Telescopes

[GMRSJohn]

How many star gazers do we have in this group? What telescopes are y’all using?

 I’m looking at new ones… I have my eye on a Celestron - AstroMaster 130EQ.

[WRXB215]

It's been a while since I did any star gazing but I really enjoyed it. I only have a very cheap telescope and binos but it's still fun.

[GMRSJohn]

2 hours ago, WRXB215 said:

It's been a while since I did any star gazing but I really enjoyed it. I only have a very cheap telescope and binos but it's still fun.

I’m an overachiever… most all my hobbies are expensive. Or.. they can be lol. 
 

I had a Celestron. Good… but I want to see deep space. Nebulae, star clusters, other planets. Etc.

[SteveShannon]

18 minutes ago, GMRSJohn said:

I’m an overachiever… most all my hobbies are expensive. Or.. they can be lol. 
 

I had a Celestron. Good… but I want to see deep space. Nebulae, star clusters, other planets. Etc.

Here’s a photo a friend of mine took of the Spaghetti Nebula. She did some processing to make things more visible. I put the details beneath the image :

 

SH2-240, The Spaghetti nebula

The Spaghetti Nebula is a large supernova remnant.  It is 3000 ly away, and spans roughly 160 ly. It is estimated to be about 40,000 years old.
It is believed that the stellar explosion left behind a rapidly spinning neutron star known as pulsar PSR J0538+2817 in the nebula core, emitting a strong radio signal.

WO Pleaides 68
ASI 2600MC DUO
AM3
ASIAIR
EAF
Antlia ALP-T dual narrow band filter

132x 300 sec exposures
11 hour total integration
Processed with Pixinsight and Affinity Photo

 

[WRXB215]

@SteveShannon Wow! That friend of your does some amazing work. 

[GMRSJohn]

3 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Here’s a photo a friend of mine took of the Spaghetti Nebula. She did some processing to make things more visible. I put the details beneath the image :

 

SH2-240, The Spaghetti nebula

The Spaghetti Nebula is a large supernova remnant.  It is 3000 ly away, and spans roughly 160 ly. It is estimated to be about 40,000 years old.
It is believed that the stellar explosion left behind a rapidly spinning neutron star known as pulsar PSR J0538+2817 in the nebula core, emitting a strong radio signal.

WO Pleaides 68
ASI 2600MC DUO
AM3
ASIAIR
EAF
Antlia ALP-T dual narrow band filter

132x 300 sec exposures
11 hour total integration
Processed with Pixinsight and Affinity Photo

 

That’s awesomeness!!

[WRQC527]

8 hours ago, GMRSJohn said:

How many star gazers do we have in this group? What telescopes are y’all using?

 I’m looking at new ones… I have my eye on a Celestron - AstroMaster 130EQ.

I enjoy stargazing. I have a generic 5" reflector on a Dobsonian mount. I mostly like looking at the planets, the nebula in Orion, and of course the Moon. Jupiter is on the rise now, and it never ceases to fascinate me. Light pollution in my area of southern California wipes out a lot of good views. 

 

[GMRSJohn]

9 minutes ago, WRQC527 said:

I enjoy stargazing. I have a generic 5" reflector on a Dobsonian mount. I mostly like looking at the planets, the nebula in Orion, and of course the Moon. Jupiter is on the rise now, and it never ceases to fascinate me. Light pollution in my area of southern California wipes out a lot of good views. 

 

I’ve been looking at a dobsonian mount tabletop Celestron. Just curious how easy they are to maneuver?

[WRQC527]

3 hours ago, GMRSJohn said:

I’ve been looking at a dobsonian mount tabletop Celestron. Just curious how easy they are to maneuver?

I built mine after looking at a bunch of diy's online. The problem with mine is that it doesn't track like an equatorial mount. Which is OK with me. But if you want to do astrophotography or keep an object in view without constantly moving, they're not ideal. I imagine the commercial made units have some pretty slick tracking mechanisms. 

[WRKW566]

Other than a spotting scope, this is my telescope. It's another museum piece. Had it for I forget how long.

I also have a Celestron Sky Scout

[RayDiddio]

I've been looking up so long my neck hurts.

Jack Horkheimer always reminded me to keep looking up and I still do. He was truly a loss in the world of planetariums and space in general.

I do not currently own a telescope but will be getting another sometime after January when we are done moving. I am looking at some middle upper end Celestron models with tracking mounts as I am an amateur photog and would love to try and get some nice DSO images.

Anyway, this is what I have been eyeballing for a few months now: https://www.celestron.com/products/cpc-1100-gps-xlt-computerized-telescope

[GMRSJohn]

20 hours ago, RayDiddio said:

I've been looking up so long my neck hurts.

Jack Horkheimer always reminded me to keep looking up and I still do. He was truly a loss in the world of planetariums and space in general.

I do not currently own a telescope but will be getting another sometime after January when we are done moving. I am looking at some middle upper end Celestron models with tracking mounts as I am an amateur photog and would love to try and get some nice DSO images.

Anyway, this is what I have been eyeballing for a few months now: https://www.celestron.com/products/cpc-1100-gps-xlt-computerized-telescope

Jack Horkheimer!! Man I haven’t heard that name in years!… yes! He was pretty instrumental in getting me into astronomy. I loved that show. 

[GMRSJohn]

20 hours ago, WRKW566 said:

Other than a spotting scope, this is my telescope. It's another museum piece. Had it for I forget how long.

I also have a Celestron Sky Scout

That looks awesome! 

[WRKW566]

3 hours ago, GMRSJohn said:

That looks awesome! 

The little thing works really well but it is very small and made of materials that I would never allow to get wet. It helps to put a leather bag full of buckshot, like a gun rest on the base part when you are using it. It's light weight and unless it's sitting on a solid surface and weighted, it's too easy to jiggle around. Mine is so old they don't make that pattern on the mirror tube anymore.

The Sky Scout no longer is "allowed" to work. The GPS system changed in some way making the "fix" the device gets wrong for locating objects. It's a wonderful package and when it worked, it was like looking through a magical box. Sometimes I still put batteries in it and fool around with the screen. It had a lot of empirical data about the planets and some major stars. So went my early sweep through the astronomy hobby. I credit my tech school room mate, he use to hand grind and polish mirrors for his own telescopes. So many hours of watching him do that watching TV in the dorm room. He made his own 6 and 8 inch reflector telescopes, including grinding the mirrors

[OffRoaderX]

For you telescope experts, what is your opinion of the new digital "Smart" type imaging telescopes?