* The Official Astronomy & Universe Thread *

PermaBanned · 7 Aug 2011 at 14:18

The nights are getting longer. Jupiter's coming out to play. Hell, soon we might even see Orion pop his head over the horizon. What better time to create a long overdue Astronomy thread? I know there's quite a few of us on here, ranging from full time imagers (if any of you would be kind enough to donate something to the OP i'm sure it would be much appreciated

) to naked eye observers (like me). So stop hiding away, show off your gear and find yet another place to whine about these cloudy nights

We can also use this thread to keep up to date on all the latest Physics (and, yes... i suppose other Sciences :rolleyes:

) news and help out prospective astronomers. And feel free to suggest anything to go in this post to make it more helpful/just generally better.

Clear skies! :cool:

Helpful links:

http://www.stellarium.org/ - Essential Open Source software for any budding astronomer
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/astronomy/astro21/sandt/startright.html - Great reading material for beginners
http://stargazerslounge.com/ - Arguably the best dedicated Astronomy forum out there

PermaBanned · 7 Aug 2011 at 14:33

Urgh, Silverlight. I will however use this as an excuse to promote the other thread i made this morning:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18303997

PermaBanned · 7 Aug 2011 at 14:40

Uhtred said:
stellarium as posted above. Excellent little programme, you can also get a lot of smart phone apps. If you wanted to invest some money then Turn Left at Orion is a very good book

Yup, and i believe there's a new 'edition' of Turn Left at Orion out soon, ring bound and with more objects in

PermaBanned · 7 Aug 2011 at 15:18

I do think the EQ6 is overkill... you've got to ask yourself, will it still work when the solar storm wipes out all electrical devices?

Nah, if you want something better than an EQ5 then be a man and make it!

PermaBanned · 7 Aug 2011 at 16:21

Well, there have been some amazing photos of the ISS taken through a scope but that takes A LOT of skill and usually some pretty advanced gear to boot.

PermaBanned · 7 Aug 2011 at 16:40

Oh, and on Solar filters from what i head you get Baader Film or you get nothing.

PermaBanned · 7 Aug 2011 at 17:55

Nice images! Are they with a webcam? As always; details!

Random image of the day:

Because, you know, i can totally understand having 42" of aperture to look at something as dim as... THE SUN?!

Just imagine if something flew through the film... that's one way to make a nice 1.25" diameter hole your skull

PermaBanned · 8 Aug 2011 at 00:10

Well, on good days you can see some green in M42...

PermaBanned · 8 Aug 2011 at 15:17

Yeah, the 150P and 200P are about as perfect beginner observing scopes as you could ask for. And if you don't want to splash out on a whole eyepiece kit then this article is definitely worth a read:

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/80772-eyepieces-very-least-you-need.html

So basically the very least = one for wide angle viewing and one for high power viewing, which may very well be the ones that came with your scope. But pretty soon you'll be wanting something in between. Oh, and a moon filter is always a good buy

And if you have an Android phone an app called SkEye can be used to essentially turn it into a push-to (which i think you can do with Google Skymaps too but you'd have to try them both to see what's better.

PermaBanned · 11 Aug 2011 at 20:21

LP filters designed for the old 'orange' streetlights might not be very effective with the new white(er) light since they cover a much wider part of the spectrum.

Anyway, just before the rain rolled in I managed to get out and enjoy the first clear skies in a long while. Moon was quite bright but I managed to spot The Plough and Cygnus, and a satellite passing directly overhead (what's the word for that?) but Heavens Above didn't load fast enough to tell me what it was. A couple of owls seemed to be out enjoying it too

Still, naked eye can only get you so far... not that I'm anywhere near learning the sky or anything

PermaBanned · 12 Aug 2011 at 15:14

Andy90 said:
Another nice little program that people may like

Celestia

I heard some Tweetup attendees mention being demoed a program (web app?) made by NASA in the same lieu as Celestia, could be interesting. Good as it is there is a hell of a lot of scrolling involved with Celestia

PermaBanned · 12 Aug 2011 at 16:06

@Muzy: I would argue that for the visible spectrum...

http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/vlt.html

wins hands down

@Sim (

): Doesn't matter where i look mate, clouds as far as the eye can see

PermaBanned · 12 Aug 2011 at 16:38

That's just pointlessly dramatic. Graphic designers have a lot of time on their hands now, do they?

PermaBanned · 12 Aug 2011 at 16:46

You know, i don't get why we don't just use metric for all aperture measurements. What is it, 76mm, 114 mm, 130mm... then 6", 8", 10", 12" etc.? What's going on there?

PermaBanned · 13 Aug 2011 at 01:27

PermaBanned said:
...and a satellite passing directly overhead (what's the word for that?)...

The word i was looking for was zenith by the way

PermaBanned · 14 Aug 2011 at 00:52

hargi said:
Can someone that knows about telescpopes email me in trust?

Why not just ask here, where others could potentially learn from your questions?

PermaBanned · 14 Aug 2011 at 20:04

Pighardia said:
it is definitely worth it if you can afford it!

But it isn't difficult to find your way with a decent guide/Stellarium etc. Half the fun is finding stuff!!!

The 150p is a very nive scope and would be an excellent starting scope, but then i would say that there isn't that much difference from the 130p tbh.

I don't know about anyone else, but i would recommend getting a dob as a first scope, especially if you do not end up getting a goto scope

I wouldn't say it's worth it so much as it's there if you want it. For some half the fun is tracking down and finding an object. For others they just want to jump straight in and be looking at something amazing. Plus you can always get push-to apps for your phone

PermaBanned · 14 Aug 2011 at 20:14

PhillyDee said:
Of course, its a bit more expensive . . . .

That being the key thing - if you choose to go for goto then you'll probably end up getting half the aperture for the same price.

PermaBanned · 14 Aug 2011 at 20:17

churchhawk said:
Some of those pictures are amazing, for a complete noob would there be anything out there under say 200 quid that would enable me to see things like that!? Or are we looking at LOTS of money here?

Under £200 the best beginner scope would most likely be the 150P Dob, which would get you some pretty amazing views... but imaging is completely different, you can't say what you'll see because the human eye is nothing like a digital (or an emulsion) sensor. As said there are very few nebulae you'd be able to see colour in without a huge scope, but 6" is a very good place to start out (

).

PermaBanned · 14 Aug 2011 at 20:24

hargi said:
Hows light pollution affect things? I live in a town, nothing like london but theres streetlights ect.

It can be the bane of your life, but unless you live directly under a streetlight and have nowhere nearby to take your kit it's not a complete game-stopper.

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