Astronomy & Amature Astronomy - Telescopes

[Heretic]

great pics sfth13

I am hoping to get a good telescope sometimes soon

max I will probably spend is about 1k tho, unless I can find a really good offer I cant refuse

[Norval]

This link may help in telescope finding,
http://bb.nightskylive.net/asterisk/index.php

From this web site
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

And search for amature astronomer forums and or telescope info sites too.

I love the web. :bananen_smilies035:

[sfth13]

great pics sfth13

I am hoping to get a good telescope sometimes soon

max I will probably spend is about 1k tho, unless I can find a really good offer I cant refuse
thanks Heretic. the first two were photo's i took but the one in post# 6 I pulled from a website that I think I got from Norval?
but my scope was really cheap less than $400 and the imager was only about $90. hook it up to a laptop and your good to go for solar images.. if you want deep space photo's. clusters nebuli etc. that's an entire different setup, an EQ mount and a imager with longer exposure times.. it's a peaceful hobby. until last week when I was sitting outside in total darkness and I heard something moving across the grass.. and then bam right into my leg ran an armardillo...:scared: scared the crap outta me. :D

[Swami Salami]

thanks Heretic. the first two were photo's i took but the one in post# 6 I pulled from a website that I think I got from Norval?
but my scope was really cheap less than $400 and the imager was only about $90. hook it up to a laptop and your good to go for solar images.. if you want deep space photo's. clusters nebuli etc. that's an entire different setup, an EQ mount and a imager with longer exposure times.. it's a peaceful hobby. until last week when I was sitting outside in total darkness and I heard something moving across the grass.. and then bam right into my leg ran an armardillo... scared the crap outta me.


That made me laugh,.........hard:bananen_smilies066: :bananen_smilies015:

[sfth13]

That made me laugh,.........hard

After I turned my flashlight on and saw what the heck it was I thought it was pretty funny too... :bananen_smilies053:

[Norval]

This was a good thread split and as we should have a thread on telescopes, here it is now. Thanks Sfth13.

I live too close to the city lights here so very little can be seen. Also that I live on a boat, so I do my astronomy via the space photo web sites, like this one for mars.

We have strange things that go bump, screech, and squawk in the night around the boat though. But no armadillo's :lol:

http://global-data.mars.asu.edu/bin/themis.pl?TOP_LAT=90&LEFT_LON=226.0620016&CENT_LAT=35.98864486&CENT_LON=46.0620016&DISP_RES=2&DISP_DATASET=Visible&DISP_MAP_DATASET=3&DISP_MAP_PROJ=0&DISP_ZL=1&TNAIL_LINK=20050722a&PAN_SELECT_ZOOM=ZOOM&MAP_DATASET1.x=28&MAP_DATASET1.y=5

An incredable Map of Mars with thousands of close ups and in many formats. It takes a bit of time to learn to use it, kind of like a new scope and software. :)

[sfth13]

Thanks for the link Norval, I can see i'll get little sleep tonight :bananen_smilies051:
I've seen so many strange things up in the sky. even things that fly slowly by as i'm looking into the eyepiece.. by the time I say what the heck is that it's gone. :bananen_smilies019:

but there is a lot of space junk up there so I guess it could be anything... but i'll keep looking, it's such an awesome sight

[Heretic]

This was a good thread split and as we should have a thread on telescopes, here it is now. Thanks Sfth13.

Woot thanks for the new thread Norval, maybe I can get some advice finding a target telescope and move from figuring out what I want towards buying what I need.


it's a peaceful hobby. until last week when I was sitting outside in total darkness and I heard something moving across the grass.. and then bam right into my leg ran an armardillo... scared the crap outta me.

I lived in the Texas DFW area for about 30 years, 10 of those years in the country. Summer nights rock in Texas and when away from the city lights, you can see the whole dome very clearly. Breathtaking. And I used to star gaze often, especially after Star Wars.

It is now clear to me that Armadillos intentionally target people who are star gazing, to scare the crap out of them. Although I never had one run into my leg. I ran like a little girl though. Unfortunately they also target moving cars alot.


