Help basic astronomy 101

I need help, with basic astronomy in our solar system by astronomers.. Thank you in advance if someone could aid..

a reply to: Kantjil

Lots of awesome folks here who would be glad to answer your questions. We have from armchair to amateur to professional astronomers on here, so you can find out pretty much anything and however in depth you need. There are tons and tons of threads on here about almost any topic too.

What questions do you have?

ETA: Of course, as the saying goes, your mileage may vary.

Amateur astronomy can be a fun but frustrating hobby, depending on what you expect and how much money you have.

The frustrating parts are...

1. How expensive everything is. A really decent telescope that you would actually want to use and wouldn't quickly get tired of will probably be a thousand dollars (US) right off the bat.

2. Light pollution. It really depends on where you live but in general, if you live somewhere where everything is convenient, there will probably be a million street lights nearby all blasting their light into the sky and making sure you can't see anything but the moon and maybe Jupiter on a good night. Basically, if you live in or near a big city, you will probably have to drive out somewhere away from the lights every time you want to observe. It might not seem like a bad thing but it gets old fast.

3. The weather. Where I live in the US, the clearest skies are to be had on the coldest nights. Not sure why that is but it just is. You'll freeze your butt off just setting up your telescope. And then if you start observing and realize it's way too cold, you wasted all that time and effort driving to a dark spot and freezing your butt off setting up the telescope. And of course, there's things like rain and clouds and bugs (in warmer weather).

4. Amateur astronomy isn't all that common of a hobby and depending on where you live, people might think you're weird. Or you just might feel weird if you know people can see you where you are.

5. Anything better than a basic telescope is going to be REALLY expensive. It's a one time expense but you could easily spend as much as you would on a cheap used car. Now in their defense, a lot of the companies that make these things tend to include almost anything you could possibly need in their nicer telescope kits but if you want some kind of accessory that's a little unusual you might have to buy it and it might not be cheap.

6. When it comes to telescopes. the size of the objective lens (or mirror) is the main thing. Almost nobody wants a little telescope. If you have to choose only one instrument, you'll probably want something big. Big as in BULKY and hard to transport.

7. When you start wanting to get into things like astrophotography, the prices really go up. If you don't want a cheap telescope you really don't want cheap photographic equipment.

In short, it's a constant struggle with money, time, weather, people and everything else you can think of. I gave up on it 20 years ago. You can get a nicer telescope cheaper now than you could then but if you're poor, forget about it. Buy yourself a decent pair of binoculars and you can see a lot with that for not that much money. At least if you find it isn't for you you won't feel like you spent a lot of money for nothing. I imagine a used telescope would be very difficult to sell.

a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

If i want to do a timelapse, of the night sky, oh lets say for over a year , where should i aim the camera for the best solution, a fixated point... Does it matter where in the world i stand?

a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

Yes im the retard in the link you sent!

originally posted by: Kantjil
a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

If i want to do a timelapse, of the night sky, oh lets say for over a year , where should i aim the camera for the best solution, a fixated point... Does it matter where in the world i stand?

The direction of your camera depends entirely on what you want to achieve with the outcome of the photographs. There is no specific point that is the best.

Find a place with as little light polution as possible

I suggest watching The Chasing Ice Documentary, as the man in there filmed glaciers melting over the span of years, and you can see just how much effort it took to do such a long time laps.

a reply to: Ghost147

Your an astronomer?

Ive wathced clips on youtube, where a fixated point makes a cool effect and its circulating around..

a reply to: Ghost147

Isnt saturn a planet you can use for a fixated point?

originally posted by: Kantjil
a reply to: Ghost147

Your an astronomer?

Ive wathced clips on youtube, where a fixated point makes a cool effect and its circulating around..

The majority of those are during a single 24 hour period (or less), usually not a full year (although I don't doubt they exist).

I'm not an astronomer, but one of my greatest hobbies is videography/photography, which is what you inquired about.

I wouldn't start off your hobby/career with an extremely technical, very difficult, intentionally expensive, very fragile project. Even though it may seem like fun, without any background on the subject the chances of failure are very high, and you could simply lead yourself from dropping the hobby all together.

