Always been a fan of the stars, just took the plunge and bought my first scope. Anybody else out there interested in this hobby? Just pulled the trigger on this (to put in in scale, it's almost five foot tall) Orion 10" IntelliScope Dobsonian Telescope XT10i Components & Accessories: Black 9x50 Right-Angle Correct-Image Finder Orion 2" Crayford-Style Telescope Focuser 10mm Orion Sirius Plossl Telescope Eyepiece 25mm Orion Sirius Plossl Telescope Eyepiece 1.25" Orion 25% Transmission Moon Filter Orion 2x 3-Element Apochromatic Barlow Lens If anybody else hasn't heard about this, may want to read into it, it's the last time we'll see it in our lifetime. I plan on getting a solar filter so we can see actually see the transit happen in real time (well, technically it happened about 7 minutes before you actually see it). http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essen...enus-in-21st-century-will-happen-in-june-2012
I have a Nexstar Celestron. Unfortunately there is too much light pollution to really use it around my place. It is still good enough to pick out the rings on Saturn though. I may pick up a filter to check out the eclipse.
I am, and you sir are a Fing baller! I'm actually looking at the XT8 version of that same scope. I have very little light pollution out here if you want a place to get better views. That's the intelliscope version right? just punch in what you want to see and let the scope find it for you. edit: pictures don't give any idea of the size they are huge! site for viewing conditions: http://www.darksky.org/ free map programs: http://www.ap-i.net/
Awesome - I'll definitely be taking you up on that, maybe arrange a g2g on the other site where people...get together. I was originally looking at the 8", but the 10" pulls in 56% more light...just couldn't pass that up for the price point. And the 'i' model was only a $70 add. Yeah, it's the intelliscope model, you center it on two stars (usually Polaris and another high mag star) and it will auto track over 14,000 different DSO's (deep space objects). Mike - that's why I bought this model. The light pollution in Marietta SUCKS, but since this autotracks, it makes finding these washed out objects much easier. Edit* We also get out of Marietta quite frequently (camping and what not), and this will give me more of a reason to visit my dad (who I don't visit enough) who lives out in the sticks Too much magnification. If i were to look through your mom's window, her nipples would be the size of the moon...and that's not because they're pancaked sized...
^lol. I have an amateur scope. Doesn't have the German equatorial mount. I think that's what it's called, the computer mount that let's you type in what you want and it will find it for you. Mine is something like an 80-100 mm reflector, I think. I forget, I don't use it too much cause I need some more eyepeices. I can still see Jupiter and some of its moons, along with Saturn and the rings. I must say, it's way cooler seeing these things through a telescope as opposed to some book or something.
i have one about twice that size (though that one is probably more powerful), but its like 15yrs old and not powered. i break it out every now and then, always fun to check it out. used to be into astronomy a TON when i was a kid. loved watching shuttle launches, but that doesn't happen anymore
you sir, need to move the fuck out of 'merica...we're too busy blowin up towel heads and fighting for oil to actual think about the future well being of mankind
what's more 'merican than launching a giant phallic symbol at 8x the speed of sound and putting that bitch in fucking space?!
I have me an xt8. Love it. In my part of town the Orion nebula (M42) is amazing, but most of the other messier objects are just fuzzy gray blurs. There is an astronomy village halfway from Atlanta to Augusta called Deerlick Astronomy Village. It's in a very low light polluted area. I want to look into buying a HUGE one later on, like 16in but maybe later. Not sure about the tracking though, I feel like after spending 10 minutes trying to find a deep sky object for the first time it's way more rewarding to find it yourself. Here are a few pics of mine + cellphone pics through the eyepiece. in order: 1) telescope. 2) Saturn (looks way better in person, cellphone pics are tough to take). 3) Jupiter and its moons. 4) moon.
completely agree, which is why i almost didn't buy it. However, it was only $70 more and I read that in light polluted areas where you can't star hop, having the tracking system allows you to see DSOs you wouldn't be able to find otherwise. Plus, when you're out in dark skys, you can always just turn it off and manually track.
