# Telescopes and Astronomy



## Reel Low Dad (Jun 1, 2017)

Who here is into telescopes and astronomy? I was gifted this and I am very excited but I have no clue where to begin. Any help/insight would be appreciated.


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

A good starter project is to find and observe heavenly objects such as planets and galaxies.

I have an Orion AstroView 90mm Equatorial Refractor Telescope that I can mount a motor on it to track objects, pretty cool. It's capable to mount a camera to take clear pictures. The iOS *StarMap 3D* app helps me find objects, very handy. :thumbup:


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

See if there's a local planetarium that's nearby, and see when they're open to the public. Some of the volunteers there will help you get set up and sighted properly. I found that to be most helpful when I got the Orion 6" f/4 Reflector off of Craigslist for $175. I used it for a while, took some awesome pictures with it, and was super excited when I first saw the rings of Saturn with my own equipment.

I didn't have any great equipment to take photos with, so I improvised. Here's a pic of the moon that I got with a 25mm Plossl eyepiece on the 6" reflector.



One of my favorite things to impress people I was with when it turned night was to have them look in a particular direction, at a general azimuth. I would start counting down, and they'd see a streak of light, and their mind would be blown. It was an Iridium flare, from one of the orbiting Iridium satellites. I took this picture with my Canon D60 on a long exposure with it pointed in the direction that I was expecting the flare to occur. The image turned out much better than I was expecting.



This is an example video of what it would look like, with pretty decent quality. The flares have varying magnitudes, so depending on which satellite, and the time of year, you can get some very bright flares, some you can't see with the naked eye in the city. If you'd like to learn more about them, so you too can amaze and impress your friends, go to http://www.heavens-above.com, which has some great satellite and other planetary and satellite information. You can even check on Musk's Roadster and Spaceman. Incidentally, they're going to be 6 days late of reaching Mars orbit by Independence Day of this year, but it's going to be Nov 2020 before the Tesla and Mars come within 7.5 Million miles of each other.


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

Just saw Einstein's memorial at D.C. Had a map of the galaxy and it's stars built into the statue. Very cool to see.


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

A few years ago I bought a 6" Orion Dob. Could see some cool stuff. Orion nebula, rings on Saturn, moons around planets( I forget which one).

Would like to get a big one and see some galaxy.


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

Fistertondeluxe said:


> Who here is into telescopes and astronomy? I was gifted this and I am very excited but I have no clue where to begin. Any help/insight would be appreciated.


First I would download the Starmap app on your phone. You can look up in the sky and wonder what an object is, the Starmap will tell you. If its a planet or something, check it out with the scope.


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## Reel Low Dad (Jun 1, 2017)

Thanks to everyone for the tips and suggestions. Hopefully the weather will start to cooperate soon so I can start to play around with it.


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

Fistertondeluxe said:


> Thanks to everyone for the tips and suggestions. Hopefully the weather will start to cooperate soon so I can start to play around with it.


Even if you just point it at the moon it pretty neat, You will be amazed at the detail you can see.


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