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I wish I had $1500 and a backyard http://greenville.craigslist.org/for/2650231529.html
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Oct 19, 2011 20:59
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Is that the giant glow-in-the-dark telescope domes on sale on the internet?
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Oct 19, 2011 23:29
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Just over an hours worth of Jupiter data. This was taken with my 250mm f4.8 reflector, 4x barlow and OpticStar PL-131C camera on my Celestron CGEM mount. Each frame is 60 seconds long at between 20 and 30 frames per second. Each 60 second video with limited, aligned and stacked in Registax, I kept the 50 best frames in each case. The same data but a wider field shows Io in orbit, visibly moving away from Jupiter. If I had caught it earlier in the night I would have seen it emerging from behind.  This came out better than expected, next time though I need to stick to one setting for exposure / gain / etc to keep a uniform image across frames.
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Oct 28, 2011 01:00
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So Christmas is coming up. Eye pieces. I have an 8" dob and the following pieces - 24mm Plossl that came with it (crap) 32mm 72 degree Meade 6mm Televue for planets 2x Televue Barlow VBeen really thinking about a Hyperion Zoom, but I see the light for WFOV for Dobs. Suggestions?
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Oct 28, 2011 03:50
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invalid posted:So Christmas is coming up. Hey 8" dob buddy. Hyperion's are supposed to be pretty good and lots of people seem to like the Zoom. Some don't so I figure it's a "your mileage may vary" thing. I'm going to bite the bullet and will be getting a 13mm Nagler as my next EP, hopefully early next month. My plan is to have about three or four Televue EPs. Probably not all Nagler's as the 32mm is really loving expensive. At this point I'm thinking nearly anything is better than the default 25mm Plossl that came with the scope. Other than Televue wanting to sell the pricier EPs (Ethos and Nagler) for dobs it seems like a lot of people get WFOV EPs. Maybe not necessarily Televues, or if they do it's in the Panoptic/Radian line, but better than 50 degree Plossls. Unfortunately from what I've researched it seems like one has to spend money to get a really good WFOV EP. :/ What's the 6mm like? I'm assuming it's a Plossl?
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Nov 2, 2011 04:39
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I have a weird problem with my new/used binoculars. I think it's collimation-issue, but I'm an astronomy-newbie so I'm not sure. It's a pair of 10x50 and they really give me eye-strain. They are sharp enough, but it's really hard to focus with my eyes when looking through them. I don't have the same issue with my old 7x50's, so it's probably not my eyes that's the problem. Any of you got any advice?
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Nov 2, 2011 23:20
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Probably the standard binocular error: the diopter adjustment on one eyepiece is incorrectly set, leading to no common focus for both eyes. People tend to forget it's there, or misunderstand its purpose. Think of it as an offset to the main focus, you focus for the eyepiece without the adjustment ring, then set the other to comfortable focus for that eye. Also, eye separation can be really critical. Otherwise I have no idea.
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Nov 2, 2011 23:48
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Wolf on Air posted:Probably the standard binocular error: the diopter adjustment on one eyepiece is incorrectly set, leading to no common focus for both eyes. People tend to forget it's there, or misunderstand its purpose. Think of it as an offset to the main focus, you focus for the eyepiece without the adjustment ring, then set the other to comfortable focus for that eye. Also, eye separation can be really critical. Otherwise I have no idea. I'm aware of the diopter adjustment, and I dont think it's that. They dont give a good image at any setting. Both barrels look sharp when viewed seperately though.
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Nov 3, 2011 00:39
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Prathm posted:I'm aware of the diopter adjustment, and I dont think it's that. They dont give a good image at any setting. Both barrels look sharp when viewed seperately though. Cover the barrel that has the diopter adjustment on it (stick the lenscap on it). Look at something in the middle distance that's not moving with both eyes open (but only able to see out of one side). Use the regular focus wheel until the image you can see is sharp. Remove the lenscap and adjust the diopter adjustment until that eye is focused too (don't use the main focus wheel, just the diopter one). Now put the lens cap on the other side, the one that you could originally see through and look through the binoculars as normal (again, keep both eyes open but you're only able to see through one side) and adjust the diopter adjustment until the image is at its sharpest and clearest.
