Anyone into astronomy / telescopes?

[FordCapri]

Just picked up this bad boy up earlier today. Its a Bresser Skylux NG

69031

Got its second hand pretty cheap but its like brand new. Everything is in working order as far as I can tell. Was looking at some buildings way off in the distance earlier and the image was pretty good.

Total noob when it comes to these things tho. First time I have owned anything like this.

Looking for any advice or pointers on where to start :)

Cheers

[up2nogood]

nice..I would love to look out of a very powerful telescope..1 meter lens..

[teutonic]

Bresser Skylux NG

69031

Looking for any advice or pointers on where to start :)

Cheers

yo fc.

You might want a moon filter for moon studying. ( google it ) I advise getting the free and awesome 'stellarium'.

Put your local co ords in when its installed.

Use your compass to match your real life direction to the stellarium view. What you see on the pc can now be sought with the telescope:
http://www.stellarium.org/img/screenshots/0.10-planets.jpg
http://www.stellarium.org/

[Forest]

look like sth a sniper would use , ive always wanted a telescope , (didnt get one cos i might be come a peeping tom lol )

cool thing to buy your self happy telescoping / Stargazing / peeping lol

[FordCapri]

Hey teutonic

Cheers for the info mate. Its got one of them moon filters already. I didn't know that's what it for for tho lol :)

That stellarium program is the mutts nutts. Just installed it and had a quick play around. Very cool indeed. Much easier to use and understand than some of the other sites/programs I have been looking at.

Do you do much star gazing yourself?

[up2nogood]

is it hard to keep the scope still? tiny things (stars far far away tends to move about a bit) lol

[FordCapri]

look like sth a sniper would use , ive always wanted a telescope , (didnt get one cos i might be come a peeping tom lol )

cool thing to buy your self happy telescoping / Stargazing / peeping lol

lol never thought about using it for peeping. I'll need to give it a go ;)

[up2nogood]

it's no good for neighbourhood watching..too powerful ;)

[teutonic]

Hey teutonic

Cheers for the info mate. Its got one of them moon filters already. I didn't know that's what it for for tho lol :)

That stellarium program is the mutts nutts. Just installed it and had a quick play around. Very cool indeed. Much easier to use and understand than some of the other sites/programs I have been looking at.

Do you do much star gazing yourself?

not since i moved back to the city - too much light pollution - :( But ive still got my celestron C6 'scope packed away for better times .....
http://www.365astronomy.com/images/91010_c6acg5_large.gif

[FordCapri]

is it hard to keep the scope still? tiny things (stars far far away tends to move about a bit) lol

Not sure what its like yet. I need to wait for these clouds to piss off so I can even see the sky! :) Looking at buildings in the distance though it was very easy and still. The controls for moving the scope and focusing it are very smooth and allow for very small adjustments. Im sure there will be a ton of blue air though when I try to focus on some stars.

I have seen expensive scopes though that are motor controlled and I think you just lock onto the object and it will follow it.

[FordCapri]

it's no good for neighbourhood watching..too powerful ;)

I can check out chicks in a different postcode lol ;)

[teutonic]

.. The controls for moving the scope and focusing it are very smooth and allow for very small adjustments. ..

you'll be glad of them when your 'tracking' a planet, it only takes a few moments for the observed body to slide smoothly from view. The magnification of the body magnifies its apparent movement through the sky too lol

[FordCapri]

not since i moved back to the city - too much light pollution - :( But ive still got my celestron C6 'scope packed away for better times .....
http://www.365astronomy.com/images/91010_c6acg5_large.gif

Nice! I bet that wasn't cheap! ;)

Its fairly built up where I am so im thinking light pollution will be an issue also. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

[up2nogood]

I had one once..long long time ago..must be 25 years ago now..pathetic it was..wanted to see some birds but they wouldn't keep the curtains open ;)

[teutonic]

When you get a chance, align your 'finder' scope with the big scope. It will be a blessing indeed when you decide to do some serious planet hunting :)

you can align it with buildings or anything if its daylight

i'm watching this on bbc i player at mo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b013pnv4/Horizon_20112012_Seeing_Stars/

[up2nogood]

teutonic..that scope you have could be used as a oxy bubbler.. ;)

[FordCapri]

When you get a chance, align your 'finder' scope with the big scope. It will be a blessing indeed when you decide to do some serious planet hunting :)

I managed to do this (I think anyway) today. When I look through the little scope on the side, it has a cross hair in it. I focused the big scope onto a point on a roof a fair distance away. Then I adjusted the cross hair of the smaller scope so it was pointing at the same spot. Is this what you mean? Will this be accurate for further away objects or is there another way to do it?

