Anyone into astronomy?
 

I saw a tv show on bbc 4, they were talking about hubble and new telescope technology and i think ive caught the bug but have no idea on what to start off with, any ideas would be great.

Thanks guys and gals[thumbup]

no one then?http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/cry1.gif

What are you looking to do?
I was thinking about getting into astrophotography but after a bit of prep got bored of it.

I bought a telescope not long ago, from a friend, Its good enough for close up viewing of the moon and I've even seen Saturn and its moons with it too (visible once every 26 years apparently), Seen Jupiter too.

Anyway, its this one below...

http://www.pulsar-optical.co.uk/prod...ar-90/az3.html

I paid £80 from my friend and received a few extra lens too, a 7mm, 10mm and 25mm.

I recommend getting at least a 10mm and 25mm at the very least.

The 7mm I occasionally use for viewing a full moon, But unless you buy an auto tracking scope, the view through a 7mm looking at the moon lasts only a few seconds before the moon moves out of view and you need to retrack it to get it into view again, I'm assuming auto tracking scopes do that for you.

I know there are several types of telescopes, like refractors, reflectors and Dobsonian's etc, but the Refractor seems to be the easiest for a noob to get to grips with, Their also much cheaper.

http://www.pulsar-optical.co.uk/begi...astronomy.html

If your into photography too, you might want to get an adapter for your camera for the scope whilst your at it.

This picture below, was taken using my 3.2Mp camera on my old K800i phone held upto the back of my scope, so with a proper adapter you could get some really great shots.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uplo...71e48dacd3.jpg

If you are interested in telescopes in particular this is a good place to start: http://science.howstuffworks.com/telescope.htm

It was an awful programme but I'm glad it's hooked you (speaking as somebody who has taught astronomy in classes and to the public since 1994!). Snoopy's recommendation is perfect.

That pic's been my desktop background at work for about a year now [thumbup]

Thanks guys

Are we talking about The Sky At Night here?

Obviously not as The Sky At Night rocks!

Correct.

Well....http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/wink1.gif...actually, I was talking about the ESA programme about the Hubble space telescope, which had so many things wrong about it, I was physically grinding my teeth with annoyance:

(1) Mixing presenters: the voice-over man was not the same as the person you saw.

(2) Bad choice of voice-over: every sentence was read out as if his life depended on it or that it was THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER!!!!

(3) Weak choice of visual presenter: classic example of taking a university lecturer and sticking them in front of a TV camera, and watching him fidget and wobble about constantly.

(4) Must mention EVERYTHING about astrophysic and astronomy: every second of dialogue was packed full of astronomy/astrophysics information but, more often than not, it had little relevance to the HST, how it worked or what it has been used for.

I could go on but the memory of the damn thing is still too painful....

...oh, and I'm none too keen on The Sky at Night anymore: Patrick Moore is a lovely old bloke but I honestly don't believe he does the world of astronomy any favours with his presenting style now. It worked to the masses 30 years ago and to the enthusiast 15 years ago, but it's just painfully dated now. Fire away with the flames! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/devil1.gif

I'm into astronomy

Your joking, right??

If not, I'm honoured you think it worthy of a desktop background. [thumbup]

No seriously... everyone keeps asking me if I took it myself http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/laugh1.gif

Just found this, recommended by a friend, Anyone even remotely interested in astronomy is gonna love this. [thumbup]

http://www.neave.com/planetarium/