Tips for astronomy?

[LvL]

I recently got a telescope for my birthday but I'm having a LOT () of trouble using it. I can't find any stars when I'm looking through the focusy thingy, and the stars disappear and reappear because my eyes aren't focusing enough. When I DO find a star, I try to get it into the centre of the aimy thingy to see it though the even more magnified lens, but I can't get it right in the centre. I'll try my best to actually have the manual on my lap when I'm trying to answer your questions about how bad I am at remembering names of stuff.

[xcorps]

Start with nomenclature. Always know the nomenclature. How can you learn what a thing does if you don't even know what to call it?

[lajoswinkler]

Why do you want to look at stars? You won't see anything except a brighter point of light and additional abberations.

Go look at the planets, they're much more interesting.

[LvL]

Why do you want to look at stars? You won't see anything except a brighter point of light and additional abberations.

Go look at the planets, they're much more interesting.

If I can't look at stars, then I can't look at planets. Sure, I would rather look at planets, but there weren't any planets out that night

[cantab]

You need to line up the finder with the main scope. This is best done in the day. With the lowest magnification eyepiece, point the main scope at a distant object, something like a tree or power pylon. Lock the main scope's motion if you can, then tweak the finder's adjustment so it's over the same distant object. Repeat the process with a higher magnification eyepiece for more precision.

Most stars aren't very interesting to look at. They'll still look like stars, just brighter. Some are doubles though, they can be nice to see especially if there's a colour contrast. Albireo, for example, which is the southern bright star in Cygnus.

[LvL]

I live in Australia, there's a lot of light pollution where I live, and I can only look north and straight up because of my balcony. BTW, when I said focusy thingy, I was actually talking about the fingerscope, and when I said more magnified lens, I meant the eyepeice. when I said aimy thingy, I meant the cross that goes across the fingerscope.

[CG_Kerbin]

The light pollution will make it really difficult I have the same problem i usually use my telescope when I go on holiday to places away form cites and towns. Do you have like a camp site/park/nature reserve near you

[Godot]

I agree that this is a huge problem then.

Well, the most important thing is, to know where you have to look.

You need informations about where to look for the planets, else you can search for a long time

The internet has lots of resoruces for this, for example this here:

http://www.astroviewer.com/current-night-sky.php?lon=151.21&lat=-33.87&city=Sydney&tz=EST+

You might also find a compass useful and a portable starchart (if you cannot/don´t want to carry your laptop with you)