, then ignore all this and just...shoot a pic, find the same pattern in stellarium, and move where you need to. Don't sell this method short..it's a great way to learn your way around the sky, and you never know what other cool thing will show up as some faint fuzzy in your frame, and distract you from your intended target!
  
  However, platesolving is a repeatable and exact method of finding your target that eliminates a great many of those variables. Plate solve an image your camera took, and you will know, with no doubt or uncertainty, exactly where your telescope is pointed. 99% of success in this hobby is removing uncertainty and guesswork wherever you can. :)

Get "Turn Left at Orion" first.

https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/1108457568

It will help you make sense of what is where and what is possible to see.

It has examples of "realistic" things you'd expect to see through binoculars or a telescope.