Astro Thread

I have an 8" Celestron but am a complete novice when it comes to WTF I'm looking at.... LOL.

My oldest son is currently getting his ass kicked in the AstroPhysics program at NMT.

I thought the stars were bright here until I went to S. NM. WOW.

great thread, guys.

mtn
 
The constellation Orion can be found rising in the evenings of November. The middle "star" of Orion's sword is the Orion Nebula. That is one of my most favorite things to look at through a telescope or a pair of binoculars.
 
The constellation Orion can be found rising in the evenings of November. The middle "star" of Orion's sword is the Orion Nebula. That is one of my most favorite things to look at through a telescope or a pair of binoculars.


Yeah, the Orion Nebula is definitely a classic -- one of the first things I enjoyed looking at when I got a small refractor telescope in high school. Makes me think about getting a good modern telescope...

Even just the Orion constellation itself is pretty spectacular: bright stars -- some in seemingly straight lines or regular polygons...not too hard to see it as the figure it's supposed to represent. It's a beauty! :)
 
MarkBC said:
Yeah, the Orion Nebula is definitely a classic -- one of the first things I enjoyed looking at when I got a small refractor telescope in high school. Makes me think about getting a good modern telescope...

Hi Mark BC I just brought a 6" Sky Watcher Newtonian reflector and so far the Moon is keeping me enthralled. Jupiter is disappointing through it though even with a 6mm eyepiece. I guess it is true about aperture, you can never have enough.
Cheers,
Kevin.
Click to expand...
 
The constellation Orion can be found rising in the evenings of November. The middle "star" of Orion's sword is the Orion Nebula. That is one of my most favorite things to look at through a telescope or a pair of binoculars.


Me to Edohart, and you cant forget or miss Sirius ( The Brightest Star ) down and to the left of Orion In Cannis Major. Although you don't need a telescope to see Sirius.
Cheers,
Kevin.
 
banderswipe said:
MarkBC said:
Yeah, the Orion Nebula is definitely a classic -- one of the first things I enjoyed looking at when I got a small refractor telescope in high school. Makes me think about getting a good modern telescope...

Hi Mark BC I just brought a 6" Sky Watcher Newtonian reflector and so far the Moon is keeping me enthralled. Jupiter is disappointing through it though even with a 6mm eyepiece. I guess it is true about aperture, you can never have enough.
Cheers,
Kevin.
Click to expand...
The terminus on the moon (the area bewteen light and dark, or sunlight and shadow) is a wonderful place to aim a telescope. Be carefull looking at a full moon. You may step back from the eyepiece partially blinded!

6 inches should be more than enough aperature to view Jupiter. I pulled my 8" Celestron out tonight (mostly because of this thread) and the seeing was horrible, so maybe your disappointment isn't because of lack of apperature.

The Pleadies (sp?) a.k.a. The Seven Sisters, is another fun target. It is an open cluster in the constellation Taurus and looks like a tiny dipper (as compared to the the big dipper and little dipper). It's a little after 7:00 pm and I can see it rising in the east from my back yard tonight.

[edit]
It's redundant to say that celestial objects rise in the East. :rolleyes: [/edit]
Click to expand...
 
ame='banderswipe' date='07 November 2010 - 09:53 AM' timestamp='1289148819' post='43016']

The terminus on the moon (the area between light and dark, or sunlight and shadow) is a wonderful place to aim a telescope. Be careful looking at a full moon. You may step back from the eyepiece partially blinded!

6 inches should be more than enough aperture to view Jupiter. I pulled my 8" Celestron out tonight (mostly because of this thread) and the seeing was horrible, so maybe your disappointment isn't because of lack of aperture.

The Pleadies (sp?) a.k.a. The Seven Sisters, is another fun target. It is an open cluster in the constellation Taurus and looks like a tiny dipper (as compared to the the big dipper and little dipper). It's a little after 7:00 pm and I can see it rising in the east from my back yard tonight.

[edit]
It's redundant to say that celestial objects rise in the East. :rolleyes: [/edit]

Hi Edo, you could be right about the seeing. I have used my telescope only 6 or7 times in the month that i have had it and the sky has been either too cloudy or very poor for viewing. When I used it last night I a was having problems with dew or frost, alternatively.
Thanks for the warning about how bright the moon is especially when full. I am going to invest in a variable filter . When viewing last month's full moon I was using my Polarized sun glasses to take the glare away.
I always checkout the Pleadies then go up to the double cluster above Perseus then hop across to M31 or the Andromeda Galaxy. Edo are there any Nebula as big as the Orion Nebula that are easy to find? I have lots of light pollution where I live, it is far from being a dark sky location. A number of people from my area go about 30 miles north for better viewing. I will try that soon. Have you seen comet Hartley yet? I think the light from it is to diffuse for me to see it in my area. Maybe I will find it when I go north. :)
Cheers,
Kevin.
 
