Astronomy Anyone??

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jww
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Astronomy Anyone??

Post by jww »

I have been a massive fan of the night sky most of my entire life. I recall as a Boy Scout, my leaders taking us to a dark sky location, bringing out a cheap cardboard planisphere and helping us discover the galaxies above us. Two years ago I invested in a decent set of 10X50 binoculars and some observation aids including a couple of good star atlases, planisphere and Terrence Dickenson. Now I am considering a scope purchase, and I was just wondering if there are any kindred spirits on SMF and what kind of gear you went with at the beginning? FYI - I am not expecting views like those pics from the Hubble -- I've seen lots with my bins and know what to expect. I'll am leaning towards something relatively portable and that I can store without taking up too much space.

I suppose COVID-19 being the reason for cancelling our 2 trips to Maine and our UK trip this fall has prompted me to think more about what I do with my time - and while I will desperately miss those trips, plan to stay safe ---- so why not look at the sky instead???
Wendell

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kronos9
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Re: Astronomy Anyone??

Post by kronos9 »

As a kid I would lie on my back in the backyard with my handheld refractor staring at Antares and sometimes the moon. Always tempted to get a 6" mirror or even an 8". Hereabouts there's way too much light pollution to justify the investment. Instead, I get some satisfaction with the occasional viewing of Jupiter, Saturn, or Mars.

My name is on Mars, included on a chip on the Mars Insight Lander. Also flying around the Sun on the Parker Solar Probe. Yeah, I get around.
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Re: Astronomy Anyone??

Post by ShadowsDad »

Wendell I started with 10x50s and it's amazing what can be seen from a dark sky site with just binoculars. At one time my present location was a really good dark sky site and I made good use of it. I had a Terrence Dickenson book Equinox (?) at least I think that's what it's name was. Excellent book for naked eye and binocular viewing. I loaned it to someone and never had it returned. She probably needed it more than I did or at least she thought she did.

From there I moved to a Celestron C8 Schmidt/Cassegrain, put a widefield 'scope on it and also kept the finder scope mounted. I really enjoyed visual astronomy and also started to do astrophotography with sensitized high ASA film. Yeah, that long ago, when we still used film. I still have a freezer load of bulk film and still have some in the vacuum chamber under a 3 torr vacuum. It's probably been overexposed from cosmic rays by now.

One extremely rare night for seeing my buddy and I couldn't believe just how still and dark the atmosphere was. I was seeing things I never thought I'd see. So just for giggles decided to see if I could see the Horsehead nebula. You know about using averted vision and not to allow the eyeball to move so as to build up a long exposure image on the retina, right? Well, that night I saw what is "impossible" for an 8" telescope. I saw the horsehead. Normally it requires a 36" or bigger light bucket. As I wrote, the seeing was exceptional that night, too, the sky was exceptionally dark with few aerosols. It was an excellent night for planetary observations and that's what started to clue me in to try for things I normally couldn't see. Then I realized just how dark it was and went for the really hard to see items. The horsehead wasn't the only nebula I saw, but that was the most difficult.

My C8 is a good performer made better because I took it apart and used a special 3M light absorbing coating. I talked to one of the engineers there who developed it and he was happy to send me a qt sample. He had a pallet of qt samples and no one wanted any of it until I showed up. So I painted the inside of the tube and blackened the edges of the mirror. It made a big difference with scattered light in the instrument. My buddy had a 7" refractor that was truly excellent.

I haven't set the C8 up in years but I still have it. I got to the point where I had to invest really big bucks in all new equipment to move forward and I just didn't have it. I still use the widefield telescope since I can put it on a tripod. Of course it can't track on a tripod, but it's sufficient for what I do today.

Seeing what's out there sorta puts ourselves into perspective, just how small we are in the big picture, and not enough people understand that.

Yup, I like the night sky, but my eyes have aged and are no longer as good as they once were. It sux to age. Or it sux to age and retain the memory of what was.
Brian

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jww
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Re: Astronomy Anyone??

Post by jww »

I hear ya Brian, age ain’t kind to our moving parts, is it?