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Nov 3, 2011 00:51
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Tufty posted:Cover the barrel that has the diopter adjustment on it (stick the lenscap on it). Look at something in the middle distance that's not moving with both eyes open (but only able to see out of one side). Use the regular focus wheel until the image you can see is sharp. Remove the lenscap and adjust the diopter adjustment until that eye is focused too (don't use the main focus wheel, just the diopter one). Now put the lens cap on the other side, the one that you could originally see through and look through the binoculars as normal (again, keep both eyes open but you're only able to see through one side) and adjust the diopter adjustment until the image is at its sharpest and clearest.  That's what I did. They're still no good. Luckily they were cheap, so no great loss.
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Nov 3, 2011 10:51
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Probably a miss-alignment issue then.
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Nov 3, 2011 14:57
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Prathm posted:
Are the fields-of-vision perfect circles?
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Nov 3, 2011 18:49
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Bolkovr posted:Are the fields-of-vision perfect circles? Yes. Or at least close enough that they look like it.
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Nov 3, 2011 19:47
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Cherokee Jack posted:What's the 6mm like? I'm assuming it's a Plossl? Yeah, it's a Plossl. It's a really nice TeleVue, but you're pretty much constantly moving your dob at that range. It was the single deciding factor for me to forever spend the extra cash on wider FoV pieces.
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Nov 4, 2011 20:52
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Messed with the Neximage a little tonight. What a pain in the rear end to get focused. I think I need to invest in a better solar imager, cause it just looks like a blob of pixels and I get pissed off every time I use it. I did get a somewhat decent outcome though after processing. Taken with a Celestron 8" Cass, CGEM and the Neximage with 2x barlow (Somewhere around 3k frames): Jupiter 11-04-2011 by elimisel, on Flickr Popped some shots of the Moon while waiting for Jupiter to show it's ugly mug. 80mm SVED, CGEM, Nikon D90:  Moon 11-04-2011 by elimisel, on Flickr Yo Jekub, how much did you drop on that OpticStar? Also, what software you using to capture with?
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Nov 5, 2011 04:49
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Those both came out really nice! The OpticStar PL-131c cost me £150, Optcorp seem to have them over there for $269 being sold under the banner of 'Farpoint Astro Products' who I guess is the importer. It's a pretty cheap camera as these thing go, not up to the standards of the Imaging Source range I don't think, but it is a CMOS unit and much cheaper. If you only want one for imaging planets then the PX-35c with the Sony ICX098BQ CCD chip is worth a look. No long exposure support though so it's not of any use for guiding. The passive cooling is a nice touch and they are very nicely built. Currently I'm using SharpCap, it free and has a bunch of useful features, definitely worth a look.
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Nov 6, 2011 20:34
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Jekub posted:Those both came out really nice! I have really been eyeballing Imaging Source cams, especially the DFK 21. The OpticStar PX-35 looks nice, hadn't looked at it until just now. Decisions, decisions... I definitely think it's time to upgrade from the Neximage though. I got so frustrated trying to get good data on Saturn that I put it in the junk box and didn't look at it for 6 months. I will give SharpCap a try. Maybe that will alleviate some of my frustration. Currently I am using wxAstroCapture..
