6274 replies to this topic

[CCOLBYJUNIOR]

Hello,

New here from South Florida. Its great to be a part of this wonderful information filled forum. I cant wait to share my endeavors with you all.

I currently use an lx90, starblast 6i and my dslr's. Need some proper mounts for astrophotography but I am enjoying what I am doing currently.

Where in So Florida do you do your gazing? I knew a guy back in 95 that had a spot right by the Sawgrass Exp. Not quite into Miami. And he had a great little spot in West Palm near Lion Country Safari. Desolate out that way back then....

[d.revan]

Hello from the countryside near Austin, Texas.  I'm a newbie astronomer, longtime tinkerer.  I've built myself a Hadley and an 8" variant of Hadley, and have designed and created a GoTo mount for both using steppers, GT2 gearing and belts, and OnStep.  I've been having as much fun designing and building as I have been having observing, but want to learn more about the art of observing.  So... I'm here.    

[mbrandon]

Hi I am Malcolm and I live in Swindon, Wiltshire England UK

I started astronomy in May 2020 during COVID studying at the YOUTUBE University (LOL) my first telescope was a Skywatcher Travel 80 during this time I purchased a number of 2nd hand telescopes and have sold them.

 

Without going into details now, I now have a 2nd hand  observatory dome with a Skywatcher 200DPS on a Skywatcher HEQ5 -PRO mount fitted to a Pier I have built with Concrete Blocks glued together.

 

I have joined Cloudy nights as have viewed the pages a number of times and would like to take advantage of this wealth of knowledge and experience.

 

I have tried to upload a photo to my profile but this does not seem to work can anyone help me here?

 

Wednesday I loaded a topic that I wanted comments/help from members, yesterday and today I have tried to find my post to see if there have been any responses and I am unable to find it, again I would like help on how i navigate the site to find my post.

 

look forward to your replies and future conversations

[BFaucett]

...<snip...

 

I have tried to upload a photo to my profile but this does not seem to work can anyone help me here?

 

Wednesday I loaded a topic that I wanted comments/help from members, yesterday and today I have tried to find my post to see if there have been any responses and I am unable to find it, again I would like help on how i navigate the site to find my post.

 

look forward to your replies and future conversations

 

This thread is for introductions only; questions aren't answered here. If you need help in how to use the forums, then try posting your questions in the Feedback forum. Here: https://www.cloudyni...ights-feedback/  You might also want to look over the Help section. Here: https://www.cloudyni...ore&module=help

 

Bob F.

[Powerstroke]

Been playing with telescopes and cameras for a little while now.
Bought a bunch of used telescopes and some dslr adapters
Now I need to sort out what I have lol
Meade 4420 made in japan 114mm
Meade infinity 114mm unknown model # slightly slim tube.
Celestron astromaster 130mm pile of crap
Celestron national geographic nt114cf ($60 new) for Portable.
Celestron 80mm travel scope $80 from amzn. Flipper along with a horrible hexeum 80mm short refractor (more like 60mm plastic lense junk)
And I think that's everything lol 😆
I like the older stuff better less plastic.
The cheap national geographic short tube is alot of fun to see wide views of the stars. I'm not really interested in looking at planets.
Anyway new here in northern Arizona where my backyard is actually pretty good for observation.

[George Ensley]

Hi,

 

George Ensley here, Getting back into astronomy after having been gone since the 90s. Wives houses work all played a role in keeping me from it but i am back!

 

I have recently purchased a EQSTARPRO goto system to add to my 130mm Gskyer Newtonian and i have an old celestron C8 i used to use. I am spending my days lately trying to interface the EQSTAR with an astroberry system and have had some success. But the hours go into making it work my way.

 

I am a Marine Electronics Technician retired. I have several FCC license and Certifications from the NMEA national marine electronics association. I dream about boats because that's all i have done as my father started the business and as a kid I was on all the jobs. I bought the business and my father retired in 1987.

 

Thanks for listening!

 

George....

[cometjohn]

Hello, John here from Paintsville, Ky.  Thanks for having me.

Been into astronomy since 1996 but got out of the hobby for awhile but I am back.  

[Jackaval]

Hello every member of Cloudy Nights. I follow this forum since a few years and finally decided to start being active in astronomy.

I just bought the Vaonis Vespera which I love and a Nexstar Evolution 9.25 not yet in use because of terrible weather.

[Infamousapples]

First post but I've been a lurker for some time while trying to figure out a good starter scope. Got a Stablast 4.5 for real cheap and now I've been itching to find an 8" dob. Lucky for me there are plenty of lakes and state parks a couple hours away from my light polluted location. 

