Telescopes

[nakota]

I've always loved stargazing and finally got a telescope! I'm so psyched to get out of the city lights and take it camping this year.

It's an Orion 4.5" Dobsonian......I already wish I went for the 6" aperature. Hopefully with a barlow lense it will perform ok.

Here's a pic of the telescope - the thing is huge!
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And some full moon pics from the other night -
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Does anyone else have a telescope or into stargazing? I'd love to see pics of your telescopes and/or astrophotography

 

[YukonRob]

I take a small (60 mm) refractor on an equatorial mount when I head to Baja (and space allows). Nothing quite like your 'light bucket' though.

 

[nakota]

Sweet! How do you like the equatorial mount? I read reviews on the internet that cast it in a poor light (lolz:sombrero, but I can't imagine it being any more difficult than the dobsonian mount...if you leave the dob for like 10 seconds, the star you were looking at is out of view, then it's kind of like a guessing game on where to find it.

Ps, have you ever thought about binoculars for astronomy? You can get 70mm, they would take up way less space than your scope. I'm thinking of getting a pair for kayak camping.

 

[YukonRob]

Once the mount is set up and aligned properly it is great - most of the time I don't bother and just hand point it where I want to look. We use it for tracking hickers, climbers, and kayakers almost as much as for star gazing.

I've seen some sweet backyard observatories built around dobsonians, and even some in small trailers.
I looked at some deep-sky binoculars a few years ago and the price was out of my range - I should revist that topic.

 

[phatman]

Astronomy Binoculars

the general opinion is that Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binocular are a great beginner set. at about $90 i've thought about getting a set. that also make a 25x70 but i hear you really need a mount for those.

 

[RHINO]

i'm into astronomy also,, i have a few telescopes and a huge pair of celestron binos. its a nice way to relax on clear nites away from the city.

 

[RusherRacing]

I hooked my camera up to a local universities scope this fall. It was kind of cool. But also Difficult to focus etc.. The person running the scope was more into photography than astronomy so he didn't know how to set it up to track etc..

Did get one good picture


Moon by - Rusher -, on Flickr

I also done a few star trails and other not so cool shots.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rusherracing/sets/72157625520798747/with/6222944849/