Stars / Astronomy / Astrophotography / Telescopes / Astro

Self destruct could well have been automatic.

I told my colleagues Musk was on it. Much confusion at the reaction to its sudden disassembly.

Also love that it experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly". Rocket science speak for "it blew up"

Definitely up there with "lithobraking", the much more efficient alternative to aerobraking.

A cool to scale example of our solar system where the moon is a pixel. Includes a neat button to autoscroll at the speed of light.

https://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html

Looking for a bit of advice here. Currently got a 130mm Dobsonian (SkyWatcher 130P Flextube) and looking to upgrade.

Torn between sticking with a Dob or going for an EQ mount. Don't currently get too hung up on the relative annoyance of working with the Dob vs what I assume to be a much easier control setup with the EQ. But not sure if that would remain the case with a larger scope, more specifically higher magnifications.

Currently eyeing up something like this: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-telescopes/stellalyra-8-f6-dobsonian.html

And I'm struggling to find anything on an EQ mount that's much bigger than 130-150mm.

Realise that this is an incredibly vague question btw. Also I've got no interest in using it for astrophotography (while I'd love to do it, it seems like an expensive rabbit hole to get into).

Any thoughts from folks here?

skywatcher-explorer-200p-eq5

I found that as you go any bigger than this you'll be shopping independently for the OTA and mount.

Unless you intend to image I've always found dobs to be much easier to use, as well as generally more stable

I do like the fact that an eq mount allows you to track things as the world spins, but I have recently converted to using a dobsonian because you can then have a really substantial mirror without too much faff and expense.

A big scope (10” plus) on an eq mount is going to be quite spendy because the mount has to be strong and stable, but there are plenty of 8” reflectors out there on eq5 or heq5 type mounts.

I’ve taken the additional step of getting an eq platform made for my dobsonian so I can find something and then show it to other people without it disappearing from the field of view. If you want big aperture and not having to keep nudging the scope, that is an option.

A 10mm lens under a good sky

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That’s the light of the rising moon making the sky blue and the trees green

Jupiter was close to the moon this morning, just visible to the naked eye for most of the morning.

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Neat.

I'd like to try to get a nice shot of the impending blue supermoon but have zero experience of astrophotography. I have a tripod and 400mm zoom but would appreciate some ballpark settings and basic tips please. I am fully aware I left this a little last minute!
Edit: Looking at the blanket cloud cover, this may all be moot...

Have I read my astro app incorrectly, the news seems to be full of pictures of yesterday's moon but PhotoPills is still showing as tonight?

Last night I took a few photos, after perigee but before full moon which was at about 3am. I think.

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Space mice have been at the cheese again.

Settings were something like f5.6 1/45s and ISO1600.

Thank you for the settings and cool pics.

It seems I missed it this time but I've found a few websites and apps to help me get up to speed. I'll be back to ask more daft questions once I've also read the previous 62 pages of this thread...

Space mice have been at the cheese again.

I think youll find its Biker Mice from Mars.

Great pics again Ludd!

Anyone else excited about the ZWO Seestar S50? Can't quite work out how large the CCD is and what resolution images you'll get out of it but it looks very impressive at, er, first sight.

Or is it shit? Put me out of my misery.

Thats really interesting. Thanks for posting

Looks like the lazy mans telescope

im now curious on the resolution to as the aperture looks rather small

I was out in the sticks last night and the stars were insane. Bad phone shot but Cassiopeia and Andromeda next to it.

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From what I can see the resolution is only 1920 x 1080, but I don't know if that's the size of the entire image or if it uses the 1920 x 1080 sensor to stitch/tile a larger image. If it's the latter then that could be okay, if it's the former then that's a bit too small. I'm not sure how these things work.

And yup, lazy person's telescope is about right! 🙋‍♂️

12 Best Computerized Telescopes Worth the Money (2023)

Amazon has Celestron 11049 NexStar 4SE Computerised Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope with Advanced GPS, Astroimaging and AutoAlign Features, Black/Orange for £520

Having a look at their view of what separates them from others isn't that special I don't think (other than being compact and in one piece)...

I'd go for the Celestron as its a very trusted and loved brand in this space (see what I did there? 😂)

What's the rest of our global astro community think? (see, another point removed as that's not a differentiator, even we have our own)

I'm assuming the the celestron has wifi/Bluetooth as its a Computerised telescope. Same for the smart controls.

Not sure I'd trust their proprietary software over celestron's software either.

I watch this astrophotography guy on YouTube, I'm looking for an easy, lazy way to stargaze, unlike what he does. The Seestar ticks those boxes but I also want decent image size. From what I can see the output is only 15cms X 7.5cms at print resolution, which is shite. Little more than a toy unless I'm missing something, which is highly likely.

If I could get A3 sized images at 300dpi resolution off it then I'd be ordering one RIGHT NOW!! 🤣

https://youtu.be/yjcP8u8EqpQ?si=Cj2JeoQnJVENcPvu