Stargazing

This is kicking my ass right now, BBC doing good work out there imo.

Have been watching this, pretty dam good. Also Mr cox has new show starting.

Andromeda light taking 250 million years to get here's pretty brain melting stuff.

Also putting all my gadgets in a lead box 6 foot under in 2013 :(

This thread's emptier than space :(

yeah, expected more. Ah well fuckem.

Missed the first ten minutes of the first one but started recording at once. Great stuff.

'wossy' needs a fucking shave

I love Dara and Brian's childlike geeky enthusiasm - which was ironically the thing that kept me from enjoying Cox' Wonders of the Solar System at first, until I finally got used to it (and also stopped paying attention to the accent and the fact that sometimes he says everythink and sometimes he says everythingue) :-)

All in all it wasn't a bad three shows.

Dara made me feel great when they showed his age, i'm three months younger than him, but look half his age...

Thank you Dara O'Brain!

cox is such a cliched defensive nerd, tho i like him. He really dislikes dob joking, feels the need to correct him immediately after each perfunctory responsive bark of laughter

head over heels for laura tobin btw

Ha oh yeah! In blue tonight, cute and petite, but also wearing wedding finger ownership emblem.

quitter

Three's a crowd, learn't that the hard way.

you have to insinuate yourself, not crowd. Tactical error imo.

this programme amde me realise the worst thing about living in london is the orange star-free sky.

i tried to spot andromeda last time i was in scotland. will try harder next time.

yeah, true. Pity u dudes, i can see p much everythin out the window most nights.

Really should get a telescope tbh

Is there anything Hawaii isn't good for?

Great skies/weather, great landscapes, volcanoes and beaches.

pretty good ilxors imo

http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/01/07/0454251/BBC-Astronomer-Misses-Meteor-During-Live-Show

Question: Is anyone on ILX particularly knowledgeable about stargazing?

Or if not, can someone suggest an intro to stargazing primer? I've been wanting to do this since I was 8 or so, but never have actually bought a telescope (nor has anyone ever bought me one, for that matter). That is a long time to wait for a puny insignificant human, but not by cosmic standards. Maybe now is the time.

yes:

http://store.lcmm.org/mm5/graphics/00000001/the-stars.jpg

http://www.weddingbeepro.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/wwwbac.jpg

thanks!

Was just gonna post those! They are still the best introductory books. Sadly I gave up stargazing/amateur astronomy some time ago, but those were instrumental in getting me started.

why did you give up?

Oh I had that blue H A Rey book, his constellation depications are fabulous, so clear and memorable. Can't believe people are still using meaningless depictions like this:

http://www.dreamstime.com/gemini-constellation-thumb19178879.jpg

xp Cleveland only gets like 75 cloudless days a year, and a lot of them are when the weather is tremendously cold at night! Also, I had too many expensive hobbies (astronomy, scuba, music, cycling . . . ) and one of them had to go.

Before I got out of it I was using one of these:

http://www.freewebs.com/romseyas/Meade%20ETX%2090.bmp

how into it were you? did you get together with other amateur astronomers or was it a you-at-home thing? what kind of telescope is that? what is a decent starter telescope? i can stop with the questions anytime...

I am pretty pleased that Jupiter has been so visible in the evenings lately while I run around the lake. Instead of using my GPS watch, I can just use the regular occultation of Europa to calculate my pace and map my route.

La Lechera - I'm in Chicago too, and it sucks for stargazing - I have this telescope, http://www.opticsplanet.net/celestron-nexstar-6se-telescope.html. Optics Planet is a good local, reputable company with good sales and support. I have very little luck with getting a cloudless night and defeating city light pollution (though, when I used to live in Evanston, I did have a little luck by setting up near the Lake M. shore for good full moon study). My girlfriend is originally from Wisconsin, and my folks live near Kankakee so I usually gingerly pack the gear on visits where I have determined clear skies, decent weather, and a set of objects I want to see that aren't at some ungodly hour (past 2 a.m.). Late winter and early fall viewing in the middle of rural nowhere has gifted me with some really good views (pleiades, solar system objects). This site covers illinois stargazing - http://elenin.paranomalo.us/

You are all so skilled and knowledgeable. I appreciate the help. Sucks about Chicago, but I was kind of hoping that this hobby would take me away from Chicago periodically (nature travel with a purpose!), so those are good tips.

I have taken two astronomy classes (both in college, my first and third years, ie a long time ago) so I don't really know much about anything aside from my longstanding and genuine respect for the cosmos. My first class was in a huge auditorium and the girl who sat next to me was a stripper who basically stole all of my notes so that she could get a C. The professor was Scottish and I remember nothing about the class aside from truly enjoying the way he said "Copernicus".

The second class was strictly stellar astronomy and it was really difficult and scientific, at a different college. The only saving grace for me was that we were given a choice at the end of the semester of either doing a research paper or writing a science fiction story based on one of the concepts we learned in class. You can imagine that my fable about a boy who goes through the process of physically becoming a black hole was...of dubious quality. Still, it was fun.

The H A Rey book is a treasure, still have my copy.

This morning was cold, clear and crisp, and leaving my apartment and looking up I could see Orion and all the associated winter constellations right there -- a lovely sight, winter is definitely en route.

