Anyone other members into astronomy?

[SigmaOrionis]

I've been into astronomy for about 5 years just wondered if there were any others. There arent any good astronomy forums on the net

 

[Czilla9000]

My father is a professional astronomer (it is his job).

 

[SigmaOrionis]

Really thats cool. Does he still do visual astronomy? What is he currently working on?

 

[archosman]

No, but I am into "heavenly bodies"...

 

[daycart1]

I've got a three inch Unitron refractor which is nice for double stars, globular clusters and the like. I also enjoy studying star maps and checking out constellations.

Why sigma Orionis in particular? Alpha is such a pretty red.

 

[john_jcb]

When I lived in the Mohave desert in California I went to some of the Astronomy club meets. It is amazing what you can see when there are no city lights and the air is crystal clear. I always used their equipment as it was very expensive.

 

[fiddler]

I used to be really interested when I was like 12 or something, so my parents got me a really crappy telescope from Sears which couldn't even see the moon. I guess they wanted to discourage me from becoming an astronomer... Oh well.

 

[MikeM]

i've been into astronomy for a while but more actively the last 5 years or so. i have a 10" coulter reflector doesn't get used enough but will once i'm able to move away from downtown.

good astronomy forums [maybe not as good as head-fi, but then what is?

]:

http://www.astromart.com

astromart is THE place to buy and sell equipment but they also have decent forums.

the sci.astro.amateur group on google:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=sc...oe=UTF-8&hl=en

 

[Russ Arcuri]

I have a 6" newtonian reflector and a Celestron C5+. I don't use the 6" much anymore because it's a pain in the butt to transport to good viewing locations.

Truth be told, I haven't used either one much in the past 1-2 years. I have many interests and hobbies, which tend to peak and ebb depending on my mood and the season. I'll be really "into" astronomy for 3-6 months, and then my attention will shift to something else, like playing guitar.

One big time-suck that's really increased a lot over the past year is writing. I write mostly SF shorts, though I have one pretty good horror/suspense/mystery story that I'm going to send out for publication soon (if a paying market will accept it). My current project is a SF novel, which is taking a long time but I think is coming along nicely.

 

[SigmaOrionis]

Yeah Sigma Orionis is my favorite multiple star. I currently use a 10" Dobsonian. Globulars clusters are my favorite object to observe. I live in the south so I get a very good view of the Southern Milky Way. Mars is coming to opposition in about a month and a half. If any of you are up around 2 a.m. you should really go outside and check it out. Just look south around Sagitarius. Its already has the apparent size that Saturn usually has. I'm hoping this is the year I finally get to see some good detail on the surface.

Fiddler,
Thats to bad you should give it another shot a 6" dobsonian is a great telescope to start with portable and you can see all the Messiers and Major planets really well with it. Those department store scopes are definitely terrible. Plastic lenses wobbly mounts cheeeeeeaaaaap eyepieces. They should almost be against the law

.

Daycart,
Whats your favorite double star? I like Gamma Andromeda it has great contrast between its two members also everyone loves Beta Cygni(alibero).
Whats your favorite Globular? Since I live in the south I'll pick M22 in Sagitarius. And of course the Hercules cluster in M13.

MikeM,
Thanks for the links. I'll have to check them out. What are your favorite type objects to observe? Since I moved up to a 10" dob from a 6". Ive been loving the Globulars and getting more into the Galaxies. Alot of them are still just smudges though

.

 

[squirt]

i dabble in astronomy on and off...my main interest is planetary viewing...i used to use a Celestron C-90 but now use a Swarovski ST80 HD spotting scope with an 1.25 inch adapter so i can use Pentax XL21 and XL7 eyespieces...most of the time i use the scope for bird watching or general viewing.

 

[Matthew-Spaltro]

Is it possible to see into planes and see the passengers?

 

[daycart1]

Quote:

Originally posted by SigmaOrionis Daycart, Whats your favorite double star? I like Gamma Andromeda it has great contrast between its two members also everyone loves Beta Cygni(alibero). Whats your favorite Globular? Since I live in the south I'll pick M22 in Sagitarius. And of course the Hercules cluster in M13. .

Yeah, B Cyg is great and also C And. I agree with the common judgment that evenly matched magnitudes with contrasting colors are best. I'm not remembering Sig Ori right now, I'll have to have a look! There is a nice one in Draco too; is it Gamma? My memory is a little fuzzy now.

For globulars M13 and M5 are nice--they tend to look pretty similar in the small scope.

When I was an undergrad, I did a project on a fabulous 24 in scope! It was mostly instruments, though, the eyepieces weren't the greatest.

 

[spaceman]

Can someone recommend a decent telescope? I had a crummy one when I was a kid, got frusterated, and gave up on it. Anyway, this field has always interested me, and sometimes I frequent the planetarium at my university, and thought about buying a telescope, but no clue what to get

 

[squirt]

Quote:

Originally posted by Matthew-Spaltro Is it possible to see into planes and see the passengers?

I view a lot of aircraft flying by but the most i ever see of people are dark outlines of heads through windows and only if the plane is pretty close...however one morning i saw something i will never forget...i was stunned to see a ***** movie being filmed in a secluded public park from a distance of about 1 1/2 miles using my C-90 at 100x...funny i could see they had a lookout in a truck in the parking lot who would warn the four man film crew and the two couples doing the acting (i presume via a two way radio) whenever people approached. The actors would suddenly stop doing the hoki poki and frantically put their close back on and pretend they were doing a legit model shoot...then strip down and start doing the action when the coast was clear...they finally gave up and left with their lookout when a bus arrived in the parking lot and a group of little school kids with their teacher got out...now that was more fun and funny than watching birds and whales...