For you Astronomy buffs............

[Buckeye_Nut]

My 7YO son went to his very first star party last weekend!!!

I was afraid he'd 'crap out' early so I brought a sleeping bag & pillow for him to sleep in the SUV, but NO WAY......he stayed glued to the telescope the entire night. (until I decided to leave at 130am) And even then when I said it was time to go...he was like...."lets look at one more thing"....and that cycle repeated itself about 5 times before I called it quits.......LOL

He's very excited about everything astronomy, and he's learning a lot too. He regularly checks out astronomy related books from the library and reads them from cover to cover. He's always quizzing me on astro-stuff. LOL
He's looked through my scope in the back yard, but he's never traveled with me to a dark sky site.

This was the observing field........

It was a local club event with maybe 15-20 people in attendance.

Him proudly posing with "Tubby". (my scope)

And this is him at about 1am.....still glued to the eyepiece.

I think it's great that he shares my interest in astronomy. We're going out again this weekend if the skies cooperate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Where are the astro buffs in this forum?

 

[lsiberian]

Looks like fun.

I remember I loved Astronomy around that age. Meterology and geology also fascinated me. I suggest you give him a go at those too. It's great to see people get their kids involved in science. I can't say how important it is to our nations future.

my favorite sites outside of this are

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/neic/

http://www.noaa.gov/

http://www.nasa.gov/

All recommended for scientifically minded kids.

 

[pzaur]

What's the light gathering power rating for that bad boy?! Damn!
You make me envious.

-pat

 

[jostenmeat]

Where are the astro buffs in this forum?

I think Adam (No. 1) is.

I think perhaps the most beautiful thing of nature I've ever seen, IIRC, was the Leonid shower in roughly '98/99 or so. I felt utterly humbled, like a tiny speck enjoying the universe (which is pretty accurate), like an infant. It would be very difficult to explain here for me. I'll just say that every so many seconds, a new shooting star streaked, changing to all sorts of colors along the way, and I think I could hear them. (Is that possible?).

This night, I also saw two EXTREMELY LARGE bright white clouds, like holes in the sky. I mean waaaaay larger than the moon. I remember googling what the heck those were, but I can't remember the name. The first one I saw was driving up the mountain, and I almost veered off the cliff I was so shocked/amazed.

The smoke trails of the shooting stars lasted many minutes (well over 5). We were timing them, but gave up on that as that distracted us from enjoying the other shooting stars. No telescope.

California is great. We set out for high desert, but since it was overcast, we packed up and headed towards the mountains just a couple hours away.

Just wanted to share, because my astro experiences are extremely limited.

 

[CraigV]

I’ve always been fascinated with space & astronomy. My 10 year old daughter, who has ADHD & never sits still for anything very long, watched a 1 hour DVD with me which was several hundred pictures taken by the Hubble Telescope. She’s hooked as well. I think I need to invest in a nice telescope, although the one you have looks expensive.

 

[rnatalli]

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/eyegalaxy/

Cool shot. Who knows, maybe it's God's eye.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Mine is a very basic 16" dob, and no....... telescopes don't need to be expensive because there are many alternatives available these days. It depends on what type you buy. Refractors and electronics/goto..etc, etc....will add to the cost per inch. If you nix the fancy stuff/high dollar mounts....telescope prices are very modest. IE....My scope costs less than many 4" refractors selling today!! I've seen mounts that cost much more than I have invested in my entire telescope!! It depends o what you want....

When it comes to cost per inch of aperture, basic dobs offer the biggest value. For example, I just bought a new 8" LightBridge scope last week. With my sons interest exploding, I wanted to buy something small/light that I could easily plop down in the backyard so if the urge hit to take a quick peek at the night sky, I wouldn't hesitate to take it out. My new 8" scope only cost $400, and with an 8" mirror......it has a very real light gathering capability. When it comes to telescopes, aperture/light gathering ability is everything. (pretty much)
http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/meade/8197+8198+8268+4295045938.cfm
One can easily find a 4"-6" dob in the $200-$300 range. Just be sure to do a little research and steer clear of those cheap/crappy department store telescopes that advertise "600+ power". When it comes to astronomy, it's all about aperture......not power.

This is another site that sells modest scopes that really work..........
http://www.telescope.com/control/main/
There are a bunch out there.......

Not to be repetitive but....avoid those department store scopes at all costs!!

 

[highfigh]

Here's a link I found out about a few years ago. I had some as desktop wallpaper for quite a while. There are some very amazing photos and I'd really like to see them in HD on a large display.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html

 

[highfigh]

Mine is a very basic 16" dob, and no....... telescopes don't need to be expensive because there are many alternatives available these days. It depends on what type you buy. Refractors and electronics/goto..etc, etc....will add to the cost per inch. If you nix the fancy stuff/high dollar mounts....telescope prices are very modest. IE....My scope costs less than many 4" refractors selling today!! I've seen mounts that cost much more than I have invested in my entire telescope!! It depends o what you want....

