#801  
Old 04-01-2009, 12:55 PM
Cougs (Chris)
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Hi Max,

Just trying to work out how to find planets with the planisphere.

If im reading it correctly Jupiter will be visible approx 7pm West?
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  #802  
Old 04-01-2009, 02:03 PM
Maxim (Drew)
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I'm not sure at the moment. I saw jupiter at my parent's place two weeks ago and it was fairly low in the sky at dark. I had to go away on holiday (holidays can be terribly inconvenient sometimes) so last night was my second time to use it, but the place I am at has trees all around so I can't see the horizon. Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/) has Jupiter just above the horizon at 8:30pm, but i don't know how easy it is to see that far down.

I want to see Saturn but i've been too tired to get up in the morning. Maybe in a couple of weeks when I'm back out this way again....
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  #803  
Old 04-01-2009, 02:18 PM
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erick (Eric)
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I want to see Saturn but i've been too tired to get up in the morning. Maybe in a couple of weeks when I'm back out this way again....
Don't leave it too long, Drew. Unique view at the moment of Saturn's rings edge-on. They open up from now for several months, then close up again, then open up again and stay that way until 2016.

Some info:-

http://celestialdelights.info/saturn/sweetspot.html

http://www.visualastronomy.com/2008/...y-edge-on.html
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  #804  
Old 04-01-2009, 04:17 PM
Cougs (Chris)
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Excellent program, exactly what I needed! Thanks Drew
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  #805  
Old 04-01-2009, 07:37 PM
Maxim (Drew)
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Don't leave it too long, Drew. Unique view at the moment of Saturn's rings edge-on. They open up from now for several months, then close up again, then open up again and stay that way until 2016.
In that case I'd better suggest another trip back to Beverley on the weekend. The car was too full of kids and dog to bring the scope back with me today. I suggested leaving the kids behind but the wife has different priorities.
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  #806  
Old 04-01-2009, 09:36 PM
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Kindred Spirit (Luise)
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Thankyou ALL for the welcome! and I am having fun, no cloud cover this evening and I've been watching the moon since about 9pm. The insects have driven me inside temporarily but otherwise a mild night and 15º. Have tried the Barlow x3 with the 10mm eyepiece and taken a snap (with an ordinary camera so its blurry) of a nest of 4 craters, 3 look like a bird on a perch side on and the 4th is in front of the bird's head! That probably doesn't make sense! Anyway the area about middle, near where the rim of sunlight fades. Happy watching all.
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  #807  
Old 04-01-2009, 09:39 PM
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erick (Eric)
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A little warning, Luise. Don't spray insect repellent near the scope and eyepieces - spots on the mirror etc. can be very disappointing and can eat coatings. I only have roll-on near my scope.
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  #808  
Old 04-01-2009, 09:50 PM
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Kindred Spirit (Luise)
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Thanks for the tip. I don't have aerosols of any kind in the house anyway. Some time ago I bought a little gadget that emits a high frequency noise that annoys the insects. it does help some. And a citronella candle some metres away. Noooo, don't like spays!
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  #809  
Old 26-01-2009, 11:34 AM
Maxim (Drew)
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I finally got a chance to see Saturn this morning. 'Twas impressive.
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  #810  
Old 26-01-2009, 10:54 PM
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erick (Eric)
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I finally got a chance to see Saturn this morning. 'Twas impressive.
Great! It's usually the best WOW object when you show others the view through the scope.
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  #811  
Old 29-01-2009, 12:09 AM
Maxim (Drew)
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Yeah, I dragged my wife and sister in law out to teh scope at 3:30ish in the morning and they were both impressed. I find it pleasing that they are ineterested enough to get up to look through the scope, even if they did go back inside to go to sleep straight after.
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  #812  
Old 29-01-2009, 04:46 AM
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jjjnettie (Jeanette)
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That's incredible Drew.
My other half has only looked through my scope a couple of dozen times at the most in the past 5 years.
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  #813  
Old 29-01-2009, 03:59 PM
casper (Penny)
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Am still getting the hang of this but have finally worked out how to use the telescope. Am now looking to find viewing spots around Sydney, hopefully not too much of a drive (all the ones i've found so far that don't have too much light pollution are well and truly out of the greater sydney area). help???
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  #814  
Old 30-01-2009, 12:11 PM
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figgylion (Steve)
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Had my first serious night out with my scope last night for quite a while, got home from work and went out about 12.30am(I work stupid hours) went straight to M42 as I always do to make sure everything's working fine.
All is good so started to have a look around, now I get pretty bad LP from the Steelworks especially in the South East part of the sky and the West from streetlights, but tonight, because the everything had moved across the sky I got a simply stunning view (to this newb anyway) of the milky way which is now almost directly above me and not suffering as badly from the damn steelworks.
Any way to cut a long story short I spent a good hour just slowly moving my scope through the MW and all the fantastic clusters, I couldn't believe how many they were. also stopping for ages on Eta Carinae, the first time I'd got a really good look at it, before heading over to Omega Centauri which I'd only barely seen before due to LP,totally spectacular !
Next was Saturn, using my 5x Powermate I got incredible views, though obviously with a small FOV so continually adjusting my scope and although I've seen Saturn several times before it still has that WOW factor and I'm sure it always will.
Now just got to get to some real dark skies for some even better viewing. Any ideas for around the Wollongong region? I was thinking the southern tablelands but have no real idea where to look for a good site.

