Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Hawklore on December 25, 2006, 08:01:55 PM
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http://www.bushnell.com/general/telescopes_northstar_78-8846.cfm
Brothers and I got this telescope,
Anyone got a good website, for basic info, etc. for beginners?
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point it "up"
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Originally posted by Golfer
point it "up"
Theres a tree in the way...
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doesn't matter. That telescope can easily see 20 miles and a tree will present no problem whatsoever.
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Someone on here is an astronomer if i remember rightly, he can probably help... name escapes me at the moment though, he is from ireland...
anyone help me out?
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I have a telestar telescope. It is pretty neat, except it flips the image upside down when looking at objects on the earth
*wink wink nudge nudge* Say no more
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Your Sky (http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/)
This sites pretty good. You can also change the settings if your scope doesn't invert the image so South is "up" making it easier to locate the areas you are looking for. Only dislike is the City Selection, it's a tad far from me, so there is some fine tuning, but it can at least get you in the general direction and once you have a confirmed object, you can find your way around.
There are thousands of good sites out there, search and familiarize. That scope should have came with an interactive CD, did it?
Start with the moon. It's large, hard to miss. Use it to familiarize yourself with the adjustments while your eyes are in the sites. Once you can map around the moon easily, it will make browsing the stars a tad easier. Just one thing though, Calibrate the locater Perfectly. It's well worth the hours to fine tune that scope, you can miss the Moon if you are off a few hairs :) Imagine a pinpoint of light.
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If you go to simhq, you can get some good advice.
http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=122;t=001368
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Originally posted by Hawklore
Theres a tree in the way...
the stars could care less.
(why i love my telescope.)
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Originally posted by Hawklore
Theres a tree in the way...
Cut the tree down
I would
Spose you didn't get a chainsaw for Xmas as well?
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I used to own a 60mm refractor when I was in college and for several years after.
Just some basic advice to help you get started. Pick a lens with the widest angle of view. Unlock the clamps on the dual axis controls so that you can make rough adjustments. Center an object in the lens (a small object works best) and then relock the clamps.
Now make fine adjustments to make certain the object is exactly centered in the field of view in the lens. Once this is done, make adjustments on the view-finding scope to center its crosshairs on the same target. By doing this you will make it far easier to find a target in the main scope at night. Always use the wide angle lens to find a target, and then, after centering it in the field of view, switch to a higher-powered lens.
Read the instructions on how to align polar axis of the scope (uncertain of the terminology relating to this; it's been a while since I used a scope) with the North Star. Doing this makes it easier to keep the target aligned, because the magnification of a scope reveals the rotation of the earth while viewing an object. That is, the object will wander across your field of view. When the axis of a scope is properly aligned, tracking the moving object is much easier. Some scopes have an auto-tracking drive...and once engaged, if the axis is "right", you can track the celestial object with almost no adjustments.
Wish I could be of more help....but it's been twenty years since I've fooled with a celestial telescope.
Regards, Shuckins
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I've used Starry Night (http://www.starrynight.com/) before and liked it a lot.
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Originally posted by Hawklore
http://www.bushnell.com/general/telescopes_northstar_78-8846.cfm
Brothers and I got this telescope,
Anyone got a good website, for basic info, etc. for beginners?
A couple things. Did you click on the "Tech Talk" tab on the linked page? Check the manual that came with the scope? :)
Go Here:
Linky (http://skytonight.com/)
You may want to subscribe to "Sky&Telescope", that rag has been around for over 40 years. VERY informative magazine, I subscribed for two years and didn't have a telescope, but used a buddy's.
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Locate nearby singles apartment building.
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Originally posted by Hawklore
http://www.bushnell.com/general/telescopes_northstar_78-8846.cfm
Brothers and I got this telescope,
Anyone got a good website, for basic info, etc. for beginners?
Welcome to the world of Astronomy
I got a good idea, see if there is a Local Astonomy Club near you, preferredly one that is a member of the Nightsky Network.Here is the link to my Astonomy Clubs website:http://www.limaastro.org/
I hope there is some useful infro on there for ya.
Thats a nice reflector telescope.The first star you should look for is Sirius.
Here is a pic of my Clubs Telescope.It is a Celestron 14" Schmidt Cassegrain
We use a 3D eyepiece, and a TELRAD optic sighting system.The Dome helps as well.
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/902_1171524275_celestron14.jpg)
Here is a pic of My personal Celestron 8" Schmidt Cassegrain
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/902_1171524301_celestron8.jpg)
We got some great views of Saturn last week, truely amazing.
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Originally posted by Shuckins
....how to align polar axis of the scope (uncertain of the terminology relating to this; it's been a while since I used a scope) with the North Star....
they call it "polar allignment"...but that does not look like a polar mount, it looks like a single fork alt-az with on of them computars that finds stuff for u:aok:aok:cool:learn how to get than thing working is the key to finding the stuff without tits to look at (maybe it can find ladies too, computars are good for that these days).
getting a good view of what you are looking at is best done by having good eyepices & having the mirrors collimated well. if you're looking at stuff in the messier catalog or similar type of stuff is best to be somewhere dark & with your eyes well dark adapted. sky & telescope magazine used to be teh astronomy "bible", but now there porbably a website or sumthing...
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Originally posted by Hawklore
Theres a tree in the way...
(http://www.fmft.net/archives/chainsaw/chainsaw.JPG)
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Some simple hints.
The best vieweing is during the cold air of winter.
Planets tend to be the brightest objects in the sky and twinkle less than stars. It's easy to see Jupiter and four of its moons, and Saturn and its rings. These tend to be the easily the brightest "stars" in the night sky and are visible fairly frequently, particularly in winter.
The Orion Nebual is easy to see, in the middle of the Sword of Orion
The Andromeda galaxy is fairly easy to find
Venus rises shortly before the sun and sets shortly after it, as a bright star on the eastern or western sky respectively. You can even see Venus in a phase like the moon.
Mars can be observed regularly, but without a powerful scope I find it somewhat boring.
I'm stuck with a 60mm Mead, which is alright for the basics but lacking for the really amazing detail.
Charon