#721  
Old 14-11-2008, 04:32 PM
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jungle11 (Greg)
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Hey guys, me again. I've made a start on the astronomy 161 course, and am finding it very interesting. Already things are seeming a lot clearer. It's great reading about historic astronomers, what they discovered, and how they did it (without modern means).

The only problem i see looming on the horizon is my less than knowledgable grasp on mathmatics. Algebra to be precice. I know the basics, but that wont cut it forever...

Has anybody here found a good online course that they might have used whilst doing the 161?

regards
Greg
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  #722  
Old 15-11-2008, 04:20 PM
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jungle11 (Greg)
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Nevermind fellas, a friend hooked me up with their old math textbooks from school, with heaps of excercises to help me along.

Never thought id say something like that

You used to be cool man...
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  #723  
Old 25-11-2008, 06:42 PM
pablocruze
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hey guys all new to this hope someone can help me ive been researching a bit on the mayan calander im sure you all know that it talks about the sun entering the galactic centre wich is supposed to cause all sorts dramas,is this true?could the mayans be wrong?
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  #724  
Old 25-11-2008, 10:18 PM
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Hi Pablo and welcome. If your refering to 2012 don't worry we're safe and we'll all be here in 2013.

Cheers
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  #725  
Old 26-11-2008, 07:44 AM
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erick (Eric)
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Quote:
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.....is this true?could the mayans be wrong?
No and Yes

Last edited by erick; 26-11-2008 at 09:31 AM.
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  #726  
Old 26-11-2008, 08:46 AM
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jungle11 (Greg)
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Hi pablocruze
You need to be carefull what you read on the net, I was on a website the other day (ufo phenomenon is a hobby of mine) and this site claimed things like "Hollow Moon Theory" - Utter rubbish.

Our Sun orbits the Galactic centre at a distance of about 26 000 lightyears.
One lightyear is about 9.46 trillion kilometers (9 460 000 000 000km)

nothing to worry about bud!
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  #727  
Old 26-11-2008, 08:44 PM
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thanks jungle but ive also been watching a doco on a man call nassim heramein he had footoage of a comet by nasa that was nearly twice the size of jupiter something that big would be classed as a planet wouldnt it?

he also claimed it to be planet x more or less.
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  #728  
Old 27-11-2008, 08:55 AM
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Not sure mate, but a comet the size of jupiter sounds pretty far fetched. I think if NASA imaged a comet of that size it would be instant news world-wide. Also, if this comet (Planet X, Nibiru?) periodically enters our solar system (every few thousand years the believers say) and has been doing so for 4.5 billion years, we wouldn't be here. The gravitational mass of an object that size would have ruined the orbits of earth and other planets long ago. Might have ejected the inner planets completely.
I don't think such an idea can be ruled out yet, but this object would have to be orbiting a long way from our solar system.
There is a thread here somewhere, just go to search and type Nibiru, people who know more about this than i do have posted their thoughts there.

cheers
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  #729  
Old 27-11-2008, 12:56 PM
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Ford Prefect (James)
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Well, a week after having received it, I finally managed to achieve ‘first light’ with my new 12” dob. After what seemed to be a neverending continuous stream of cloud from the Southern Ocean, we had clear skies on Tuesday night. After the wife went to bed, I hurried out and got started.

I spent the first half an hour trying to align the finderscope and managed to achieve something acceptable using Jupiter as a target. Objects bagged as follows:

Jupiter was an easy first target. Whilst I couldn’t get a sharp disc, the scope is f/5 and I haven’t yet collimated it. However, I was happy to be able to discern the major red bands.

Rigil Kent was my next target, but I was unable to get sharp focus, not sure if this is due to the proximity of the pair, or collimation. I also found that I couldn’t achieve reasonable focus with either the 6mm or 9mm EPs, so I suspect collimation is the issue.

47 Tuc/NGC104 was looking pretty amazing as usual, but didn’t get to look too deeply into the core given the difficulties with the shorter EPs.

Messier 42/43 was my final object for the night, and a beautiful sight as you’d expect. I went inside to work out whereabouts in Orion I’d look for the Flame and Horse Head nebulae, but by the time I came back out it’d clouded over.

Yesterday was a beautiful cloudless day, and conditions held for another night’s observing.

I started off again with what I thought was 47 Tuc, but I now believe it was NGC362 as it appeared much less impressive than my previous sightings. I then spent a fair bit of time looking around for NGC253, but I don’t really know the sky well enough to work out where it was. I was also hoping to see Andromeda, but I think it was too close to the horizon for it to rise above the trees and neighbours’ houses.

