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anyone here have an interest in this? i was thinking of buying a telescope and having a look into the universe. What type of zoom lens etc would be adequate to have a look at some of the other planets?
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Astronomy
- Thread starter strung_out7
- Start date
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Size matters. The larger the tube the more light gets in, and the clearer the magnified image will be. A small scope can magnify a lot with a high multiplication eye piece but the image will be blury. An 8 inch reflector is quite big without spending too much.
i always had a bit of an interest in space when i was a kid, but kind of forgot about it as i grew up, never thought about it seriously as a career... tough career stream to break into i imagine, i guess most people would just end up as teachers as opposed to working for NASA or an observatory
My brother bought a telescope a couple years back. It's fantastic what you can see, though at the same time it gets old fast.
For example, you can see the rings of Saturn or the space station from a home telescope. Moon looks insanely detailed too.
But once you get past the planets there's not much else to look at.
For example, you can see the rings of Saturn or the space station from a home telescope. Moon looks insanely detailed too.
But once you get past the planets there's not much else to look at.
Don't have a telescope or anything, but started watching the night sky for about the last year. Pretty much workout out where most of the major stars and planets are.
Try this site if you are interested in getting started in AStronomy.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/index.php
One of my mates reckons he's never spotted a satellite in the sky, I seriously don't know how this is possible. Sometimes after dusk it's easy to see 2 or 3 within the space of a few minutes.
Anyone ever seen the International Space Station? It's supposed to be very bright with the sun reflecting off its many solar panels.
Anyone ever seen the International Space Station? It's supposed to be very bright with the sun reflecting off its many solar panels.
Very easy to spot, particularly away from the city lights (mountains, etc) and around the milky way, it's interesting to follow their trajectory... many of them follow an elliptical orbit and turn the other direction.
A good cheap 4 inch reflector telescope would make a good starting telescope for amateur astronomers, where you'd be able to clearly see many double stars, star clusters, and even nearby galaxies, like Andromeda and the Magellanic clouds.
I have had an interest in astronomy since the mid 1990s. I was fortunate enough to go watch the total solar eclipse in 2002 (outback SA). It was fan-bloody-tastic, even though totality only lasted about 28 secs. But being in the middle of nowhere, under the moon's shadow, seeing a 360 degree sunset, seeing stars/planets during "daylight".......you gotta see one at least once in your lifetime.
I started off with a 60mm refractor bought by my dad from cash converters. I will always remember my first view of the moon, jupiter and saturn. But I soon had aperture fever and wanted to upgrade. A close approach of Mars in 2003 provided a reason to upgrade. I eventually went with an 8" Dobsonian.
After primarily using the dob to view the sky, I turned my interest into taking photos. I purchased a 1970s SLR camera from cash converters and started taking pics of the moon, mars, jupiter and saturn. This type of astophotography is really difficult because it can be hard to determine the correct exposure settings and to get focus. You don't know the result until you get the pictures developed. A lot of money was wasted for very few pics that turned out.
Next step: imaging with a webcam. This method works well on planets because you can "stack" images from your movie file, which helps to bring out planet detail. A problem was that the dob doesn't track the sky so I would only get about 30secs of video whereas you really need a good 3-5mins of video to make it worthwhile.
So, I went and got a proper mount that tracks the stars. This produces much better results.
My next step is to attach my digital SLR camera to the telescope and take photos of nebula, galaxies, star clusters etc. This is the ultimate form of astrophotography and takes a lot of dedication. Firstly, you have to make sure your mount is aligned correctly. Taking pics of galaxies requires you to have the camera shutter open for several minutes. If your tracking is out, your final image will be blurry and have star trails.
In the good old film days, you would need the shutter open for hours. With digital, this isn't required. For example, say you have a 30min picture taken with film. Using a digital camera, you could do a 1x30min exposure, or 2x15min, 3x10min, 6x5min etc and stack the images. The shorter the exposure, the more forgiving for tracking issues and reduces the amount of light pollution in the result.
Achieving focus is also hard, but there are tools that you can use to help get focus.
Astronomy is great fun, but it is an expensive hobby, particularly if you want to take photos and as you get aperature fever. Yes, the bigger the scope, the more light it collects. But the bigger the scope, the harder to transport and large dobs require a ladder to get up to the eyepiece.
My advice if you are new to astronomy:
1) Either start off with a good pair of binoculars or an 6-8" dob (which are quite cheap these days). Don't get a 60mm refractor like me as you will get bored of it quickly. I've had my 8" dob since 2003 and still use it.
2) Go visit your local astronomy club. They tend to have viewing nights. Look through as many scopes as you can.
3) At pointed out earlier, go visit iceinspace.com.au
To the satellite stuff: They are easy to spot. The ISS particularly is, as it can be the brightest "star" in the sky depending on when it goes over. Check out heavens-above.com for a list of times when the ISS goes over and other satellites.
I started off with a 60mm refractor bought by my dad from cash converters. I will always remember my first view of the moon, jupiter and saturn. But I soon had aperture fever and wanted to upgrade. A close approach of Mars in 2003 provided a reason to upgrade. I eventually went with an 8" Dobsonian.
After primarily using the dob to view the sky, I turned my interest into taking photos. I purchased a 1970s SLR camera from cash converters and started taking pics of the moon, mars, jupiter and saturn. This type of astophotography is really difficult because it can be hard to determine the correct exposure settings and to get focus. You don't know the result until you get the pictures developed. A lot of money was wasted for very few pics that turned out.
