First snows...

[h2olawyer]

The best scope is the one that gets used.  Too many people buy a large telescope only to find out it is too much of a hassle to set up whenever they want to use it.  Mine is almost that big.  About 70 pounds total, but reaks down into 3 manageable components.  Plus a separate case for eyepieces & filters, a rechargeable power supply and a case for books / charts.  Then there's the table to hold all the accessories and a chair as well.  Oh yeah - don't forget the computer & layers of clothing.  Anything larger than what I have would be difficult to fit into a small or even midsized car.  If I didn't have the truck, I'd have gone with a Schmidt Cassegrain type scope.  It's a 'folded' newtonian reflector with optical correction, giving it many of the great characteristics of a refractor.  While my scope's tube is about 40 inches long, the same sized aperture in a Cassegrain is only about half the length.

Another issue with telescopes is dew.  There are heating systems designed to keep the optical surfaces just above the ambient air temp so dew does not form on them.  A traditional newtonian generally only has dew problems with the eyepiece and finder scope.  If it gets really bad, the secondary mirror can dew over.  If it gets down to the bottom of the tube and the primary mirror, you're probably looking up from the bottom of a swimming pool.  So, that's an additional electric drain. 

If you want to get an idea of other things your scope will work well on, find a copy of Binocular Astronomy  http://www.willbell.com/handbook/hand2.htm.  Your library might even have a copy to check out.  Anything good for binoculars will be good in your scope - except for maybe some of the more open star clusters.  As Orion gets higher in the sky through the fall & winter, you should look at the second 'star' from the bottom of the sword.  To the naked eye, it looks like a star in a bright, fuzzy area.  Through binoculars, you can see more stars in that space.  Through my telescope, I can see a bunch of stars, a star formation called "The Trapezium" and a fairly large dust cloud surrounding it all, glowing blue-grey.  For most deep space observing, the scope's power is kept quite low.  Around 30x - 50x for most objects.  Planets and lunar observing uses the highest power that the seeing conditions allow.  Get too strong and details get washed out, though.  I'll be using about 280x for most solar system observing even though the scope is capable of up to 480x.

I'm waiting for my eyepieces to arrive.  I currently have just the 20mm that came with the scope.  It gives me a 50x magnification.  OK for all around general observing but you really need a range of eyepieces to get the most out of a scope.  I ordered a 4mm for high magnification along with a moon filter to soften the light & bring out some detail.  My cousin is sending me a 7.4mm, a 17mm and a 32mm on 'indefinite loan' as he now uses a different (and more expensive) type so I'll have a decent collection to start with.  There are eyepieces that cost as much as some smaller telescopes!  Price a Televue Nagler sometime.  $450 - $600 each!  I'm using Plossls which generally run in the $50 each range.

Another thing about using a telescope - it can be hard on the back.  You tend to get into some odd positions trying to see through the finder scope or eyepiece.  The longer you look at an object, the more details you begin to see.  I have a little twinge from the last two nights, but am headed back out again tonight.  Didn't get started until around 11PM last night but will be out around sunset tonight getting set up.  Jupiter will still be visible and high enough to get a pretty good view.  It's in the southern sky and is visible, as is Venus, about at sunset.  Did you know that in good atmospheric conditions, you can see Venus and Jupiter in the middle of the day?  Takes a little practice, and it is easier if there aren't any clouds to distract your focus.  There are online resources to tell you where those planets are in the sky at any given moment.

Here's a link to the book my cousin (Dennis Webb) co-wrote: http://www.willbell.com/handbook/arp.htm  I blame that tome for getting me re-interested in astronomy.

Clear Skies!

H₂O

[vadasz1]

to get back to Tiger's topis, while I was in Dubai last week the temperature during the day was a cool 34 Celcius (their winter time). During the night it was a frigid 24 Celcius.  During the summer time their daytime temp goes into the mid 50's Celcius.

[YellowJacket!]