Out here in the sticks you can get a real nice field of view here. Mostly clean clear nights. About twice a week you can see the Bomjoon comet race past. It's black,ricey, and shoots flames off every once in a while.
http://wrxatlanta.com/forums/member.php?u=1100 This comet is most often seen west of Athens, but has been seen all around the Atlanta and North GA areas. You will know when you see it :rofl:
best part about this, on December 21st you can see the planets align with the center of the solar system and the Mayans pointing and laughing from their new home where they 'mysteriously' vanished to as the magnetic poles flop and we lose gravitational balance on the Earth and start floating away
sweet tits - got my shipping confirmation today, it was supposed to be backordered until the end of next week.
just ordered a 5" x 5" sheet of this stuff to make my own filter. $18 shipped is a lot better than the Orion filter which costs $160. This is a video of the same scope I have using the same homemade filter I'll have. Bring on Venus... http://agenaastro.com/baader-astrosolar-film-visual-nd-5.html [youtube]kcbCr6EoOss[/youtube]
I've always wanted to get into astronomy, but every time I look at equipment, I get discouraged. Here's how it goes...oh, I'll get this basic one, it'll do everything I need...but if I spend a little more money then I could get these extra features oh it would also be nice to hook up my DSLR so I could take some pictures too. Next thing you know I price myself right out of the hobby! lol The same could be said of modifying cars too I suppose, however I just feel that I wouldn't get enough use out of one to justify the cost I want to pay. That being said 07Ltd#767, what would you recommend for a beginner...say sub $300 price point?
i know nothing on the actual hobby as i'm just now getting into it myself, but I would recommend staying away from astrophotography, especially if you're just getting into it. A decent setup to get what I would consider OK shots will cost you around $5k (plus a camera). For beginners, aperture size is king - get the biggest mirror you can afford. in going from 6 to 8 to 10 to 12 inch mirrors, you get anywhere from 60-80% more light PER INCREMENT, so you can see why people say buy the biggest your budget allows. Accessories can always be added later and most of the accessories are interchangeable between models. I would recommend a reflector style dobsonian. Check out this site, it's Orion's (one of the better manufacturers) own site and where I ordered mine from. Every once and a while some good deals pop up on here, just check back periodically. http://www.telescope.com/Clearance-Center/Telescopes/pc/6/81.uts Also check ebay / CL, but do research b/c i'm not sure what to look for in a used setup. A lot of people get these for Christmas and realize they're not as into as they thought, then sell them off a few months later. Here's another good site off another forum (sorry mods, not promoting other forums, but it's non car related) http://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/showcat.php?cat=10
keep in mind, you're NEVER going to see images in your scope that you would see in a magazine. Most of these are hubble based shots and have zero light pollution and atmospheric conditions to deal with. Most of what you'll see is smudges and blurs, so keep that in mind when deciding your budget
I have a guy I work with that lives for astronomy. Really he is more obsessed than most car people I've met. He recommends the Dobsonian and just like Drew said get the most aperture you can afford. The advice I was given is join a local club and look through other people's scopes to decide what will work for you. I finally just pulled the trigger on a XT8 :banana:
yeah - haha, yours won't be much smaller. I think the heights are actually the same. I was EXTREMELY impressed in how they packaged everything. They shipped a 100lb telescope from CA via UPS and packaged it so well even the turd drivers couldn't damage it. Would highly recommend Orion to anybody interested. Instructions for putting this thing together...they flat out suck. They don't follow very well, they jump around, they're extremely unorganized. However, once you get it together, watch the videos on collimation - it took me maybe 10 minutes to align the primary and secondary mirrors. Unfortunately first light was only about 10 minutes long, as the clouds were out in force last night. I did track down Saturn, I was amazed at how many background stars this thing picks up, it just eats up so much light...then I noticed, those aren't stars, they're moons. By the time I got the barlow on (2x the magnification level), the clouds had already passed over head. However, the scope gathers so much light, even with full clouds over head, because i was centered on Saturn still, I could STILL see the planet perfectly - pretty sweet. Hoping to get some more clear skies tonight. And kill the devil - Diablo III still calls.
Yeah I didn't realize how big these were until I saw a picture of a guy standing next to one. I'm just amazed at what you can get for the money compared to 20yrs ago. So you could still see Saturn after the clouds came over? Nice light bucket! Mine is back ordered until 5/24 :-(
Yeah, you could still see it directly through the clouds (through scope only, could not see w/ naked eye), it was one of those WTF moments when I first realized what I was looking at. Also, it's amazing when you look through the eye piece how many stars you actually see. Where I'm at, I can only see the brightest of the constellation stars, all of the background stars are washed out. When you look through the eye piece, you'll see so many specs in the background you can't pick up with the naked eye. Took me a minute to get my bearings when I was star hopping (haven't finished calibrating the tracking yet, i was too impatient, it was late and I only had one 10 minute window) Mine was originally backordered until this Friday, they shipped mine a week and a half early - hopefully you'll get the same luck.