That scope is a Meade ETX-90 -- it's a great little backyard scope, but I don't know that I'd call it a starter scope. It usually retails for around $450-600. It did give me terrific resolution and depth for lunar observing, planetary observing, star clusters, nearby galaxies, nebulae, etc. (Looking at Orion's belt, the Pleiades or Andromeda through this thing was like "whoa!")

The one piece of advice I followed and would offer to anyone else is *do not buy a telescope from a department store.* They're cheaply made with bad optics and you'll just be frustrated. Definitely try a camera store, a specialty store, a local supplier as suggested above or straight from one of the major companies like Meade or Celestron. The great thing is, for the same price I paid for my first Newtonian scope two decades ago, you can get a pretty sophisticated instrument that uses GPS to find pretty much anything you want in the sky, and has great optics to boot.

When I lived in Virginia, I was a member of the Northern Virginia Amateur Astronomers, and did go to a lot of viewing parties out in the mountains, but didn't join and clubs or anything in Ohio. My favorite astronomy memory is from Christmas Day 2000, when there was a partial solar eclipse -- my wife and I took my scope down to a park off of the GW Parkway and set it up to watch, projecting the eclipse onto a piece of cardboard. There were a lot of families out enjoying the weather that day, and I got to show the eclipse to tons of moms, dads and kids, hopefully spurring a future interest in science!

One of the fun things about living in South America was being out in the middle of nowhere at night and letting the dearth of recognizable constellations mess with your head. You can see, like, Orion, but he's upside-down!

^^^ When I visited Australia, I was like "HOLY COW EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT IN THE SKY!"

See that's what I'm talking about. How amazing.

What price is a starter telescope? Recommendations? I looked at Blackironprison's link, and honestly, I didn't really understand what I was looking at aside from the fact that it was very expensive. Should I start with book and naked eye?

Book, naked eye and a good pair of high-power binoculars is actually a great way to start! If you're looking at stars to get acquainted with the night sky, there's not much more a telescope can show you -- it will just resolve a particular star from a pinpoint to a slightly larger pinpoint. The scope comes in handy when you're ready to start doing lunar/planetary observing, deep-sky objects, etc. Binoculars will help you, once you've picked out a constellation, see the grouping a little better and more isolated, maybe reveal some stars that aren't visible to the naked eye.

Seeing the Southern Cross for really real in the New Zealand sky was such a damn treat.

Yep. When my tour group visited Alice Springs, we did a pre-sunrise hot air balloon ride thing, and when I saw the Southern Cross it was just like O_O.

See, Crosby Stills Nash and Young knew what they were on about!

I bought my son that Rey book, I loved it as a kid :)

He couldn't give a monkey's :(

Give it time, my Dad tried to instil a love of trains in me from an early age, but it didn't take until I was in my mid-20s.

Ok those two Rey books are purchased. I am ready to dig out my binoculars (I have some for animal spotting while hiking) and get to work.
Even thinking about the Southern Cross kinda makes me feel weepy, but I am a total sap.

La Lechera - I'll actually second the binoculars suggestion - I love my telescope, but it is a true bitch to store, calibrate when travelling, etc. A good scope is supposed to be a chore, that's part of the hobby. Fall in love with the possibilities with a good pair of binoculars. Redshift and Skywalk on ipad are good suppelement apps (nice red tint choice for viewing for night time).
I lived in Cameroon in the middle of nowhere for a few months visiting an ex-girlfriend in the Peace Corps - absolutely the best binocular stargazing experience I've ever had - I don't know when I'll see those stars again ...

we should fap at next year's Nebraska Star Party

(lotsa other states have star parties, too, I just think going to the one smack in the middle of the prairie would be best for stargazing)

is this what religious folks feel like when they find the right congregation?
alleluia, my people!

Here's Illinois': http://www.prairieskies.org/

on second thought, i don't know that those are specifically my people

anyone who uses Papyrus font on their sign is pretty clearly Not My People.

i'm not really much of a joiner anyway

xp maybe they are all really N'avi.

From Avatar.

That movie. It used Papyrus.

that doesn't help, i'm afraid

YU55?

Seeing the Southern Cross for really real in the New Zealand sky was such a damn treat.

You don't have to go so far to see the Southern Cross--just go to the Florida Keys in April or May and you'll see it (and Alpha/Beta Centauri) in all its glory. (You'll need to look at it over the ocean, because it's right at the horizon.)

Here's a list of constellations and the latitudes that you can see them in.

Gorgeous moon and excellent visibility by the lake tonight in Chicago! Identified Rigel, Betelgeuse, and Orion's belt and a dipper, not sure which one.
Too bad I forgot the binoculars.

The larger dipper with the double star in the handle that's on the opposite side of the pole from that big W is the Big Dipper. The smaller one with a U-shaped halo of stars (which is part of another constellation called Draco) is the Little Dipper.

Suprised caek wasn't all up in this thread.

Stargazing, the bbc thing that prompted this thread, is on again next week btw.

http://www.entertainment-focus.com/news/stargazing-live-returns-for-three-nights

Got the augmented reality iphone stargazing app about two months ago, haven't had a chance to use it in anger yet.

Speaking of iPhones/iPads/iPods, Planets is a really good astronomy app, and it's free.

(You can't really use it in the field unless you cover the screen with some kind of transparent red something-or-other, because it would ruin your night vision, though.)

that sounds like a schoolboy error