The Astronomy Thread
- Thread starter Araxen
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This is probably a good place to post this.
I get a newsletter (cuz it's fucking 1995) every week with rocket launches everywhere on earth. Specifically I'm looking for launches from Vandenburg CA as I can see them from my house in SNV. Well there is one set for 7:35PM right at sunset where I'll get the perfect 'jelly fish' glow. I set up my table to stream the launch , and a tripod with my phone to video the whole thing so I can post it here. Then I look at SpaceX and it's not there.
I got my timezones all fucked up
It was last night.
DOH!
I get a newsletter (cuz it's fucking 1995) every week with rocket launches everywhere on earth. Specifically I'm looking for launches from Vandenburg CA as I can see them from my house in SNV. Well there is one set for 7:35PM right at sunset where I'll get the perfect 'jelly fish' glow. I set up my table to stream the launch , and a tripod with my phone to video the whole thing so I can post it here. Then I look at SpaceX and it's not there.
I got my timezones all fucked up
It was last night.
DOH!
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Masakari
Shabbat Shalom
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First time telescoper here, just picked up a Virtuoso 150P w/ some extra accessories. Excited for what I'll be able to see when I go camping out in Utah this summer. I saw a lot of folks recommending scopes like the AD8, which looks sick, but I'm not taking something that big camping lol.
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Had to look it up. A dob mounted scope will not have the tracking to take deep sky pics. You can take moon, some plants like Saturn and such.
Fitting a camera, either smartphone or a CCD scope to that is beyond my thing. WWW.cloudynights.com is a great place to look up stuff under various topics. They are owned by astronomics now which is an astronomy retailer that sells a lot of stuff at a fair price that not too long ago was prohibitly expensive. I got an email the other day for a 6" APO refractor (apocrhomatic and not achromatic, achromatic have more falso color and falls in line now with department store scopes), while not dirt cheap in the days I was learning to use a scope would have cost between a car and a house or close to it. I think it was $3,500 or so. And an APO refractor is a very nice scope with a lot being used for deep sky imaging.
A dob is a fanatic place to start. Especially one you can take with you to darker areas, or even outside and not have to lug around. Get a real planisphere to see what is out in the night sky for your time/location. Or use the apps on phones to do the same thing and ID what you are looking at.
I'm a big dob fan. The best telescope will be the one you actually get to use and feel like carrying out and such. The "best" telescope you won't use are the expensive ones, that take a mount to take good astrophotography that weigh 50 pounds or more plus counterweights, batteries, etc...See where I am going. Enjoy the night sky with it.
They make a variety of sizes and cost. Something like this, this is just the first one that came up with a search. Or use your phone as I said.
Fitting a camera, either smartphone or a CCD scope to that is beyond my thing. WWW.cloudynights.com is a great place to look up stuff under various topics. They are owned by astronomics now which is an astronomy retailer that sells a lot of stuff at a fair price that not too long ago was prohibitly expensive. I got an email the other day for a 6" APO refractor (apocrhomatic and not achromatic, achromatic have more falso color and falls in line now with department store scopes), while not dirt cheap in the days I was learning to use a scope would have cost between a car and a house or close to it. I think it was $3,500 or so. And an APO refractor is a very nice scope with a lot being used for deep sky imaging.
A dob is a fanatic place to start. Especially one you can take with you to darker areas, or even outside and not have to lug around. Get a real planisphere to see what is out in the night sky for your time/location. Or use the apps on phones to do the same thing and ID what you are looking at.
I'm a big dob fan. The best telescope will be the one you actually get to use and feel like carrying out and such. The "best" telescope you won't use are the expensive ones, that take a mount to take good astrophotography that weigh 50 pounds or more plus counterweights, batteries, etc...See where I am going. Enjoy the night sky with it.
They make a variety of sizes and cost. Something like this, this is just the first one that came up with a search. Or use your phone as I said.
Miller Planisphere 40N/10.5 - Astronomical Star Chart for Sky Enthusiasts & | eBay
This interactive guide to the heavens displays the position of the stars 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Miller Planisphere is a deluxe, all plastic wheel chart as seen in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Use it to identify the stars and planets & discover constellations.
www.ebay.com
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Sheriff Cad
scientia potentia est
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Man looking up at the sky and the planets and their moons and the various objects you can see when it's truly dark out really give you a sense of wonder and optimism about things that isn't really present in day to day life these days. Very cool.Thank you Borzak, maybe I'll just focus on the stargazing aspect for now and leave the seemingly very expensive astrophotography tangent for later, much later
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While I really love my Seestar ,it's the opposite of what you bought. It does deep sky so easy it's almost too easy but it cannot do planets for shit. It's also light weight (5LBs or so).