[FordCapri]

teutonic..that scope you have could be used as a oxy bubbler.. ;)

lol. No problems telling what color the trichs are then! ;)

[teutonic]

I managed to do this (I think anyway) today. When I look through the little scope on the side, it has a cross hair in it. I focused the big scope onto a point on a roof a fair distance away. Then I adjusted the cross hair of the smaller scope so it was pointing at the same spot. Is this what you mean? Will this be accurate for further away objects or is there another way to do it?

no as long as they both centre on the same object, they are aligned. Then when you want to find your sky object, use the finder scope to 'spot' it. , practice with the moon first.

edit - although hubble etc is frickin awesome, seeing jupiters moons and saturns rings with yer own eye and lenses is a mind blower :)

[up2nogood]

what's the moon like with your scope teut?

[Forest]

lol never thought about using it for peeping. I'll need to give it a go ;)

sad thing is i thought of it first then stars after lol

teut that thing looks cool defo think id like one

[teutonic]

what's the moon like with your scope teut?
rocky up2 :)

[blazefor20]

You'll have no problems viewing the helicopters too. Just kidding. There is more to see on the moon than most ppl realize. Have fun.

[hyperlite]

i would love to have one,but in london the best thing ive seen on a clear night is the spacestation, well i think it was,seemed bigger than the other saterlites ive seen cross over.

im so jelous you get a clear night with hundreds of stars.

[FordCapri]

Cant wait for a clear night now :) Going camping with the missus at the end of sept so I think i'll take it with me as we will be out in the middle of nowhere so there should be no light pollution. Hopefully see some cool stuff.

Next full moon (at night anyway) seems to be Thurs 10th Nov @ 8:16pm.

Any other dates that I should be aware of?

[teutonic]

...

Any other dates that I should be aware of?

September 12 - Full Moon. The Moon will be directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 09:27 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Corn Moon because the corn is harvested around this time of year. This moon is also known as the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the full moon that occurs closest to the September equinox each year.

September 25 - Uranus at Opposition. The blue-green planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view Uranus. Due to its distance, it will only appear as a tiny blue-green dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.
http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2011.html

[up2nogood]

rocky up2 :)

I asked for that one ;)

[The Fringe]

I have a small crappy "National geo" scope, father in law got it for me.
Its been under the bed for 4 years, but we are having a new consevatory built as we speak, so its coming out as soon as poss.
(although I did utilize the tripod to hold my veg lamp up for a while till I got another tent :) )
If I get much use out of it in the run up to Xmas, i'll be putting a bigger, better one on Santas list.

TF

[FordCapri]

Cheers for the link teutonic. Bookmarked for future reference :)

That stellarium program is amazing btw! Wish i had known about that ages ago. I can see most of my work today being left till Monday now lol.

[Smokeface]

If you download the NASA app for iPhone or android, they have a section where it tell you all the visible objects in the sky at your time and grid ref. It really is quite amazing. Also if you hold your phone in the air, the image on your screen is actuall what's behind it if you know what I mean?

The wife's dad has a very powerful scope with the motor built in. It rotates opposite the earths rotation and at the same speed so the object your viewing stays in view.

I'm very keen to get a top of the range amature/semi pro scope but the only problem is light pollution.

It's such a shame this, cause we miss out on so much amazing things.

I think the whole country should go into a blackout from 2am-5am every night.

This would help the star gazers and save the country millions in electricity!!!!

Smokeface

[FordCapri]

Nice one smokeface. Will need to borrow the missus HTC and check that out. :)

[Smokeface]

I just thought of another good app.

It's called pocket universe and tells you everything about what you can view at night.

The NASA one is good cause it gives you lists of all satellites and what their missions are.

I'm hoping for a clear night cos I'll be sat in my garden with a fat spliff and some rum gazing at the universe.

Smokeface

[FordCapri]

Sweet! Nothing better than a few doobies and staring at the sky. Its amazing how quickly time can pass sometimes :)