Amateur Astronomy

“im planning on dragging out dads telescope he won at a raffle a few years ago. its not a very expensive one, probably 70 smackers. i know diddly about using it, but i do have a book on the subject.

any pointers for a budding stargazer?”

“point it towards the sky”

“If you see rings on Uranus, use more tp.”

“forget the sky, point it towards your neighbors house

you didn't actually expect serious answers did ya CB ;)
last edited: 5/05/06 2:35:28 PM”

“you put the little end up to your eye.”

“For a low end type of scope your best bets are: moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars.

The dots you see around Jupiter (likely 4) are it's moons.

The dark spot you see at the edge of Saturns rings up against the planet is the planets shadow agaist the ring.

The dark ring between two rings on Saturn is called the Cassini divide and is a gap in the rings.

You can see the great red spot on Jupiter from time to time. You can see the bands.


Other tips is don't go for high magnification. The scope may advertise a high mag but it's doubtful that it will have enough resolution to get results. Resolution is more important than power.

Vary power on the moon. It's neat to look at the same objects at different powers.”

“OKay if you look at the sky (different direction from the green or brown stuff you are standingon) the white lighty things are stars and planets...the black stuff is everything else.”

“PS: Check out sky and telescope mag's website for tons of into including a great beginner section.”

“should i take the lens cap off?”

“be sure to plug it into a 221 outlet, 220 just isn't enough juice”

“what about when meteor showers or comets or other events occur? any upcoming events?”

“"whatever it takes"
LOL!”

“The big yellow one's the sun......”

“Hmmm, the dots I see are blood spots remaining in my eye from a previously detached retina.”

“sky and telescope will talk about the events. Meteors and telescopes isn't a good mix.

Also, look for an astronomy club in your area. You can go and check out some of these things on the big scopes.”

“what about binoculars for meteor shower? or just plain old naked eye?”

“hey crash

meteor showers don't need a telescope and they would be no good in one anyway. you only see a small fraction of a degree of sky with a telescope (the whole moon is 1/2 degree). so the odds of seing a meteor are small and the time it would be in view of the scope would be very short. that plus there would not be that much to see... use binocs or your naked eye on a good dark night to watch these.

comets can be great but these are objects that only come about once in a while. i am not aware of any that are going to be visible but i'll look and see.

planets are the best bet for basic telescopes because they are bright and don't require setting up alt/azm (or ra/dec depending on scope). jupiter is one of the best because of the moons. saturn is very dramatic. I am a fan of the more difficult planets to see including mercury.

The orion nebula (in his armpit) is bright and cool as hell. The "jewelbox" or pleadeas (sp?) is also cool as hell (open cluster). you should be able to see orion this time of year very easily. the nebula is visible to the naked eye.

nebulas are cool but you need to have a scope with a lot of LGA and I don't know what you have. The ring is one of my favorites but i doubt you can see it with your scope. you need to sync your scope very well and hav a good tracking motor to hope to view it.

good luck! astronomoy is amazing. you are looking back into time when you are looking into a telescope. it's mind blowing.
last edited: 5/05/06 3:35:35 PM”

“naked eye is the best. You want to give your eyes a good half hour to hour to adjust to the darkness and just lay on your back. You're peripheral vision will grab huge areas. If you do this and are careful you'll see "stars" that are in constant motion. These are satellites.”

“how was the star gazing?”

“I knew Crash was a space case.”

“the telescope was a pos and i couldnt find the owners manual. but we did see a slightly closer-up of da moon”

“but we did see a slightly closer-up of da moon

you must have taken my advice and pointed it at your neighbors house ;)”

“Didjya get a look at Mons Venus??”

“My daughter recently had a very information filled 3 day experience at Haw River State Park with her 5th/6th grade class. Of all the cool things they did (I went with them, and they did some very cool things) she liked the astronomy part of it best. In the past she has enjoyed watching meteor showers with me. She also wants to be an astronaut.

So I have decided to build a Dobsonian Telescope with her. I am gonna hold off on the 6" to 10" models because they are to big for her to handle on her own. So I am going with this 4 1/4" model. It supposedly only costs around $125 to build.



