how big is yours? ( The M42 Astronomy Thread)

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very cool thread ... I'll be up there shortly :hyper: :party:

aside from the Gainesville glow overhead, there's a lot of tree coverage, so I have to go out to the street to see the sky -- might not be a good place to set up a tripod, though

I never would have known about binoculars for astronomy or light-pollution filters

just did some shopping and saw that there are a few models of astro binocs with LPR filters ... leaning toward the ones by Apogee

any comments on 12x60 versus 10x60?

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for those still with me at the cheap end of astrophotography, another bit of freeware -
IRIS

i also came across this, i don't think i'm quite ready to do this at the moment, but it's an interesting thought, anyone up for a kvr group buy and build :lol: :shock:
make your own ccd camera

havran, my not particularly helpful advice would be to find a local store and try out the ones you're interested in. if you're new to astro binoculars i wouldn't advise buying any online without trying them first
there's a good article onsky and telescope which is also an excellent general resource if you haven't already got it bookmarked

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manytone wrote:There are other Star clusters and Nebulae that are also good in a 60mm.
You will also be able to see the rings of Saturn and Jupiter and a few of its moons in your 60mm.
Yep I've owned a 60mm refractor since I was 12 and I am still amazed by the sight of Jupiter's four main moons, which you can track each night in different locations as they orbit the planet. And as for Saturn's rings - that's just the greatest. 8)

The other cool thing you can see clearly with a smallish telescope like this is the moon of course - but always better at half moon when it looks more 3D due to all the shadows of the mountains and craters. I remember being out in our front garden (Liverpool at the time) one evening around 1971 looking at the moon through this telescope when two of the Apollo astronauts were actually on the surface. A woman happened to be walking passed our gate and she stopped and in all seriousness asked me "Can you see them then?" :lol:

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so... could you? :P
of course you couldn't, after all it was all fake :roll:
(just incase anyone believes that crap - i suggest you read this and this)

you're right though, for all the talk of the pursuit of fainter deepsky stuff it's always fascinating just to watch the moon and planets, and a damn sight easier to find lol
(no tim i haven't bought that telrad yet)

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havran wrote:very cool thread ... I'll be up there shortly :hyper: :party:

aside from the Gainesville glow overhead, there's a lot of tree coverage, so I have to go out to the street to see the sky -- might not be a good place to set up a tripod, though

I never would have known about binoculars for astronomy or light-pollution filters

just did some shopping and saw that there are a few models of astro binocs with LPR filters ... leaning toward the ones by Apogee

any comments on 12x60 versus 10x60?
Actually, I was looking at those as well...and it's a good price right now for that size too!
Yeah: you can see quite a bit with binocs. Theres also some good books on the subject. I would check out your local library as theres a ton of good stuff there! You can even check out star Atlases. A good one for beginners ( and me too) is Star Watch. Excellent.

With the small scopes however like the 60MM, you an see planets, the moon and some nebulas such as M42 :-)

However for a modest price ( say 200 to 300 )you can get a good reflector, which are called "light buckets" such as the Orion Dob, or even the one I got ( the Star and Scopes 6EQ) which I am quite happy with..although I found out I would probly be much happier with a dob mount then an EQ mount..so..next telescope! I just like to point and shoot :-)

My dream however is to get a 10" Reflecting Dob..either make one..or get the orion one.( about 600.00 when told and done) I can dream! 8)

Hengy: GET THAT TELRAD! :x :lol:


TC

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I gotta lay my 2 cents (where's the friggin cent symbol on PC..) regarding Binos..

The main point in using Binos is for wide field use. So the lower you magnification, the more you see. When you couple that with maxxed apperture, you see more, & brighter to boot. The best coupling of those 2 factors in all the binos I've used are the Celestron 9x63s'. If you don't think there's a HUGE difference between those & a pair of 10x60's, you're in for a big surprise. Try looking at Andromeda or the Seven sisters through a pair of 9x63's..Devine..

Also bear in mind the comfort & weight factor; if you are gonna use a pair of binos for anything longer than a minute here or there with any kind of decent aperture, you are gonna need a tripod adapter to hold em up, or you'll be fatigued almost immediately & you won't be able to accuartely train on anything using 20x80's without a tripod at all.

Even with the 9x63's, a relatively low magnification, you can't discern Jupiter's moons very easily till you mount the binos on a tripod; it's a big difference when you eliminate stability issues.

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Hengy: GET THAT TELRAD! [/url]
just ordered one... happy now? :P
i know i am :D . farting around trying to line up without a guidescope isn't the best way to spend those occasional few hours of clear sky

just hope my wife doesn't notice, or i'll have my credit card forcibly removed

at least i'll have an excuse - 'this guy called tim on this web site i know, he made me do it'
.. yeah right :oops:

oh and i spent the afternoon repairing the drive on my scope,
just need to borrow a laptop and i'll be ready to try out the web cam experiment

oh and how about the pair of 25x100 astro bins i saw while ordering the telrad... i resisted the temptation

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Hengy wrote:
Hengy: GET THAT TELRAD! [/url]
just ordered one... happy now? :P
i know i am :D . farting around trying to line up without a guidescope isn't the best way to spend those occasional few hours of clear sky

just hope my wife doesn't notice, or i'll have my credit card forcibly removed

at least i'll have an excuse - 'this guy called tim on this web site i know, he made me do it'
.. yeah right :oops:

oh and i spent the afternoon repairing the drive on my scope,
just need to borrow a laptop and i'll be ready to try out the web cam experiment

oh and how about the pair of 25x100 astro bins i saw while ordering the telrad... i resisted the temptation

