Telescopes

[He Man]

i dont think ive ever seen the milky way band. Can you see it anywhere where theres no polution?

[ducpainter]

i dont think ive ever seen the milky way band. Can you see it anywhere where theres no polution?

You can see it here....

if it's night time...

and not raining.

[derby]

I ground my own telescope mirrors when I was a kid, guess I need a geek smiley.

oh yeah?

well these guys not only did that, they built their own observatory!

http://stony-ridge.org/



documentary:  http://stony-ridge.org/Stony_Ridge_Movie_Original.html

check out the video of them grinding the mirror.

[Kopfjager]

If you don't have a telescope, there are two very cool programs you can download. (I know it's not the same) One is, Orion's The Sky, the other is Starry Night Orion Special Edition. One of the cool things is that you can make it night when it is actually daylight in your area.

[Holden]

i dont think ive ever seen the milky way band. Can you see it anywhere where theres no polution?

Yep. Though not all of it at these latitudes.

I live somewhere with pretty mild light pollution (10th magnitude with binoculars, 7th with naked eye), but am AWESTRUCK by what I can see when far away from civilization. You can actually see your way around with the starlight... Venus casts a discernible shadow at greatest elongation...

[He Man]

yea... i ve NEVER seen that. ever. period. I should take a trip up north, maybe new hampshire or something shouldnt I?

I hear they have cheap weekend get aways. i do not mind doing nothing at all but relaxing. lol

[River]

I got a Celestron C8 when I was 12 years old.  I did a LOT of babysitting to earn enough money to buy it...and I still have it and love it 24 years later.  It's on a german equatorial mount, no computer.  I enjoy viewing the old-fashioned way. 

As for light pollution, if you live in a populated area of any kind you'll not enjoy your viewing experience.  I've tried light pollution filters and they really don't do the night sky justice.  If you're serious about amatuer astronomy, plan to pack up on a moonless night and head out to a secluded area.  And whoever said forget about astrophotography was correct.  Get a scope, learn to use it and navigate the night sky, THEN if you're really serious, talk to someone who's done it and ask about the cost.

Good luck 

[triangleforge]

It's not much, but we've definitely had $20 worth of fun with one of these: https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/ -- it's an easy-to-assemble refractor scope that was developed by the International Astronomical Union to get into the hands of kids & folks with limited means all over the world for the International Year of Astronomy (this year!). It needs a tripod, which you supply (and which will likely cost more than the scope unless you've already got one around). Might be a cheap way to find out whether it's worth it to invest more with NYC's light pollution all around -- and light enough that you could consider taking it out of the city on the bike, where both will be a whole lot more fun!

[Langanobob]

yea... i ve NEVER seen that. ever. period. I should take a trip up north  move, maybe new hampshire or something shouldnt I?

There, fixed it  

[Langanobob]

It's not much, but we've definitely had $20 worth of fun with one of these: https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/

Thanks for the link.  I worked in a rural area in Ethiopia a few years ago and we supported the local school there.  Seems like these 'scopes might make good gifts to the school.   

[He Man]

thats pretty sweet, i think i will pick one up for fun.

I looked up at the sky last nigth and saw a bunch of stars, mainly the little and big dipper. those seem to be only apparent ones that show up every now and then.

[triangleforge]

Some quick suggestions for anyone who does pick up one of the Galileoscope ones -- first, be sure to download the assembly instructions you get to from clicking the big red bar on the site that says something like "Assembly Instructions" -- the ones that come in the box are painfully cryptic, and made assembling the thing with a 14 year old no fun at all. Make sure you get the lenses put in the proper order & orientation -- and the more detailed instructions make that a lot easier. Second, a taller tripod & a shortish chair makes things a lot more comfortable, since this is straight-through viewing scope and you need to be below it to look up. And finally, it doesn't have an inverter as Monstermasher mentioned, so it'll take a while to get used to seeing things upside down!

[He Man]

ordered mine, but damn is shipping expensive. its as much as teh telescope itself. $14.55!

[OT]

Milky Way is pretty impressive from any of the smaller Caribbean islands, try St John or St Croix....nice excuse to head south during the winter.

I've been told there's a really dark place () in northeastern/northcentral Pennsylvania; probably no more than 3-4 hours from NYC.  If I remember the name of the place I'll post it up.

[superjohn]

I've always thought it would be fun to get into amateur astronomy, but I can't afford another toy intensive obsessive hobby.

When I was looking, I started getting the updates from Orion Telescopes

They seemed to have a good range of beginner to advanced scopes, though I know nothing about their quality.