So I am basically an armchair astronomer, my knowledge extends to one semester of intro to astronomy, my MSM phase of learning which includes alot of discovery, history channel, national geographic, and other deceptions, while reading magazines from OMNI, scientific american, and discovery to popular science and mechanics. ahh I remember those hover-car and one man chopper kits in the back.

Then I got into astronomy magazine and deep sky and would drool over the telescope articles and advertisements in the back of them too. I never really went any father than that though, so I have some exposure but no true experience, yet they did lead me to taking that astronomy class, which I now wish would have taken more seriously.

So armed with absolutely no proper knowledge to hunt for a great scope I turn to the internet and shop according to price and not quality as I am not sure I could recognize quality. My use for it would be to spy the moon surface clearly, and catch some deep stuff too.

one of my first finds is this:
Meade ETX 90PE UHTC Telescope Premier Edition w/ Tripod, AutoStar GOTO Controller, AutoAlign, SmartFinder, AutoStar Suite - ETX 90 PE w/ FREE UPS (http://www.opticsplanet.net/meade-etx90ep-telescopes.html)

List Price $1,149.00
Sale Price $479.00

So is this like a Honda with extras you may find as standard on a Lamborghini? Should I get the Lamborghini without the unnecessary bling like:
Celestron NexStar 5SE Telescope 11036 - 5" Computerized Schmidt-Cassegrain w/ FREE UPS (http://www.opticsplanet.net/celestron-nexstar-5se-telescope.html)

List Price $1,478.95
Sale Price $757.99
Price After Rebate $657.99

or am I barking up the wrong tree altogether?

[Norval]

I think I have given this link here before, but as the moon is one of the great things to look at in a personal telescope, you may want to get to know these folks. Dr. Wood is a good guy and knows more than he can tell.

http://lpod.wikispaces.com/

[sfth13]

well Heretic you got one up on me. I never took an astronomy class. I was never much of a school person.. I kinda have a problem with reading and comprehension as well as spelling. so whenever I decide to take up a hobby it's always hands on and self taught.
I always have been looking up to the heavens since I can remember.. I always had a gut feeling that we are not alone, and I can remember saying as a child that I thought God was an ET and I also thought that the Gods in Greek mythology were ETs also.. my mother thought i was crazy , so when I stumbled onto Norvals threads it was like i'mnot nuts and someone else believes this too. sort of like a yep i'm on the right track but not to get side tracked that's the reason I have been looking up ever since I was a kid and that's why I am here now..
but Meade is a good quality scope my very first scope years ago was a really cheap Meade about a $60 scope.. the one I bought about a year ago is a Celestron 114SLT.. which as of tonight the motor drive stopped working:hammer:
I have to see if I can fix it...But Orion makes a good quality scope as well and not to expensive. like the Orion SkyView Pro 127..
http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=cassegrains/~pcategory=telescopes/~product_id=24716

http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/catadioptric-telescopes/c6sgtschmidtcassegrainwxltcoatings.cfm

if you are going to take long exposure photo's you meed to get an EQ mount. the EQ mount has a side to side movement as well as up and down but it also will rotate so as the earth revolves it will keep what ever your looking at is the same exact position in the eyepiece for the photo.. the two scopes you listed are Altazimuth mounts which basically means you have up and down movement and side to side only no twisting or rotating.. so if you try to take a long exposure you'll see the object and then it will look like the object was turning in the photo.

I hope you followed that. check out this link

http://www.my-spot.com/whatkind.htm

[Heretic]

:w00t:

Awesome advice, and I will probably need a ton more pointers like this

thanks a bunch

EQ mounts not Altazimuth mounts

gotcha

off to my search again

:bananen_smilies035: I'll be back

[sfth13]

Here's 2 videos that tell us how big we think the universe is

[Norval]

, , , and now you know why I study the Document and do so with great appreciation and gratitude for the knowledge it gives. , , , a blade of grass; you try to build it and keep it alive.

Astronomy will never be to me what it was as a kid, it has given me more OH SHIT ! ! moments than I care to remember.

