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. 

[Guest]

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! 

[Guest]

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? 

[SteveShannon]

8 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

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

I’m not a telescope expert, but I believe this is the kind of device my friend used to take the Spaghetti Nebula photo above:

https://www.highpointscientific.com/zwo-asi2600mc-duo-built-in-dual-sensor-astronomy-camera?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=1360885342&utm_content=61324494144&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-khUbxpGaSORu3Yipm-cdS4E-5t&gclid=CjwKCAiAxea5BhBeEiwAh4t5K29icn6xlqXGdkcmxvtZZ3axpIhvgIy1FW0364WYcUTIhPHYiy-tnhoCpaQQAvD_BwE
 

[WRYZ926]

I'm curious how the digital telescopes are too. I know the digital night vision and digital thermal sights have come a long way.

I haven't even owned or used a telescope for a long time. The memories of trying to get things in focus with the old Tasco telescopes we had. 

Closest I have now days is my 20-60 spotting scope.

[RayDiddio]

3 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

I'm curious how the digital telescopes are too. I know the digital night vision and digital thermal sights have come a long way.

I haven't even owned or used a telescope for a long time. The memories of trying to get things in focus with the old Tasco telescopes we had. 

Closest I have now days is my 20-60 spotting scope.

Refractor problems, amirite?

[WRYZ926]

Just now, RayDiddio said:

Refractor problems, amirite?

I'm sure it was since those were the cheap Tasco telescopes meant for kids back in the late 70's early 80's. I'll have to dig through boxes to see if I still have one of the old telescopes. I know I still have an old set of Tasco binoculars from when I was a kid. I was one of the cool kids with my binoculars and my Sears Walkie Talkies. 

[RayDiddio]

3 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

I’m not a telescope expert, but I believe this is the kind of device my friend used to take the Spaghetti Nebula photo above:

https://www.highpointscientific.com/zwo-asi2600mc-duo-built-in-dual-sensor-astronomy-camera?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=1360885342&utm_content=61324494144&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-khUbxpGaSORu3Yipm-cdS4E-5t&gclid=CjwKCAiAxea5BhBeEiwAh4t5K29icn6xlqXGdkcmxvtZZ3axpIhvgIy1FW0364WYcUTIhPHYiy-tnhoCpaQQAvD_BwE
 

It's got a really, really good APS-C imaging sensor in it. Sony makes good imaging sensors.

To be honest... the price is reasonable.

[OffRoaderX]

4 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

I’m not a telescope expert, but I believe this is the kind of device my friend used to take the Spaghetti Nebula photo above:

https://www.highpointscientific.com/zwo-asi2600mc-duo-built-in-dual-sensor-astronomy-camera?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=1360885342&utm_content=61324494144&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD-khUbxpGaSORu3Yipm-cdS4E-5t&gclid=CjwKCAiAxea5BhBeEiwAh4t5K29icn6xlqXGdkcmxvtZZ3axpIhvgIy1FW0364WYcUTIhPHYiy-tnhoCpaQQAvD_BwE
 

I'm no expert either (hence, my question) but that looks more like JUST a camera that you attach to a big telescope..

I'm asking about the small tabletop digital/smart type telescopes like the Seestar S50 ..

[SteveShannon]

21 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

I'm no expert either (hence, my question) but that looks more like JUST a camera that you attach to a big telescope..

I'm asking about the small tabletop digital/smart type telescopes like the Seestar S50 ..

You’re right.  I misunderstood what this device was.  Here’s a picture of it in use (as a marketing model).

[Guest]

These devices are amazing and I would love to receive one as a gift however, and usually I post when i have a "however". My interest in sky gazing is in experiencing the light with my own eye, and the night time environment around me. If I wanted electronically collected and processed images, I would just go to the Internet and look at the amazing images you can find there. A great example of being in-the-moment can be found by looking for u-toob videos of people who used film cameras during the last total solar eclipse. They "image stacked" using multiple exposures to a single film frame through a "old fashioned" camera lens onto medium format camera film. The careful interaction with the camera and the total being-there is what astronomy is about for me. Damn that FF80 thing looks good!

[OffRoaderX]

You guys talked me into it.. I just ordered a Seestar S30...

[SteveShannon]

All my life I’ve been interested in astronomy.  When my class had its eighth grade graduation we had a skit where we dressed up to look like our future selves.  I stood on the school stage dressed in a long black robe with a mortarboard on my head looking through a mocked up telescope. This was supposed to depict me as a future scientist.

Yet oddly enough, despite my basic interest, I never really got into astronomy.  Oh, I have a couple telescopes.  Over the years I’ve used binoculars and spotting scopes.  Maybe 20 years ago I bought a 4” Orion Dobsonian. I use it seldom, although I have used it to see Mercury pass across the sun and to view solar eclipses (with a solar filter of course. 15 years ago I bought a 10” Cave Astrola (big reflector scope with equatorial mount) that one of my engineer’s father was selling.  I should have paid better attention.  He was selling it because he was switching over to viewing streaming images on the internet. I believe it’s a nice scope but I have never looked through it.  I ought to remedy that.

@OffRoaderX I hope you love your new telescope and I hope that you will do a series of YouTube videos with your new equipment.  Maybe that will get me off my butt.