Any star gazers on the forum?

[loamer]

That is brilliant mate - many thanks and thanks for the camera tips.

 

[charlie123]

What time of night for south nsw would be best to see this

 

[lids]

My dad used to look at the moon thru his old dumpy level.
I didnt think it was that great of an enhancement myself.

My mrs got me an astronomy book for xmas this year...

Do cheap telescopes work or do you have to spend big bucks to see most things?
thanks in advance

 

[Nightjar]

Have heard about this but do not have a compatible mobile.

http://mashable.com/2011/06/21/astronomy-mobile-apps/

 

[Syndyne]

What time of night for south nsw would be best to see this

Hi Charlie,

As we are in the Summer skies, the pointers are pretty low to the horizon for a while yet. I had a good view (through some haze and dust) fairly low on the southern horizon after 10pm.

Here's the Wiki for more info, along with a photo showing the exact location (click on the photo for a larger version if needed): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Centauri_2013

All the best,
Shauno.

 

[TTKooAu]

I like the stars too. I have a 90mm refractor and I use a free program Starry Night Enthusiast and read Idiots Guide to Astronomy.
First time I set my scope up I had Saturn high in the northern sky in Adelaide. To actually see the rings just blew me away and from there it's just been one amazing view after another. it humbles me.

 

[Syndyne]

Hi TTKoo,

Right with you there! Saturn was the first thing I aimed for with the scopes (December of 2004). Absolutely amazing to see for the first time!

My dad used to look at the moon thru his old dumpy level.
I didnt think it was that great of an enhancement myself.

My mrs got me an astronomy book for xmas this year...

Do cheap telescopes work or do you have to spend big bucks to see most things?
thanks in advance

Hi lids,
You can get very decent telescopes for a low price. My smaller 70x90mm Skywatcher Refractor was around $400 all up and my larger 200mm Reflector was around $800 in 2004. For the deeper sky objects (Messier and NGC) you do need more magnification, which requires larger mirrors. Look into the Dobsonian range of scopes. You can get quite large sizes for relatively cheap prices and they are very easy to use and pretty portable units as they don't require a tripod style mount. Even by just using higher magnification binoculars you can still get very good views of what's out there.

I found this small thumbnail shot of my scopes that I dug up from our website's archive. I'll try to find the full size shots when I can access the old storage HDD

This shot of me was taken by my good friend Russ in my backyard during the Winter of 2006 around 11pm. I remember it was only 4C out when we took this. The colder temps offer better, clearer viewing as you get hardly any heat haze or atmospheric distortion. The 70x90mm Refractor is on the left and the larger 200mm Reflector on the right.

Kindest regards,
Shauno.

 

[TTKooAu]

My dad used to look at the moon thru his old dumpy level.
I didnt think it was that great of an enhancement myself.

My mrs got me an astronomy book for xmas this year...

Do cheap telescopes work or do you have to spend big bucks to see most things?
thanks in advance

Hey Lids,
I have no connection with Dave Reneke. He is a regular on Adelaide radio about all things astronomic.
I got my scope from him I think it was maybe $450 delivered about a year ago.
Link here http://www.davidreneke.com/telescope/
He is straight up and gives good advice.

 

[charlie123]

brightest nova of this millennium I cannot miss this, I already missed the peak of the super moon a while back

 

[charlie123]

Be interesting if one could setup a camera to a telescope, then set it to film all night long every day and see what comes up

 

[charlie123]

looked south ward after 10;00pm for the nova could not see it but instead the two of us saw what seemed to be 2x incredibly slow moving shooting stars moving noth east, then saw a very bright shooting star that seemed to brush the atmosphere. Fair bit of action from just 15 mins of star gazing. I would like to setup a camera one night out back away from city smog to see

 

[Guest]

looked south ward after 10;00pm for the nova could not see it but instead the two of us saw what seemed to be 2x incredibly slow moving shooting stars moving noth east, then saw a very bright shooting star that seemed to brush the atmosphere. Fair bit of action from just 15 mins of star gazing. I would like to setup a camera one night out back away from city smog to see

Would have to be satellites mate, no such thing as a slow moving shooting star. They are all traveling well over 10000kph some as much as 70000kph. You should be able to see satellites every few minutes, the space stations show up especially bright. All shooting stars are meteors burning up in the atmosphere thats what makes the light. I could stare up there for hours.
Cheers Balx

 

[charlie123]

The pair traveled north east and if you were to put a 30 cm ruler to the night sky they faded off gradualy after 50cm, 20 seconds, they were as bright as a dull star. I think space junk

 

[TTKooAu]

The pair traveled north east and if you were to put a 30 cm ruler to the night sky they faded off gradualy after 50cm, 20 seconds, they were as bright as a dull star. I think space junk

Satellites will do that, fade away when they travel to a point in their orbit over the earth that is blocking the sun from them.

 

[Greglz86]

Sometimes I would wake up at night, go outside and just stare at the stars and I would think to myself.
"I love pissing outside."

 

[slowflow]

Sometimes I would wake up at night, go outside and just stare at the stars and I would think to myself.
"I love pissing outside."

Naughty, unless you're looking after the lemon tree of course.

Have a look at this before you go out tonight http://www.flixxy.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-3d.htm. It's about stars not horticulture.

 

[charlie123]

the more open minded we are, the more we see