Astronomy anyone?

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Is there anyone on here who's also into astronomy? I'm trying to get the cash together for a scope at the moment, maybe a refractor or a dobsonian reflector. I currently own a pair of 70mm Skymaster binoculars, and have been viewing Jupiter and Uranus for the past couple weeks. I did own a large 10" scope in the past but foolishly sold it

Hi Mattc---I enjoy astronomy though I haven't gotten out with the scopes for awhile. I have a Celestron Ultima 8 inch Schmidt cassegrain, Celestron 90mm Maksutov, Celestron 80mm rich field computerized refractor, Sears 80 mm refractor, and a pair of 80 mm binoculars.

I had considered a dobsonian but never bought one. I liked the old Coulter Odyssey series. They had a 17.5 inch! If you don't care about clock drives the dobsonians are a good way to go, but they will need collimation.

Binocular viewing is actually quite enjoyable, but I can understand wanting to get a scope again. Feel free to discuss astronomy with me.

pre=owned 8" s.c.t. scopes are very durable and fairly inexpensive if you forgo the drive and just use slow-motion hand controls. that's what i do with no problems. problem is weight if you're gimply as i am.

as a kid I was, until I found out...

1) it's mainly math, and higher math at that
and
2) the most productive time to work is usually 'just before dawn'...

Hi Mattc. My favorite is the Ring Nebula. I realize that viewing Jupiter, Saturn, and the Orion Nebula are truly spectacular, but I just find something really neat with the Ring Nebula. And I agree, globular clusters are great views.

Your 10" scope sounded neat---the largest I have looked through is an 8".

And at this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, the Adromeda Galaxy is a neat target.

I live in a light polluted area. I rarely get out anymore to observe. And in the summertime the mosquitos are terrible. I do have a couple locations I can go to (up on other people's hilltops) to observe---but wow, is that hard lugging that stuff around. The binoculars are a great option---and I like having the two eyepieces to look through.

That's settled then . If some math ever comes up then I assume you could just use a calculator and have instructions for converting from and to big numbers e.g. astronomical units, light years etc.

I was obsessed for awhile a couple years ago. Bought a used 10" Celestron Dob and a few eyepieces for it. Will never forget seeing Saturn and Jupiter for the first time. Was fun to look at our moon really close up, too. Haven't busted the scope out in quite awhile...will have to soon. I should also learn to collimate it better.

I've always wanted a telescope. Now I want one that I can hook a camera up to and take photographs of the stars. Or video if I see a satellite. That would be awesome.