science Do You own a Telescope?

[Phosphor 11,522]

Does anypony here own a telescope? If so, what kind and how big?

I own several telescopes. Each one has it's own purpose.

• 90mm Achromat refractor (astrophotography telescope)
• Celestron C90 - 90mm diameter (My travel telescope)
• Celestron C8 - 8 inch diameter (planetary imaging telescope)
• Skywatcher 16 - 16 inch diameter (High resolution planetary imaging)

[cuteycindyhoney 13,283]

I never did, but growing up, my BBBFF owned one. I have no idea what kind, except that it was a reflector with a mirror. I think he still has it. I'll have to ask.

 

I just googled reflector telescopes. It looked like this, only his was red. I don't remember if it said anything on it though.

 

Edited October 18, 2018 by cuteycindyhoney

[DubWolf 16,606]

I've considered getting one. Not one "for birdwatching" like I used to own, but a more serious one. Thing is I don't know if I'd use it very often to warrant me having one  .

[Partialgeek514 4,920]

I've always thought it'd be cool to have a telescope, but I'm not sure if I'll ever feel like spending the money that it would require to buy one. For now, I'll just look at pictures of the night sky from other people. 

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

My brother used to have a cheap K-mart piece of junk and it didn't work very well at all. It would still be worth taking a look at again but he doesn't have it anymore. I'll have to be happy with my planetarium; it projects a really nice and accurate image with over ten thousand stars.

[Lucky Bolt 34,914]

I once had a rather small and cheap but good-working telescope that my grandparents got me for Christmas many years back. I don't use it anymore, so I gave it to my brother. 

Edited October 18, 2018 by Lucky Bolt

[Phosphor 11,522]

18 hours ago, cuteycindyhoney said:

I never did, but growing up, my BBBFF owned one. I have no idea what kind, except that it was a reflector with a mirror. I think he still has it. I'll have to ask.

 

I just googled reflector telescopes. It looked like this, only his was red. I don't remember if it said anything on it though.

 

If he does. "borrow" it. lol

I love reflectors. No inherent chromatic aberration and much cheaper than an apochromatic refractor.  

18 hours ago, WWolf said:

I've considered getting one. Not one "for birdwatching" like I used to own, but a more serious one. Thing is I don't know if I'd use it very often to warrant me having one  .

Might see if you can borrow a decent telescope from someone to see if it's something you would be interested in. Who knows, you might get hooked. 

[Phosphor 11,522]

17 hours ago, Partialgeek514 said:

I've always thought it'd be cool to have a telescope, but I'm not sure if I'll ever feel like spending the money that it would require to buy one. For now, I'll just look at pictures of the night sky from other people. 

Sure, pictures look nice, but seeing a galaxy or planet in the eyepiece is an awesome experience you would be missing out. There are decent telescopes out there that can be bought for a low price. 

[Celtore 2,769]

I have my Orion XT12g dobsonian with a 12 inch diameter and motorized goto. It's an absolute pain to set up as the base and telescope are 50 pounds each, but I love this thing once it's in place and calibrated.

I also have my first telescope, a 60mm reflector I bought at walmart, but it rarely gets much use. I've been thinking of getting a cassegrain for doing photography, but that'll probably be a little further down the road. They can be a little on the pricy side...

[Jeric 46,834]

This thread wins my approval. My shed houses several models and types, but my favorite is my Orion dobsonian. My best experiences have been using that and a reflector scope and going back and forth. Light buckets still steal my heart, and unwieldy as they are. 

[Phosphor 11,522]

34 minutes ago, Celtore said:

I have my Orion XT12g dobsonian with a 12 inch diameter and motorized goto. It's an absolute pain to set up as the base and telescope are 50 pounds each, but I love this thing once it's in place and calibrated.

I also have my first telescope, a 60mm reflector I bought at walmart, but it rarely gets much use. I've been thinking of getting a cassegrain for doing photography, but that'll probably be a little further down the road. They can be a little on the pricy side...

Nice! I initially wanted the goto version of the 16in model, until I ran across the Skywatcher 16. I think Orion and Skywatcher are made by the same parent company: Synta. The non-goto Skywatcher 16 went on sale over the summer for under $2k, so I pounced on it. I do planetary imaging, so I wanted tracking. Spent another several grand on a custom made tracking platform and I was all set.

You're not kidding about the weight. I keep the optical tube on a cart. I assemble the base on my patio and roll the rest outside. What kind of photography did you have in mind with a cassegrain telescope? 

14 minutes ago, Jeric said:

This thread wins my approval. My shed houses several models and types, but my favorite is my Orion dobsonian. My best experiences have been using that and a reflector scope and going back and forth. Light buckets still steal my heart, and unwieldy as they are. 

Sweet! I need a small observatory or something for my big dob, so it will always be ready to use. I use to have an Orion XT8. It had a great mirror but I sold it to fund the Skywatcher 16. The views thru big reflectors are just... awesome!

Do you have to use a step ladder to reach the eyepiece?

[DJ_Vinyl.Scratch_3 202]

I used to have a telescope but I lost it ! (don't ask me how you lose a telescope I do not know ) I don't remember what kind it was either..

