Amateur astronomy: Space is pretty awesome

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Amateur astronomy: Space is pretty awesome

celestial teapot: Sep 9, 2003; He asked my religion and I replied "agnostic." He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh: "Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God."

I actually work at [astronomy optics company] in the customer service department and I ~~generally~~ always tell people not to put a dob on a table. 90% of the time I get this question (and I get it a lot) it's from someone who looked at the picture on the website and didn't look at the specs-- an XT8 looks small in a picture, and they ought to have something for scale, but it is actually (if memory serves) about 45 inches long just for the tube. In THEORY you could put it on a table, but you're risking (a) breaking it and (b) a whole lot of vibration if that table isn't extremely sturdy. Leave it on the ground and get a chair.

celestial teapot fucked around with this message at 09:01 on Feb 13, 2010

# ¿ Jan 13, 2010 02:16

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:29

celestial teapot: Sep 9, 2003; He asked my religion and I replied "agnostic." He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh: "Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God."

HOLYFLAMINGCRAP posted:

I recently read Cosmos by Carl Sagan and have become space obsessed and have been thinking about getting a telescope. The problem is I live in NYC where light pollution is insane and I was wondering if anyone on here lives in NYC and whats your experience with telescopes here. Is it pointless, or can you see alright in the middle of central park maybe?

Unless you can get away from the city, forget about deep sky viewing. You need a big aperture telescope for that kind of stuff, and if you get a big dobsonian all you'll be doing is picking up more sky glow.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2010 03:00

celestial teapot: Sep 9, 2003; He asked my religion and I replied "agnostic." He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh: "Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God."

Oh, and step 3 for really pimped-out imaging: Adaptive Optics.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2010 04:16

celestial teapot: Sep 9, 2003; He asked my religion and I replied "agnostic." He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh: "Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God."

Spoot posted:

I was wondering if you guys could help me out, I seem to have a little problem. I'm new to astronomy and bought my first telescope recently. I purchased a Celestron Astromaster 114. I can use it I can view the moon alright but when I aim it at the stars all I see is black with both my 10mm and 20mm eyepieces. Shouldn't I at least be seeing the visable stars?

No. Stars are so far away that they will not look any different no matter how much you magnify them. However, you'll be able to see more of them than with the naked eye, so enjoy clusters!

# ¿ Jun 12, 2010 05:33

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