I then had a look to the north-east, and saw what I believed was the Hyades, but a little later I looked at the sky and realised that given the relative positions I’d been looking at the Pleiades! I then went to move the scope to be able to have another look at features in Orion, but the wife arrived home from tennis at that point so I packed up for the night tired but happy

Very happy with the purchase, although I can see I’ve got a bit of an apprenticeship on my hands before I know my way around well enough to locate the less easy to find DSOs...
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  #730  
Old 27-11-2008, 01:06 PM
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Congrads on the scope mate
I've got my first scope (12''er Bintel) arriving this afternoon - but however, the base is still a state away?!? Don't know how they do it, both packages were dispatched together.
My collimator will arrive in 2 weeks, so looks like I'll be attemting collimation with a lense cap to start with, should be interesting...

happy viewing - the upcoming conjunction should give you some stuff to look at.
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  #731  
Old 27-11-2008, 01:35 PM
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Clear skies!

Could those with clear skies please send some my way. I am seriously considering viewing Stellarium through my dob..just to keep the feeling alive!!!
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  #732  
Old 27-11-2008, 07:15 PM
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Ford Prefect (James)
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Thanks Greg.

Now people, this may seem like a stupid question, but do these GSO finderscopes have a focusing mechanism?? It seems mine is focused at a point about 200m away, and I can't find any way of focusing on the stars!!



There must be a way of adjusting the focus?!
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  #733  
Old 28-11-2008, 08:23 AM
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Yep, James, they do. Look at the front objective. It will screw in and out on the tube, adjusting the focus. However, there is a locking ring behind it (ie. in the direction of the eyepiece end) which you have to loosen off first, then tighten up when you have reached the focus you need.

I need my long distance glasses to see the stars, so I find it convenient to set the focus for when I am wearing my glasses (which then come off as I move to look through the eyepiece)
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  #734  
Old 28-11-2008, 08:35 AM
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Ford Prefect (James)
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Thanks Eric, that's kinda what I figured, but the locking ring I can't budge! Will have another go tonight.. and yes - my eyes sound much the same as yours!
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  #735  
Old 28-11-2008, 12:00 PM
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jjjnettie (Jeanette)
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Quote:
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I need my long distance glasses to see the stars, so I find it convenient to set the focus for when I am wearing my glasses (which then come off as I move to look through the eyepiece)
Same here.
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  #736  
Old 28-11-2008, 12:20 PM
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erick (Eric)
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Thanks Eric, that's kinda what I figured, but the locking ring I can't budge! Will have another go tonight.. and yes - my eyes sound much the same as yours!
Better get some muscle into it! Wrap a leather strap around the locking screw to get a firm grip? Actually I think they both just screw against each other on a thread cut in the metal tube. So it might be easier to grab the larger objective lens bit and try to turn that, rather than try to turn the narrow locking screw?
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  #737  
Old 28-11-2008, 03:10 PM
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jungle11 (Greg)
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I've noticed as well today how tight the locking ring is on the finder scope. The base arrived yesterday, and I picked up the scope this morning. Got it set up ok, centred and focused the finderscope, collimated(using the cap off a film cannister until laser arrives next week) and low and behold - stormclouds....right on cue

Sorry if you are rained out guys
"I didn't do it"
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  #738  
Old 29-11-2008, 11:55 AM
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Ford Prefect (James)
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Well, muscle did the trick! I'd been a bit nervy about trying too hard with something that had optics in it, but no problems now... apart from this damned white stuff that keeps getting in the way of the stars.
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  #739  
Old 29-11-2008, 12:07 PM
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jungle11 (Greg)
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I guess they must tighten the locking pin pretty hard for freight. Got mine loose, and put some WD40 on the focuser thread cause it was squeaking like mad.
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  #740  
Old 29-11-2008, 12:48 PM
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drahyrt (Steve)
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hello

Hi All,
My virgin post, just saying hello!

I have a recent interest in astromony (as of this Christmas), just purchased a scope off Andrews thanks to the advice here at this forum.

I feel part of the "community" as it has been cloudy since, and looks like it till christmas. Maybe Santa is trying to punish me for opening my present early? (that's what the mother in law said!).

The clouds have given me a chance to do some reading about it all, so it has been a good start that way.

Thanks for the gerat forum, hope to be asking questions soon....

Regards
Drahyrt
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