There is a planetarium program on the PC in the study. To get to it, turn the PC on and Windows will come up. Click on the icon and the program will come up. Try the demonstration and watch it through. It will be set to today's date and the current time. Reset the time to an hour after dark. Then plot the sky to see the constellations and planets which will be visible just after dark.
The middle of the screen is the spot right over your head. The bottom half contains the stars which will be visible from the front steps. The top half contains the stars which will be visible from out back.
Find a bright constellation which looks interesting, find the name by putting the cursor over one of the stars, and pressing enter... (the abbreviations are on a list in the desk and in the Help [F1] part. Then look up the constellation in Ridpath's book and read the stories.
Then take the big step and go out and look for it.
Learning your way around the constellations takes time and is done by learning one constellation at a time. For the beginner, learning one a night is a good pace. Just keep building and reviewing.
If you've never had your telescope out of the box, try setting it up on the porch or on the lawn during the day. Its handy to know what parts go where... and if there are any pieces to drop and find. You can try focusing it on the hill across the valley. I suggest using the lowest power eyepiece first. If it is an astronomical telescope don't be surprised if the image is reversed and inverted... it should be that way. Try out your other eyepieces. As you get to higher and higher magnification, the image will be fainter and fainter. Check out your star finder on the side as well and see if it lines up with the scope.
I suggest that you should spend your first few trials with the lowest power eyepiece until your motor skills used in pointing the scope develop. When you find it comfortable to change from one place to another, then try the higher magnifications.
There is a list of items in the desk under the folder "Beginner" which gives you some ideas of what to look at with your new scope.
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