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Re: (meteorobs) NAMN Target Showers: June 1997
Bob,
You've had lots of good information from the pros, now as a
"greenie" I'd like to pass on a couple more suggestions and
experiences.
Using your PC, Voyager II or Red Shift are excellent computer
software packages that will let you display constellations for a given
time and place, with or without outlines, with or without major stars
named, with or without constellation names, and even varying from just
major constellations to the minor ones as well. You can choose just a
few, figure out where they are in relation to each other, then go
outside and look up to find them.
Even using the computer, and the little golden book with the star
patterns, and a subscription to Sky and Telescope with the really
excellent monthly maps showing which constellations are where, it
still took me most of a year to become completely confident of which
constellations I could see and how they move across the sky. Lying
out at night just watching the stars move while waiting for meteors is
an almost unbelievable experience.
Not only that, every so often a satellite moves methodically
through the stars, either shortly after full dark in the evening or
shortly before dawn light in the morning. Fabulous!
But don't be discouraged if it takes a while to remember the
constellations. After a while they get to be old friends, and you can
tell the season by what's in the sky at bedtime.
LaRue