Hi Edo, you could be right about the seeing. I have used my telescope only 6 or7 times in the month that i have had it and the sky has been either too cloudy or very poor for viewing. When I used it last night I a was having problems with dew or frost, alternatively.
Thanks for the warning about how bright the moon is especially when full. I am going to invest in a variable filter . When viewing last month's full moon I was using my Polarized sun glasses to take the glare away.
I always checkout the Pleadies then go up to the double cluster above Perseus then hop across to M31 or the Andromeda Galaxy. Edo are there any Nebula as big as the Orion Nebula that are easy to find? I have lots of light pollution where I live, it is far from being a dark sky location. A number of people from my area go about 30 miles north for better viewing. I will try that soon. Have you seen comet Hartley yet? I think the light from it is to diffuse for me to see it in my area. Maybe I will find it when I go north. :)
Cheers,
Kevin.

Sorry for the late reply.I don't know of any nebula which is bigger, brighter, or easier to find than the Orion Nebula. The galaxy M31 and it's compannion are a close second.

When viewing nebulia under the bright lights of a city, a "Hydrogen Emmission" filter is a great aid in that it blocks out unwelcome wavelengths of light, such as that produced by most street lights, but allows the wavelengths of light emmitted by most nebulia to reach the eyepiece. I would love to bore you with the reasons why such a filter works, but for now, know that under city lights an H2 emmission filter will make most nebulia much easier to see. H2 Filters also tend to be expensive.
 
Oh, I thought this was going to be about the vans. :rolleyes:


Stars are good!

Thanks for the heads up on the comet.

Way funny, i too clicked cuz i thought it might be about 'the vans'... BUT must say that astronomy was a fav study in college. Since moving to the PNW i've had to continue any love of the stars to books or shots on the web cuz they are hard to see through all our cloud cover!

Very nice posts and images!
 
Had a few really clear (and cold) nights lately. Took out my small portable scope and Jupiter was spectacular. High and bright in the south, you can't miss it. 4 moons easily visible too. It tried to mount a digital SLR to the scope directly, but was having trouble focusing it, so I'll have to keep working on that.
 
Had a few really clear (and cold) nights lately. Took out my small portable scope and Jupiter was spectacular. High and bright in the south, you can't miss it. 4 moons easily visible too. It tried to mount a digital SLR to the scope directly, but was having trouble focusing it, so I'll have to keep working on that.

Hope you had a nice hot thermos of hot chocolate (or something) with you. The next time you venture out with your scope, see if you can see any bright spots in Jupiter's South Equatorial Belt.

http://www.skyandtel.../107042728.html

I confess I haven't looked at Jupiter lately, but on my last observing run I was looking at stars that might have Jupiter-mass planets orbiting them. The project hasn't had much success yet, but if things change, I'll let you know.
 
on my last observing run I was looking at stars that might have Jupiter-mass planets orbiting them. The project hasn't had much success yet, but if things change, I'll let you know.


Was this the looking-for-tell-tale-star-wobble approach to finding planets? Or something else?
 
Was this the looking-for-tell-tale-star-wobble approach to finding planets? Or something else?


Yes, looking for the Doppler wobble of the star. We have a spectrograph that utilizes interferometry, and is sensitive enough to detect Jupiter-mass but not Earth-mass planets.
 
HighZ- what did they use to capture this eruption? I mean how close is the craft (I'm assuming it wasn't ground-based) that shot this?

The giant solar fart:

Here is the short article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101215/ts_yblog_thelookout/watch-the-suns-great-eruption
 
Hey Brett, that's from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, in geosynchronous orbit. In fact, its ground station is here in New Mexico, so it's "parked" above us New Mexicans (waaaay above us). Here's the satellite info:

http://www.nasa.gov/...view/index.html

Looks like that clip was taken with the AIA instrument, which is designed to image the high-energy corona.

Very cool.
 
I wonder what the time scale is in that video? That jet of gas shot out a distance almost the diameter of the sun- which is like, what, 1000 earth's? So that can't happen in a few seconds, thus time lapse right?
 
Hey Brett, that's from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, in geosynchronous orbit.

For some reason, I would have thought it was orbiting the sun much closer, like say near Venus, instead of orbiting Earth. Good thing I'm not designing spacecraft.
 
Monday night we get both winter solstice and a total lunar eclipse. Hope y'all can stay up late enough to watch Luna pass through Earth's shadow.

http://www.nasa.gov/...21-eclipse.html


Well, if the weather cooperates -- clear-skies-wise. Right now it doesn't look good for the far-West.
sad.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads - WTW

craig333
East Mojave Trek
craig333
craig333
R
Overland Route - Sonoran Desert Traverse
Ronin
R
R
Overland Route - Anza-Borrego Discovery Trail
CPT Davenport
CPT Davenport
O
For Sale: 2021 4WC Hawk, Loaded, Joshua Tree CA, Mesa White, Solar, Lithium
OrangeCurtain
O
teledork
Solo Traveling While Female
2 3
teledork
teledork

New posts - WTW

Back
Top Bottom