Any amatuer astronomers here?

[GeddyWrox]

I know a little bit from back in my younger days. My brother is/was an astronomy buff and used to take me out with his telescopes when I was in Jr High (and he in high school). But I haven't stayed up with it since.

Well, fast forward to present day, and Mini-Wrox-2 has been asking all kinds of questions about which stars are stars, which are planets, which constellations are which, can we see deep space objects (like Andromeda Galaxy) with the naked eye, etc.

I really want to get a nice telescope. Something that we could find some galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, etc. with. My brother pointed me to this guy right here: http://www.highpointscientific.com/cele ... -neaf-demo

It looks nice to me. And it's about the price I had in mind to start with. Not sure I could do much better for the price, actually. Just wondering what other people have (if anything).

[Cheddar Tom]

[SHOW]

[Jocephus]

[IMADreamer]

That's a good starter scope for sure. My cousin has one and I've mounted my DSLR too it and gotten some great pictures of Jupiter and it's moons. Kinda blows your mind the first time you do that.

I don't know for sure where you live but this summer get out to some place dark and show Mini Wrox 2 the Milky Way if you haven't already. Do what I did with my gf who had never bothered looking at the stars really. Take them some place really dark away from city likes and have them look down at the ground for a good five minutes to let their eyes get used to the dark. Then say look up. Her reaction was priceless "holy [expletive]!"

Also there is a full eclipse of sun next summer and it's real close to us. It's going to be a once in a lifetime event.

[cardsfantx]

uranus joke in 3...2...

[Fat_Bulldog]

Not me.

[GeddyWrox]

[SHOW]

That's not amatuer.

[GeddyWrox]

That's a good starter scope for sure. My cousin has one and I've mounted my DSLR too it and gotten some great pictures of Jupiter and it's moons. Kinda blows your mind the first time you do that.

I don't know for sure where you live but this summer get out to some place dark and show Mini Wrox 2 the Milky Way if you haven't already. Do what I did with my gf who had never bothered looking at the stars really. Take them some place really dark away from city likes and have them look down at the ground for a good five minutes to let their eyes get used to the dark. Then say look up. Her reaction was priceless "holy [expletive]!"

Also there is a full eclipse of sun next summer and it's real close to us. It's going to be a once in a lifetime event.

I live in an area that is fringe suburban / almost rural. It isn't too hard to get pretty far away from lights with about a 30-45 minute drive. My bro and I used to do that back in the day. I remember being astonished at how much more you can see on a good clear night.

[AdmiralKird]

Dark Sky Maps are your friend, also getting a star atlas with a red flashlight will help you find things if the scope you have isn't motorized. If you're having trouble aiming and finding thing, get a telerad attachment. Not sure exactly what that model has as far as a finder scope is concerned.

Note that when you really zoom in at high powers, the stars will move, which requires constant readjustment. I have a 10" Dobsonian (which is basically a large tube you can stand in up to your neck with a mirror on the bottom). It's really too big for frequent use though, but damn it will give you really good views in the dark if you take it out far enough. But not having a motorized mount is kind of a pain since stuff moves so quickly through it. Planets you don't need to go out for. I used to see Saturn from downtown St. Louis just fine. They're bright. But the diameter of your scope will limit magnification. Things are still really fairly small even with a high power optics.

http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html

And eyepieces... depending on what you want to find and how you want to view it, you'll need a few eyepieces of varying size. Get a free program called stellarium that has a telescope simulator, and it will show you how it will appear.

[GeddyWrox]

My brother used to have a dobsonian. I can't remember if it was a 10" or a 12". Thing was HUGE. I think half the reason he would agree to take me out back then (he was 16 or 17, I was 12 or 13) was for the assistance lugging the thing around. LOL. But yeah, I remember that thing well. Basically a cardboard cannon with a mirror in the end. He had all kinds of eye pieces. I used to know a little bit about the different pieces, but that's long since forgotten.