Astronomy

I wish I knew more about it. My wife and I live out in the country. We built a fire pit in a small pasture area on our property. One of the things we do is go down there, build a small campfire, and lay back on some lounge chairs. The sky is incredible away from the city lights, and we watch satellites and shooting stars well into the night. (She always has me take one of our pistols though - she says there might be "critters" down there!)

I was fascinated looking at the night sky ever since I was a very young kid, had a modest telescope as a kid, still kept an interest in it over the years but it is more of an occasional hobby.

My wife and I really enjoyed the total eclipse last year, we watched it right from our own front yard ! Took pics and a video too !

Like many other hobbies, it can get very expensive if you want the top of the line larger telescopes, but for those on a modest budget you can still enjoy the hobby without getting very expensive equipment.

I have the original version of the Edmund Astroscan telescope, a 4 inch wide field reflector great for wider views, I also have a modest 60mm refractor telescope, good for higher power views of planets.

Binoculars are also great for astronomy, I have several pair, my best being a 10x50 pair.

So start out with a good pair of binoculars, preferably at least a 10x50 as it has more light gathering ability than the more common smaller models, there are even larger models some needing a holder to keep them steady but the price goes up also.

Then you might try a modest smaller telescope, realizing it won't give views as good as a larger pricier telescope, but if your interest holds up and you do get a larger telescope later you can always have the smaller one for visitors and kids to look thru while they're waiting their turn at the bigger telescope

I also have filters made with special material designed for solar observing, but you must use extra caution that you have the proper filters and they are not damaged before looking at the sun.

I remember as a kid the first time I saw the rings around Saturn and moons around Jupiter "live" instead of just looking at a picture

Every time I go outside at night, even just to take our dog "potty" I look at the night sky to see the phase of the moon or spot any planets or major constellations.

Here is a pic of the Astroscan, and also a pic of how I WISHED the night sky looked here don't get me wrong, I am VERY thankful for now living in a semi-rural area where I can see a lot more stars then when we used to live in the city with all the light pollution. But you have to get to a REALLY dark site far away from light pollution to really see the Milky Way like in that picture.

My night vision isn't very good anymore, but I do have a Coronado H-alpha solar telescope that I like to use. It lets me see interesting solar details. For "white light" solar astronomy, I have a pair of their solar binoculars.

The night sky in my area is heavily light polluted anyway.

-- Tom

Astronomy was one of two A grades I received in college. The other was homicide.

I know a lot about it but i don't have a high-end scope or gear yet. I have a camera and tripod and can photograph long-exposure star trails and all that, but i wanna do more.

I have seen the Milky Way from Death Valley. Incredibly beautiful and moving. Also, I drove up to the top of Mount Rainier one night when I was camping and there were these Canadians with really powerful telescopes. They came over and asked me to turn off my parking lights and then invited me to look through the telescope. They were looking at galaxies. That was awesome. It's also cool to look at a star or the moon through a telescope on a tripod and watch the star pass across your field of view fairly quickly. It really gives you a sense of the universe being in motion.

The Queen is into stargazing but does not own a telescope, instead she purchased a huge set of binoculars minimum focal distance over 200 feet! These are military style binocs used on naval ships for watching the sea-sky boundary when at sea. She has them mounted on the underside of a sturdy tripod and lays on an adjustable camping cot for easy viewing! It is nice to see the sky with both eyes!

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I have sky master venoculars 25x70 , tonight about 430 clockwise you can see Jupiter with the naked eye, with my venoculars i saw it's 4 moons 3 on the right side, one on the left, moon i can see crater's , i am looking at telescopes now , your correct high dollar for the good stuff, i will wait a while , but i will get a Doublet or triplet Frefractor ED with 53 glass , Earl PS jupiter taken with a digital 12 mp camera tonight at 430 below the moon . looking for Saturn Sunday night draw a line Jupiter -----Moon------Saturn will be about 1030 clockwise they all line up .

There's a great computer program you can load called "Starry Night." Tho you may not be a fan of the film in which I saw it featured, you can get a good gist of its abilities in, "The Star of Bethlehem Movie." A lawyer turned stargazer uses the program to reverse play the night sky and discovers some cool stuff about the Star of Bethlehem.

RichieSoprano said:

There's a great computer program you can load called "Starry Night." Tho you may not be a fan of the film in which I saw it featured, you can get a good gist of its abilities in, "The Star of Bethlehem Movie." A lawyer turned stargazer uses the program to reverse play the night sky and discovers some cool stuff about the Star of Bethlehem.

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thanks for this!! it most definitely seems right up my alley.

Whatcha want to know? I've been into it for about 50 years. Have about 20 scopes of various sizes and types. Built several of my own.

For a program for your laptop, get Stellarium. It's a free download. For your phone, if it's an Android get Sky Safari. Costs, I think $2.99. Iphone? Not a clue as I don't use them.

Want a good book?
Turn Left at Orion by Guy Consolmagno and Dan M Davis
It'll teach you to star hop which it find this star, then that star then go halfway to this star and there you are. It's a way to find objects in the sky.

Get one of these and a decent pair of binoculars and just start learning the sky. Just take a blanket out and lay down to get started.

Then go buy the best telescope and mount you can afford without going someplace like Walmart. Mount is actually more important than the scope. Without a good stable mount you'll get frustrated and give up. When you look at mount specs, go about 5 lb. over the weight of the scope and accessories to be stable.

We do outreach all summer long at a local park and have a lot of fun teaching people a little something about the sky. You're heading into what might be the best season for viewing.

Once you see Saturn in a decent telescope you'll be hooked for life!!!!! It's the one that quite a few of us still look at in awe.

Ask me any more questions you like. If I don't know the answer, I'll make something up!!!! LOL

Get you butt out and just look up!!!!

Seeking out an astronomy club near you is a great way to venture into the hobby.

One near me has a 16 inch Schmidt Cassegrain that they let the public look through.