? for the astronomy geeks

1,693 Views | 6 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by bigeric
Steve Williams
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I'm interested in buying a beginner's telescope. Not going crazy with it, at least right now but considering spending 4-600. I've seen at least one in that price range that locks on and tracks automatically depending on what's in the sky on any particular night. Anyone have any suggestions? Something I'e always a lot of interest in.
GuerrillaPack
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I hear that the Nikon P900 (83x optical zoom, ~$600) and NikonP1000 (125x optical zoom, $900) cameras may be better than a telescope, for amateur astronomy. Plus, of course, you can take pictures and video of what you observe. The Amazon product description for the Nikon P1000 focuses on it's uses for astronomy and says it can be used to see the rings of Saturn.

There are tons of videos on YouTube showing what these cameras are capable of, for astronomy. Here is a zoom of the moon and saturn using a Nikon P1000:







"Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." - John 15:19
Steve Williams
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wow, that's pretty cool
Daviewolf83
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Steve Williams said:

I'm interested in buying a beginner's telescope. Not going crazy with it, at least right now but considering spending 4-600. I've seen at least one in that price range that locks on and tracks automatically depending on what's in the sky on any particular night. Anyone have any suggestions? Something I'e always a lot of interest in.
Steve - I have been into astronomy for the past 15 years and currently own two telescopes. I have a Dobsonian telescope with a 10" mirror and a Celestron tracking telescope with a 6" mirror. My personal advice would be to invest in a Dobsonian telescope. The key is to get one with the largest mirror possible, since the mirror size determines how deeply you will be able to see (ie., how many faint objects you will be able to view).

If you want, DM me and I can give you some more information. Also, if you want, I can arrange some time to show you my telescopes and explain in more detail what you need to look for in a telescope. Having one that automatically tracks is nice, but the added cost of the motors and computer will decrease the size of mirror in the telescope.

Here are a few images I took last year with my tracking telescope and a camera mounted to the scope. I am still learning how to do astrophotography, but I thought they turned out pretty nicely for a first time attempt.

Dumbell Nebula




Ring Nebula



Orion Nebula
Pacfanweb
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I've seen pics where someone managed to snap a picture of the ISS from the ground with the awesome zoom on one of those P1000's. Impressive. Loses some clarity, but still...that's awesome.
Steve Williams
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Daviewolf83 said:

Steve Williams said:

I'm interested in buying a beginner's telescope. Not going crazy with it, at least right now but considering spending 4-600. I've seen at least one in that price range that locks on and tracks automatically depending on what's in the sky on any particular night. Anyone have any suggestions? Something I'e always a lot of interest in.
Steve - I have been into astronomy for the past 15 years and currently own two telescopes. I have a Dobsonian telescope with a 10" mirror and a Celestron tracking telescope with a 6" mirror. My personal advice would be to invest in a Dobsonian telescope. The key is to get one with the largest mirror possible, since the mirror size determines how deeply you will be able to see (ie., how many faint objects you will be able to view).

If you want, DM me and I can give you some more information. Also, if you want, I can arrange some time to show you my telescopes and explain in more detail what you need to look for in a telescope. Having one that automatically tracks is nice, but the added cost of the motors and computer will decrease the size of mirror in the telescope.

Here are a few images I took last year with my tracking telescope and a camera mounted to the scope. I am still learning how to do astrophotography, but I thought they turned out pretty nicely for a first time attempt.

Dumbell Nebula




Ring Nebula



Orion Nebula

Wow, those are impressive. Thanks for the info Davie.
metcalfmafia
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That picture of the Orion Nebula doesn't even look real. Awesome stuff.
bigeric
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My favorite astronomical photograph is of the Horsehead nebula in the Orion nebula. 1500 light years away.
For those interested, NASA has a website displaying a different photo daily, with a searchable archive..
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Like I said, if you cant get hyped for the Carolina game, why are you here?
-Earl Wolff-
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