Astronomy!

[mattmac]

So...who loves astronomy? I do!

Tell us your astronomy stories, show your astronomy gear, ask questions about astronomy if you're curious or interested in getting your own astronomy gear!

I have a relatively cheap setup - an Orion Apex 102 (4") Maksutov-Cassegrain mounted on an Orion Paragon-Plus XHD. It's a lightweight (15 pounds MAX) setup that only take a minute to prepare for an observing session - whether it's 5 minutes or 5 hours. The only problem with this type of telescope is that it takes about 1 hour to acclimate to the ambient temperature. Until it does, the views will not be as sharp. I have a full-aperture white-light solar filter for observing the Sun. This telescope is mainly used for solar, lunar, planetary viewing, as well as "splitting" double stars.

I've only used it twice - both times for observing the Sun. I was able to see two small sunspots, but the Sun is at it's minimum currently of the 11-year solar cycle. It will be on the way towards maximum over the next few years, and during that time more and more sunspots will be visible.

That's good enough for now, I suppose! Who's next?
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[Uncle Bob]

Used to be a hobby of sorts...I have an old Celestron 8" Reflector....Used only occasionally now to let kids "look" at the moon...Saturn...Jupiter...etc.

 

[Fisher's Mom]

I have an old Celestron, too. It rarely gets used because living downtown brings too many city lights to deal with.

 

[mattmac]

What kind of Celestrons do you have? Do you have any pictures of them? I'd love to see them!!!

 

[Uncle Bob]

An older model of the Celestron 8 in. Schmidt-Cassegrain....Sorry no pics

 

[Fisher's Mom]

Mine is a fairly big orange one. I think it's about 30 years old. I just took some pics and will re-size them and post.

 

[GB]

I have been thinking about getting a telescope recently. I had a toy one about 30 years ago which worked well for looking at the moon. I see now that you can tell the telescope what you want to look at and it will automatically find it for you. That is pretty cool! Are there attachments or anything that would allow me to use my DSLR camera to photograph stuff I see?

 

[Uncle Bob]

The technology of amateur telescopes has advanced light years since I got in the game...However I used to take (not so good) pictures with mine using an old Minolta SLR... so I would guess today's telescopes would be compatible with almost anything.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Also...it used to take what seemed like forever to get good polar alignment...manually.
Now I think it is done by GPS....and they come programmed with hundreds of items.... so if you want to see the Horse Head Nebular in Orion...punch a button....coming right up!

 

[jeninga75]

I have had an interest ever since I was a kid. I don't have a telescope because I live in the middle of town so too many lights. I use slooh.com for my viewing pleasure. Maybe one day when I get somewhere where there's not so much light I'll get something of my own. I'd like to do photography.

 

[NAchef]

My buddy is into that.

His gear was set up in his garage and for the longest time I thought it was a big water heater. Nope, just the tube for his gear. Pretty neat but too mush $$ for me.

 

[Barbara L]

We would love to get a good telescope someday. Where we live would be perfect for watching the skies. Sometimes when I take the dog out late at night, I just stand there staring up at the stars. I'd like to see them better.

Barbara

 

[mattmac]

If anyone has an old telescope they aren't using anymore - I'm interested in possibly buying it!

 

[meshoo96]

We would love to get a good telescope someday. Where we live would be perfect for watching the skies. Sometimes when I take the dog out late at night, I just stand there staring up at the stars. I'd like to see them better.

Barbara

We got our son one for his birthday last year. We can't wait to go camping this year (stars aren't so visible in the city...LOL). We paid $60 @ Wal-mart and it's pretty good for beginners.

 

[Barbara L]

We got our son one for his birthday last year. We can't wait to go camping this year (stars aren't so visible in the city...LOL). We paid $60 @ Wal-mart and it's pretty good for beginners.

That was one thing that amazed me when I moved from California to South Carolina. I couldn't believe how dark it is here! Not only are there very few lights (not necessarily a good thing when trying to find your freeway exit!), but there are so many trees. I never saw so many stars in California as I do here.

Barbara

 

[suziquzie]

Uh, I can see Orion and Big Dipper from my backyard in the summer does that count?

 

[Uncle Bob]

Uh, I can see Orion and Big Dipper from my backyard in the summer does that count?

I just checked the Regulation Manual....Yep it counts!!!!