HTF Amateur Astronomers (1 Viewer)

[Bryan^H]

152mm David H. Levy Comet Hunter Telescope

The Explore Scientific David H. Levy Comet Hunter is the result of a dream collaboration between long-time amateur astronomer & Explore Scientific founder, Scott Roberts, and one of his life-long heroes, David H. Levy. David is an author, lecturer, & discoverer of a plethora of comets and asteroids;

explorescientificusa.com

Sold Out, now when I have the money LOL!!

I chatted with customer service, and they will be receiving more. But no pre-order means a daily check of the site I guess..

 

[dpippel]

Wow, I sort of abandoned this thread. Sorry about that! Is anyone else up observing the lunar eclipse this morning? We have mostly clear skies here in Phoenix. Jupiter is sinking in the west, although still a nice telescope target. Mars is high overhead and looks pretty amazing in the eyepiece. Seeing is pretty good.

 

[dpippel]

It's in totality now and absolutely beautiful! Here's a not-very-good pic taken earlier in the eclipse through my 6" Maksutov using my iPhone 13 Pro Max...

 

[Greg.K]

Wasn't really planning to view the eclipse this morning but I was up early and the sky was clear. Decided to test out the iPhone 14 Pro's night mode for some widefield shots. Seems reasonable after some post processing in Lightroom.

 

[JohnRice]

This is my 1975 sand-cast C8, which I was lucky enough to find locally. It's in almost 100% brand-new condition, and I'm fortunate to have it. This is the telescope that really brought "serious" amateur astronomy to the masses. Its combination of 8" mirror, portable SCT design, low weight, and portability really changed the hobby forever.

You can see my assistant taking it easy to the left of the eyepiece.

View attachment 122163 View attachment 122164

I used to sell Celestron. I sold a lot of C5s, but only one C8.

 

[dpippel]

I used to sell Celestron. I sold a lot of C5s, but only one C8.

Interesting.

 

[dpippel]

Wasn't really planning to view the eclipse this morning but I was up early and the sky was clear. Decided to test out the iPhone 14 Pro's night mode for some widefield shots. Seems reasonable after some post processing in Lightroom.

View attachment 161792

That's a pretty nice image, Greg!

 

[Bryan^H]

I saw Mars a couple weeks ago, and it was just stunning. Crisp, super bright, and an amazing shade of orange. Unfortunately, I had to observe it with my naked eye (Still haven't got a new telescope).
Still great, but I wish I could have viewed it proper.

 

[dpippel]

It definitely dominates its region of the sky right now and will reach opposition on December 8th, so it's increasing in angular diameter with each passing day. It even makes nearby Adlebaran look pale in comparison. In the scope last night the eastern hemisphere was in view and surface details were easily seen, with Syrtis Major Planum front and center. It was almost at zenith for me around 4:00AM MST.

Here's the 150mm Orion Maksutov-Cassegrain I was using last night. It's my grab-and-go setup. I ended up selling my Stellarvue refractor:

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Still not sure what I'm doing, if anything at all, but I just started eye-ing this Apertura AD8 (after realizing from this review site that most of the sub-$500 scopes on Amazon, et al may not be worth bothering) as a potential (belated?) Christmas present, but the wife thinks the kids won't be interested enough and it may just end up taking up precious, Brooklyn RE space and collect dust...

I said maybe I just need to have a shed built for it (when not in use... plus whatever minimal outdoor furniture) for my rooftop (4 stories above ground level)...

OR maybe this is more realistic (and likely still very cool) for us...

iTelescope - Leaders in Internet Astronomy since 2006

22 Internet Telescopes across 5 Observatories. Download Image Sets Now updated every 14 days. Direct control of telescopes. Internet Astronomy, Astrophotgraphy. Scientific Reserach including Photometry, Variable and Double Stars, Asteriods, Comets, Supernova, Exoplanets and Deep Space Imaging. LRGB

www.itelescope.net

_Man_

 

[dpippel]

Still not sure what I'm doing, if anything at all, but I just started eye-ing this Apertura AD8 (after realizing from this review site that most of the sub-$500 scopes on Amazon, et al may not be worth bothering) as a potential (belated?) Christmas present, but the wife thinks the kids won't be interested enough and it may just end up taking up precious, Brooklyn RE space and collect dust...