Didn't mean to ramble on this much but last night was just so good and so much fun,I had to let every one know what a blast I had, probably going to do it all over again tonight.
Cheers
Steve

Last edited by figgylion; 30-01-2009 at 02:03 PM.
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  #815  
Old 30-01-2009, 01:41 PM
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..thought someone else was up there....

Hey Steve... after months of poor skies the warm weather drove me outside last night armed only with an old pair of binocs, a star chart and not much else.. we'd had showers so I didn't lug the dob into the back yard. My family were keen but stressed that talking all about Sirius, Orion and m42 etc was taking up too much time over breakfast this morning (lunches to be made for school Dad!) It was a great window with only a few clouds to marr the night. Tonight it looks like lotsa cloud... but last night was great!
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  #816  
Old 04-02-2009, 01:53 PM
NGC2264 (Gordon)
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New to Site & Astronomy

Hey all. Say hi to another newcomer.

I had my interest in astronomy go through the roof when I visited the Dubbo Observatory and the Griffith Observatory in LA over the past year.

I have joined (or am about to join) the Northern Sydney Astronomical Society and took part in their viewing night a couple of weeks ago which was a blast and met some great young guys who really helped me.

I have a limited budget - probably $1,500 tops and after alot of reading I think I have settled my mind on getting a 10" Dobsonian. One of the lads at the viewing had one of the skywatcher collapsible dobsonians which would suit me better than a solid tube one for portability and storgae reasons.

I had a couple of questions. The first I suppose is: is Skywatcher a reputable brand? Also my kids are interested and I wanted to get a laser pointer so that I can point stuff out in the sky for them. York Optical sell the 10mW for $200 and the 20mW for $135...to me that doesn't make sense - why is the 20mW cheaper? Will I have problems with a 20mW if I went with it being cheaper? I live in the city but will also be going out to the country for viewing.

In terms of eye pieces, I was advised to get like a 25mm, a 15mm and a 10mm. I was thinking of getting some decent eye pieces but not the $400/piece brands. What are worhtwhile brands at the $100-$200 mark?

Any other worthwhile tidbits of info someone feels I should know please feel free to advise - I am all ears.
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  #817  
Old 07-02-2009, 01:34 AM
Cougs (Chris)
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Finally found Saturn - words cannot describe how I felt!

Beautiful...

I am using a 8" dods Skywatcher and was surprised with the quality with a 10mm lens, very nice. I would actually like to be able to magnify a lot more and see even more details, is a barlow lens the way to go?
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  #818  
Old 08-02-2009, 05:28 PM
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Kevnool (Kev)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NGC2264 View Post
Hey all. Say hi to another newcomer.

I had my interest in astronomy go through the roof when I visited the Dubbo Observatory and the Griffith Observatory in LA over the past year.

I have joined (or am about to join) the Northern Sydney Astronomical Society and took part in their viewing night a couple of weeks ago which was a blast and met some great young guys who really helped me.

I have a limited budget - probably $1,500 tops and after alot of reading I think I have settled my mind on getting a 10" Dobsonian. One of the lads at the viewing had one of the skywatcher collapsible dobsonians which would suit me better than a solid tube one for portability and storgae reasons.

I had a couple of questions. The first I suppose is: is Skywatcher a reputable brand? Also my kids are interested and I wanted to get a laser pointer so that I can point stuff out in the sky for them. York Optical sell the 10mW for $200 and the 20mW for $135...to me that doesn't make sense - why is the 20mW cheaper? Will I have problems with a 20mW if I went with it being cheaper? I live in the city but will also be going out to the country for viewing.

In terms of eye pieces, I was advised to get like a 25mm, a 15mm and a 10mm. I was thinking of getting some decent eye pieces but not the $400/piece brands. What are worhtwhile brands at the $100-$200 mark?

Any other worthwhile tidbits of info someone feels I should know please feel free to advise - I am all ears.
Hi and to IIS Gordon, Its good to hear you joined an Astronomical society you will get plenty of great help and good instruction with insight to push your hobby further.
10' Dob is a great starter scope as for the skywatcher i would say there got to be O.K.
My 10' is a Meade lightbridge and i am very happy with it until i got aperture fever and had to go bigger 16'.

Not sure about the laser prices so i cant help you with that question.

The eyepieces my three choices are 7mm , 14 mm , 30mm but thats me others will differ, But change your 25 to a 30.

The really good EPs come later on after you get a handle on using your scope and exploring the night sky then you can revisit them again with decent EP,s.

Its good to hear the family wants to get involved with astronomy.
Get a set of star maps and a planisphere to help you around the sky.
Do you live in the Dubbo area ?

Cheers For now Kev.
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  #819  
Old 09-02-2009, 06:07 PM
fat200sx (John)
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12" Dobsonian buy or not to buy

Hi I am new to astonomy I've been pretty interested since high school were we were taken to a local observatory a few times. I was looking at buying an 8" dobsonian but have been offered a 12" skywatcher for 860 delivered.

All you guys seam to be very happy about what you see through your scopes, i just dont want to be disapointed and only see a dot in the scope. So is it worth the extra to get the 12" over the 8". I will mostly be using it in my backyard.

Cheers for your help.

John
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  #820  
Old 09-02-2009, 08:55 PM
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erick (Eric)
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Yes John. it is worthwhile getting the 12" over the 8", and that is a good price.
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