The Astronomy Thread.

[HolyWars]

Well, I did a search and nothing much came up, so I thought I might get one rolling. What are your favorite DSO's/ star systems/ Planets/ Comets/ etc to observe?

I have only had my scope for about 3 months (8" GSO Dob)
In that time I have travelled to central Vic and got some good DSO observing in including Centaurus A, M83, eta Carinae, Mars, Venus, Saturn/Titan/Rhea/Lapetus/Dione, etc.

Currently living in Melbourne close to the CBD I am pretty limited to what I can see, generally on a clear night with good atmospheric conditions, I can see objects up to about mag 7 through my scope.
The other bother is from my courtyard I am limited to the southern skies (Centaurus, Crux, Carina, Musca, Triangulum Australe, etc. this time of year at a reasonable hour) and luckily am able glimpse to the eastern skies so I can still get some Planatery ovserving in (this is through the middle of the trees and flats, so time is precious).

My favorite targets atm taking the light pollution and location into account are:

-Jupiter w/Io, Europa, Callisto, Ganymede. I currently have a 2x Orion shorty barlow on order, so I am only able to view it at 160x with my 7.5 EP but can clearly make out its bands, Galilean moons, and can observe shadow transits of the moons.
Just so people can get a bearing on what size it is through my scope at 160x, its like holding a 5 cent piece at arms length.

-Omega Centauri (NGC 5139). I find him to be good to view with my 2" 26mm Wide Angle at 46x so I can see the entire globular cluster + starfield.

-Moon. How can it not be in the list

-Alpha Centauri (Rigil Kent). Knowing that its our closest star system and being able to split A and B (wish you could see Proxima) makes this to me a really cool target though it isn't a big show.

-Eta Carinae Neb. Still a fantastic target to view near the city and looking south. Can make out Nebulosity.

-Jewell Box Cluster (NGC 4755) Another star cluster, but of the open variety

-Southern Pleiades. This was the first DSO I ever observed, will never forget it either


Post anything Astronomy related!

 

[Ed_Gein]

Well i have a real passing interest in Astronomy, but i know not much about it. Well, next to nothing really. But i have seen YouTube videos and it astounds me as to how big space really is. 1 light year = 9.5 trillion km's and there are galaxies over 13 billion light years away.

Would love some sort of telescope or something to have a look through on a clear night. Care to recommend something cheapish?

 

[Hawkamania!]

There is a good open source planetarium program that makes life easier for stargazers looking for stellar objects. Check it out.

http://www.stellarium.org/

 

[MaccaKnowsBest]

Check out www.iceinspace.com.au It's a fantastic site as it's primarily aimed at Australians. Very helpful when it comes to anything astronomy related.

I have a couple of telescopes (8" Dobsonian and 8" Tal) but I unfortunately don't get out much these days. I did get into some astrophotography, first using an old 1970s model SLR camera and then when on to using a webcam. Had lots of fun but be careful, it's addictive and can become an expensive hobby!

For a beginner, I would suggest a pair of binoculars, just so you can get a taste of astronomy. If you are still keen, I would suggest an 8" Dobsonian. Not too expensive (sub $500), not too big to carry around, produces nice details for planets/moon/star clusters. Dobs are great because they aren't fancy, you just move the scope up and down yourself. See http://www.myastroshop.com.au/products/details.asp?id=MAS-064

DON'T go for cheapie department store 60mm refractors which say "magnification of 500X, see great detail." The image will be faint and blurry...waste of time.

I still remember my first time seeing the rings of Saturn. That's what really got me into astronomy.

My favourite moment was going on a tour to the SA outback to see the 2002 total solar eclipse. There is nothing like seeing one of these!

 

[HolyWars]

There is a good open source planetarium program that makes life easier for stargazers looking for stellar objects. Check it out.

http://www.stellarium.org/

Its a fantastic program, I actually grabbed it a few months prior to getting the dob

Check out www.iceinspace.com.au It's a fantastic site as it's primarily aimed at Australians. Very helpful when it comes to anything astronomy related.

I have a couple of telescopes (8" Dobsonian and 8" Tal) but I unfortunately don't get out much these days. I did get into some astrophotography, first using an old 1970s model SLR camera and then when on to using a webcam. Had lots of fun but be careful, it's addictive and can become an expensive hobby!

For a beginner, I would suggest a pair of binoculars, just so you can get a taste of astronomy. If you are still keen, I would suggest an 8" Dobsonian. Not too expensive (sub $500), not too big to carry around, produces nice details for planets/moon/star clusters. Dobs are great because they aren't fancy, you just move the scope up and down yourself. See http://www.myastroshop.com.au/produc...asp?id=MAS-064

DON'T go for cheapie department store 60mm refractors which say "magnification of 500X, see great detail." The image will be faint and blurry...waste of time.

I still remember my first time seeing the rings of Saturn. That's what really got me into astronomy.

My favourite moment was going on a tour to the SA outback to see the 2002 total solar eclipse. There is nothing like seeing one of these!

IIS is a great place to go, as with stellarium, I joined up along with astronomyforum.net a while before I got the scope. To anyone going to take up astronomy, do exactly as MKB said

 

[Hawk Dork]

Used to drive out to Eltham or the Alps in the 80 s before the suburban sprawl set up my mates telescope (Celestron 8 inch refractor).
Set up the motor drive a few times took some photos.
Lunar Eclipse, Moon, Saturn,star trails.