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Nov 7, 2011 00:59
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Asteroid 2055 YU55 will apparently be at its closest to Earth tonight at 6:28 p.m. EST. Full moon and/or weather will probably make it hard to see, and you need a 6 inch aperature (which means I'm out) but if any of you could spot it, that would be great. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/133013563.html
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Nov 8, 2011 19:53
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I'll be waiting for it to hit the Horse tonight since that seems like the easiest way for me to find it (light pollution and all)
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Nov 8, 2011 20:03
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I am going to point my 80mm just below Delphi const. between 6:25 and 6:35ET, set exposures continuous and see what I get. I hope i capture something. Not sure what exposure length to set. 10 seconds maybe? Hoping to have some data to make an animated gif.. Edit: I am making my decision based off of the finder chart that sky and tele posted: http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/2005_YU55_findercharts.pdf Choicecut fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Nov 8, 2011 |
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Nov 8, 2011 21:46
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I figure this is the best place to ask: Sunday I was driving south at 8am (uk) & the fog was thick enough to look comfortably at the sun, I noticed a dark patch at about the 9 o'clock position. It was visible for the whole 20 or so minutes I was driving south. It was an obvious visible artifact, seemingly stationary & a good 5% of the diameter of the visible disc. Spacewasp? I checked google sky map later (i are not amateur astronomer) & both venus & mercury were in the region, but I don't know if they'd be visible? Any suggestions, it's bugging me? Edit: I apologize for making GBS threads up a thread full of proper science with my dumbassery
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Nov 8, 2011 22:24
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Cakefool posted:I figure this is the best place to ask: Sunday I was driving south at 8am (uk) & the fog was thick enough to look comfortably at the sun, I noticed a dark patch at about the 9 o'clock position. It was visible for the whole 20 or so minutes I was driving south. It was an obvious visible artifact, seemingly stationary & a good 5% of the diameter of the visible disc. This was a dark patch on the sun? I know there is a huge sunspot the size of Jupiter they are watching closely right now. Actually I think that information was just released in the past day or so.
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Nov 8, 2011 23:29
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Too much moonlight and light pollution here, so I am going to have to wait until about 11 EST. That's when it starts to make it's way into Pegusus (which I can see fine right now). At least I got some good looks at Vega?
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Nov 9, 2011 02:54
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invalid posted:Too much moonlight and light pollution here, so I am going to have to wait until about 11 EST. That's when it starts to make it's way into Pegusus (which I can see fine right now). At least I got some good looks at Vega? I doubt you are going to see it with the naked eye. I got 20 exposures of it at 15 seconds each and it was so faint it took me 30 minutes of flipping through the images to find it. I am putting together some animated gifs right now, I will throw them up here in a few minutes.
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Nov 9, 2011 03:43
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Choicecut posted:I doubt you are going to see it with the naked eye. I got 20 exposures of it at 15 seconds each and it was so faint it took me 30 minutes of flipping through the images to find it. I am putting together some animated gifs right now, I will throw them up here in a few minutes. I have an 8" dob
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Nov 9, 2011 03:44
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invalid posted:I have an 8" dob Right on, it might be possible, but I am not sure. It was so faint at 15 seconds exposures, f/6 it was hardly noticeable.
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Nov 9, 2011 03:53
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Here is Asteroid 2005 YU55 in all it's glory. I hosted these on Picasa so I hope the links work. Here is an animated gif with arrows pointing it out: https://picasaweb.google.com/107536491563876550232/November82011#5672825594868168402 and here is one sans arrows: https://picasaweb.google.com/107536491563876550232/November8201102#5672826359992099138 I am pretty stoked it all worked out! Edit: This was 20, 15 second exposures shot with a Stellarvue 80mm ED, CGEM, Nikon D90. About 6:30ish ET, just below Delphi Constellation. Choicecut fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Nov 9, 2011 |
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Nov 9, 2011 04:15
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Choicecut posted:Right on, it might be possible, but I am not sure. It was so faint at 15 seconds exposures, f/6 it was hardly noticeable. It's all moot anyway - clouds rolled in now I can only see the moon. I'm pretty bummed about this.
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Nov 9, 2011 04:16
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invalid posted:It's all moot anyway - clouds rolled in now I can only see the moon. Bummer man! Clouds ruin everything!!!!
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Nov 9, 2011 04:49
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Jekub posted:Just over an hours worth of Jupiter data. My favorite part is watching the moon orbit. I never get this with a dob setup. Great stuff!