I've had my Celestron C90 - 90mm or about 4"- since the late 70's.  Its really a great scope too.  its considered a "spotting scope" but has its own spotting scope mounted on it.  Detail and definition is great and its highly portable.  I use a very solid and heavy cinematography tripod.  I got the tripod at a swap meet when I was a teenager.  It had been used for production cameras so it is incredibly stable but it lacks the clock drives for following objects which is needed for taking pictures of any space objects other than the moon.

Wonderful hobby H20

David

[h2olawyer]

I just came in from freezing my @$$ off taking a tour of tonight's sky.  I saw Andromeda, Stephan's Quintet, easily split Alberio, searched for the North American Nebula (no luck, probably too much light pollution), spent time looking at all the nebulous regions in the Pleiades, watched Neptune for a bit and tried for the Ring Nebula (again unsuccessful).  The Go To feature is awesome.  Once it is dialed in, everything I look for is centered in the eyepiece - or within a very short scan - still within the eyepiece's field of view.  I have only a 20mm eyepiece and with my 1000mm focal length, that gives me a magnification of 50x.  sing averted vision, details in the faint stuff comes through pretty good.  It's a skill that takes time to hone.

I am sure looking forward to getting my 4mm eyepiece for planetary observation - 250x magnification with that one.  The scope is theoretically capable of 480x but that would require perfect atmospheric conditions.  My cousin is sending me a 7.4mm, a 17mm and a 32mm set of Plossl eyepieces.  He's graduated to the more expensive ones and says these are just gathering dust.  I'll probably add a 12mm to that set and spend a bit of money on a nice 40mm wide angle eyepiece.  Should feel like I'm taking a spacewalk with that one!

May be headed back out to the local astronomy club's dark sky site Monday.  The Clear Sky Clock is predicting good to excellent conditions out there and it is quite a ways from major population centers.  Greeley is about 30 miles SW and Ft. Collins is about 60 miles WSW.  Cheyenne, Wyoming is about 30 miles NW.  Those are the only light domes and they don't extend too high.  The higher objects show up well and the background looks like black velvet.  I got to see some of that Friday before the clouds rolled in.  Greeley was reflecting pretty good off the clouds that night but it was still a good night for seeing until the transparency went to hell.

Now, I'm looking forward to summer so I can do this without being out is the cold, standing still at the eyepiece.  Not exactly the most aerobic activity!

H₂O

[inanecathode]

You should see how dark it gets up where i live rob, perfect viewing conditions most the time. Just dont look too eastly  ;) :D

[h2olawyer]

I know you have a lack of lighting up there - I almost forgot they electrified the area a few years ago!

Darkness is only one of the things necessary for good viewing conditions.  Clear skies, low water vapor levels and a steady atmosphere are also critical.  Even on clear, dark nights, the atmosphere can be turbulent.  This is what causes the stars to twinkle.  As pretty as that may be to the naked eye, when you get stars through a telescope, they can jump around and go in & out of focus.  Looking at planets can look like you are viewing through a layer of rippling water.

The upper atmospheric turbulence is called 'seeing' conditions.  It is difficult to get better than average seeing in or near mountains.  The terrain causes the turbulence to increase and it takes a couple hundred miles down wind for them to re-stabilize.

I would like to be able to set up in my back yard.  However, I have trees to the south and my house blocks much of the northern sky.  I'd have a slim sliver of sky to look at out there.  I can't even see Polaris from the back yard so merely aligning the scope would be difficult.

Used my driveway last night and it was better than the front yard, but the traffic coming in & out of the cul-de-sac was very heavy.  Lots of people returning from seeing their Obamessiah I guess.   ::)  Hopefully, it will be better during the week.  Once I get everything figured out, organized and get a couple large crates or trunks to carry everything, heading to a more secluded site will be much easier.

Still, a telescope up in your neck of the woods would be great.  Actually, you can use a scope anywhere there's a view of the sky.  Lots of urban dwellers have them.  Been reading about people in NYC apartments who have them on balconies and still see some great stuff.  If you are interested in observing the moon, that can be done from the middle of a fully lit football field just as well as from a dark sky site.

H₂O