Backyard Astronomers?

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Danny
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Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Danny »

Any on here?
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KathyLauren
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by KathyLauren »

Heck, yeah!

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Om mani padme hum
Kathy
Danny
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Danny »

KathyLauren wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 11:31 pm Heck, yeah!

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Om mani padme hum
Kathy
Awesome! Kathy you got dark skies?
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KathyLauren
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by KathyLauren »

Danny wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 11:36 pm Awesome! Kathy you got dark skies?
Pretty dark. Bortle 2 on a good night. More often Bortle 3.

Om mani padme hum
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Danny
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Danny »

KathyLauren wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 11:52 pm
Danny wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2020 11:36 pm Awesome! Kathy you got dark skies?
Pretty dark. Bortle 2 on a good night. More often Bortle 3.

Om mani padme hum
Kathy
I got to travel to get dark skies, I can photograph the usual M’s and planetary stuff, Wide field constellation stuff, but those deep NGC’s and Milky Way, I have to jump in car and drive 5 hours.
Btw, I was doing some fun research on the SDSS website, all their survey data is available to the public, you can spend hours on there digging through spectrums and deep redshift galaxies, you can even flag the objects of interest and submit them. I have an out of date Norton’s 2000, but it’s still good for the RA and Dec to input on that site for objects of interest.
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Queequeg
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Queequeg »

Someone just gave us a telescope, and I've been meaning to get it out. My son has been falling into astronomy youtube holes lately and is asking a lot of questions - mostly about the sun eventually exploding - but a lot of more immediate questions, too. I'd like to get him looking through the telescope to fill out his experience and make the connection between what he is learning and the world around him.

Any suggestions for newbies on getting started?
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
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Caoimhghín
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Caoimhghín »

Queequeg wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:50 pm Someone just gave us a telescope, and I've been meaning to get it out. My son has been falling into astronomy youtube holes lately and is asking a lot of questions - mostly about the sun eventually exploding - but a lot of more immediate questions, too. I'd like to get him looking through the telescope to fill out his experience and make the connection between what he is learning and the world around him.

Any suggestions for newbies on getting started?
Teach him how, as the universe expands, eventually the rate of the universe's expansion will outpace the speed of light, and light from other nearby stars will cease to reach us and there will only be inky black in the night sky. I can't imagine that possibly going wrong.

:sage:
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Queequeg
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Queequeg »

Caoimhghín wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:54 pm
Queequeg wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:50 pm Someone just gave us a telescope, and I've been meaning to get it out. My son has been falling into astronomy youtube holes lately and is asking a lot of questions - mostly about the sun eventually exploding - but a lot of more immediate questions, too. I'd like to get him looking through the telescope to fill out his experience and make the connection between what he is learning and the world around him.

Any suggestions for newbies on getting started?
Teach him how, as the universe expands, eventually the rate of the universe's expansion will outpace the speed of light, and light from other nearby stars will cease to reach us and there will only be inky black in the night sky. I can't imagine that possibly going wrong.

:sage:
LOL.

Yeah, this freaked ME out.

There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
Danny
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Danny »

I would start small, the planets and the moon,
Leave the sun out, under no circumstances,
NEVER EVER, not even messing around, look directly or through optical equipment, observe ,look at, or entertain the Idea of looking at the sun, will absolutely cause permanent life long eye damage or blindness
.
Get a general understanding of the big constellations, where’s Orion what time of year is it visible? What’s the ecliptic? Why the planets and moon follow that path from east to west etc. Then build from there. Most of those colorful images of nebulas and so on, like what you see in this thread, those objects look nothing like those through telescopes or binoculars. Those are images taken with long exposures with filters and enhanced in software. The thrill of finding a faint greenish smoke ring M57 ring nebula in the constellation of Lyra in the summer, will leave a lasting impression, then you’ll want to bag all the Messier catalogue deep sky objects, all 100+ of them. Then it becomes like a treasure hunt.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_object

Most people don’t realize you can see the 4 major moons of Jupiter with just a pair of binoculars,
and over a few hours see the orbits change.