I’m looking at options with a very controlled investment total to try and not get carried away. This is one expensive parking. Even more so then my investment over the years in shaving gear - although that may bot be entirely accurate. I have spent a ton in keeping my face cleanly shaven 😉
Wendell

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Re: Astronomy Anyone??

Post by ShadowsDad »

A dobsonian light bucket would make for very good viewing and not cost an arm and a leg. You can make your own too. I haven't looked in to it, but you might even be able to purchase finished mirrors. That way you'd build the housing and the formica "bearings". They have no drives so all of the cost goes into the mirrors (basically). If doing this I'd go as big as possible. You might need help getting the tube out of the vehicle, but so what? I've found people to have an interest over the years and no way to scratch the itch. Too, it can be built basically tubeless as well. You need a way to support the mirror near the eyepiece, but that's easy to do. The other expense would be eyepieces. Don't scrimp on those.

Or you can use something similar to what I use today. It's an 80mm widefield on a tripod, no drive. With it I have a sun filter so that I can watch eclipses and sunspots. I also use it as a spotting scope for shooting. You could cobble something together to use the dobsonian for sun viewing. It would entail blocking most of the mirror and using a filter material over what remains unobstructed. A big mirror can actually work against seeing fine detail for planetary and the sun because it "cuts" across more atmospheric waves and they are always our enemy in astronomy. Hence the Hubble; no lousy seeing ever. I took a pretty good picture of the moon one night and an atmosphere wave is plainly seen across the moon.

You can also use the online NASA Hubble photos now. They're freely available and don't suffer from not having enough telescope or budget constraints; a fast connection does help. Also no feeling of being hands on and doing it yourself and actually knowing the sky. But too, they're in color and to see nebula and such by eye it's always in black and white and shades of grey.

Naked eye also works. I pointed out the North America nebula to my brother one night. It's big and "right there" naked eye. He always thought it required a telescope. Even binoculars might be overkill for it. It just requires a dark sky and good eyes.

I'm curious to know what you wind up with. Please let me know.
Brian

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Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
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John Rose
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Re: Astronomy Anyone??

Post by John Rose »

jww wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2020 11:57 am ... Two years ago I invested in a decent set of 10X50 binoculars ...
I was surprised at what you can see with 10x50s.
I can typically see:
  • two or three of the moons of Jupiter
  • M31/Andromeda Galaxy as an elongated smear
  • crescent shape of Venus (at the right times)
I use the "Pocket Universe" app on my iPod touch to locate stuff.
"If this isn't nice, then what is?" - Kurt Vonnegut's Uncle Alex
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John Rose
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Re: Astronomy Anyone??

Post by John Rose »

ShadowsDad wrote: Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:45 pm... You know about using averted vision and not to allow the eyeball to move so as to build up a long exposure image on the retina, right? ...
I'm not sure I follow that. :-k
During a meteor shower I will pick a random star near the radiant and just stare at it, blinking as little as possible. :shock:
Best to be laying on the ground or in a chaise longue.
The retina fatigue makes the stars "disappear", so that when even a faint meteor does show up elsewhere in the sky, it really stands out.
"If this isn't nice, then what is?" - Kurt Vonnegut's Uncle Alex
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Re: Astronomy Anyone??

Post by ShadowsDad »

Lots of eye Drs might not follow that either, IDK. I mentioned it on another forum MANY years ago and an eye Dr to be came back and stated that I knew more about the eye than he did, at least as far as that. He had to research it. But advanced amateur astronomers know how to do it with practice. No pro' astronomers look through an eyepiece anymore so they forgot it if they ever knew it at all. No need for them to know it.

The eye wants to wander to look at any image. It's natural to do so and we don't even know it's happening. For best sensitivity one looks 5-10°off axis to use the rods in the retina. Cones found in the center of the retina are for color vision and they are useless at night. One suppresses the natural tendency for the eyeball to wander around what one is staring at. Like film it builds up an image over time. Of course the eye must be dark adapted, no white light seen by it for 30 minutes or more for it's highest sensitivity. Dim red light is OK if light is needed. I never tried to do that with binoculars, but maybe if they were held with a tripod it might help. After learning about the technique I had a the C8 with tracking drive.
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
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