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  #1  
Old 02-03-2005, 01:44 PM
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iceman (Mike)
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Glossary of Astro Terms

If you're new to astronomy and you're wondering what all the technical jargon you read around here really means, then be sure to check out the

Glossary of Terms

on the IceInSpace main site.

If you're still unsure, please don't hestitate to post here and ask!

If you think anything should be added to the glossary, please let me know. Likewise if you find any errors.

Thanks to Ken (ballaratdragons) for compiling the glossary.

Last edited by iceman; 12-09-2009 at 02:46 PM.
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  #2  
Old 02-03-2005, 06:27 PM
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Starkler (Geoff)
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Nice work Ken
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  #3  
Old 02-03-2005, 11:40 PM
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ballaratdragons (Ken)
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Thanks guys.

It is a compilation of facts from lots of sites, books, and some I wrote myself.

I tried to keep it simple, mainly using the lingo used in the forum plus a few that may come up.

A full Glossary has thousands of entries, many of which we don't use in here.

I just hope it gets used, then it was worth the effort.
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  #4  
Old 03-03-2005, 06:20 AM
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ving (David)
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well done ken and mike, you guys are leg ends
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  #5  
Old 04-03-2005, 08:57 AM
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gaa_ian (Ian)
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Good on you Ken, this should help clear up a few questions ...
Those, "Ive always wanted to know ..but been afraid to ask questions"
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  #6  
Old 04-03-2005, 05:33 PM
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  #7  
Old 17-03-2005, 05:59 PM
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Moonman (Michael)
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Some good info on eyepiece design setups.

No doubt will learn more of this as I go along.

Moonman
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  #8  
Old 17-03-2005, 06:54 PM
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Striker (Tony)
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Thats great but what does Glossary mean......lol

Nice work Ken.....
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  #9  
Old 16-07-2005, 04:05 PM
Ratman
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Good job, well done. Now I wont have to ask silly questions on my first post!

Cheeers Rats.
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  #10  
Old 16-07-2005, 10:51 PM
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ballaratdragons (Ken)
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Hi Rattie,

There are no silly questions in here. Ask anything you like!!!
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  #11  
Old 19-07-2005, 06:52 PM
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Question Parabolic?

What makes a 'parabolic' scope different to other scopes? (Just showing my ignorance, forgive me, Im still new at this)
Cheers rats.
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  #12  
Old 21-07-2005, 08:30 AM
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Gidday Ratty, Here's my understanding of this; as you may already know light travels in 'waves' of varying wavelengths. Light toward the red end of the spectrum has a longer wavelenth than that at the violet end of the spectrum.

When light enters the telescope and strikes the mirror it is reflected back up the tube (in the case of a reflector type) to a point known as the focal point. A spherical mirror (one which has a surface shaped like part of a perfect sphere) tends to bring light of different wavelengths to slightly different focal points.

This causes an optical effect known as spherical abberation which can lead to unnatural colour casts and an effect called coma, which produces elongated images of points (the stars look like little comets). Using a parabolic mirror (one shaped like a parabola, which is the shape you get if you slice vertically down thru a cone) tends to alleviate these effects by focussing all wavelengths of light at virtually the same focal point.

I understand there are some telescopes with mirrors that have a modified parabolic shape (Meade RCX400 - Ritchey-Chretien) that virtually eliminate these effects altogether BUT they come come with a mind-numbing price tag!

Hope this helps
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  #13  
Old 21-07-2005, 08:34 AM
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Heres a pic to show the difference


http://web.ask.com/fr?u=http%3A%2F%2...L3-24.HTML&mb=
Ask Jeeves Results - what are parabolic mirrors
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  #14  
Old 21-07-2005, 08:40 AM
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Wow - I've never seen it that graphically demonstrated before!
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  #15  
Old 22-07-2005, 05:15 AM
Ratman
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Thanks Ganymede and Slice of Heaven, your input has clarified the difference.

Cheeers Rats
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  #16  
Old 12-09-2005, 07:59 PM
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Beautiful. This is just the kind of stuff I am looking for, as i'm just learning about astronomy.

Thanks iceman
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  #17  
Old 14-01-2006, 04:09 PM
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Ken, what a great glossary. Thanks for all the work to help beginners
like me.
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  #18  
Old 14-01-2006, 04:22 PM
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ballaratdragons (Ken)
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Your welcome Susan.

I used to be confused by the lingo and I remember what it was like not understanding.

Hope it helps!
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  #19  
Old 15-01-2006, 11:46 AM
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acropolite (Phil)
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Onya Ken, nice work.
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  #20  
Old 01-07-2007, 06:25 PM
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Thumbs up

Now this IS helpfull. Only thing is now i have to learn the whole alphabet.Thats why i took up astronomy so i only had to learn 1 letter
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