Sky & telescope is a monthly online magazine that provides monthly star charts, positions of the planets and other interesting sky highlights and latest news etc.
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Queequeg
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Queequeg »

:twothumbsup:

Thanks!
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
-Guanding, Perfect and Sudden Contemplation,
tingdzin
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by tingdzin »

We just had a series of amazing astronomical spectacles visible with the naked eye and probably fantastic with a telescope, including a new comet and a (semi-regular) meteor shower. If you start looking on the Net, there are sites that will notify you when this stuff is coming, and IMO it's great for kids to be interested in it.
Danny
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Danny »

tingdzin wrote: Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:12 pm We just had a series of amazing astronomical spectacles visible with the naked eye and probably fantastic with a telescope, including a new comet and a (semi-regular) meteor shower. If you start looking on the Net, there are sites that will notify you when this stuff is coming, and IMO it's great for kids to be interested in it.
Yes, people think you need big telescopes to sky watch, but honestly there’s so much naked eye observing one can do, planet conjunctions are fantastic to observe. Really can give you a sense of perspective of the solar system etc.
tingdzin
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by tingdzin »

There's another meteor shower going on this week.
Danny
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Danny »

Yeah the Draconid meteor shower, a medium or moderate shower, best seen early hours of the night/morning. Draco is a constellation near Polaris (North Star), in Ursa Minor, in the northern hemisphere. So very easy to find. :)
Check for last quarter moon setting times, so shower doesn’t get washed out by moon light.
DharmaJunior
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by DharmaJunior »

Danny wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2020 10:50 pm

Most people don’t realize you can see the 4 major moons of Jupiter with just a pair of binoculars,
and over a few hours see the orbits change.

Sky & telescope is a monthly online magazine that provides monthly star charts, positions of the planets and other interesting sky highlights and latest news etc.
New enthusiast here/ ready t0 start scanning! :thanks: :heart:
Danny
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Danny »

A nice pair of 10x50 magnification,
BAK 4 prisim, multi coated surface optics, with a tripod adapter, binoculars is the way to start, is a great jump off point to begin with. Use a tripod for steady viewing. It keeps the cost down, without shelling out for expensive gear. Light weight, portable and can go anywhere, and you’ll spend more time looking than setting up.
Enjoy.
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Danny »

Planet Mars is in opposition for the next few days, that means it’s at its best that it’s been in past 2 years. Look towards the east, can’t miss it.
Or won’t be this close to earth again until 2035.
Mars is notorious for observation. I’ve seen the large surface mare’s and polar ice caps with a 4.5” newtonian under pretty poor seeing, it’s a stretch, but doable. Larger scopes, no problems.


Last edited by Danny on Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:33 am, edited 4 times in total.
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tobes
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by tobes »

Danny wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 1:38 pm A nice pair of 10x50 magnification,
BAK 4 prisim, multi coated surface optics, with a tripod adapter, binoculars is the way to start, is a great jump off point to begin with. Use a tripod for steady viewing. It keeps the cost down, without shelling out for expensive gear. Light weight, portable and can go anywhere, and you’ll spend more time looking than setting up.
Enjoy.
Yep, plus a map!
Danny
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by Danny »

tobes wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:12 am
Danny wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 1:38 pm A nice pair of 10x50 magnification,
BAK 4 prisim, multi coated surface optics, with a tripod adapter, binoculars is the way to start, is a great jump off point to begin with. Use a tripod for steady viewing. It keeps the cost down, without shelling out for expensive gear. Light weight, portable and can go anywhere, and you’ll spend more time looking than setting up.
Enjoy.
Yep, plus a map!
Yeah lots of easy apps for phones these days. I learnt my way around the old fashioned way.
A Norton’s 2000 and a red bulb flashlight.
Of course there’s the “go to” computer stuff on telescopes as well.
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KathyLauren
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Re: Backyard Astronomers?

Post by KathyLauren »

This is my best Mars for this year. Seeing was poor, so the focus is off.
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