I know I can probably find a pretty decent telescope for about the same amount of money of making your own, but I think she will learn more this way.
last edited: 10/08/07 11:28:02 AM”

“You are the best dad!”

“Hyway, you are a good dad. That is very cool.”

“CG, have you noticed how many times we say the same thing!

She is one lucky little girl.”

“Indeed I have! We most be on the same link??? Hey..are you coming to the Elkmont hangout the 20th?”

“well, while we are building it she may learn to hate me lol. It doesn't look to complicated but it has to be done correctly. And we are both hard headed and think we know best. Luckily I am the dad and whether or not I know best, I can take away computer and/or TV access :).”

“What's going to be nice is that I have some oak plywood left over from a wall bookshelf I built. This thing is gonna look good.”

“Indeed I have! We most be on the same link??? Hey..are you coming to the Elkmont hangout the 20th?”
crazygurl

No, can't make it. Wish I could, but I am going to see James Taylor in concert with my best friend. Can't wait!
last edited: 10/08/07 11:47:42 AM”

“What's going to be nice is that I have some oak plywood left over from a wall bookshelf I built. This thing is gonna look good.”
hyway

This will probably be one of those special things she will keep forever.”

“hyway - I made a 8" Dob about 7 years ago. It was pretty easy to do. Let me know if you have any questions. I might actually remember the answer.”

“PS, factor in the cost of a few decent lenses. Get a wide angle for the moon and a smaller one for higher power for the planets. When the kids see Saturn it's always a big hit.”

“My wife and I saw James Taylor soon after we were married because he plays "our song".

Very cool hyway! Building it is definitely better!”

“Dayhiker, before I read up on how to build your own I wouldn't have a clue to waht you were talking about buying multiple lenses. I thought telescopes were these high precision instruments and woe is he who tries to change out a lens. Now I realize you just open the bottom, pop in a new mirror and there you go. Only, if I change a mirror wont that affect the optimal distance between the mirror and diagonal mirror at the focuser? Or is the difference minor? If there is a difference which lens should I use when setting the location of the focuser?”

“By lense I mean that in your eye piece you screw in different lenses. The smaller the apparture, the higher the magnification and the smaller the field of view.

From memory, I believe this is how it works....say you have a 4 mm lense, 8" f6 mirror. 8"*f6*25.4mm/in = 1219 focal length. If you put a 4 mm lense in it then your magnification is 1219/4 = 305. For the moon I use more like a 10mm, I think it is, which gives 122x.

Think eyepiece, not mirror.”

“Here's where I got my mirro and diagonal: http://www.discovery-telescopes.com/optics.html

I don't recall where I used to buy lenses, but here's an example: http://www.telescopes.com/telescope-eyepieces/meade/8197+8199+8268.cfm?source=googleaw&kwid=meade%20eyepiece&tid=broad


You could be really hardcore and buy a mirror blank and grind your own mirror.”

“If you're limited on funds and have to make a choice, I'd suggest starting with the bigger aperture (lower magnification). Once she gets practiced with controlling the scope, she will likely want the smaller ones.”

“no thank you on the grinding :). I understand now. I haven't really looked to close at the eyepiece part yet. I can either buy one or make one, or scrounge one from and old telescope. I know one site said that just for the eye piece part of the focuser I can use the eyepiece from an old binocular. Brianna bought a large binocular at a yard sail once but it only had one eye piece. Seems like she was destined then to use it now :).”

“There was a guy in Sky & Telescope years ago who did the rough shaping on some huge blank for a Dob (18-24"??).... using an old lawnmower engine.”

“sarge not sure what you are suggesting. The online design I am using (just click the photo) gives me a choice between a .965" focuser and a 1 1/4" focuser.”

“nevermind, I am reading about it now. The only way to have both is the build the big one and hope the little one will slide inside it when I need it.”

“If skies are clear Saturday, go out at sunset and look for the giant moon rising in the east. It will be the biggest and brightest one of 2009, sure to wow even seasoned observers.”

“I think it is the Wolf Moon”

“You are correct”

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� � � � January 10th, 10:27 PM EST


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Lunacy
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090113.html

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“You're just trying to look smart.

Nya-nya-nya!!”

“Did you hit your head on something?”