[edsmx5]

First post but I've been a lurker for some time while trying to figure out a good starter scope. Got a Stablast 4.5 for real cheap and now I've been itching to find an 8" dob. Lucky for me there are plenty of lakes and state parks a couple hours away from my light polluted location. 

Get the Dob

[grsnovi]

Also recently new here (after the demise of DPReview).

 

I'll be 69 in June and have been a sky watcher since my dad started me out as a kid in Jersey years ago.

 

At the moment my wife and I have two dusty/un-used scopes (Meade 90mm ETX and Celestron 8" Ultima 2000 missing the hand control).

 

For the last 10 years or so I've been into photography and recently added an OM-1 to (greatly) improve my shots of birds. This camera also has a STARRY SKY AUTO-FOCUS capability which was always my problem trying to shoot at night. So in anticipation of getting some clear skies and trying that out I've begun to wonder about "better" which seems to initially mean being able to track. That leads to: well maybe I ought to see about dusting off the scopes in the garage. I know the Ultima had a Y2K issue and I've thought about remounting the OTA.

 

Based on a review in SKY & TELESCOPE I was thinking I'd pick-up the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi but (despite a review in the current issue) they seem to be out of stock everywhere. My though was that I could mount any of my cameras and lens on that to track multiple images and stack and then park an (as yet to be purchased) 60 or 90mm refractor and guide scope on it at some point down the road.

 

Anyway, the real reason I'm posting here is to see if anyone has a list of all of the acronyms used here since I keep tripping over them.

 

Clear skies!!

 

- Gary

[BFaucett]

...<snip>...

 

Anyway, the real reason I'm posting here is to see if anyone has a list of all of the acronyms used here since I keep tripping over them.

 

Clear skies!!

 

- Gary

 

 

Common CN Contractions & Acronyms
Started by Joe Cipriano, Jul 02 2006

https://www.cloudyni...tions-acronyms/

 

New Abbreviations and Acronym List
Started by Ken Sturrock, Jul 14 2016

https://www.cloudyni...d-acronym-list/

 

Cheers! Bob F. 

[h0witzer]

Hey everyone! new member here from Ontario Canada. I've been interested in Astrophotography ever since I was a kid, never had a telescope myself but bought my step-son a beginners one a few years ago and now he's trying up upgrade for the both of us to use. Look forward to learning a lot from this forum and getting to know a few people. 

[modelsbynight]

I'm new here but not to Astronomy , I've seen Halley's Comet twice oops once. Actually went to Mile High city of Denver to try and see it but it was cloudy. But lucked out they had an observation night at the 20 Inch Chamberlin Observatory. Got to see the moon and even take a picture with my Film Camera just pointing at the eye piece , it actually turned out OK.When I got my first 3" mirror Newtonian and started getting serious, I wrote a letter to Palomar Observatory asking to view with their small 200" Telescope. They actually replied back with a nice letter and  brochure of images with various telescopes and recommendation to contact local astronomy groups for observation nights.I lived in a Bortle 1 location for 10 years which was also 1,000m above sea level.

 

Last year I started doing Astro photography, learned to use Sequator to stack photos but I need to improve and since I got my 85mm f/1.8 lens the weather has been either cloudy or too cold.

I got rid of my 2 telescopes, and have only been using camera or binoculars recently. I had no idea that you could actually get good results with photo stacking. but I am in the process of upgrading to a tracking mount. but will need help  going forward.

 

I am also a professional Photographer with models (people) but not with Deep Sky objects. One of my first coolest views with my 4.5" equatorial mount Newtonian was Saturn, it at first did not look like saturn, it was an oval with two holes near the edges. I remember seeing pictures when Galileo was looking at Saturn https://attic.gsfc.n...ms/Shistory.htm Also this page the 13 images I saw XII the first time.

 

My all time Fav is 2.2 Million Light Years away (current distance is 2.537 million, I assume current distance measurements have improved) I don't recall when and if it changed from 2.2 to 2.5 as I took a long brake from Astronomy. My project is to try and capture it. also Jupiter and the Galilean moons, which I have seen many times.

 

OK so this is longer then I planned. Zip to March 2023 I picked up a EQM-35 mount, a few days ago, to use with my Nikon Z7ii and my 85mm f/1.8 lens

 

Still need

1. Power Supply to 12 volts to it so it actually starts working

2. Better mounting setup for my camera.

3. and the most important thing clear warmer nights to actually try and use it.

 

Which is not easy when the sky is Bortle 7+

 

Sorry for the long write up. Well I could have wrote more.

Edited by modelsbynight, 29 March 2023 - 08:51 AM.