[Celtore 2,769]

2 minutes ago, Phosphor270 said:

Nice! I initially wanted the goto version of the 16in model, until I ran across the Skywatcher 16. I think Orion and Skywatcher are made by the same parent company: Synta. The non-goto Skywatcher 16 went on sale over the summer for under $2k, so I pounced on it. I do planetary imaging, so I wanted tracking. Spent another several grand on a custom made tracking platform and I was all set.

You're not kidding about the weight. I keep the optical tube on a cart. I assemble the base on my patio and roll the rest outside. What kind of photography did you have in mind with a cassegrain telescope? 

I've thought about a cart, but even that would be a pain for transportation. I keep it inside and move it onto my deck for star gazing. The trouble is that to get it there, you have a small lip on the ground you have to step over. Wheels wouldn't do too well. Plus with manual transportation, it forces me to keep active so I can support my hobby.

As for the cassegrain, I was thinking about photographing some relatively bright star clusters like M37 and M39. Nothing further than that though, so a 6" would probably be what I'm after.

[Patty Thundersnow 4,129]

I've always wanted a good telescope. I've always been facinated with Astronomy, and I love to do both naked eye and benocular based stargazing. 

[Phosphor 11,522]

13 hours ago, DJ_Vinyl.Scratch_3 said:

I used to have a telescope but I lost it ! (don't ask me how you lose a telescope I do not know ) I don't remember what kind it was either..

Get a GPS tracker for your new one.

12 hours ago, Celtore said:

I've thought about a cart, but even that would be a pain for transportation. I keep it inside and move it onto my deck for star gazing. The trouble is that to get it there, you have a small lip on the ground you have to step over. Wheels wouldn't do too well. Plus with manual transportation, it forces me to keep active so I can support my hobby.

As for the cassegrain, I was thinking about photographing some relatively bright star clusters like M37 and M39. Nothing further than that though, so a 6" would probably be what I'm after.

Ah yeah, that lip would make it difficult for a cart. I lift weights pretty regularly to maintain those muscles. 

The optical tube assembly weights 75lbs and I have to lift it off the cart and set it down on its mount gently. I've done some astrophotography with my schmidt-cassegrain (C8), but I find the focal length to be pretty long. Have to keep exposures at 30s or shorter to avoid star trailing. What kind of tracking mount do you have? Do you plan to autoguide it for long exposures?

9 hours ago, Blizzard Wind said:

I've always wanted a good telescope. I've always been facinated with Astronomy, and I love to do both naked eye and benocular based stargazing. 

Same here. I've loved astronomy since I was a little kid. What kind of objects in the sky do you like to observe?

Surprisingly, I don't have any decent binoculars for stargazing but I do have a pair of night vision binoculars. The view is green tinted, but oh my god! The number of stars visible is amazing!  

[Patty Thundersnow 4,129]

2 hours ago, Phosphor270 said:

Same here. I've loved astronomy since I was a little kid. What kind of objects in the sky do you like to observe?

I mostly like to observe stars, especially in Orion and the band of the milky way we can see.

[Celtore 2,769]

4 hours ago, Phosphor270 said:

Ah yeah, that lip would make it difficult for a cart. I lift weights pretty regularly to maintain those muscles. 

The optical tube assembly weights 75lbs and I have to lift it off the cart and set it down on its mount gently. I've done some astrophotography with my schmidt-cassegrain (C8), but I find the focal length to be pretty long. Have to keep exposures at 30s or shorter to avoid star trailing. What kind of tracking mount do you have? Do you plan to autoguide it for long exposures?

Oh man, that weight is rough... 50 pounds for me is manageable as I used to have to lug around these 40 pound bags of clay at my old job. 10 pounds more isn't that big of a deal. 75 pounds though... well, let's just say I'd have to lift more.

I would plan for longer exposure shots, so I would need to get an equatorial mount with the telescope. Honestly though, I'd like to try hacking something together myself first. It's likely a harder problem than I'm thinking, but it would be fun to see if I could program an arduino board to deal with it. The software is no problem, it's the hardware; I only took basic circuitry

[Midnight Solace 5,129]

I wish I had a telescope... The pictures @Phosphor takes are amazing.

[EpicEnergy 22,074]

I don't own a telescope, but I have used one before.

[Splashee 28,537]

I own a really really bad telescope. I have been able to see Saturn's rings (lol), and Jupiter's spot (lol again), and the 4 moons around Jupiter (lol, yet again), and I think I actually saw that Andromeda galaxy (well, or it was something in that area, that I cannot see with the naked eye, and also lol!).

 

(lol because all of these things can pretty much be seen with normal binoculars )

[Venomous 18,813]

I do not but my brother in law does. It’s actually a pretty high tech one too!

[Clawdeen 12,109]

I do! It’s in the basement though. I’ve not used it in awhile

[DubWolf 16,606]

Ages ago and it got thrown away likely. It was ok.

Ive thought of getting one for a few hundred…. oh shoot it’s cyber Monday  ! To the markets!

[DubWolf 16,606]

I will now  . A Celestron 127EQ. Decent Cyber Monday discount, good reviews, moderately large aperture without costing over a thousand dollars. Hope I get to put it to good use eventually. Might consider another trip out to the middle of nowhere.

[Props Valroa 26,034]

@DubWolf

I recently sold my Celestron 114lcm and Celestron 130EQ telescopes.