Next step: imaging with a webcam. This method works well on planets because you can "stack" images from your movie file, which helps to bring out planet detail. A problem was that the dob doesn't track the sky so I would only get about 30secs of video whereas you really need a good 3-5mins of video to make it worthwhile.
So, I went and got a proper mount that tracks the stars. This produces much better results.
My next step is to attach my digital SLR camera to the telescope and take photos of nebula, galaxies, star clusters etc. This is the ultimate form of astrophotography and takes a lot of dedication. Firstly, you have to make sure your mount is aligned correctly. Taking pics of galaxies requires you to have the camera shutter open for several minutes. If your tracking is out, your final image will be blurry and have star trails.
In the good old film days, you would need the shutter open for hours. With digital, this isn't required. For example, say you have a 30min picture taken with film. Using a digital camera, you could do a 1x30min exposure, or 2x15min, 3x10min, 6x5min etc and stack the images. The shorter the exposure, the more forgiving for tracking issues and reduces the amount of light pollution in the result.
Achieving focus is also hard, but there are tools that you can use to help get focus.
Astronomy is great fun, but it is an expensive hobby, particularly if you want to take photos and as you get aperature fever. Yes, the bigger the scope, the more light it collects. But the bigger the scope, the harder to transport and large dobs require a ladder to get up to the eyepiece.
My advice if you are new to astronomy:
1) Either start off with a good pair of binoculars or an 6-8" dob (which are quite cheap these days). Don't get a 60mm refractor like me as you will get bored of it quickly. I've had my 8" dob since 2003 and still use it.
2) Go visit your local astronomy club. They tend to have viewing nights. Look through as many scopes as you can.
3) At pointed out earlier, go visit iceinspace.com.au
To the satellite stuff: They are easy to spot. The ISS particularly is, as it can be the brightest "star" in the sky depending on when it goes over. Check out heavens-above.com for a list of times when the ISS goes over and other satellites.
Crimson Azure
Premium Platinum
Hi guys, would appreciate some assistance in choosing a telescope but am a noob with this stuff.
Looking at these three:
Saxon 1149 EQ:
http://www.saxon.com.au/products/product-details.php?productid=10219
Saxon 767:
http://www.saxon.com.au/products/product-details.php?productid=10218
Saxon 606:
http://www.saxon.com.au/products/product-details.php?productid=10003
Always want to get into it & just wondered which one someone with a bit of knowledge would choose of the three. The first one looks good to me but not really sure.
Thanks for any help.
Looking at these three:
Saxon 1149 EQ:
http://www.saxon.com.au/products/product-details.php?productid=10219
Saxon 767:
http://www.saxon.com.au/products/product-details.php?productid=10218
Saxon 606:
http://www.saxon.com.au/products/product-details.php?productid=10003
Always want to get into it & just wondered which one someone with a bit of knowledge would choose of the three. The first one looks good to me but not really sure.
Thanks for any help.
The only really bright satellite (brighter than say a dullish star) that I've ever seen was last summer was when I noticed an object that I initially thought was Jupiter, until I realised that it was moving. Checked and the ISS wasn't supposed to be there at the time, guess it was another one. Next time I'll check out the website that you posted.
Yep, you will be surprised at how many you can see in the 1-2 hours after sunset, even under city skies.
Keep an eye out for the iridium flares as well. They are different compared to satellites as you only see them for about 20 secs. They brighten rapidly before fading away. Some can be really bright (up to -8 magnitude), which can cast shadows in the country. The full moon is magnitude -12, Jupiter, about -2.5 at it's brightest and Venus around -4.
Crimson Azure
Premium Platinum
The reason I looked at these is I can use altitude points to get them for nothing. If I was to buy one though it would be about $300-400.
As I said I'm a noob & just want to see if it pricks my interest to get into it a little more.
These types of scopes are commonly sold in department stores and deceive newbies with Hubble pictures on the box, saying things like 500x max magnification, making you think you can see the galaxies like what's on the box. For each of the scopes, don't pay any attention to the bit that says "highest practical power." The images you will see at these magnifications will just be a faint blur. Max useful magnification is about 25-30x per square inch of aperture. This depends on how steady the atmosphere is. So for scope one, the max would be about 136x, enough to see the rings of Saturn and some detail on Jupiter.
Next, the mount is very important, probably more so than the telescope. There's no point having a great scope if the mount isn't sturdy.
Given you could get one for free, I would pick option 1 as a minimum. However, a 6" dob http://www.ozscopes.com.au/skywatcher-6-dobsonian-telescope.html or if you can afford it, an 8" dob http://www.ozscopes.com.au/dobsonian-telescope-saxon-8inch.html are good starting scopes.
Dobs are considered the "best bang for you buck" scopes. They are big enough to see quite a bit, but light enough to move and transport.
Crimson Azure
Premium Platinum
Thanks very much for your help MKB in this circumstance you certainly do know best. 
haha, no worries. Feel free to ask away if you have anymore questions Definitely go over to iceinspace.com.au as they have loads of advice and have a section dedicated to beginners.
Definitely go over to iceinspace.com.au as they have loads of advice and have a section dedicated to beginners.
The triangle of the Moon, Venus and Mercury setting in the sky tonight looks pretty cool.
