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hannibal posted:Anyone going to be at NEAIC or NEAF in a few weeks? Was going to put up my yearly NEAF post; this year they have Hans from SpaceX, scientists with the Juno mission and the JWST. They also have the yearly Solar Star Party where you can view the sun live in telescopes or laptop screens. It's quite impressive even with the 8 minute time delay  All kinds of scopes will be on display in the dealer room, along with bargains to be had and science oriented gifts and gadgets. Been thinking about getting one of those binocular stands you can build out of PVC piping.. Reps from Celestron and Meade will be there with demos on display. Be advised you should eat a nice breakfast beforehand but there's show food and a student cafeteria open (its held at Rockland Community College after all.) It's held April 21st and 22nd, more details at http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/neaf.html
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Mar 31, 2018 01:13
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funmanguy posted:I forgot I asked this question here, sorry. I was hoping to spend around 100$ on a telescope, and I do have shaky hand syndrome. I was looking for something to get an eight year old kid excited about astronomy and whatnot. Orion FunScope Astro Dazzle is the only real option for $100, IMO.
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Mar 31, 2018 07:27
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Hello friends, I have images again to share with you;    
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Apr 2, 2018 16:24
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funmanguy posted:I forgot I asked this question here, sorry. I was hoping to spend around 100$ on a telescope, and I do have shaky hand syndrome. I was looking for something to get an eight year old kid excited about astronomy and whatnot. Not what you want to hear but Binoculars are probably the best you'll do for $100. Lay down on your back on the ground and your shaky hands won't be a factor.
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Apr 2, 2018 18:42
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GutBomb posted:Not what you want to hear but Binoculars are probably the best you'll do for $100. Lay down on your back on the ground and your shaky hands won't be a factor. Binoculars might not be the best idea with children since unless you’re also spending $800-1000 on a heavy tripod and parrallogram mount, there’s no way to point them at an object and have someone else take a look.
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Apr 2, 2018 18:48
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INTJ Mastermind posted:Binoculars might not be the best idea with children since unless you’re also spending $800-1000 on a heavy tripod and parrallogram mount, there’s no way to point them at an object and have someone else take a look. True, it can be hard to describe star-hopping to someone that doesn't know where the constellations are yet. $100 really isn't enough money to do anything but looking at the moon, and that only stays exciting for so long.
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Apr 2, 2018 19:49
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Binary Badger posted:Was going to put up my yearly NEAF post; this year they have Hans from SpaceX, scientists with the Juno mission and the JWST. Cool. I've been reading about NEAF on Cloudy Nights as well, this is my first one. I'm going to NEAIC (Northeast Astro-Imaging Conference) as well, the previous two days. Any thoughts on the lecture/panel scene at NEAF? Most CN posts are about the vendor hall.
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Apr 2, 2018 22:42
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INTJ Mastermind posted:Binoculars might not be the best idea with children since unless you’re also spending $800-1000 on a heavy tripod and parrallogram mount, there’s no way to point them at an object and have someone else take a look. Agree that a tripod is a good idea but disagree that you need to break the bank to view with one. I have a cheap camera tripod with an adapter to mount binos on it and that is absolutely fine for bino viewing. It's mostly wide angle stuff anyway.
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Apr 3, 2018 00:42
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hannibal posted:Any thoughts on the lecture/panel scene at NEAF? Most CN posts are about the vendor hall. The ones they hold in the main auditorium (usually sponsored by Celestron) tend to be pretty good, when the guests are popular like Alan Stern (the New Horizons maven) or Neil DeGrasse Tyson it can get to standing room only pretty quick. Q&As tend to be focused if spirited depending on guest. There's also a second string talk area that's usually held in the back of the gym (which is also where that dealer room is that you see in the publicity photos with all the blue curtains) where they hold classes and seminars and some product rollouts; I tend not to go to those too much because the speaker has to talk over the general din of the dealers room but they can be fun too. Some classes and seminars are held in the classrooms of RCC not very far from the dealers area. Haven't gone to too many but they cover stuff like beginning mirror grinding and deep sky photography.. If you want to see video from some of the past talks, which should give you an idea of what to expect, NEAF has a YouTube Channel.. NEAF Talks Edit: Stern, not Stein Binary Badger fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Apr 3, 2018 |
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Apr 3, 2018 00:51
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NEAF begins tomorrow. Looks like incoming vendors bringing lotsa stuff.. 
