very nice O.O

Very nice photo

Very nice! Was this through the camera only, or did you have a telescope?

Camera off my hands (no tripod) equipped as written out in just the second one (It's "IFO II a" because it's taken an hour after "IFO II" and there was "IFO" earlier already). Regretfully, I had both of my scopes stolen a few years ago...
IFO II is at http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2460532
IFO is at http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2325975

Thanks for the links to your other photos. Nice!

Both scopes stolen, though?

Oh Shit! I'm also an amateur astronomer and reading that just breaks my heart.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you loose? Currently I've got a Celestron 8 Deluxe, and about five other's I've built.

I don't even recall the names by now -- not that they'd tell you much, I am Russian :)
One was a refractor tube, IIRC, f/10. The other was a reflector. Both 900mm... Or not? I recall the refractor being weaker of the two.
The idiocy of it was that the guys who broke in my storage didn't even have an idea what to do with them, adn where to fence them... So they dropped both of them less than a block away -- regretfully, literally...

900 mm at f/10 is small, but is not a bad size. Terrible that they were still taken from you.

All my telescopes are reflectors, with the smallest having a 101 mm diameter mirror at f/5.


My most recent purchase was a 355.6 mm reflector. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1951688/
The observatory is a 2.4 m X 3.7 m room with a retracting roof.

Took this through the system http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1833962/

Damn, you call it being an amateur? :) I wasn't even considering that kind of stuff :)

Well this is telescope is new (and being a commercial scope I thought I'd house it properly).

Most of my gear is home built, and I put it into my car and drive out to darker skies.


I've built my own eyepieces (I'll post an image later this week) along with several telescopes.

My reflector mirrors are hand ground & polished. I've made three 203 mm mirrors, one 406 mm (That's actually the largest mirror I've got & I'm currently reworking the surface) and one 152 mm mirror.

And.. I still use film (more or less now, but I still use it). So... I admit I have a lot, but it's not quantity of equipment... It's how you use it.


And your photos are WONDERFUL!

Thanks :) I am only, erm, starting to learn :)

That's okay.

I started at the bottom too. If you have any astronomy questions, just drop me a note.

Heh. Where can I look to see when and where some sat or the other I might be interested in trying to shoot would be? :)

Saturn is seen before Sunset in the East, Jupiter after midnight, but before dawn in the West.

I'm heading off to paint at a local fair today, but here is link that might also help.

SKY & Telescope Magazines interactive Star Chart (You have to register and then log-on to use it, but you can set it for your location and see how the sky should appear):

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/skychart/


Or for general information for different objects:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects



This site is really full of different items, worth exploring. I'll look for more information this evening, when I return.

I have RedShift 4 on my PC, but I think its satellite data is a bit old...

Redshift is good.

I use an old version of "The Sky" from Software Bisque, but Redshit is just as good.

Do you know of any scopes with compatible interface, by the way?

That I'll have to check on. Let me check with a few of my American fellow astronomers.

I know that "The Sky" will guide a telescope with a computerized drive (not sure about Redshift).



Hey... I can recommend one commercially made, by Meade. The new model is totally computer driven, has all the celestial objects loaded into the data base, and it even comes with an audio commentary (the commentary is in English).

Here's the link that telescope at Meade:

http://www.meade.com/etx-ls/index.html


I saw this operate at a large astronomy convention in May of this year. I think it may be just what a beginner or intermediate astronomer needs.

*giggles* Audial commentary is the last thing I need -- If you know the three perception types, I'm only about 5% aural (at best), so to get an audio commentary, no matter the language, I have to almost completely shut off other senses.
And redshift does have a capability to guide a scope, I think these are standard ports... It's just that all the scopes we have here are either manual only, or autonomous -- none with PC interface.

Most of the commercial telescopes are autonomous now. Some lower end scopes are still manual; all this you know.

Celestron (on their older C-8 deluxe models) had an optional computer interface like you have asked about, but I don't know if that is still available. You'd have to ask Celestron (and they are very good about answering questions).

The Paramount ME mount I use in my observatory looks like this in back:

http://www.bisque.com/help/paramoun.....ifications.htm

But it's now $14,500


Then there are mounts made by Mathis Instruments and they are expensive too:
http://www.mathis-instruments.com/prices.html

But I Mathis is also a very good mounting, like the Paramount.


Do you have any photos or a model number for the scopes? I don't know if it will help in my research for you, but post them if you have them.

Nope, I don't.

Well... lets wait and see what some of my friends say about the computer interface.

Just put this photo up of the smallest eyepieces I have (7, 9 and 18 mm).

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2465513/

Do like.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2257756/
Shot with an 8", 1000mm f/5 reflecting telescope. :D