There are still plenty of natural history surveys that incorporate public input/data. For instance:

http://web4.audubon.org/bird/cbc/

http://www.horseshoecrab.org/act/count.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioBlitz

Also, for basic sky identification, google's skymap is kinda neat (android).

google sky maps is sweet...the gf and I were playing with it when we went out a few weeks ago to watch the perseid meteor shower...it will identify major stars, constellations, planets etc as you move over the sky with your phone...

No prob. Yeah, they do a good job with it & there's a pretty large archive. The history episodes are def enjoyable.

I'm getting myself a little 5" or 6" this weekend to start myself off (probably a meade at the moment), my father's been an amateur astronomer for decades and has infected me with his enthusiasm.

Something worth mentioning is to think about getting something that is reasonably portable, half the fun for me is going somewhere pitch black and sitting in the middle of nowhere looking at the sky. But then, I live in a city so to get perfect viewings it's needed, and you might not need to move.

Also, for a complete beginner, getting one that can "find" the objects in the sky for you would be a lot less frustrating than having to start from complete scratch with maps. It's somewhat less..personal, but it's a good way to learn where things are at the beginning. I'm seeing a lot of cheaper models coming with this so it wouldn't cost excessive amounts as a feature.

Some of these links itt look really interesting, thanks for posting them.

I recently purchased a celestron telescope... I put it together, but haven't read the manual or watched the video that came with it yet. I was actually planning on watching the vid tonight and trying it out for real. I took it out for a dry run, but I think I may have missed something on assembly cuz the spotter-scope doesn't line up with the main, and the magnification isn't terribly impressive. I had a hard time just finding the moon, but I really bought it for my daughter (8mo) to use when she gets old enough. I've got time to procrastinate :P

Quote:

Last edited by LirvA; 08-28-2010 at 09:38 AM. Reason: how do you find Jupiter?

I found this in one of your first posts. To be honest, I don´t know if Jupiter is visibile right now when it´s dark.

One of my greatest astronomical observational experiences was several years ago, when I observed Jupiter with binoculars, and could see the four visible moons change places from day to day and week to week. You can draw up the light spots and maybe follow which moon moves where. If it´s near Jupiter it probably is one of the nearer moons, but may also be a moon that happens to be close for the moment in the line you are watching.

I didn't see anyone mention www.skyandtelescope.com. That's one of the top sites around with advice for both experienced amateurs and those getting started, along with updated info on what is observable at the moment.

The astronomics store website has alot of useful info, as does the Meade site. I could give alot of advice, but I'd just be repeating what you can already find in those places.

I've been into amateur astronomy and astrophotography for some time now. I own several telescopes and many of the bells and whistles that go along with them.

I would suggest getting a decent mid-priced scope (like from Mead or Celestron ) WITH "go to feature"to start out with and some good eyepieces, you can always resell it if it doesn't interest you. Like other suggested a good pair of binoculars is also a good choice to start out, I use them and built this to keep them stable,steady and easy to maneuver.



Once you start if you find you enjoy it, then get ready to open your checkbook because everything gets expensive real fast You'll find yourself buying more expensive telescopes, expensive eyepieces and photo equipment.

Reading this thread convinced me to buy a telescope again once I live in a house (and no longer in an appartment, probably in 2 months or so). I owned a small one when I was ~15. But that was in a city with a lot of street lights and I was barely able to see anything.

A few years ago I moved to Australia (Sydney) - and am still amazed how many things you can see here with your bare eyes, e.g. the milky way and the Orion nebula.

lol wild set up sir. looks like a good idea, pretty hard to keep binoculars steady.

There's a technique to it. Don't grasp them on the side with your fingers. Instead, cup your hands around the side of each eye like you are trying to look through a glass window at night, blocking out the light from the room. The knuckle of your thumbs rest on the bone of your eye socket, with your index fingers on your eyebrows. The binoculars just make contact with the heel of your hand, not your fingers at all. Keep your elbows in, resting on your chest. Sit down, and lean your back against something for even more stability. That makes it much steadier. You can easily see 4 of the moons of jupiter this way, but you need the stability. Other galaxies too, with dark enough skies.

^
I must to be trying that.


I just read the telescope episode of astronomycast. I am learning that this is not a poor man's hobby. :/

Computer controlled scopes are relatively new to amateur astronomy, and amateurs got along just fine without it for decades. On the other hand, most scopes were used once or twice to look at the moon, and maybe a planet or two, and then relegated to the closet because most people don't have the patience to learn how to find stuff. They don't understand that the hobby is really about detecting faint objects, not about seeing pretty pictures. For them, goto mode may be essential, but I wonder if that would be enough. I have goto mode, and for me it almost takes some of the fun out of the hobby.