[modelsbynight]

Based on a review in SKY & TELESCOPE I was thinking I'd pick-up the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi but (despite a review in the current issue) they seem to be out of stock everywhere.

- Gary

I think due to supply issues, I recently got at EQM35 Sky Watcher as I had left a notification on a telescope store website and they recently got them back in stock. I also watched an older video from Sky Watcher youtube channel (9months old) and he talked about supply shortage.

[Celerondon]

Well, it looks like I've actually been a member since 2017 but I don't think I've ever posted anything...

 

Back in 2001 (I still have the receipt), I bought an Orion XT8. I used it quite a bit for the first couple of months I owned it. We lived in a very rural setting with very dark skies. I never really found much though - I just didn't know where to look. Shortly afterwords, my wife, three kids, and I moved to a much more suburban setting where my wife and I set about raising our kids and making a life.

 

Now, our kids are grown - two have careers of their own and our youngest is a senior in college.

 

Four or five years ago, I took out that old Dob, cleaned it up, and started observing again. Again, I didn't find much. It's hard to read a book in the dark even with red lights. Besides, I wanted to look, not read.

 

During a "purge" of "stuff" (I prefer the George Carlin word for "stuff" but I'm keeping this clean) a couple of months ago, I came across that old Dob again. About the same time, I found Ed Ting's YouTube page and started watching videos. Heh... he also recommends the XT8. I was having a focusing issue though where I just could not get a clear focus. This one has the old 1-1/4 focuser and cannot be upgraded without major surgery to the OTA. I just didn't want to do that. I know my track record squaring up holes and drilling bigger holes in already big holes. I just didn't want to chance it. Besides, I had always coveted the SCTs and decided to buy the C8 on the AVX mount. Yesterday, the last of the parts arrived (a DC source was the biggest missing piece).

I took it out well before dark and got the finder scope and C8 aligned with each other using a cell tower about a mile or so away and then I waited... The more I waited, the more the haze and high wispy clouds moved in. I was getting disappointed but was going to persevere and hope that it cleared enough for me to look just a little. I honestly didn't expect much - trying to align an EQ mount and fiddle about with the controller. My patience paid off and I was rewarded with seeing more in the hour I had than in the previous 22 years of owning a scope. I don't even remember what all I looked at. At some point, I just started going through stuff in the "Sky Tour" and was rewarded with nebulae, star clusters, triples, doubles, it was great! My alignment was a little off but it got me in the ballpark and I was able to slew it into position.

We don't have a local astronomy "club" but the University of Alabama is in the same town and has public access nights to their equipment and they sponsor local star parties. I actually took an Astronomy 101 course there 30 years ago and the same professor is still there - Dr. Keel.

Sorry for such a long "introduction" post... I got a little "excited..."

Your experience sounds like that AVX GoTo got you!  In case you didn't know it, you are hooked, pal.  Star hopping and learning your way around the heavens is fine if you have the time and the inclination.  But the speed and convenience of GoTo are a revelation after an introduction like yours.  

 

I fought the trend toward advanced mount electronics for years.  But a while ago at an outreach event, I slewed directly to place a faint comet into the eyepiece of my 4" refractor.  I was more thrilled than the kids who observed through my telescope.  I still have several manual mounts, guided and unguided, but this GoTo mount is my go-to mount whenever I have the time and space to set it up.  

 

Enjoy!

[Celerondon]

Hi,

 

George Ensley here, Getting back into astronomy after having been gone since the 90s. Wives houses work all played a role in keeping me from it but i am back!

 

I have recently purchased a EQSTARPRO goto system to add to my 130mm Gskyer Newtonian and i have an old celestron C8 i used to use. I am spending my days lately trying to interface the EQSTAR with an astroberry system and have had some success. But the hours go into making it work my way.

 

I am a Marine Electronics Technician retired. I have several FCC license and Certifications from the NMEA national marine electronics association. I dream about boats because that's all i have done as my father started the business and as a kid I was on all the jobs. I bought the business and my father retired in 1987.

 

Thanks for listening!

 

George....

That EQStarPro system is solid, George.  Many of us here on Cloudy Nights have had much success with EQStar kits.  I have mostly been using mine with SynScan Pro and SkySafari Pro running on a tablet. However, I plan on controlling it with an ASIAIR controller as soon as our season of eternal rains ends in my area.  

 

Don

[Celerondon]

Also recently new here (after the demise of DPReview).

 

I'll be 69 in June and have been a sky watcher since my dad started me out as a kid in Jersey years ago.

 

At the moment my wife and I have two dusty/un-used scopes (Meade 90mm ETX and Celestron 8" Ultima 2000 missing the hand control).