 

[BomberGal]

I used to do a lot of stargazing as a teen, since I grew up in the country. Here in Melbourne it's not so easy, especially as I don't have a car and can't drive to better spots.

Every now and then I check out some astronomy websites for local events in our sky but usually just get frustrated at my inability to see nothing more than the most obvious.

I love amazing people by showing them this if it's a really clear night or you're out somewhere more open, though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Sack

 

[Renegade]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ijevST0V5N8WapyEYsQABJ0IPtWQD99J2CE01

World's largest telescope to be built in Hawaii

By AUDREY McAVOY (AP) – 1 day ago

HONOLULU — A consortium of U.S. and Canadian universities on Tuesday announced it has decided to build the world's largest telescope in Hawaii.

Mauna Kea volcano was picked by Thirty Meter Telescope Observatory Corp. The other finalist candidate site was Chile's Cerro Armazones mountain.

The $1.2 billion telescope should allow scientists to see some 13 billion light years away — a distance so great and so far back in time that researchers should be able to watch the first stars and galaxies forming.

The telescope will be built by the University of California, the California Institute of Technology and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy.

Its mirror will stretch 30 meters, or almost 100 feet, in diameter. That's about three times the diameter of the current world's largest telescopes, which are located atop Mauna Kea.

Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano, is already home to 12 telescopes. It's popular with astronomers because its summit sits well above the clouds at 13,796 feet, giving scientists a clear view of the sky above for 300 days a year.

Hawaii's isolated position in the middle of the Pacific Ocean also means the area is relatively free of air pollution. Few cities on the Big Island mean there aren't a lot of man made lights around to disrupt observations.

The Thirty Meter Telescope would collect 10 times more light than existing telescopes, helping researchers more clearly see objects that appear faint with current devices. It is expected to routinely offer views of hundreds of planets orbiting around other stars and stars that are near the sun. Current telescopes have only rarely been able to show these images.

The Thirty Meter Telescope is the first of several massive telescopes universities plan to build, so it may not hold the world's largest title for long.

A partnership of European countries plans to build the European Extremely Large Telescope, which would have an 138-foot mirror. The group is considering sites in Argentina, Chile, Morocco and Spain. It plans to decide on a location next year and be able to host its first observation in 2018.

Another group of universities plans to finish the Giant Magellan Telescope, also around 2018, with an 80-foot mirror in Las Campanas, Chile.

 

[Sigh RolleyEyes]

Halley's comet in 86 was way lame

but those leonids or whatever they're called from around 10 years ago were the shit!

 

[Adrian Shelton]

I so wanna see eta carinae blow up!!!!

 

[magic_johnson!]

Well i have a real passing interest in Astronomy, but i know not much about it. Well, next to nothing really. But i have seen YouTube videos and it astounds me as to how big space really is. 1 light year = 9.5 trillion km's and there are galaxies over 13 billion light years away.

What gets me, is if there are people on that planet 13 lightyears away with a telescope big enough to see earth, they will be seeing what we were doing in 1996 Atleast, if they try to attack us, they won't be able to tell what we're up to

 

[DoubleO7]

Well now, since where on the whole Astronomy theme, could we get some Astronomy based wallpapers?

This is the one I currently have in use as my desktop background (it has been scaled down):

 

[HolyWars]

There is a great range of Astronomy wallpapers here:
http://getawallpaper.com/c-astronomical-1/http://getawallpaper.com/p-astronomical-9814-1/

 

[crackers57]

I'm a Pisces

 

[Tormented Tiger]

Not sure about Astronomy Mrs Brown but I do like Monty Python.........................

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,
And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough,

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour.
Thas orbiting at ninety miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day,
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars;
It's a hundred thousand light-years side to side;
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick,
But out by us it's just three thousand light-years wide.
We're thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point,
We go 'round every two hundred million years;
And our galaxy itself is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.


The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whiz;
As fast as it can go, the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth; heya
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!

 

[HolyWars]

Ordered a barlow lens today. Went with the Orion Shorty Plus 2x, cant wait for it to arrive!

 

[HolyWars]

Anyhow, its National Science Week starting from Aug 15th, and there is a light pollution study going on for anyone interested. All that it entails is from your place, count how many stars you can see in Scorpius (its pretty much directly up between 7-8pm atm) and count how many stars you can see in the constellation and fill out the study survey in the link at the bottom.
*edit* you actually work out the magnitude of the stars you can see in, and around Scorpius, also how many stars you can see in Crux (Southern Cross).
All the details are here for anyone interested:
http://www.starhunt.net.au/home/

 

[Schism]

Hubble deep field view,flash version.Really cool.Every dot is a galaxy.Nah,Christian fundies,there's no life out there apart from us


http://home.exetel.com.au/bmgoau/space/008_1561b2.html

 

[HolyWars]

Did the study on Saturday night, pretty good seeing. Could see up to Mag 4 stars from Windsor around Scorpius.

 

[HolyWars]

Hubble deep field view,flash version.Really cool.Every dot is a galaxy.Nah,Christian fundies,there's no life out there apart from us


http://home.exetel.com.au/bmgoau/space/008_1561b2.html

It's seems almost unbelievable that that would be the case doesn't it.
On the topic, check out this vid. I watch it all the time....its great, and relaxing whilst having a drink
My most watched vid on youtube by a long way.

'Hubble deep field: The most important image ever taken'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcBV-cXVWFw