Venus looks great this week

keldin · Jul 11, 2002

Venus looks great tonight, the brightest thing in the sky (besides the moon) for about an hour after sunset in the west.
Amazing thats its so easy to find, planets i think are usually hard to find.

Well have fun
Keldin

Yodums · Jul 11, 2002

When we had astronomy, our teacher would usually tell us where to look and when every night since she seemed to be very interested. Perhaps I should get myself a microscope and enjoy?

Keep an eye out for ET's ship LOL.

Chris C · Jul 11, 2002

Most of the time the brightest "star" you see at night is really a planet. If you have not had the chance look at saturn in a telescope one day.

{PMS}fishy · Jul 11, 2002

Yodums said:
When we had astronomy, our teacher would usually tell us where to look and when every night since she seemed to be very interested. Perhaps I should get myself a microscope and enjoy?

Keep an eye out for ET's ship LOL.

You will not be seeing many stars with a microscope yodles. Are you sure that you did not mean telescope?

Yodums · Jul 11, 2002

{PMS}fishy said:
You will not be seeing many stars with a microscope yodles. Are you sure that you did not mean telescope?

Oh ya, now explain to me why I passed w/ a 62 bwhahahaha.

{PMS}fishy · Jul 12, 2002

Yodums said:
Oh ya, now explain to me why I passed w/ a 62 bwhahahaha.

Hey "D"s get Diplomas.

Yodums · Jul 12, 2002

{PMS}fishy said:
Hey "D"s get Diplomas.

Next year you'll see A, don't worry.

TC · Jul 12, 2002

Saturn is indeed a great site in a scope. I remember back when I got my first scope and I was messing around with the computer, and just generally not knowing what was out that night - moving from one bright dot to the next. I stopped on one and when I got it centered it was no star - it had rings. At that moment I thought to myself - wow that's f*ing cool as hell! You see pictures of this stuff all your life, but the first time you see it yourself it opens up another world.

Yodles - shame on you

Of course I did get a C in my astro physics class years ago

Wookie8662 · Jul 12, 2002

Heres a general rule of thumb, on a fairly calm night (little to no wind).

If it "twinkles" its a star, if it doenst its a planet.

You can see Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn with the naked eye. Of course, they look much better through a telescope.

Speaking of that, I have a 10" mirror blank here that I've been putting off on making into a mirror way too long...

Morpheus · Jul 12, 2002

Agreed TC... Saturn is almost a "coming of age" type planet... red-ish in my scope (& to my color blind eyes) and the rings make it an object like none other... The moons of jupiter (viewable in a good pair of binoculars) also strike me as particulalrly memorable...

Was just talking to my daughter tonight about trying to log the Messier (sp?) 100 as she is getting interested... I need to find a couple more eye pieces though...

Saw some beautiful optics on eGay for pennies on the dollar....

Jeniva · Jul 12, 2002

ahhhh..to planet gaze....unfortunatly, we have had mostly overcast weather, and its very hazy when there are no clouds..so I havent had a chance to do any good star gazing, though I did get to see the moon a few weeks ago...lol..about time i moved away from the city...too much Light Pollution.

Here is a pic i took through one of my scopes (a meade DS-90) it was about 7pm and the moon was very visable, sorry about the blurr of the pic..I was holding my digi-cam to the eyepiece, I just ordered an adapter so the next pics will be better.

jokrswild · Jul 12, 2002

Eric and I both work in an observatory, so we've had the opportunity to see quite a bit though the university's 1/2 meter (20 inches) telescope. We've seen Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (you'd be suprised at how many people ask if we've seen earth....) A few months ago all of the planets were aligned in the sky, it was wonderful to behold.

Picture wise, i have mercury (but only on a CCD), venus, mars, jupiter, saturn, and uranus, the moon, the ring nebula, the orion nebula, and several globular clusters. Astronomy is a wonderful thing! hehe.

TC · Jul 12, 2002

I snapped this when I had my nikon mounted to my 10" lx200

Jeniva · Jul 12, 2002

Wow TC!!!..a 10" app must be nice!!!..lol...my 90mm is my largest app. but I just got into astronomy a short while ago. What type of Filter do you have for that?...I have some shots when it was dark but do to not having any type of filter, the moon was waaay to brite to get a good pic...

I hope to get another scope soon...I would love a nice deep sky scope, but i dont want to spend the money with out knowing what would be the best for me, after all, scopes are expencive!

I looked at an 8" Dob from Orion, the SkyQuest. Do you have any experience with that line of Dobs? I dont have the cash for a nice refractor (my scopes are refractors...but small apps. 90mm and 70mm), and a nice mount to go with it, although I'd love a GP-DX mount

TC · Jul 12, 2002

That was taken without a filter if I remember correctly. I don't have a scope anymore. I sold it last xmas to pay some bills. I've never worked with any dobs. My lx200 is the only real scope I've ever had. I also had an st4 guider and an st7 camera. The problem is where I live the viewing conditions are bad, so I had to drive hours out of town and get up in the mountains for clear skies. It just got to the point where I wasn't using the equipment.

Morpheus · Jul 13, 2002

I REALLY recommend a quality schmidt-cassegrain (or the other hybrid.. name elludes me)... I have a Bausch&Lomb 5" that is truly a fine instrument (mostly german optics)... the Celestron 5" is similar... extremely compact, easy to use & set up... mine doubles nicely as a 1600mm lens for my 35mm...

My daughter & I are getting ready to start her M-100 log... maybe I can snap a few pics this summer...

Venus looks great this week

keldin

Registered

Yodums

Senior Member

Chris C

Registered

{PMS}fishy

Senior Member

Yodums

Senior Member

{PMS}fishy

Senior Member

Yodums

Senior Member

TC

Senior Seti Addict

Wookie8662

Member

Morpheus

Grandfather of Crunchers Senior

Jeniva

Member

Attachments

jokrswild

Member

TC

Senior Seti Addict

Jeniva

Member

TC

Senior Seti Addict

Morpheus

Grandfather of Crunchers Senior

Similar threads