I've been thinking about picking up an astronomical telescope for a little while now. I haven't played around with telescopes in a good long time, but it occurs to me that not only is observation fun and educational, but also a damn good excuse to sit outside on the lawn drinking beer for extended periods of time.
I've had my eye on this model, the Orion XT8 for a while. Seems like a nice instrument for the price. If any of you guys stargaze, do you have any other decent suggestions in the same price range, say $3-400.00? Any other tidbits of knowledge that may be useful to a newb such as myself?
> > Any other tidbits of knowledge that may be useful to a newb such as myself? > > Neptune's moon is Triton, not Titan. That keeps them in proper order, and it even > rhymes with "frighten" better. > > > Seriously though, no, I know nothing that can help.
Noted
Also, did you know that the distances between stars are truly astronomical? It's true.
That's the same one I've had my eye on for an upcoming Christmas present. According to my research, a Dobsonian is supposed to be a better choice (for a beginner at least) than a refractor for basic stargazing.
> > > Any other tidbits of knowledge that may be useful to a newb such as myself? > > > > Neptune's moon is Triton, not Titan. That keeps them in proper order, and it even > > rhymes with "frighten" better. > > > > > > Seriously though, no, I know nothing that can help. > > > Noted > > Also, did you know that the distances between stars are truly astronomical? It's > true. And this is why every one should watch Jack Horkheimer "Star Gazer"...PBS....once a week he will tell you were to look up!
Hah. I LOVE astronomy. Actually, in college, I fell in love with my astronomy class, and ALMOST switched majors... I even took astrophysics and whatnot before I saw the light and went back to my original plan. Set me back an extra semester, but whatever.
The best part was I had painted a fairly accurate glowing star map on my dorm room ceiling... which paid off immensely... "Wanna see something cool... lay here, and look up, while I turn out the lights..."
Yeah boy... science nerd getting his freak on man!
Ok, enough reminiscing... I may as well be showing you vacation kodachromes.
Tips... lemme see...
The 8" telescope you picked out is decent... reflecting definitely the way to go... bigger if you can afford it. Don't go cheap on the eye piece either, especially if you wear glasses... the right eye piece and you can take your glasses off and look with your naked eye into the scope... more naked science geek! Astronomy rocks!
A true astronomy geek builds his own for a cost of about $50. [edit]Best is, you can build a super power giant Newtonian scope still for less than a store bought one... way more bang for the buck.[/edit]
Store bought or home made... when you bring it back into the house... you MUST cover that giant opening with a plastic cellophane wrap if it doesn't come with a cap. The cold steel mirror inside will condense moisture on itself, and over time fuxors up your image quality with residue or worse... rust.
> That's the same one I've had my eye on for an upcoming Christmas present. According > to my research, a Dobsonian is supposed to be a better choice (for a beginner at > least) than a refractor for basic stargazing.
First, you are confusing optics and mountings. Optics is refractor vs reflector at the high level, and when you get into reflectors, you have a choice of arrangements (Gregorian, Newtonian, Cassegrain, etc.), although Newtonian is the most common for small-scale stuff.
Mounts come in equatorial, alt-azimuth, Dobsonian etc. A Dobsonian mount for a reflector is easy to build, but it requires sophisticated computerised drive if you want to be able to track anything, which is handy when using high magnifications, and essential if you're trying to do any astrophotography (and believe me you'll get into it sooner or later). An equatorial mount, when set up properly, will allow you to track with a simple synchronous motor. That said, Dobsonian drive computers have become fairly cheap these days.
> Hah. I LOVE astronomy. Actually, in college, I fell in love with my astronomy class, > and ALMOST switched majors... I even took astrophysics and whatnot before I saw the > light and went back to my original plan. Set me back an extra semester, but whatever. > > The best part was I had painted a fairly accurate glowing star map on my dorm room > ceiling... which paid off immensely... "Wanna see something cool... lay here, and > look up, while I turn out the lights..." > > Yeah boy... science nerd getting his freak on man! > > Ok, enough reminiscing... I may as well be showing you vacation kodachromes. > > Tips... lemme see... > > The 8" telescope you picked out is decent... reflecting definitely the way to go... > bigger if you can afford it. Don't go cheap on the eye piece either, especially if > you wear glasses... the right eye piece and you can take your glasses off and look > with your naked eye into the scope... more naked science geek! Astronomy rocks! > > A true astronomy geek builds his own for a cost of about $50. [edit]Best is, you can > build a super power giant Newtonian scope still for less than a store bought one... > way more bang for the buck.[/edit] > > Store bought or home made... when you bring it back into the house... you MUST cover > that giant opening with a plastic cellophane wrap if it doesn't come with a cap. The > cold steel mirror inside will condense moisture on itself, and over time fuxors up > your image quality with residue or worse... rust.