I'd recommend being patient and just try try try. It's amazing when things line up, and frustrating as all hell when it doesn't. Do not make my mistake. I had a 12" telescope that was like what
Borzak
was describing. Base weighed 40lbs , top weighed 80 and was a total bitch to set up. Best thing I did with it was sell it. For tracking , I assume you have a smart phone. I have Skymap, skyview light, and Stellarium(free) on my phone. They will tell you what you are looking at.
I fondly remember the first time I saw Jupiter and it's 4 big moons and holy shit, Saturn with those rings. It's very addictive.
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Masakari
Shabbat Shalom
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While I really love my Seestar ,it's the opposite of what you bought. It does deep sky so easy it's almost too easy but it cannot do planets for shit. It's also light weight (5LBs or so).
I'd recommend being patient and just try try try. It's amazing when things line up, and frustrating as all hell when it doesn't. Do not make my mistake. I had a 12" telescope that was like what
For tracking , I assume you have a smart phone. I have Skymap, skyview light, and Stellarium(free) on my phone. They will tell you what you are looking at.
I fondly remember the first time I saw Jupiter and it's 4 big moons and holy shit, Saturn with those rings. It's very addictive.
The only times I was really big on stargazing was back in high school since I lived in a rural part of NY & then again when I was deployed the Middle East. Both times the sky was so clear, you could see quite a bit with high powered binoculars and a simple telescope. The Moon, Pleiades , & the Orion nebula were some of the ones I remember enjoying the most. I imagine viewing it through the new scope will be what I experienced on steroids, so I'm definitely looking forward to it.
The AD8 looked awesome, but not practical for how I want to use it. I was also looking at the Skymax 127 but it's more for planet spotting than deep space, and there's a lot more cool stuff to see in deep space. A tabletop will just have to do! I picked up some foam to make a shroud for it, and some better eyepieces, calibrator, and sight. Already set with a mounting platform and battery pack, will post some pics of the set up once its all together.
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Lol sounds like my kinda drug addict! When I bought telescope/camera gear I called it my Drug habit.
Enjoy amigo, looking forward to the posts. When it warms up here at night some more I'm planning to break my SeeStar out, at this point it's going to have to be more of the same though. I've processed just about everything you can see from my house.
Keep playing with the idea of riding over to Death Valley at night and getting on top of Dante's View. It's dark dark up there at night.
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I know there are adapters to fit a phone and some of those produce some good shots of the moon and some of the planets through a dob. I have seen some pics from an iphone and they work out great.Thank you Borzak, maybe I'll just focus on the stargazing aspect for now and leave the seemingly very expensive astrophotography tangent for later, much later
I know everyone scoffs at this idea. But a planisphere or a smart phone app, a cheap pair of astronomy binoculars work very well for wide angle "get it all in " if you have a semi decent place to start learning the night sky. Something like a Celestron 7x35. You want something wide angle to let a lot of light in. Something like a 10x50 is not only heavier but a more narrow field. I would think something like the celestron (they have a few in various sizes that are close) should go for $35-$50 and do great at learning the sky. Can also take them out when using the scope. I have a pair I use at times. Even though I have much more expensive Zeiss and Swarovski binos that are not stricly geared for astronmy type stuff. The really expensive and large astronomy binos need a mega mount because you would never hold those up for any length of time. I mean like the 50x100 or larger, but I have heard of people buying them with the bigger is better idea and that goes out the window quickly without a very nice mount.
Get a red headlight or flashlight. Because you will drop something, need to loosen/tighten something and if turn on a flashlight or your phone your night vision is gone for some time, a red one fixes that.
It takes time for your eyes to adjust even at a really dark site. 30 minutes at least I would say. Once you get the hang of actually using your stuff and finding stuff look into averted vision. You can see a lot more through a scope at night by not looking straight through it at your target, averted you vision a little. Play with it and you will get the hang of it and see more stuff with practice.
Depending on where you live you can go to a star party. Cloudynights has a lot of them listed. You will have the chance to look through more scopes than you could ever own and many a lot more than you would want to spend. It's a good way to get an idea of what other scopes have to offer as well as tips. Just remember the red LED and a lot of them will have someone with a green laser pointer pointing out what they are talking about or looking at. Most are fee, just astronomy people, local college, astronomy club or whatever. The TX star party is a several day deal in southwest, TX where it is very dark and it is not free but well worth it. You are basically paying for use of the property and camping. The one time I went to the TX star party there was a 36" dob and a guy that had two 18" dobs mounted in a bino deal where you sat in a chair and viewed horizontally but the scopes were pointed up. Well worth the views.
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This is the one I have, works great and won't break the bank.
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