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Apr 20, 2018 16:08
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Made a trip up Mary's Peak while I was out in Oregon this week. Didn't bring my scope with me so just some 24 and 50mm lens pictures but being up some place that dark was a drat near religious experience. It was like being in a planetarium. Was so dark that even after 45 minutes of adjusting I still couldn't see my tripod right in front of me. Waiting to get home to the Windows box to do some stacking and see what I came up with. Also, being a city boy from Ohio, I made a huge miscalculation about how mountains work and ran into 5" deep snow about 3/4 of the way up and had to back down a very twisty road until I found a spot wide enough to turn around. The overlook I ended up at had a great view of every direction EXCEPT the one I wanted towards the Milky Way. Oh well.
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Apr 20, 2018 17:24
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Looking forward to the NEAF speaker lineup. NEAIC has been pretty good, I enjoyed every talk I went to and took pages and pages of notes to follow-up on later.
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Apr 20, 2018 23:44
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Carth Dookie posted:Agree that a tripod is a good idea but disagree that you need to break the bank to view with one. I have a cheap camera tripod with an adapter to mount binos on it and that is absolutely fine for bino viewing. It's mostly wide angle stuff anyway. Yeah, my binos do fine on a $45 camera tripod too. Had plenty of kids look at stuff with the setup. Made some filters for them and they were perfect for the solar eclipse last year.
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Apr 21, 2018 04:48
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hannibal posted:Looking forward to the NEAF speaker lineup. NEAIC has been pretty good, I enjoyed every talk I went to and took pages and pages of notes to follow-up on later. Here it is, sorry for the tilt.. 
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Apr 21, 2018 18:06
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Will probably be back to see what Hans Koenigsmann is going to say about SpaceX. Ominously, neither SpaceX or ULA was exhibiting at NEAF this year.. They were both here last year..
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Apr 21, 2018 22:46
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Hey folks, I seem to remember there being an astrophotography Discord server that someone mentioned a while ago. Is that still around? edit: searched to find it, but looks like a dead invite link. Luneshot fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Apr 27, 2018 |
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Apr 27, 2018 04:08
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Luneshot posted:Hey folks, I seem to remember there being an astrophotography Discord server that someone mentioned a while ago. Is that still around? Doesn't look like it's registered on https://goondiscordnetwork.com/ either
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Apr 28, 2018 06:49
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There's not a goon one (that I know of) but I'm on two (although I'm not super active on either): The Reddit /r/astrophotography one: https://discordapp.com/invite/WPD7Jn2 Another one I'm on that darkarchon invited me to I think? https://discord.gg/dafDGJ2
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Apr 28, 2018 16:15
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Hello friendos, I haven't posted in a while. So here we go! Virgo SuperCluster  M81 and M82 with IFN  M51 - WideAngle  M97 and M108 - WideAngle 
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May 10, 2018 10:25
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Had a great time last night checking out Jupiter through my 200 dob. Saw bands, even the spot maybe. Totally cool. Also saw a little streak of light intercept it which I am going to assume was a well placed meteor or satellite but looked cool as hell at the time.
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May 12, 2018 12:45
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I was trying to observe Vanguard 1 not long ago. I had an ambush ready for it. I knew right where it was going to be, when it was going to be there, and I waited. A satellite streaked into view on schedule. I followed it for a while. Then I became suspicious—Vanguard 1 ought to have disappeared into shadow by now. Later I checked Satflare and found what happened. A rocket body happened to have crossed the point I was watching (to within a handful of arcminutes) on a similar heading literally seconds before Vanguard 1. I was distracted by a decoy.  What are the chances?
