Astronomy: Telescopes

Originally posted by phantompatriot
1. have you ever seen an UFO through a telescope?

no, but i have seen sattelites and planes fly through. it's just a blink of an eye though, and really rare.

2. through a university grade telescope is it possible to see sattelites?

well what do you mean by "university grade?" there's really no such thing... for instance, eatsern michigan university has a 10 inch refractor. toledo university has a one meter schmidt-cass... but anyone with enough money could have their own just the same. most of the other, smaller scopes are just run of the mill telescopes.

EDIT: i forgot to answer your question really... to best view a sattelite you'd be better off with a good pair of binoculars.

[edit on 8/23/2004 by cmdrkeenkid]

cmdrkeenkid- I too use my 16" the most, I dont mind the weight of it at all. The view it gives me is incredible and very worthwhile for me. I just meant people who arent apt to carry anything with some weight or dont have a car capable of transporting a scope of that size. What kind of 18" do you have?

[edit on 23-8-2004 by who]

Thanks for the post. A few years back I was having dinner at a friends & they pulled out a telescope & I believe I saw the rings (don't know if it was saturn - do any other planets have rings?) & some moons and I was blown away. Ever since I've wanted a telescope and I usually research things before I get them, but my girlfriend bought one for me as a gift a couple years ago.

I don't know what quality it is maybe you can help. Its a Celestron Nexstar 114 and I've really only been able to look at the moon with it, because it's kind of complicated & I have to drive out of the city to use it. Is there a simple way to learn how to use this thing or do I just need to join a club or take a class to figure this out.
TIA

[edit on 24-8-2004 by outsider]

Your girlfriend spent some money on you, here is a link that describes what its capable of. www.scopecity.com...


pretty nice, its a 4.5 inch scope. If you go to dark skys on a clear night I think you would be pretty happy with the scope you have. The moon should be pretty good, along with saturn and Jupiter. The only thing that will help you is a nice selection of quality eyepieces, try to avoid cheap ones.

Originally posted by who
What kind of 18" do you have?

It's an Oddessy. They went out of business about a decade ago. You can see some pictures of it here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

outsider:
All the gas giants have rings, with the most visible being those of Saturn. Also, as who stated, your scope is a nice one. The technicalness of it does make it hard for a beginner though. Does your girlfriend know anything about them? Or your other friends? You could always talk to them!

For a beginner scope though I really do recommend a medium sized dobsonian.

Odd you just posted this. I just bought a Meade ETX LX90ESC. Its been cloudy since I bought it, but I did get some good looks at the moon, and I must admit I fell in love. Except for the clouds I didnt have a hard time getting it to align.

I bought it at walmart of all places, but it seems to work fine. I got the Autostar, delux tripod ,and two eyepieces. I thought about bringing it back because I could spend up to $1500 on one, and more if sufficient reason to spend more. Should I get the ETX 125 instead while I can still return it? I would love to view Saturn and Jupitor but I guess they are to close to the sun this month heh.

Also Id like to plug it into my computer and control it completely, and also view pictures real time on my PC. Is that possible? If so what do I need to buy? Id like to do some of that time lapse stuff

Can someone post exactly what I need to do this?

1. Should I buy bigger Scope?
2. What eyepieces should I buy? I have 25mm and 9 mm.
3. Barlo 2x or should I get the 3x?
4. What Digital camera setup should I get so I can watch realtime on PC?

Thanks for your help. I am going out of town for a week but will check back to this thread when I get home.
So far I love it =).


X

[edit on 24-8-2004 by Xeven]

Originally posted by Xeven
1. Should I buy bigger Scope?
2. What eyepieces should I buy? I have 25mm and 9 mm.
3. Barlo 2x or should I get the 3x?
4. What Digital camera setup should I get so I can watch realtime on PC?

1.) I'd say no. You've got a pretty nice set up right now as is. An 8 inch scope is a good start, especially for a Schmidt-Cass. Anything larger starts to weigh a lot, and gets pretty cumbersome. I've got a 12 inch Meade Schmidt-Cass and only use it when others are around because I can't set the bugger up by myself.

2.) I'd recommend getting a 40 mm and a 5 mm. TeleVue, University, and Pentax are brands I've had good luck with eyepieces. Meade ones arn't bad at all either though, and would probably be a bit cheaper. The 40 mm would be good for the moon and planets. The 5 mm would be great for splitting apart double stars.

3.) If you're going to get one, I'd say the 2X. I don't think that getting a Barlow lens is really all that necessary for casual observing though.