I keep hoping I'll get an email saying it's on it's way. I'm down for hosting a star party. Very dark out here. I've been having fun with binoculars for the last year or so.
I thought you got a telescope, not a cannon! Pretty dark out my way too, but I live a good distance from most of you. I have your basic beginner scope, about a 4" reflector. I believe it was around $200. I don't know exactly because my gf got it for my bday a year or so ago. Nothing like that cannon though.
First Light I almost hesitate to post this because the pictures do ZERO justice to what the eye sees through this scope. These were hastily snapped on a camera phone, pointed through the eye piece, all this while Brett (wrxin8or) was trying to track through the finders scope. We got a few, and I'm not sure why one came out blue. Through the finder scope, you can clearly tell it's Saturn and pick up a few faint dots, almost like dead pixels. When you look through the main scope, you can clearly see the rings, even the Cassini divisions. I counted 8 moons around, 5 that were clearly visible and can be seen on the higher res versions of even these pictures. After Saturn, we swung over towards Mars (which is almost directly over head around 10pm. If you're facing south, look up, it has a faint reddish orange hue to it). You could make out surface features, much like the land and sea on earth or the seas on the moon. I think we may try and put the moon filter on next time we look at Mars, it may bring out a bit more contrast. We also attempted to play with the tracking, but i need to calibrate and align the sensors in the scope, something I haven't done yet. The tracking is very easy to set up, took Brett and I a minute or two to align everything and start searching. It even tracks planets, which move very, very quickly across the sky relative to deep space objects.
I can't find any solar filters that will ship soon. I'm looking for a 9.25" ID Orion Full Aperture Solar Filter.
I'll take pictures and post up my DIY filter tonight, but I made my own for only $18, including shipping. Brett and I tested it the other day and we can still see, so I'm guessing we did it right, lol
Truf. Was definitely interesting to look at the sun that way...but was a pain to get it lined up the first time haha ...ow thats bright...
too lazy to do tonight, will try and put it together tomorrow at work In the meantime - holy fucking wow. Originals Here.
Okay - I started by ordering this, the 5" x 5" section. Was only $18.00 shipped to me. I measured the top of my scope and it's 12.25" in diameter. I had my shop at work fab up two pieces of 22GA metal at 12.5" diameter clip-to-clip dimension. The larger tab down is to sit on the scope, the smaller tab up is to secure it to the scope (more on that later). I then took a box and cut out as close to a circle as I could. I mounted the metal braces underneath and labeled out where they would be. I then took a large cup and circled a viewing hole, then cut that out. Using duct tape, I secured the film to the box, then the box to the metal pieces. The final product comes out looking like such. I use rubber bands on the smaller tab to secure it to the screws that hold the secondary mirror on. *DISCLAIMER* If you look directly at the sun through a scope without a filter, you will instantly go blind. My lowest magnification is about 100x, it'll fry your eye instantly. Make sure you do not let any ambient light in, and make sure everything is secure before looking through it. View from bottom View from top Installed on scope
Also, while this method was easiest for me because I had all of the materials except the film, it may not be best for everybody. Check out www.reddit.com/r/astronomy for a few other people's homemade filters and to get some pretty sweet shots of sky
no, as long as it isn't creased. This is seriously the thinnest film I've ever seen in person. I actually tried making it smooth, but it's so thin it was almost impossible. Actually, between it's lack of weight and metallic properties, as soon as you got close to it the static electricity tried to cling it to your body. Due to the relative thickness of the filme, the creases do not affect any light passing through. Oh, it also blocks out 99.999% of visible light....pretty awesome stuff
I would recommend it. I honestly feel the investment has already paid for itself, and I haven't even had a chance to really take it out to dark skies yet. I would recommend buying nice up front - a nice scope will last you a lifetime
Yeah and I'm in the perfect location.....zero light around me other than the house which I can control.
Just got shipping notification today :wiggle: Drew are you guys planning on checking out venus as it passes in front of the sun next month? If so, can I drop by to use the solar sight saver?
absolutely - you're more than welcome. I'll probably make it an event, grill some food and stuff as well, since it's not supposed to occur until around 6pm. Figure we can all drink some beer while we watch it. We tested the filter the other day, it's amazing how many sun spots are actually on the sun. I started looking up the size relations, too, and most all of them are bigger in diameter than the Earth. Shit's cool