Anyone own a telescope?

Hey Bootman. Thanks for the info. I rember reading about this a couple of months back in Sky and Telescope but had forgoten.

I'll see if I can't get the telescope out tomorrow night and take a look. I remember my first look at Saturn's Rings through a telescope, it completely floored me and started a love of astronomy that is still going strong.

Oh, almost forgot. I have a 6 inch Newtonian on a Dobsonian mount from Orion Telescopes. Great combintaion of light gathering and portability.

Thanks again,
vtny

Tele...

Yeah, have one, a Celestron C-8....do a lot of viewing with a pair of Canon 12X electronically stabilized Binocs...more fun for family and friends.

Only the daughter and I use the Celestron much.

regards

The Big Ugly Guy

I wanted to get a Celstron G-3 for a while, but then they discontinued it..., so I never got one...I purchased immense amounts of PC/Audio gear instead...haha

If I were to get one now, it'd probably a G-5, if they still make them, I think they were 600 dollars.

I've got a 3" Unitron refractor. Only 3", but high quality and no maintenance. I wish I had me a big 'ol Celestron...about 12" would be nice.

OMG OMG OMG


THIS CANNOT BE A COINCIDENCE!!!

Just a few minutes back before logging into HeadFi I was thinking about writing about my telescope on the forums!!

I am in USA now and my Telescope is in Fulham (London). It is a special edition Meade Schmidt Cassegrain 14" Reflector Beauty with an azimuth. It retails for about $5000.00 (more or less) but I won it in a competition held by National Geographic back in 2001 for the best amateur nature video (I made a video of the Indian Cobra with endoscopes in the cobra's nest and it ran for 8 minutes in front of Jane Goodall among other famous personalities...). This was second place...the first prize was a Range Rover

I am quite good at using the azimuthal axis now after a little warmup. I almost NEVER use the onboard computer to find objects because there is no fun...

Just a small list of things I have seen and enjoyed very much :-
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1] Saturn (the rings are discreetly visible and so are some of the satellites)
2] Jupiter (The spot is VERY visible and so are several surface features) and its satellites...
3] Venus
4] Mercury
5] Orion Nebula
6] Crab Nebula
7] Horsehead Nebula (using IR filter)
8] Solar activity (using filters and indirect CCD visuals)
9] The moon fantastic!!
10] Sirius
11] International Space Station ejecting water

Sensational and my most prized possession!!!

Everyone should have at least a 4" reflector at home...so much fun!!!

i want to try a Dobsonian sometime but I dont have any money...time to make another snake video

I have a 102mm 4" Celestron refractor, more of a wide field scanning scope than a planetary scope, but it does the job for me.

doesn't mercury head over the horizon just after the sun does? i think i have seen it a couple times...

Mercury...

Yep, you gotta have a good horizon - no mountains or nearby trees, and you only have half an hour or so, at best, to catch Mercury...

Guy

Re: Anyone own a telescope?

Weird coincidence.

Last night I had a dream where all the planets approached Earth and completely covered the sky, Saturn and Jupiter especially of course. The unfortunate part was their approach was not going to stop and our end was to happen tomorrow (Thursday) due to the poisonous gases of Jupiter. (I won't go into the rest of it concerning an impromptu affair with a co-worker ). I wonder what part of 'MY WORLD' may come to an end?

I don't recall hearing about the actual event prior to the dream.

My dad and I have a scope, an 8" dobsonian bartelized(computer control) built it ourselves for the most part, although we got the mirorr for free from an old physics professor, and it needed to be re-figured badly. Although we are currently in the process of making a 16" Dobsonian, and that hopefully will be done by next year

gsferrari, Is that an LX200?

You must have very good seeing to get the Jupiter spot. Surely that is not in the city of Tampa...how far out do you have to go?

Yes it is an LX-200 but it was a special edition with a white optic tube and a barlow lens adapter. I personally never used the barlow lens because it attenuated the light significantly...even with a 14" mirror !!!

I used it primarily in India before I came here. We have a farm 40KM from the city and it is very peaceful and dark...no pollution and almost no domestic lights. The only problem was that this was a beach house and there was plenty of breeze on the terrace. We had to erect a plexiglass box around the telescope on windy days.

Stunning...

The telescope is now housed along with my uncle's Porsche 356A in a special storage facility awaiting my return. I think i'll take the porsche and leave the telescope in

LOL

woah, not many of those porsches left. I have only ever seen one. It was in Oahu and it drove by quick. I think it was a 356C Coupe.
Any suggestions on a good starter telescope? I am thinking about an astrophysics major and I have been enjoying looking at the night sky recently.

I know just the scope for you...economical and rugged. This was my first telescope and I still use it occasionally for viewing the moon and the larger planets for positioning purposes. It also uses an equatorial mount and is fairly easy to use.

http://www.tasco.com/telescopes/default.shtml

more specifically :-

http://www.tasco.com/telescopes/galaxsee_main.shtml