When it comes to cost per inch of aperture, basic dobs offer the biggest value. For example, I just bought a new 8" LightBridge scope last week. With my sons interest exploding, I wanted to buy something small/light that I could easily plop down in the backyard so if the urge hit to take a quick peek at the night sky, I wouldn't hesitate to take it out. My new 8" scope only cost $400, and with an 8" mirror......it has a very real light gathering capability. When it comes to telescopes, aperture/light gathering ability is everything. (pretty much)
http://www.telescopes.com/telescopes/meade/8197+8198+8268+4295045938.cfm
One can easily find a 4"-6" dob in the $200-$300 range. Just be sure to do a little research and steer clear of those cheap/crappy department store telescopes that advertise "600+ power". When it comes to astronomy, it's all about aperture......not power.

This is another site that sells modest scopes that really work..........
http://www.telescope.com/control/main/
There are a bunch out there.......

Not to be repetitive but....avoid those department store scopes at all costs!!

How much magnification does yours provide? Do you ever do any astro-photography?

 

[adwilk]

Not to be repetitive but....avoid those department store scopes at all costs!!

I might have fallen victim to that... I'm trying to remember what its called. I know it didn't list any of its specs... I think its a BOSE or something like that...



ZING!

 

[pzaur]

This night, I also saw two EXTREMELY LARGE bright white clouds, like holes in the sky. I mean waaaaay larger than the moon. I remember googling what the heck those were, but I can't remember the name. The first one I saw was driving up the mountain, and I almost veered off the cliff I was so shocked/amazed.

These bad boys?
Noctilucent clouds

-pat

 

[pzaur]

NASA geek humor.
Well worth the short read for the pic description. Made me laugh!

-pat

 

[Adam]

These bad boys?
Noctilucent clouds

-pat

That's what I had in mind when I read the description, too.

 

[jostenmeat]

These bad boys?
Noctilucent clouds

-pat

That's what I had in mind when I read the description, too.

No, thanks for trying though Pat. It was white on black. Like ANSI test pattern white on black. Unlike the red, green, blue, purple, magenta, etc, whatever colors there were, shooting stars, this was just white. The shape was like a wide elipse, almost the shape of an almond eye, but sides a bit more rounded. I would say that it was about half as long as the pic of the cloud you linked, maybe slightly more. Just as tall, roughly, my memory tells me. I can't find it by googling. Now I second guess myself on what it could be. Maybe it was the meteor itself, but whatever it is, surely with some optical illusion, diffraction of light by the air or something. It was freaky, never heard of it before, just crazy. However, the shooting stars took the cake.

 

[Adam]

You want want to Google "Noctilucent Clouds." What you described sounds like it could be the same thing. There are other photos out there of them.

Either that or you were visited.

 

[jostenmeat]

I was not visited. I was not on any drugs. I've never once taken magic shrooms, LSD, or the like, let alone harder stuff. Dunno man. You'll just have to take my word on it, or not. It obviously had to be related to the meteor in some way. We saw two. Maybe the same one, from a different angle on the drive, but I don't think so. Didn't see any afterwards that night, after having setup camp.

 

[Adam]

I wasn't trying to be insulting! I was just kidding about aliens coming to visit you.

I do take your word for it. From what I've read about those clouds, they can appear to be glowing white after sunset because of their high altitude.

 

[jostenmeat]

I wasn't trying to be insulting! I was just kidding about aliens coming to visit you.

I do take your word for it. From what I've read about those clouds, they can appear to be glowing white after sunset because of their high altitude.

I didn't take it that way at all. However, I thought I better explain certain things, in case people started scratching their heads, rubbing their chins, and someone wanted to ask me the same question that Sarge asked Fillmore in the movie Cars, "The 60's weren't very good to you, were they?".

Or maybe instead, "Who are you, and what have you done with jostenmeat?".

Joking aside, it seems all of the pics of the Noctilucent clouds are at dusk? What I saw was in pitch black night. When we arrived at the desert, it was already night, and the large white thing I saw was hours later.

Anyways, if anyone has a chance to see a famous meteor's shower, do it. Just think of where to see it. I know others who were lazier about it, and went somewhere very local, and they didn't see jack, at least when we were sharing stories. Get as high as you can. Not on long bottom leaf, but I mean in altitude.

 

[10010011]

I just got home from TMSP

Someone brought a 40 inch dob this year!

 

[NicolasKL]

Get as high as you can. Not on long bottom leaf, but I mean in altitude.

Altitude doesn't really make a difference in naked eye (or low power) viewing, the important thing is lack of light pollution.