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May 12, 2018 13:28
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Platystemon posted:I was trying to observe Vanguard 1 not long ago. Just tell yourself the rocket was the upper stage from the launch of V1. (I think it's still up there too).
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May 12, 2018 21:13
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Anias posted:Just tell yourself the rocket was the upper stage from the launch of V1. In a serious vein, I read that most of the supposed sightings of Sputnik were actually of its launcher's upper stage. And it stands to reason. It's a lot bigger, and in the same orbit (no significant delta V between them at separation)
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May 12, 2018 21:19
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Anias posted:Just tell yourself the rocket was the upper stage from the launch of V1. It’s still up there and I would count it, but it’s nowhere near Vanguard at this point. What I saw was a Centaur. Satflare thinks the rocket body is dimmer than Vanguard and I’m inclined to agree. I’ve looked for them both without success. I have seen Vanguard 2.
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May 13, 2018 05:22
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Hello friendos, I have a new webpage! You can find all my stuff under https://darkskies.space/ I also have a few new pictures:     Clear skies!
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Jun 25, 2018 15:22
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Amazing pictures as always. Since you shared one, here's my picture of NGC 6888 
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Jun 27, 2018 00:37
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You seem to have some tilt in your image train, right side is heavily defocused compared to the left side.
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Jun 27, 2018 08:44
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The only thing that I can think of would be the t-ring I’m using. Every one I’ve tried has had a little bit of play that isn’t there when using a normal camera lens.
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Jun 27, 2018 12:44
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Nice as always, darkarchon.
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Jun 29, 2018 23:26
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What are some recommendations for a first timer's telescope with a budget of $500, that is also portable (like back seat of a sedan portable)?
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Jul 4, 2018 12:47
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Visual? 8" f/6 Dobsonian Telescope is the best bang for buck you can get.
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Jul 4, 2018 16:45
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darkarchon posted:Visual? 8" f/6 Dobsonian Telescope is the best bang for buck you can get. I second this. It will be big and bulky but it will fit across both back seats and the views will be awesome.
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Jul 5, 2018 19:10
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Thirding; also if your budget is $500 you can probably get one somewhat cheaper and then spend the rest on a couple of good eyepieces. Upgrading to some nice 2" eyepieces from the 1.25" ones that came with my scope was probably the best quality-of-life change I've made to it.
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Jul 5, 2018 19:25
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As someone who took this advice a couple years ago, and who has minor trouble fitting the telescope diagonally in the back of a station wagon (don't forget the stand), I would say go ahead, but take thorough measurements of everything first. I would hate for you to end up with a great telescope for your budget that you can't really use.
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Jul 5, 2018 19:38
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Thanks a bunch to all you awesome goons.
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Jul 5, 2018 23:19
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For anyone who is looking for suggestions starting with Astrophotography, I made a large article covering a vast amount of equipment to get and what to expect. You can find it here; https://darkskies.space/starting-with-astrophotography-part-2/
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Jul 6, 2018 14:06
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New image: M101 in LRGB More details here
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Jul 9, 2018 10:12
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Hey amateur astronomy goons, I have a question: given that decently high powered lasers are now readily available, and microcontrollers and precision servos and things are cheap as heck, has anyone yet tried to do a homebrew adaptive optics system? Or are there reasons why it would still be very hard to do something like that in your garage?
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Jul 18, 2018 17:58
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It would be a monumental technical challenge and the rewards do not scale well. A big research telescope needs AO to work at anything close to a its full potential, even from the world’s finest mountaintops. A small telescope can be moved to a location with better seeing conditions.
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Jul 18, 2018 23:47
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For what it's worth, I have seen some amateur setups which have simple AO (a tip-tilt mirror). In general, though, amateur telescopes just don't need it as much as the big telescopes do. A typical "coherence length", or the average size of a turbulent patch of air, is between 10-20cm. So even for a large amateur telescope you're only getting a few different wavefronts; whereas for multi-meter class telescopes you're getting dozens of them. I ran into these recently- a series of articles that give a pretty thorough overview of seeing: 1 2 3
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Jul 19, 2018 04:00
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