[sfth13]

well for me is more of a fascination of what's out there and all the possibilities. and sitting outside in the dark looking up is my R&R time. it's quiet and peaceful.. and I have the occasional "Oh Shit what was that" moment but I also have a HUGE fascination with Mother Earth and Nature. I always watch animals look at plants and I realize that every thing on this planet was made some how and for some reason.. I remember this qoute:

In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.
Carl Sagan

[Norval]

My usage of the online data bases of astronomical photographs are my telescopes. The boat is just too unstable for viewing and as I live in very light polluted zone I use only the boat's several pairs of binoculars at times. But the online data bases give me a whole new look at our solar system, galaxy, and universe that no telescope can ever give you.

So, I spent my "scope money" on better high resolution monitors and high speed internet connections. Several years of looking at space pictures, thousands and thousands of them. Reading what the scientists said about what was showing in the photos, their "theories" and perspectives, was time well spent.

As an amateur astronomer, and I use the term loosely of myself, my edumacation is self taught on a need / want to know, based on Gale's and my research, as to possible signs in the heavens. It seems to have paid off and was time well spent. These basic scientific "theories" are what we question.

1. Concise Systematic crater chains.
2. Where are any of the impactors, if that is what made all these craters?
3. Why don't we have constant LIVE feed from space openly available to the public?????

[sfth13]

For years i've been surfing the web looking for anything that had to do with space... I found a bunch of stuff... I didn't know what I was looking at. I was just looking... and now I'm going back with this info from here and other forums and i'm starting to understand what it is I was and am looking at..

as far as an astronomer. lol I'm just a beginer..I do learn fast but I've been looking into a scope for only a year to it's like when you see pictures of the Grand Caynon or Mount Rushmore then when you get to see it in person it's different perspective ..I too have the same questions.. why if we are paying for all this research can we not see everything and when it's seen not years later..i'm still trying to imagine the weapon that makes a crater chain, but it's beyound anything a normal human can imagine. the constant live feed would be great.. but I guess they have too much to hide..

[Norval]

For years i've been surfing the web looking for anything that had to do with space... ..I too have the same questions.. why if we are paying for all this research can we not see everything and when it's seen not years later..i'm still trying to imagine the weapon that makes a crater chain, but it's beyound anything a normal human can imagine. the constant live feed would be great.. but I guess they have too much to hide..

There are hundreds of thousands of photos yet to be released, , , why?
"IF" they are NOT hiding anything, as they say, then WHY ARE they hiding it?
Why were Gale and I set upon and banned for asking questions about the CS crater chains?
Banned from ATS for asking conspiracy questions?
Banned from two S.E.T.I. sites for asking questions?
Banned from Art Bell's forum by his now dead X wife for questioning?

Me, personally, I just want the truth about things. I want what my gawd damned tax dollars have paid for, and I want it NOW. :lol:

[sfth13]

Those are all excellent questions, I feel cause you are thrreat to them, and are trying to stop any info getting around the internet, youtube videos are being removed some website are down from time to time.. At least you can't get banned here...they don't want us to know the truth and are threatened by people that are on the right trail or do know that try to spread it..here's a fuuny one for you...
I wrote a letter before the bailout was approved and in it I accused many politican of being on the take from the banks and I also demanded dissclousre.. I emailed it to my state Reps here in FL and DC.. well since then I've been getting phone calls from a 202 area code when I answer they hang up,when i'm not hime it's just a missed call that states Washington DC on the caller ID my internent connection had been on and off, they have been here 4 time to try and fix it.. i thinks it pretty fuuny... maybe I poked a hornets nest... :pokey:

[unipax]

3. Why don't we have constant LIVE feed from space openly available to the public?????

now thats a good one
dang
........................................

[whitecrow]

We have strange things that go bump, screech, and squawk in the night around the boat though. But no armadillo's :lol:

Got a good chuckle out of this. Not so long ago I took my telescope across the street to the creekbed where the trees block a lot of the light. All of a sudden a coyote dashed by me at full speed almost brushing the tripod. It startled me so much I almost knocked the thing over myself, and sat down on a rock to settle my breath...fifteen seconds later here comes another one!