The Astronomy hobby thread

[masraum]

Originally Posted by fireant911

Eric,
PM sent! I am incredibly excited about this.

Now you don't need that 2x Barlow!

[berettafan]

how about some pics?

maybe a thread documenting your journey into this hobby?

[quicksix]

Beautiful Harvest Moon coming up here.

[flipper35]

Our daughter has an entry level scope, not sure the brand even, that we use now and then. We are lucky ni that there isn't a lot of LP in our little area and we regularly see sats and the space station glide by. Sometimes what looks like a sat but ins't and doesn't show up in the Heavens Above tracking app. We knew it wasn't a satellite because even though it traversed the sky in a similar fashion and speed, but it was doing s turns. All of us saw it and looked at each other and asked "Did that really alter direction up there".

Anyway, it is a great hobby we all enjoy. Is there a way to attach a small camera to those types of tubes?

[Eric Hahl]

Lots of ways to connect just about any camera or cell phone, or...

https://www.google.com/search?q=digiscoping+adapter&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6nfDavNzWAhVY42MKHRO6AV4Q_AUICigB&biw=1340&bih=895

[Evans, Marv]

I loved looking at the pictures & reading about this hobby you guys are enjoying but I'm not interested in taking it up. I did have it as a hobby as a kid in elementary school though when we lived in a little town at 4K' elevation. I did odd jobs around the neighborhood during the summer and saved my money. When I had enough, I ordered a 30x40mm refracting telescope from the Sears catalog. I'd set it up on a stool in the front yard on cool nights and look at things - especially the planets and moon. Of course I could see the craters on the moon, make out the polar cap on Mars and the rings of Saturn along with the larger moons of Jupiter. I also made a filter out of four welding lenses to see sun spots. I became familiar with the night sky and a bunch of the major stars, and that familiarity has remained with me. I still find the whole topic fascinating.

[Eric Hahl]

The Andromeda Galaxy. About 2.2 million light years away and closing.

Shot with my Fuji X-Pro 1 and Skywatcher 120. If I remember correctly about 1 hour of total exposure time.

[Eric Hahl]

M33, another nearby neighbor.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by Eric Hahl

The Andromeda Galaxy. About 2.2 million light years away and closing.

Shot with my Fuji X-Pro 1 and Skywatcher 120. If I remember correctly about 1 hour of total exposure time.

Assume the individual stars that you see are in our Milky Way... the big ones are other galaxies (and some of the small ones)...

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by Eric Hahl

The Andromeda Galaxy. About 2.2 million light years away and closing.



Shot with my Fuji X-Pro 1 and Skywatcher 120. If I remember correctly about 1 hour of total exposure time.

So this sort of thing requires a computerized mount that follows the target right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fireant911]

Eric,
The two eyepieces completed their southeastern journey today and arrived in my hands. I am way excited about using the scope and these wonderful eyepieces you sent!!! This was an extremely kind act from you and is very much appreciated. Unfortunately, because construction began two weeks ago on our home, I have not even unboxed the telescope I received last week... Also, per a link you provided a few posts above, I will be ordering the cellphone holding device and will be attaching some pictures of the heavens on this thread - of course, my pictures will be of much closer bodies but there is a lot to see that is close by. You have a PM.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by tcar

Assume the individual stars that you see are in our Milky Way... the big ones are other galaxies (and some of the small ones)...

Correct. There are 3 galaxies in that picture, the obvious giant one, the large fuzzy ball at 3 o'clock from that, and there is the edge of one right on the top edge of the picture. Everything else is a star nearby to us, in our own galaxy.
The individual stars are anywhere from, say, 10-5000 lightyears away, while the Galaxies are 2.5 million light years away.

The 2 smaller galaxies are called satellite galaxies, they actually orbit around the main one (over some hundreds of millions of years each orbit, they've only gone around maybe 20 times since they formed).

[Eric Hahl]

Got a couple new scopes and astro camera for Xmas.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Eric Hahl

Got a couple new scopes and astro camera for Xmas.

Wow, very nice!

Now you are going to have to take some pics and show us your results.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Correct. There are 3 galaxies in that picture, the obvious giant one, the large fuzzy ball at 3 o'clock from that, and there is the edge of one right on the top edge of the picture. Everything else is a star nearby to us, in our own galaxy.
The individual stars are anywhere from, say, 10-5000 lightyears away, while the Galaxies are 2.5 million light years away.

The 2 smaller galaxies are called satellite galaxies, they actually orbit around the main one (over some hundreds of millions of years each orbit, they've only gone around maybe 20 times since they formed).

Fantastic... thank you.

[Eric Hahl]

So I got a new program for astro imaging and re-processed my Orion shot. I dig it.

[Scott Douglas]

That's an awesome picture Eric.
Thanks for sharing it.

[Eric Hahl]

Thanks! You're welcome.

[sammyg2]

You guys are into astronomy?
That's totally awesome. I'm a Scorpio on the Sagittarius cusp ......
What's your sign?

[Eric Hahl]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

You guys are into astronomy?
That's totally awesome. I'm a Scorpio on the Sagittarius cusp ......
What's your sign?

My sign is STOP! Please!!! LOL.