Telescopes

Neost · Post by **Neost** » April 20, 2005, 9:04 pm

Ok, i picked up a cheap telescope to screw around with and was amazed at what i could see with it. I somehow got this thing pointed at jupiter and could distinctly make out the planet and its 4 moons. Mind you this is with a cheap ass bushnell that i found at a pawn shop for 20 bucks brand new in the box. I could see significant detail on the moon.

Anyway, that got me looking around and i found a factory refurbished Meade ETX-70AT with 1 year mfgr warranty for 170 bucks. They retail new for right at 300. It has the "goto" feature, ie its motorized with a database of 1400 objects it can automatically find. I almost bought one of these brand new last year but talked myself out of it.

If anyone is into this stuff and has any recommendations on the types of lenses I should buy in addition to the basic 9/25mm that come with it, or any commentary on this particular scope I would appreciate it. Also, I'd like to know if the setup routine to get the scope aligned is difficult if anyone has done that.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 20, 2005, 9:17 pm

Cool : )

I remember getting a telescope as a present back in third grade and my mom thinking I was nuts when I'd get up at 4am and haul my telescope to the park to check out Venus right before dawn.

The moons of Jupiter, rings of Saturn, Moon craters (with a filter or you'll blind yourself from the brightness) are all great objects to view with a cheapo telescope. I got tired of trying to find and track the objects manually though so a motorized locator/tracking thingy would be a must if I bought a new one.

Bring a camcorder in case you spot any UFOs!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » April 21, 2005, 4:31 pm

A good telescope is going to cost you. I was looking at them lately but not too seriously. space.com has a good telescope buying guide that explains things.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/a ... 00707.html

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » April 21, 2005, 6:38 pm

If you aren't in an urban area wide angle lenses are pretty nice. Looking at big chuncks of the milky way & such at once is very cool.

Don't know if Winnow was joking, the 70 autotracks I believe, you can get some very cool video mounting a camcorder on it pointed at the eyepiece. A buddy uses PVC and hoseclamps.

If you're in an area with lights of skyglow a broadband filter to knock out the sodium and mercury lights makes a massive difference for very little money.

Neost · Post by **Neost** » April 22, 2005, 2:21 am

Thanks, guys and gals.

Yes, this one autotracks (or I believe it does it is motorized and has the GOTO feature). Thanks for the info on the filters. I'm in as urban an area as you can get in Arkansas but it is also very easy to get to very low light areas. My brother-in-law owns about 80 acres on top of a mountain near the Pickle Capital of the World (50vv's if you can name that town. HINT: It is in Arkansas).

I won't get the scope until Tuesday (damn shipping times). I'm really anxious to see how things look. My youngest daughter is really interested also. She's spent way more time trying to see things through that POS scope we have than I have. This is for her b'day (well, its sort of a present for both of us). I want to make sure she has everything she needs to really enjoy this.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » April 22, 2005, 2:49 am

Neost wrote: I won't get the scope until Tuesday (damn shipping times). I'm really anxious to see how things look. My youngest daughter is really interested also. She's spent way more time trying to see things through that POS scope we have than I have. This is for her b'day (well, its sort of a present for both of us). I want to make sure she has everything she needs to really enjoy this.

Nice gift. Wish I had a good star gazing book to recommend but I'm out of the loop on what's out there these days.

Better throw in a Lightsaber Spoon as well as part of the birthday present. A red or blue one would work great as a non-white light to use while setting up the telescope and keeping the eyes adjusted to the dark : ) If you can't get one of those from a box of Frosted Flakes, try to get any small light with a red or blue filter for reading/finding stuff while using the scope : )

http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/view ... hp?t=14264

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » April 22, 2005, 8:45 am

Winnow wrote:Nice gift. Wish I had a good star gazing book to recommend but I'm out of the loop on what's out there these days.

I've got a couple aimed at teens\kids at the house, can't remember the titles though. Burnham's Celestial Handbook is about the best reference you can get. Very useful for beginers and advanced folks, make sure to get all 3 volumes if you're going to buy it. Astronomy book club sells it cheap a couple times a year.

Neost · Post by **Neost** » April 22, 2005, 8:45 am

never thought of using the spoon lightsaber for red lense work.

I still have 3 or 4 flashlights left over from my military service with red lense filters. I'm sure those will illuminate the situation, maybe not as well as a lightsaber spoon, but they'll do for now.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » April 22, 2005, 8:51 am

There's plans floating around for red LED flashlights, or you can convert a mini mag light to use a red LED. Costs about $10 to do either and much better than a filter.

I got extra nerdy and have multiple LEDs of different sizes on mine for selectable brightness.

*Edit - Damn, never thought of the red lightsaber, I could be uber-nerd.