I said maybe I just need to have a shed built for it (when not in use... plus whatever minimal outdoor furniture) for my rooftop (4 stories above ground level)...

OR maybe this is more realistic (and likely still very cool) for us...

iTelescope - Leaders in Internet Astronomy since 2006

22 Internet Telescopes across 5 Observatories. Download Image Sets Now updated every 14 days. Direct control of telescopes. Internet Astronomy, Astrophotgraphy. Scientific Reserach including Photometry, Variable and Double Stars, Asteriods, Comets, Supernova, Exoplanets and Deep Space Imaging. LRGB

www.itelescope.net

_Man_

Man, that remote observatory option is pretty cool, but IMO it doesn't hold a candle to actually standing outside under the night sky and looking through a telescope. Also, you are correct in your thinking that most anything on Amazon that's less than $500 will probably be more frustrating than useful. There are a lot of things to navigate when deciding on a telescope.

My recommendation would be to skip the Apertura AD8. While it's a fine instrument, there are caveats. Firstly, since it's a reflector, it will require regular collimation (aligning the primary and secondary mirrors) for optimal performance. As you point out, it's also bulky and will take up space in your home. Lastly, it's completely manual in operation. It has no drive and doesn't track objects that you put in the eyepiece. You're constantly nudging the scope to keep things in the field of view. It also has no computerized goto functionality, so you have to find objects the old-fashioned way, by using the finderscope and star hopping. If these issues aren't a problem for you, then I think the AD8 is a quality package and a lot of telescope for the money. It gets great reviews as well.

If you're buying primarily for your kids, I'd recommend getting a goto setup. That means a telescope on a computerized mount that will allow you to go to any object in the sky with the push of a button or a tap on a smartphone/tablet, after a simple and mostly automatic alignment process. A refractor, a Schmidt-Cassegrain, or a Maksutov-Cassegrain would all be good choices. The two Cassegrain designs are small and compact, and the refractor requires no collimation or maintenance. You'd be getting less aperture than the AD8 in the same price range, but there's an old saying in amateur astronomy - the best telescope for you is the telescope that you use. If the instrument is easy to set up and observe with, you'll spend much more time with it than with a scope that's a PITA. Here are a few proven goto instruments to consider that might still fit your budget:

Celestron NexStar SE

NexStar 5 SE Schmidt-Cassegrain Computerized Telescope

www.adorama.com

Sky-Watcher StarTravel 102 AZ-GTe 102mm f/5 Refractor GoTo AZ Telescope

Buy Sky-Watcher StarTravel 102 AZ-GTe 102mm f/5 Refractor GoTo AZ Telescope featuring 102mm Refractor Optical Tube, 500mm Focal Length, f/5 Focal Ratio, Anti-Reflection Multi-Coated Optics, Motorized Computer-Controlled AZ Mount, 2" Focuser with Reducer Adapter, 20x & 50x Eyepieces with Star...

www.bhphotovideo.com

Celestron NexStar SLT Telescope

NexStar 127 SLT 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope with Motorized Altazimuth Mount & 4000+ Object Database

www.adorama.com

All three would be good choices, although be aware that at this price point the mounts do NOT have built-in WiFi, so you'd have to buy a dongle to interface them with a phone/tablet, which would run between $100-$150. However, the hand controllers with these mounts work great as-is. Of the three choices above, the Skywatcher refractor has the widest field of view, with the Celestron 5SE coming in second and the Celestron 127SLT third. This means that using the same eyepiece, you'll see a larger chunk of the sky with the refractor than the other two designs. This makes the refractor better for looking at star clusters, nebulae, etc., while the other two are better lunar and planetary scopes. However, all three are just fine for general use.

I hope I didn't derail your plans here. Just thought I'd chime in to see if I could help you out a little. Good luck!

Doug

 

[dpippel]

By the way, I don't know if anyone here was able to observe the lunar occultation of Mars on December 7-8, but we had great weather for it here in Phoenix. It was one of the coolest astronomical events I've ever observed. With Mars basically at opposition, the planet was quite large in the eyepiece with lots of surface details visible, and watching it disappear behind the limb of the Moon was magical. Here's a really crappy pic I took by holding my iPhone 14 Pro Max up to the eyepiece as the Moon was getting closer and closer to passing in front of the Red Planet. One of these days I'm going to get a REAL planetary camera. I was using my 1975 Celestron C8 scope for this one: