All I can say is WOW

[Drunkensatyr]

Wife bought me a telescope for my B day. (back story here) Been a huge astronomy and astro physics fan for years now. Got a GREAT reflection telescope. Just finished setting it up and WOW! if any of you are astro geeks you will understand. Figure we will try to disprove all those "never landed on the moon" guys. What better way to spend an evening then sitting back with a cold homebrew, checking out the stars.

 

[Ize]

Very cool. :rockin: SWMBO got me one for my bday almost a year and a half ago... I've had it out twice, and love it. Much like brewing tho I'm having a helluva time finding time.... (damn job, house, wife and kids. )

When I have had it out tho it rocks. What'd she get you?


Ize

 

[EdWort]

What better way to spend an evening then sitting back with a cold homebrew, checking out the neighbors at the pool.

Yeah baby!

 

[bradsul]

That's awesome! I have a 200mm inexpensive one that I used to use all the time. Haven't been able to use it since I moved into the city though. Too damn bright.

 

[Jay52]

Congrats! I noticed you are in the Dallas area!

I'm very well connected in astronomy, having associations with all the local clubs around DFW and a group called the Three Rivers Foundation (www.3rf.org) that is building an astronomy campus west of Wichita Falls. I'm an astrophotographer (award winning) with a website at www.allaboutastro.com. If you'd like to get together and meet some other locals with the same passion, just drop me a PM. Would love to sit around the same skies with you while sharing some homebrews!

jay
www.allaboutastro.com

 

[Jay52]

BTW, if you want to learn to take images like my Horsehead Nebula shot here...

...be sure to let me know!!!

jay
www.allaboutastro.com

 

[kb9vzh]

BTW, if you want to learn to take images like my Horsehead Nebula shot here...

...be sure to let me know!!!

jay
www.allaboutastro.com

WOW! What type of telescope do I need to view images like this. I love astonomy and amateure radio, my son loves it as well. What am I needing for equipment just to view this? Not to photograph, I just want to view on weekends I am home.

 

[Drunkensatyr]

It is an 1100x135mm telescope. Great for our solar system, and does surprisingly well with a lot of ambient light!

 

[Klainmeister]

I used an old soviet made telescope with a webcam and took this picture. i love that stuff too...

 

[McKBrew]

That's cool. I posted awhile back to see if any one else was into this kind of stuff but didn't get any response. Obviously there is. Eventually I'd like to buy a good telescope, so I'll talk to you guys later and see what you recommend as a good start.

 

[Klainmeister]

Just like with women, in astronomy mounting the telescope is the hardest part.

Getting a good mount (Electric or not) that you can aim precisely is incredibly important.

 

[Jay52]

Good to see so many involved in such a great hobby as astronomy! It's good to see so many with scopes, but even if you have a decent pair of binoculars and some darkish skies, you can really enjoy the night sky.

The Horsehead nebula image I showed was taken with some pretty serious amateur equipment...if you think a brewery system is expensive, just try to get involved in world-class astroimaging! For that image, I used a 12.5" RCOS Ritchey-Chretien scope on a Software Bisque Paramount ME. I used an SBIG dual-chipped, cooled STL-11000m astronomical CCD camera using clear, red, green and blue filters for a total exposure time of over 5 1/2 hours.

Of course, you don't really need such gear to take decent images, and even terrific planets and lunar images can be captured with an ordinary webcam, a very modest telescope, and a piece of freeware called Registax. I'd encourage you to give it a try.

But even if you don't care to do imaging, a telescope can really show some neat things. Just make sure it's mounted well (good advice Klainmeister) and you have good collimation...and dark skies always help (though planets and moon don't really need dark skies).

As for imaging, it's ALL about the mount, though shorter focal lengths can make it MUCH easier (it's still tough doing long exposure, deep sky imaging). The RCOS scope I mentioned above is 2857mm focal length, which is like a DSLR with a 2857mm telephoto lense at f/9. But for wide-fields and more relaxed images, here is an example of an image, the "North American and Pelican Nebulae," taken through a 4" apochromatic refractor, a Takahashi FSQ-106, at 530mm focal length. It's just under 5 hours exposure time. Hope you enjoy!

jay
www.allaboutastro.com

 

[Klainmeister]

I agree with pretty much all above. If i had my other computer within 200 miles i'd get some of my deep space images taken with my CCD. Essentially, i got some fantastic images of the Orion nebula which isn't visible without 30m-1h exposures. It's all about the mount! Though they're a pain, you can't locate deep space objects at all without them.

Also fortunately here in Oregon we have many places where light pollution is barely an issue. You city boys wouldn't be able to pull off such great images without some serious stuff!

 

[98EXL]

nice gift man!

My buddy built his own telescope with an 11" mirror, I love that thing. Looking in the sky is freaking awesome!

 

[Drunkensatyr]

Jay52, Let me know when the next get together is and I will deff. try to make it out.