Thanks G, some good info there
Debauchery angle:
The last time I used a telescope of any kind was from the porch of a loaned beach house in Belize in the mid-90s. The telescope was one of these, which I found much more useful for the terrestrial observation of a heavenly body in the next house a couple hundred yards down the beach. Totally got busted for it too.
True Geek angle:
I'm a dilettante in most things, and while the idea of building my own sounds all kinds of awesome, realistically I'd probably lose steam half way through the project and end up with yet another pile of dusty hardware sitting in the corner (Anyone interested in a bunch of awesome swag for building MAME cabs, vintage motorcycles, race cars, guitars, amps, RC helicopters & airplanes, bicycles, watches or computers, please feel free to PM me). Don't really need another of those sorts of projects, so I think I'll just buy the ticket to take this ride. Heh.
You did mention it might be advisable to go bigger if budget allows - would a 10" really make much of a noticeable difference over an 8" aperture? Remember, "newb" and "dilettante".
If I stretched the budget another hundred bucks or so, looks like this could be pretty nice. It also has a much nicer 90 degree spotting scope and a nice ball bearing dob mount...
> would a 10" really make much of a noticeable difference over an 8" aperture? Remember, "newb" and "dilettante".
The light gathering potential of the mirror is exponentially improved with diamter, so a 10" has a 50% light gathering advantage over an 8", and a 25% improved resolution.
Quote:
A 10-inch is the smallest of the big telescopes."As such, faint DSOs are much easier to see than with an 8-inch, and large DSOs begin to reveal detail which are just not there with an 8-inch. So if your budget and car can handle it, go for the 10-inch!
Also get at least one 2 inch eye piece. Pretty good for wide field views I also got a zoomable 2 inch piece. Which is ok.
Also get a .50 or 1.25.
Looks like these days the best way is to snag one of the kits (on that site). Which have a decent selection.
OH and a moon filter and depending on how close you are to a city a decent light filter. If you dont get anything else at least get the filters. They make em so the screw right onto the lens. Or you can get the more expensive one that goes over end of the tube.
Keep in mind you need somewhere to keep it when you are not using it. Mine stands about 5.5 high. The 8 inch one would probably be about 4-5 ft. Also keep in mind it is about 40 pounds of stuff if you want to take it anywhere. Which doesnt sound like much until you are hiking it up a hill...
> > would a 10" really make much of a noticeable difference over an 8" aperture? > Remember, "newb" and "dilettante". > > The light gathering potential of the mirror is exponentially improved with diamter, > so a 10" has a 50% light gathering advantage over an 8", and a 25% improved > resolution. > > > A 10-inch is the smallest of the big telescopes."As such, faint DSOs are much easier > to see than with an 8-inch, and large DSOs begin to reveal detail which are just not > there with an 8-inch. So if your budget and car can handle it, go for the 10-inch!
> I bought this years ago... > > http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobs...13/p/102006.uts > > Pain is waiting for it to cool off and my neighbors decided to put in a street light > (in my yard of course) 6 months after I moved in... > > Hardly ever use it anymore due to light pollution. > > Also getting the thing collimated is a pain. Get something like this. Makes it dead > simple to do. I usually spend 20-30 mins getting mine just right. > http://www.telescope.com/Orion-LaserMate...s?keyword=laser > > Looks like it comes with 1 eye piece. So plan on another 100-200 bucks in eye pieces > and filters. > > This is worth getting too for a bit of extra fl. > http://www.telescope.com/Accessories/Tel.../sc/47/e/11.uts > > Also get at least one 2 inch eye piece. Pretty good for wide field views I also got a > zoomable 2 inch piece. Which is ok. > > Also get a .50 or 1.25. > > Looks like these days the best way is to snag one of the kits (on that site). Which > have a decent selection. > > OH and a moon filter and depending on how close you are to a city a decent light > filter. If you dont get anything else at least get the filters. They make em so the > screw right onto the lens. Or you can get the more expensive one that goes over end > of the tube. > > Personally I wish I had got something like this. For as little as I use it... and its > much more compact. > http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Cass...c/14/p/9174.uts > > Keep in mind you need somewhere to keep it when you are not using it. Mine stands > about 5.5 high. The 8 inch one would probably be about 4-5 ft. Also keep in mind it > is about 40 pounds of stuff if you want to take it anywhere. Which doesnt sound like > much until you are hiking it up a hill...
