*** The Official Astronomy & Universe Thread ***

Christ, how much did that set you back?

Also, how do you find the goto with your dob? I might consider getting one of those mounts if i can get one at areasonable price
 
PermaBanned said:
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?
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:D. Just depends who made it.
Doesn;t bother me, I can convert between all the measurements in my head. I work in both metric and imperial at work, so its no biggie.
American companies tend to use the outdated Imperial system.
 
Got it for £1700 second hand 2 months old, it came with 3 mint Televue eyepieces worth £800, also h-beta filter and a few bits.

Goto is brilliant, once aligned, you can simply push the scope to the rough location of an object, then punch the object into the controller and it skews to it.
 
Some more questions from a idiot again;

1 - This meteor shower, how comes it dont hit the Earth? I mean how can it just stay on a set path and miss us, surely Earth would pull it closer, or dont things work like that?

2 - Where does the Earth end and space start, just going off that video.. its like once you see past the clouds you can instantly see space. I believe our planet is made up of our Earth and then all our Air which is trapped in by the ozone layer... so how much of that do I look at before im seeing proper space?

3 - Is space really black, or is it just black because its our night time... I mean during the day is space black but we just cant see it? Im thinking as the sun surely makes the sky bright for space during the day?
 
Some really inspiring stuff in this thread, nice work guys :)

I've always been fascinated by astronomy but never really taken the time to get properly into it besides watching programs on the Discovery channel :o

Once I move out of my flat and into a proper house with a garden, I fully intend to drop a few hundred quid on the some kit and start looking upwards.
 
mehuk said:
Some more questions from a idiot again;

1 - This meteor shower, how comes it dont hit the Earth? I mean how can it just stay on a set path and miss us, surely Earth would pull it closer, or dont things work like that?
- The meteors are tiny, the ones you can see are in the atmosphere and burn up. These are usually the size of a grain of rice. If you are very very lucky, you will see one the size of a grape hit the atmosphere, these are known as fireballs, as they burn an orangey/red colour and break up into 2 or more fragments. They are rare, but fantastic. I have only ever seen 1!

2 - Where does the Earth end and space start, just going off that video.. its like once you see past the clouds you can instantly see space. I believe our planet is made up of our Earth and then all our Air which is trapped in by the ozone layer... so how much of that do I look at before im seeing proper space?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere#Earth
100km before you are in space.
3 - Is space really black, or is it just black because its our night time... I mean during the day is space black but we just cant see it? Im thinking as the sun surely makes the sky bright for space during the day?
-The sun is no where bright enough to illuminate the space between solar systems. Its bright for us, because when it hits the atmosphere, it diffracts and lights up everything. It also does this in space (Have you seen the gold coloured visors on space suits? They are very expensive solar goggles). Space is black because there is NOTHING there!
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samir_ansari said:
Glad to see one of these threads open on the forums. I suppose I might aswell be the first to put up some of my personal astrophotography from a few months back. Since then I have made many more additions to my rig so should see quite an improvement when the conditions get better.

M51 Galaxy:
galaxy_m51_samir_ansari.jpg
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Very nice, do you have any of NGC 4486.
 
The skywatcher Dobsonians the flexitube hows that work, wont light get in from around the extended bit?

or for a little bit more is the 150p better?

Is goto worth the extra or are things easy enough to find with out it.
 
hargi said:
Is goto worth the extra or are things easy enough to find with out it.
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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
 
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
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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 ;)
 
I like both star hopping, and automated goto. Take a while to get used to an equatorial mount, and the knobs can sometimes be in an awful place dependin on the tube.
Personally, I would go GOTO if you want anything other than a DOB. You can always set it up, and still star hop using the controller. It really does make it easier. Otherwise you have to get into very odd positions to look through an eyepiece and still move the tube.

Of course, its a bit more expensive . . . .
 
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?
 
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