4.) You're just getting into the hobby, right? So please, please, please, PLEASE do not worry about getting involved with a CCD camera right away. It takes so much fun away from the hobby. Sure, you can do long exposures and see deep sky objects, but looking at an image secondhand on the screen is nothing compared to actually looking at it.

If you want some good software to run the scope through the computer though I'd recommend the software that came with the scope. With my Meade it came with some software, I cannot remember what it's called though. This was about 10 years ago though... Otherwise I'd say get the MegaStar Sky Atlas

Here's a hint though... When looking at a dim object, look towards the side of it. That'll expose the more light sensitive portion of your eye to the object and you'll see a much clear image, despite not looking directly at it.

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
2.) I'd recommend getting a 40 mm and a 5 mm. TeleVue, University, and Pentax are brands I've had good luck with eyepieces. Meade ones arn't bad at all either though, and would probably be a bit cheaper.

There are more differences in them than just names:
science.howstuffworks.com...
www.cloudynights.com...

Here's a hint though... When looking at a dim object, look towards the side of it. That'll expose the more light sensitive portion of your eye to the object and you'll see a much clear image, despite not looking directly at it.

It's called "averted seeing" in slang.

And it's not same in which side you look, because when looking to "right" side light hits to "blind spot".
Up and down are generally better directions and right side with right eye/left side with left eye.
Here's very good page:
astronomynv.org...

curious.astro.cornell.edu...
www.noao.edu...

Good post cmdrkeenkid and others.

Cheers

JS

Originally posted by E_T
There are more differences in them than just names:

I was just talking about getting regular Plossl eyepieces, which all of those companies make.

Now that I think of it though, if you bought a 4.8 mm Nagler (TeleVue recommended) you'd have a lot of luck splitting double stars. It might be hard to use though, so before you go spend a few hundred bucks on it I'd learn to use the scope a bit better. And a wide field eyepiece would be great for looking at star clusters. I've had good luck with a Meade Super Wide Field 24.5 mm and with a TeleVue Wide Field 15 mm.

I thought of another piece of advice while reading the other responses. I forget what they are called, but the eyepieces that go from say 5-25mm, are junk in my opinion. They claim to be able to zoom in and out like having 20 eyepieces for the cost of one. A friend of mine at the astronomy club has one and its horrible. If your eye touches it, the focus is way off, getting them to give clear views can be a task, especially when you are new. cmdrkeenkid is right, dont worry about CCD imaging just yet, its very expensive and takes away from enjoying the telescope. It can be very frustrating.

First, very many thanx to CKK for this thread!!

I have used several telescopes over the years, both those owned by me and those in various observatories in UK, including the 12" refractor at Keele University (which was fantastic!).

I'm seriously considering purchasing a Hydrogen Alpha telescope, such as this one BUT has anyone here got any practical experience of using one please?? What are the disadvantages (not including the price of course!! ).

Typical image -



Any comments/ experiences to share? Thanx in advance!!

Genya Hydrogen Alpha filters are pretty awesome... If you get one of those you may as well get a White Light filter . I don't own either, but have gotten to use them with Eastern Michigan University's 10 inch refractor. Both are great, but White Light is much better for viewing sunspots. Ha is better for viewing prominences, spicules, and the likes.

Here's an image to compare:

Originally posted by cmdrkeenkid
Genya Hydrogen Alpha filters are pretty awesome... If you get one of those you may as well get a White Light filter . I don't own either, but have gotten to use them with Eastern Michigan University's 10 inch refractor. Both are great, but White Light is much better for viewing sunspots. Ha is better for viewing prominences, spicules, and the likes.

Thanx CKK!

I used to have a 4.5" Thomas Cooke refractor - all brass and antique too! - which was *wonderful* for projection work (I sold it - at Sotherby's!) to fund the SCT... AH! Cash flow is a recurrent nightmare, isn't it?!! (Try putting a daughter through University and you'll find out! ) I tried to emulate William Baxter of course...

So, I'd quite agree with your comments and obseravations on white light filters CKK: my particualr interest tends towards prominences and flares (as my attempt to view these in the August 1999 total solar eclipse were "washed out"! ) so I rather like the fact that light grasp isn't an issue (whereas resolving power still might be?) but wondered if anybody had experience of Ha filtered telescopes? It would certainly be an awesome project....

And, to be completely speculative, what about Spectrohelioscopes - a long held dream for me....

Clear skies to you CKK!!

EDIT: misplaced quotes!!

[edit on 25-8-2004 by Genya]

Sun looks really cool looked through H alpha filter.
Pretty much biggest "disadvantage" is price of filter, narrowbanded filters are very expensive.