ALL RIGHT! another Telrader! You can blame it on me if you want. but another good response is: "Its for Higher Education!" ..which in fact..IT IS!...also, Star Hopping is much better then bar-hopping. ( OK...I'm speaking for myself here)

You won't be disapointed on the telrad. There are some good FREE telrad charts on the web as well. I printed out the whole lot and put them in a binder for the feild. ( er...backyard)

TC

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cool thread cant believe I missed it.. :)

I have an Orion Observer 70mm EQ (Refractor) with the (stock) 25mm kelner eyepeice.. its my first telescope. :)

I'm still new to it all but I think before I get anymore things music-related.. I'm going to get a set of additional eyepieces.. as well as some filters - the stock eyepeice just doesnt cut it when I'm trying to look at aliens on Velnor III picking their noses/snouts.. :hihi:

I like the tripod it came with.. it seems sturdy and has a mounting screw for attaching cameras.. I was taking pictures of lighting (or glowing clouds mostly) with the digi and the stand last week. :D

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VitaminD wrote: I'm still new to it all but I think before I get anymore things music-related.. I'm going to get a set of additional eyepieces.. as well as some filters - the stock eyepeice just doesnt cut it when I'm trying to look at aliens on Velnor III picking their noses/snouts.. :hihi:
Unless you spent a good deal of money on a short focus refractor, like a TeleVue, you'll want your next eyepieces to be in the orthoscopic or plossl style. These have the best performance against refractor scopes. Quality Orthoscopic occulars are kinda hard to come by these days, cause the Plossl is cheaper to manufacture with the same viewing field. For GOOD Plossl occulars, I'd recommend takahashi. Thier refractors are close to $1,500 per inch, but the occulars are very reasonable & the highest commercial quality available.

If you wanna use the scope for planetary viewing, try the Vixen long eye relief occulars. Couple that with a quality 2x Barlow like a TeleVue & you'll have pretty decent views of Saturn & Jupiter.

I would possible recommend using Naglers on your refractor, but unless you have a very beefy EQ mount, the sheer wieght of the occulars can strip you axis locks.

What's the focal length on the scope? Better to say the 'speed'. Do they claim it's a 'fast' focal length or a long one?

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Focal Length/ F Ratio - 700mm, f/10.0

there is the pdf manual (126k):

http://www.telescope.com/text/content/p ... _09802.pdf

its a nice little starter scope.. makes the moon look huge and detailed, but I tried to look at the space station as it went over my house a week or so ago.. and it just came out as a bright dot ..doh.. :)

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VitaminD wrote:Focal Length/ F Ratio - 700mm, f/10.0

there is the pdf manual (126k):

http://www.telescope.com/text/content/p ... _09802.pdf

its a nice little starter scope.. makes the moon look huge and detailed, but I tried to look at the space station as it went over my house a week or so ago.. and it just came out as a bright dot ..doh.. :)
hey..good to see you hear VitD ( new nick name :-)I am surprised how many musicians here are into the stars..and it's a good thread as you said.

Some info

Just got back from Barnes and Noble and they have some good stuff on thier budget book shelf:

1. Astronomy: The definitive guide. A very nice multi-colored book with a pretty complete view with monthly star charts and even star hopping charts by Will Tirion,who did Star Atlas 2000, one of the better Star Atlases ( another recommendation).Great intro to Astronomy with lots of pics and helpful info. $12.95

2.A Guide to Advanced SkyWatching. An oversozed book that has lots of info and detailed Star Hopping charts, again by Will Tirion. It looks like some of the same authors who did the above book are alos here, but the material is somewhat differant. These two books tend to compliment one another, so both are excellent.$9.95

Another book, but may not be budget( in the Astronomy section) but is good is called "Left Turn at Orion" which shows how to find about 100 sky objects. My next book.

I recommend these two books: and they are BUDGET!so..Get 'em while you can.

TC

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oh it's started, popped into my local camera shop this lunchtime and they had a few secondhand eyepieces etc in, so picked up a wide field for lunar viewing and a narrow band emission line nebula filter (on trial, as i'm not sure how much it'll help)
help me.......

:lol: :lol:

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oh and how about the pair of 25x100 astro bins i saw while ordering the telrad... i resisted the temptation
Heres a pretty good review on the 12x60. I might get'em! Only 89.00, with nebula filters as well.

http://www.jotabout.com/portuesi/astro/ ... binos.html

Going camping this weekend, and plan to bring the scope..so hopefully my first look at dark skies with my new scope!

TC[/quote]

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tconrardy wrote:
oh and how about the pair of 25x100 astro bins i saw while ordering the telrad... i resisted the temptation
Heres a pretty good review on the 12x60. I might get'em! Only 89.00, with nebula filters as well.

http://www.jotabout.com/portuesi/astro/ ... binos.html

Going camping this weekend, and plan to bring the scope..so hopefully my first look at dark skies with my new scope!

TC
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Hope you enjoy coma & spherical aberation & all the other gunk that comes from cheap glass in Binos, Tim..getting TWO lenses to give matching performance without very obvious artifacts is expensive. There is no way around it.

Don't be fooled.

Or, live & learn. I'm just trying to save you some $$$ on a sub-par purchase.

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