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Nov 9, 2011 05:28
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Choicecut posted:This was a dark patch on the sun? I know there is a huge sunspot the size of Jupiter they are watching closely right now. Actually I think that information was just released in the past day or so. Apparently it's visible without a telescope! Don't look straight at it without welding glasses or a bunch of fog though I guess! http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/Sunspot-Points-at-Earth-133471378.html Dog Case fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Nov 9, 2011 |
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Nov 9, 2011 05:36
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Thanks, so I viewed sunspots with the naked eye? Awesome!
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Nov 9, 2011 07:08
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Reading this thread has convinced me to get into amateur astronomy and fortunately there are a ton of telescopes in my area on craigslist. Thanks!
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Nov 9, 2011 17:57
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I had a cheap 6" Sears reflector when I was teenager, it was fun but the problem I had was tracking things, it really wasn't smooth at all. The second I would get something sighted in, it would move out of view. An Orion 8" is in the works for xmas (looks like a good scope for the price) and I'm wondering how you track with these things? I've read the kits are pretty easy to assemble and align, true? edit: typo wormil fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Nov 15, 2011 |
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Nov 14, 2011 04:02
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So I found a posting for a Meade 4501 for $100 OBO. It seems this isn't a bad telescope for the price, and considering I'm living on a grad student budget, if it's usable that would be pretty good for me. Would this be reasonably okay for some webcam AP?
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Nov 14, 2011 21:15
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wormil posted:I had a cheap 6" Sears refractor when I was teenager, it was fun but the problem I had was tracking things, it really wasn't smooth at all. The second I would get something sighted in, it would move out of view. An Orion 8" is in the works for xmas (looks like a good scope for the price) and I'm wondering how you track with these things? I've read the kits are pretty easy to assemble and align, true? I assume you are talking about an 8" Orion Dobsonian. Most dobs have a knob at the front of the scope that you grab and use to move the scope. It's surprisingly smooth, thanks to the large bearings that the optical tube sits on. I've tracked the ISS well enough to see some detail, but it is annoying if you plan to use the telescope to show objects to other people. Dobs are very easy to assemble, and collimation for reflectors in general is easy once you get the hang of it, but needed more often than other telescope types.
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Nov 15, 2011 11:52
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Loztblaz posted:I assume you are talking about an 8" Orion Dobsonian. Most dobs have a knob at the front of the scope that you grab and use to move the scope. It's surprisingly smooth, thanks to the large bearings that the optical tube sits on. I've tracked the ISS well enough to see some detail, but it is annoying if you plan to use the telescope to show objects to other people. Thanks, and I meant to write reflector, not refractor, in my post. Yes, an 8" Orion Dob. The kit is $200, plus I'll probably go ahead and get a moon filter and Barlow lens. I'm expecting my wife to object to buying this large a scope but having had smaller scopes, the fun runs out too quickly. Someone nearby has a Zhumell 8" (Z8) Dobsonion for $300, like new. It looks like a nice scope but I don't know anything about them. Reviews on telescope.com are favorable. Anyone have experience with them or comments vs the Orion Z8?
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Nov 15, 2011 23:32
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Okay, over a year ago I asked if there was interest in some basics of Celestial Navigation. Is that still the case? I have a users knowledge of a sextant, and taking observations to calculate a three (or more) body fix as well as sunrise and set and azimuths/amplitudes. I can try and write a thread if people want to see this stuff and how it is still used at sea today. I ask now as I am no longer working at sea and I would like to try and keep my skills somewhat current.
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Nov 17, 2011 19:15
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I would definitely read it.
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Nov 18, 2011 00:45
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Mercury Ballistic posted:Okay, over a year ago I asked if there was interest in some basics of Celestial Navigation. Is that still the case? I have a users knowledge of a sextant, and taking observations to calculate a three (or more) body fix as well as sunrise and set and azimuths/amplitudes. I can try and write a thread if people want to see this stuff and how it is still used at sea today. I ask now as I am no longer working at sea and I would like to try and keep my skills somewhat current. I am always looking for ways to increase my survival skills. This has my interest from two angles.
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Nov 18, 2011 02:09
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