Without goto mode, take some time with binoculars to learn your way around the sky. The amateurs on a budget used to squeeze every bit of performance out of the equipment they have before upgrading. A computer controlled scope really doesn't do anything that you can't do by hand using the right ascension and declination coordinates found in a sky atlas, and the analog setting circles found on decent mounts. Both require that some effort be made to achieve accurate alignment.

It's up all night right now. It rises in the east just after dark, and sets in the west after sunrise. It's the brightest thing in the sky right now, so you can't miss it.

+1

I agree you don't need "goto-mode" when I first started there was No such thing. I just think it makes it easier for a beginner to find some of the basic objects in the sky, which may make it a little less frustrating when starting out. Even with a goto feature you have to know how to set up the telescope (on a decent mount) in order for that feature to work, basics like finding Polaris.

I kinda agree with this though, but not just the goto mode. I remember when astrophotography was done only with film. It is a lot more fun, sort of an art (and why I still use it) then using digital CCD cameras and stacking software to build and image. I finally went digital but still very much enjoy the old school approach.

A lot of good equipment can be found second hand, many buy or are given telescopes and equipment as a gift and become frustrated (aren't seeing Hubble images LOL) or have no interest in astronomy. You don't need to spend a lot but once you get into the hobby you'll find much of the equipment you want costs lots of $$$. One area I think beginners should spend a little money on is a few good eyepieces, not talking big money Nagler but a few good quality ones.

Much of the cost is in accessories, like, eyepieces,filters,mounts,adapters,electronics and software.

You can find a good used telescope or pair of binoculars for not to much money to get started. No need to go crazy buying all kinds of bells and whistles when starting out,learn the basics, understand how to set up your scope properly so you can find objects in the night sky, and enjoy.

Edit: One way to go is get a dobsonian telescope, everything can be done manually by you with a manual Altazimuth mount ,no need for an equatorial mount or any mechanical movement of any kind.

even this is not really true anymore...most new goto systems have an auto align feature or a star align feature which will allow you to align a few bright stars and it will auto calculate the goto for you, you don't even have to pick specific stars...

of course, this assumes you have an alt az mount rather than an equitorial mount...

You still have to align the mount in the polar home position before using auto-align. For normal observation, this doesn't have to be real precise, though you probably need to be able to find polaris. For astrophotography, this must be more precise, and requires use of the polar viewfinder built into the mount. You also have to align the finder scope with the main scope, but that doesn't have to be done often.


Other way around.

i have an alt az celestron on a fork mount and i dont need to align anything other than two arrows on my fork to make sure the tube and forks are perpendicular before doing the star align...my scope doesn't even have a polar viewfinder...

It probably depends on how accurate you want your tracking to be, depending on your set up you can use alt az alinement (maybe with the goto feature) or polar align.

As BruceZ said "for astrophotography"
you need to be a bit more precise, ESP when doing long exposure primary photography. For film long exposure primary photography some manual adjustments are often necessary to track well. Using a "T" adapter with a crosshair (while camera is attached) to follow a tracking star or even piggybacking a smaller telescope on the primary to follow a tracking star works well.

i was just talking about auto align features on goto scopes...

of course, for long exposure a better alignment and perhaps a tracker are necessary, although with alt az tracking i have been able to take up to 2 minute subs w/o horrible rotation problems...the pics i posted above were taken with 2 minutes subs and then cropped to remove the really bad streaking on the frame edges...

nova, can you post some pics youve taken or describe your setup? do you happen to live in Los Angeles (cuz that would be awesome)?

OK, I forgot that the auto-align works with alt-az mounts too. I described the procedure for my equatorial mount. How do you orient your scope, just by pointing one leg of the tripod north by eye, and that's it?

yup...although im not positive its necessary...

the celestran auto align will align based on 3 bright objects that you aim at...the program basically just asks you to aim at object 1, you align, hit enter, repeat for object 2 and 3 then it will calculate and succeed or fail based on your aim...

im guessing it tracks the distances/direction that you slew in between points...

Live in PA

Most of my pics aren't on this PC they're on disk, someplace LOL, I'll look and see what I can find. Most are on film or slide but I've got a bunch that are digital, as well of pics of my telescopes.

I've had many telescopes over the years and have been selling a few recently to upgrade. Currently I have:

Celestron Nexstar GT 80

Mead LX 10 EMC

5 inch Dobsonian (LOL)

Mead ETX 90 mounted on an modified Mead 2045 mount with a wedg

Here's a pic I have on this PC of the observatory I built



It was easier to build the top like an offset pyramid. The door in the top comes off to point the telescope out of. The the top of the building is built on tracks so it can rotate, and the base is secured in lot's of concrete with mounting pole to secure the telescope and keep it steady.

wow, thats awesome...so you are one of those handy types that makes all kinds of crazy **** like i see on cloudy nights...im jealous. I'm getting nervous at the idea of making my own telescope case out of a giant tool chest...