If I could make a suggestion. Start small. Familiarize yourself with your equipment excessively, and only then begin to tackle larger projects.

a reply to: Ghost147

I worked as a Art Director once =) if you want a reference =)
Found another interest in life, and now my mentors tell me to catch up on astronomy..

Only at night can we see the heavens.

Astrophysics, your "mentors" - say too catch up again.

I could agree, for 4-5 years the stars ( heavenly bodies) have a personal connection to each. Its much more then just looking out, but the connection to yourself. Humankind in all, we all look out at the stars and wonder, wish, ask..

The geometric structure and random placements - and yet we have made calendars, the 12 houses, figures, Its made shapes and symbols we see today as a product sign, a logo.

There is so much into it, the depths... but you know what, it all started from watching.

Astrophotography isn't the same as Astronomy.

Knowing some Astronomy can be helpful, especially if you're trying to photograph something specific.

What would be more helpful is increasing your knowledge in photography.

Going by what you said, you seem to want some "star trails" which is one of the simplest astrophotography subjects you can do.

All you need to do is find a very low light pollution area, mount your camera on a tripod, focus to infinity and open the shutter. You'll get star trails after just a few minutes, but if you want really long trails, leave the shutter open for 30 minutes or more.

For trails that seem to make the trails streak around a center point, you need to aim you camera either directly at the North Star and follow the above, or if you are in the southern hemisphere, aim it at the Southern Cross.

a reply to: TerminalVelocity

He could also be referring to Timelapse Photography. He's mentioned doing it over the span of a year, if he was doing a long exposure photo in that time all he would get is a white picture, haha. Timelapse photography, however, could (and will) achieve a year long duration. He could also do an interesting Hyperlapse as well, say, over a city, and not have to worry too much about Light pollution.

So OP? What is it?

Do you want to timelapse?


Do you want to hyperlapse?


Or do you want to create long-exposure shots?

a reply to: Ghost147

I want to time lapse.. There is something I really want to observe

a reply to: Y3K89

I sorted out the calendar, or got to the basics of it, don't know how many understands why it's almost 12 months.. I'm trying to time lapse to see if it can be done with basic tools

You can get a great starter type scope for under $1000 easily.
For christmas my wife got me a 10 inch dobsonian mounted newtonian reflector. Got 3 different eye pieces and i love it.
It cost around $700 CDN she said. I can see jupitors red spot, rings on saturn and the ice cap on mars.
$700 CDN is peanuts compared to how strong the US dollar is.
Or find a used one. Most will be in great shape still. You most likely will find a $1000 scope for under $500 if used

originally posted by: Kantjil
a reply to: Ghost147

I want to time lapse.. There is something I really want to observe

Excellent. It's a rather simple concept. Here's a great tutorial on it the basics of it, as well as many concepts to consider (I highly suggest watching the full video):



Here's a comprehensive video on Telescopes:



Here's a rundown of Night Sky Photography:



And here is another Space photography tutorial, this time from BBC:

a reply to: Ghost147

The duality in my brain sorted the issue, thanks in advance..=)

I was looking at the wrong timeframe

originally posted by: Kantjil
a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

Yes im the retard in the link you sent!

Funny anecdote. Was in the control room at the Australian Compact Array waiting for my turn at the wheel and was changing shift with a lovely young woman.

Several younger students asked this young woman about the details of her study (looking for the signatures of amino acids in interstellar clouds, specifically the Greater Magellanic Cloud). She happily regaled them with the details of scattering and filtering and the spectral nitty-gritty.

An engineer explained to the students about the process of targeting and re-calibration and some of the important specs and functions of the array.

One of the students then lent over towards the large picture windows of the control room and asked "Can you point out where in the sky you are gathering data from"?

The woman rolled her eyes and said "I'm an Astronomer, not a Boy Scout. How would I know"?

a reply to: chr0naut

=( Hmmm... Thanks for the explanation.... Im gonna see if i can get some info somewhere...