Topic: anybody else here into astronomy or own a telescope

[neil young]

I have always had an interest in astronomy.its amazing what you can see with a telescope or binoculars for that matter.
i have a vintage 3' refractor.a coronado solar telescope,a 4.5" reflector and an 8" dobsonian reflector.
anybody else own  a telescope?


solar telescope on the left.the monster 8" is in the shed at the back of the yard.

[Sam Green Racing]

Hi guys, I have a Mead reflector with computer go to drive. Not sure of the model but it's a 114mm lense.

The problems with astromony in the UK is the weather, allways a lot of cloud just at the time of something being vewable.

I lost intrest after spending hours setting it up and waiting for the focals to acclimatise to the temprature only for it to start pissing down, not a lot of fun.

I've seen the polar regions on Mars, the red spot and moons of Venus and the rings of Saturn with it.
I've tried for a few nebula but as allways, it's the crap weather that we have over here that spoils it.

Sam.

[Rocking-M]

Hey Neil, I had a neighbor, now gone to Texas, that was a lens grinder by trade.
He had ground a 10" lens and built a telescope mounted on a concrete slab.
Took the boys over and watch some solar event, I can't recall the specifics, but
dayum, that thing could spot a gnat on Mars. 

[neil young]

Hi guys, I have a Mead reflector with computer go to drive. Not sure of the model but it's a 114mm lense.

The problems with astromony in the UK is the weather, allways a lot of cloud just at the time of something being vewable.

I lost intrest after spending hours setting it up and waiting for the focals to acclimatise to the temprature only for it to start pissing down, not a lot of fun.

I've seen the polar regions on Mars, the red spot and moons of Venus and the rings of Saturn with it.
I've tried for a few nebula but as allways, it's the crap weather that we have over here that spoils it.

Sam.

sounds like you have a Meade  ETX.a nice telescope Sam.i leave my scopes out in the shed so i dont have to wait for cool down time.....a telescopes internals hold heat and must be cooled down if brought from inside.
i was thinking about getting an ETX 125.5 mm for ease of tranportation out of the city lights some day.

[tramp]

had a celestron 4.5 refractor, but sold it
looking for a new one now

[mattcb350f]

I have always had an interest in astronomy.its amazing what you can see with a telescope or binoculars for that matter.
i have a vintage 3' refractor.a coronado solar telescope,a 4.5" reflector and an 8" dobsonian reflector.
anybody else own  a telescope?

I've got a cheap refractor (the kind with the lens on the side near the front). It's a good size, about two feet long and 5 or 6" diameter.  I've always wanted to do more with it. Maybe after the bikes done I'll get around to it  The last thing I did with it was read the writing on a hot air ballon about 20 miles away in the day time. I did remember to put the filter in first 

Do you ever listen to Coast to Coast AM on 640 toronto neil? Sometimes they do shows on astronomy, comets and such.
 Matt.

[BobbyR]

I have a Celestron Cometron. I should get back into it. I did go the the Lick Observatory for a viewing and it was amazing experience to look so far back in time.

[neil young]

I have always had an interest in astronomy.its amazing what you can see with a telescope or binoculars for that matter.
i have a vintage 3' refractor.a coronado solar telescope,a 4.5" reflector and an 8" dobsonian reflector.
anybody else own  a telescope?

I've got a cheap refractor (the kind with the lens on the side near the front). It's a good size, about two feet long and 5 or 6" diameter.  I've always wanted to do more with it. Maybe after the bikes done I'll get around to it  The last thing I did with it was read the writing on a hot air ballon about 20 miles away in the day time. I did remember to put the filter in first 

Do you ever listen to Coast to Coast AM on 640 toronto neil? Sometimes they do shows on astronomy, comets and such.
 Matt.

nope ....i havn't listened to  640 in a while (more of a Q107 guy)
it sounds like you have a reflector Matt (mirror in the bottom of the scope) if so and it's a 6" your doing ok.
what type of filter did you put in first?
i'm no scientist but i have a few books and frequent the cloudy nights forum.so i know quite a bit about astronomy.i have seen 5 comets,every planet except pluto (Saturn is spectacular first time)a ton of nebula and star clusters galore.i was lost in the woods drunk as a hell (long story)in Bancroft and found my way back to buddies cottage buy looking at the constelations and knowing which way was south

[tramp]

coast to coast here is am 800
that show is entertaining
all kinds of ideas there

[peten]

i have a barely used orion 130mm st newtonian and a meade 8 inch schmidt-cassegrain i bought used.  haven't even really used them all that much because sleep is very valuable to me.  winter is nice when orion is up; nebula is cool thru the 8.

[Sam Green Racing]

Hi guys, I have a Mead reflector with computer go to drive. Not sure of the model but it's a 114mm lense.

The problems with astromony in the UK is the weather, allways a lot of cloud just at the time of something being vewable.

I lost intrest after spending hours setting it up and waiting for the focals to acclimatise to the temprature only for it to start pissing down, not a lot of fun.

I've seen the polar regions on Mars, the red spot and moons of Venus and the rings of Saturn with it.
I've tried for a few nebula but as allways, it's the crap weather that we have over here that spoils it.

Sam.

sounds like you have a Meade  ETX.a nice telescope Sam.i leave my scopes out in the shed so i dont have to wait for cool down time.....a telescopes internals hold heat and must be cooled down if brought from inside.
i was thinking about getting an ETX 125.5 mm for ease of tranportation out of the city lights some day.

It's not an ETX Neil...I'll have a look in the morning when I finish work. (that's if I remember.)

Sam.

[neil young]

i have a barely used Orion 130mm st Newtonian and a Meade 8 inch  i bought used.  haven't even really used them all that much because sleep is very valuable to me.  winter is nice when Orion is up; nebula is cool Thur the 8.

i agree ....i had looked at the Orion nebula a lot in my 3" refractor over a 10 year period.then i bought the 8" dobsonian and WOW what a difference.

[mark]

No telescope here yet, but I'm finally in a place where I could use one.......

First home - big city... on a dark night there were like 3 stars.......

Moved to the woods... plenty of stars but the neck would get sore as one had to look straight up to see 'em....

Out in the desert now. Holy S#%&! There's like zillions of 'em up there! Everywhere! The next county over actually has a law requiring outdoor lights to be shielded to control 'light pollution'.(widely ignored, but it's the thought that counts)

Yard sale season is fast approaching.... maybe there's a deal on a telescope out there somewhere??


Happy trails.

[heffay]

i've always been interested... the girlfriend has an astronomy degree as well as a geology degree so you might say she's pretty into it as well.

not sure where her telescope is... probably in the basement collecting dust.

we get our fix everyday at this site... http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/    <-- astronomy picture of the day... some really cool stuff sometimes.

[neil young]

very cool link...thx  Heffay

[heffay]

very cool link...thx  Heffay

yea... go back a month or two in the archive and there's all sorts of comet holmes pictures.  if you didn't have a chance to see it w/ your own eyes these pics will amaze.

[Sam Green Racing]

I managed to see Holmes just before it faded, I used a pair of 10x50 binoculars.

Sam.

[Rocking-M]

I managed to see Holmes just before it faded, I used a pair of 10x50 binoculars.

Sam.

That's all I had to Sam, but here we have none of that unnatural light, you know, city lights.
I would have like to have seen it with the big scope but it's gone to Texas.

[Sam Green Racing]

Light pollution is real bad where I live, but some of the places we race on the East coast is really good.
We were camping overnight in Lincolnshire one night and around 4am I needed a pee. I crawled out of the tent and Whoooooa
Crystal clear sky, and the first time in 61 years I saw the Milky Way, I truly was gobsmacked Rocky.

Sam.

[heffay]

so did you guys not catch it while it was VERY visible w/ the naked eye?

i could even spot it while i was driving!

[Sam Green Racing]

We had lots of cloud for most of the time, I'ts a UK thing

Sam.

[neil young]

a good pair of bino's is best for comets.wider field of view.

[heffay]

i dunno man... my eyeballs have a pretty wide field of view 

would assume you're comparing to a telescope though 

i wish i had some binocs tho... but, seeing it on the computer w/out having to go out in the cold was fine by me too i suppose.   

[Sam Green Racing]

Hi guys, I have a Mead reflector with computer go to drive. Not sure of the model but it's a 114mm lense.

The problems with astromony in the UK is the weather, allways a lot of cloud just at the time of something being vewable.

I lost intrest after spending hours setting it up and waiting for the focals to acclimatise to the temprature only for it to start pissing down, not a lot of fun.

I've seen the polar regions on Mars, the red spot and moons of Venus and the rings of Saturn with it.
I've tried for a few nebula but as allways, it's the crap weather that we have over here that spoils it.

Sam.

sounds like you have a Meade  ETX.a nice telescope Sam.i leave my scopes out in the shed so i dont have to wait for cool down time.....a telescopes internals hold heat and must be cooled down if brought from inside.
i was thinking about getting an ETX 125.5 mm for ease of tranportation out of the city lights some day.

Neil, my scope is a Meade 4504 reflector. I bought it second hand for $200. They were selling for a discounted price of about $900 in the UK at the time as new models were being produced.

Sam.

[neil young]

I have been using my solar telescope (when ever the eff en sun comes out) lately.
here is what the sun look like in hydrogen alfa through a scope like mine (i don't have a ccd camera YET)