Anyone into astronomy "Star Gazing"
- Thread starter Billbickman
- Start date
You'll be amazed at what you can see with just a pair of binoculars. Here is the pair I have, and they are awesome.
Orion Scenix 10x50 Wide-Angle Binoculars
Orion Scenix 10x50 Wide-Angle Binoculars
I do some very amateur stargazing now and then. I have a pair of 10X50 nikon bino's and a camera tripod. I've managed to see M31 with them from downtown Toronto, and I got some spectacular views a couple of weekends ago at Long Point, Lake Erie. When I have the time I plan on trying my hand at sketching some of my observations.
Giant sunspot faces the Earth: http://spaceweather.com
- Thread starter
- #45
Thats awesome! And also thanks for the link to the great site. I had never been until now!
+1; I have the same ones!
If you have any interest in watching the space station go over:
http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
- Thread starter
- #48
I actually caught it the other night with just eyes. My friends were amazed! I had to pull up sky map to prove it was really it.
Attention astro-geeks, myself included, there is a sungrazing comet heading this way and its origins are from within the Oort Cloud. It will be visible to the naked eye for nearly two months starting in December as it makes its plunge towards the sun.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/18jan_cometison/
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/18jan_cometison/
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- Thread starter
- #50
I cant wait! This should be pretty amazing and easy to see. I wonder if the sun is going to eat it up or if it will live through the close pass.
Annual Perseid meteor shower August 12th and 13th.
Lots of astro bugs here! I have a 10" SCT, a 4" refractor, and a 70mm refractor. As a few posts have said, binoculars are a great choice for sky watching. There's plenty of wide field objects that suit them very well, and they are great for learning the sky. And they are the easiest scope to haul around 
- Thread starter
- #53
Caught the ISS the other day. It surprises me every time!
Fellow stargazer here, definitely makes working night shift worth it! The Perseids put on quite a show for me the last two early mornings. I work for a small town police department and we have a public airfield with very little light pollution nearby...such a sweet spot for viewing!
- Thread starter
- #55
Lucky man.
Kilroy6644
Smoking a corn dog in aviators and a top hat
I've been wanting to get into it. I bought a Meade Telestar years ago, but never got much use out of it. Living in the city there wasn't much to look at. Now that I live in the middle of nowhere, there's plenty to see. So I dug it out after sitting in Dad's garage for 10+ years, and of course, I can't attach it to the trippd because the locking knobs are gone. So now I'm trying to source some. Failing that, it's a new scope. I'd prefer not to go that route, just because anything approaching $100 or more really hurts right now.
Kilroy6644
Smoking a corn dog in aviators and a top hat
So, I was on the Meade website not long after that last post, and I didn't find the locking knobs I was looking for, but they had a telescope on sale for $24.99. NG60-SM. It's not a fantastic scope, but I can use it, and I've already gotten more use out of it than I ever did from my old one (which I would still like to get up and running again, since I can't use the eyepieces on my new scope.) Even through a lowly scope like this, the thrill of seeing Jupiter for the first time is amazing. That's my favorite target so far, because I can actually see something. I just viewed Mars and the Orion Nebula for the first time this morning (the good side of being laid off now is that I can take the time to observe the late night/early morning sights without having to worry about "sleep" or "getting ready for work"). My two frustrations are that I live in the woods, and that I don't have a good photography setup. There's enough of a clearing that I get a good view of the sky overhead, but anything near the horizon is out, unless I go somewhere else. For pictures I have my old Kodak point & shoot, which I have to hold up to the eyepiece. So I'm limited to the Moon at the moment. Any tips for improving my photos that don't involve expensive equipment? For that matter, any tips on where to find locking knobs for my old scope?
I do a little stargazing, but only outside when the wife is on top...........................JR
I enjoy star gazing. We go camping quite a bit and take some binos with us. We were in Garner State Park (Central Texas) back in August and witnessed the Perseids meteor shower which was the best my wife or I had ever seen. The kids still talk about it. We must have seen 30 or so blazing across the sky in about a 4 hour span.
When I was just a teenager a friend of mine had just a 2" lens telescope which he focus on Saturn. Even with that little scope it blew me away. I'll never forget that site. It was beautiful.
