Astronomy

[air gun ant 1,666]

Is anybody in to astronomy? We're going to the isle of raasay in a couple of weeks and I imagine it to be pretty void of light pollution lol so I'm looking for a decent portable starter telescope for around £100? And maybe a guide of some sorts to constellations and how to spot planets etc I've spent a lot of time staring up to space (usually when I'm supposed to be working) lol and would love to know a bit more about it.

Cheers ant

[Pink or stink 162]

I would suggest a fairly good pair of binoculars (nothing massive). These will provide some decent images of messiers/clusters and most definitely all four moons of Jupiter. Around the 5th late morning you might see the alignment of the 5 planets low in the sky. I chased clear sky's for years going to start parties in the darkest areas and gave up eventually due to the weather conditions. I spent over £12K on specialised equipment and lenses and I can honestly say I had as much fun with a pair of ED binoculars. Stargazerslounge is the forum for the beginner.

[air gun ant 1,666]

Now that's a useful reply! Thanks mate, I won't go daft on a telescope, when to be honest, I would use a decent set of bino's a lot more lol what are ED binoculars anyway?

Cheers ant

[pesky1972 5,236]

No nothing about astrology or the stars but someone I know got me to download Stellarium for the PC. I believe you can also get an app for your phone. It's a pretty cool stuff, you can stick in your location and it'll show you what's in the sky and where to look.., and you can scroll forward in time to see what's going to be there. Adds a wee bit of extra interest if you're out & about on a clear night.

Edited January 24, 2016 by pesky1972

[kanny 20,541]

I use a app called droid sky veiw ....just hold your pad up and it tells you what your looking at pretty cool and free ...I reckon theres different apps that do similar.

[flipbull 1,139]

Now that's a useful reply! Thanks mate, I won't go daft on a telescope, when to be honest, I would use a decent set of bino's a lot more lol what are ED binoculars anyway?

Cheers ant

Extra low dispersion.

[flipbull 1,139]

Night sky tools on android is a decent app. Tells you what planets are up at what time, Meteor shower dates and peaks, consalations, sky map etc

[David Aiken 253]

Definitely a good pair of binoculars and a secondhand book. You may get a reasonable secondhand telescope for £100 but you'll need a mount of some sort, a cheep mount will let down any price scope.

[David Aiken 253]

Jb showed me a phone app wherever you view the sky stars are named, clever stuff. Atb Joe

While these apps are a helpful tool as per the discussion on this site 'springer or PCP' for a first air gun. The conclusion a 'springer' teaches shooting , the same is true of these apps. You just aim at the night sky and are told what's in that location. You'll never learn 'star hopping'. Give me just a pair of binoculars and one star, I can after 'learning' my way around the night sky spend hours looking at it's wounders without the reliance on a powered device.

[bear-uk 17]

I bought a very heavy duty telescope from the auctions. Looking at the Moon was amazing.

But them bright dots were still bright dots through the scope.

So back it went.

Was told later that trying to look at stars was pointless but looking at Planets would have been better.

[tomburras 2,730]

What sort of magnification binoculars would be best for this?

[David Aiken 253]

What sort of magnification binoculars would be best for this?

7 or 8 x mag 32 to 56mm front optic hand held. Anything up to 25 x 150 if mounted. The bigger the greater cost, 25x150 can be £25,000!

[David Aiken 253]

I bought a very heavy duty telescope from the auctions. Looking at the Moon was amazing.

But them bright dots were still bright dots through the scope.

So back it went.

Was told later that trying to look at stars was pointless but looking at Planets would have been better.

Depends on your scope! I've a 10" f6.3 reflector. In real terms that's 5' long with a 10" professional grade mirror. I can see to about magnitude 13 so can see the companion star of Polaris, the pole (North) star. Split Miza in Urssa Major with easy. Also if you take the scope out of focus on one of those uninteresting starts you can see colours which are the gas makeup. This gives their size, age and then distance can be determined! Loads of great sights out there with minimal equipment. Join a club, your can't beat an astronomy club!

[tomburras 2,730]

 

What sort of magnification binoculars would be best for this?

7 or 8 x mag 32 to 56mm front optic hand held. Anything up to 25 x 150 if mounted. The bigger the greater cost, 25x150 can be £25,000!

 

 

 

Thank you.