Agreed on weight/bulk for transporting, that's one of the reasons I was thinking 8" instead of 10", but it probably doesn't make much odds between the two - both WOULD be a pain to hike up Mt. Wilson . I'm thinking more yard/patio usage, with an occasional jaunt in the car to my place in the desert, which I can drive right up to.
Storage is not actually a problem in terms of floorspace either way.
This Apertura AD8 and this Apertura AD10 have kind of caught my eye, seems like they both have a nicer accessory/eyepiece/finder package included than the Orion XT8/XT10. What do you think of these?
Will look into Cassegrain types a little more too.
The one mistake I made was buying too big at first. I lost interest really... because of the pain of setup. I make the same recommendation to anyone just starting out. Buy small at first. If you get into it, then get picky...
If I had it to do over I would have got something like either of these two and probably something with a built in electric auto tracker.
http://meade.com/lightbridge (same fl as the big one an MUCH lighter and can create a tube with a blanket). Downside is stability and shake.
A guy I know at work got one of the etx series and he loves it. As he uses it to teach people about the constellations and has a built in 'tour' and he can premark things he wants to see/teach about. His only complaint is the lens holder stinks and you have to basically buy meade ones that fit. He is only now thinking of getting a bigger one.
Best advice though? Find a local club and go look thru some of the scopes and ask around what they think and look thru em. They use them a LOT more than I ever used mine. Also you may be ok with something much simpler or it may help you decide 'yeah I do want a 10 inch'. Like a buddy of mine is perfectly fine with a 4 inch refractors he has.
You ask me which is better, 8" or 10"... yes, you ACTUALLY asked me which is better... eight inches or ten inches... and my reply stuck to the astronomical facts... especially considering you TOTALLY set that one up for me, hung that fruit down low, tee'd it right up you did... and STILL, with all that temptation... I didn't go there... and all I get is a TY Sir?
> C'mon, seriously? > > You ask me which is better, 8" or 10"... yes, you ACTUALLY asked me which is > better... eight inches or ten inches... and my reply stuck to the astronomical > facts... especially considering you TOTALLY set that one up for me, hung that fruit > down low, tee'd it right up you did... and STILL, with all that temptation... I > didn't go there... and all I get is a TY Sir? > > BTW, Sez agrees, 10" inches, size matters.
You could have avoided the "TY" by giving him "pi r squared" instead. He might not thank you at all if you made him calculate for himself that the area of a 10" circle is 50%+ more than an 8" one.
> C'mon, seriously? > > You ask me which is better, 8" or 10"... yes, you ACTUALLY asked me which is > better... eight inches or ten inches... and my reply stuck to the astronomical > facts... especially considering you TOTALLY set that one up for me, hung that fruit > down low, tee'd it right up you did... and STILL, with all that temptation... I > didn't go there... and all I get is a TY Sir? > > BTW, Sez agrees, 10" inches, size matters.
You're right of course, I totally slacked on that one.
couldn't resist jumping in even with my limited bandwidth... Seriously? You're talking about "Basic stargazing" in a thread that's talking about ~$500 telescope setups?
I have a telescope. Think it's worth about $25~$40. That's basic stargazing.
Just broke my personal record for number of consecutive days without dying!
I went ahead and popped on an Apertura AD8 reflector, and couldn't be happier with it. Thanks guys for all the helpful suggestions (yes, even you Tfin, with your 78" business, even though I didn't act on it)
Last night was the first clear night here since I'd received and assembled the scope, so I took it out at about 1:30 am to sight it in, cool it down, and have a good look at Jupiter and its moons at (almost) zenith. Using a 9mm plossl, Jupiter looked to be the size of a dime held at arms length, and I could very distinctly make out its banding. Europa, Io, Ganymede, and Callista were all bright resolvable discs arrayed out to its sides.I think I may have even caught a glimpse of Pi's house.
I spent about an hour gawking at Jupiter, playing with magnification, tweaking the finder, and working on the scope's balance. I think I could get really hooked on this astronomy stuff.
> I spent about an hour gawking at Jupiter, playing with magnification, tweaking the > finder, and working on the scope's balance. I think I could get really hooked on this > astronomy stuff.
So when are you building a 10" one? BTW did you get an automated drive system with it?
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So those are just reruns every weekend on the PBS. Him and Bob Ross are hanging out in heaven. 