 

For the last 10 years or so I've been into photography and recently added an OM-1 to (greatly) improve my shots of birds. This camera also has a STARRY SKY AUTO-FOCUS capability which was always my problem trying to shoot at night. So in anticipation of getting some clear skies and trying that out I've begun to wonder about "better" which seems to initially mean being able to track. That leads to: well maybe I ought to see about dusting off the scopes in the garage. I know the Ultima had a Y2K issue and I've thought about remounting the OTA.

 

Based on a review in SKY & TELESCOPE I was thinking I'd pick-up the Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi but (despite a review in the current issue) they seem to be out of stock everywhere. My though was that I could mount any of my cameras and lens on that to track multiple images and stack and then park an (as yet to be purchased) 60 or 90mm refractor and guide scope on it at some point down the road.

 

Anyway, the real reason I'm posting here is to see if anyone has a list of all of the acronyms used here since I keep tripping over them.

 

Clear skies!!

 

- Gary

What happened to DPReview?  I used to spend plenty of time over there but recently I have focused more on these astronomy sites.  

That Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTI is a popular mount.  You will find plenty of users on the Mounts forum.

 

Enjoy,

 

Don

[modelsbynight]

What happened to DPReview?  I used to spend plenty of time over there but recently I have focused more on these astronomy sites.  

That Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTI is a popular mount.  You will find plenty of users on the Mounts forum.

 

Enjoy,

 

Don

DP Review is closing Next Month

"After nearly 25 years of operation, DPReview will be closing in the near future. This difficult decision is part of the annual operating plan review that our parent company shared earlier this year."

"The site will be locked, with no further updates made after April 10th 2023. The site will be available in read-only mode for a limited period afterwards."

 

I guess the bean counters can't afford to keep it running

[grsnovi]

...I recently got at EQM35 Sky Watcher as I had left a notification on a telescope store website and they recently got them back in stock.

How do you like it?

 

I was thinking that the EQM35 would serve my purposes but after reading a number of comments here about that mount now I think I'm leaning towards a Celestron Advanced VX mount.

[mamluk73]

Greetings,

I live in MD (USA) in one of the DC suburbs and have been interested in astronomy since my childhood. I am a biochemical engineer by trade and work in the pharmaceutical industry, with a strong background in aseptic manufacturing and lyophilization (freeze drying).

I have been lurking for the past month or so and have been “drinking from the fire hose” so to speak in terms of soaking up the wealth of knowledge and experience on this forum. I purchased my first telescope, a Newtonian, in 2002, however have only used it a handful of times. I recently purchased a 9.25” SCT and am looking to spend more time observing the skies as I get acclimated to my new scope. I am looking into starting off with visual, however may venture in photography once I have become more familiar with my new telescope.

Thank you and looking forward to learning more day by day as well as hopefully contributing to the forum.

Regards,
Mohamed

[modelsbynight]

How do you like it?

 

I was thinking that the EQM35 would serve my purposes but after reading a number of comments here about that mount now I think I'm leaning towards a Celestron Advanced VX mount.

I've yet to actually use it as I am missing one key component, Power Supply. (12v battery with Cigarette connection)

So far I like it. I have read a lot and watched YouTubes on correcting all the various issues. Mine seems to have a minor issue with the RA (green) dial and how it seats in the mount, the thumb screw if not set right will cause some binding. Also I don't really understand how it needs to be set as it seems to rotate freely and not with the RA axis depended on how tight you set the screw.

I don't think I even need to care about it once I setup the software to control the mount. The tripod is super strong and feels really solid. Not sure about how well I can use the Polar Align Scope without a red illumination LED, as I have yet to try it out side mainly due to clouds and cold weather. I wanted to buy it so can get use to setup etc and figure out what else I need. Planning on doing most the apps and controls via iPad, Might need to also see if my old NetBook can be used to control it.

[TNTri]

Hi all.

I'm new here today from rural Tennessee. I've always had an interest in the night sky and astronomy. I even took a course in college (managed a B, somehow). One of the best nights was seeing Saturn in the telescope for the first time!

Though I don't yet own a telescope, I've fallen down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos, message board forums, and online reviews. It's pretty overwhelming, but I've learned a lot so far. My interest is in visual astronomy. I'm hoping to settle on a good used observing set up in the next few weeks.

Anyway, I'm glad to be here and I look forward to learning more. 

 

Philip

[Laserone]

Hello,  Clear sky to all, I am Roger from Elizabethton, TN (Northeast TN) new to the astronomy world.  Have always been interested and for Christmas last year my wife bought me a Celestron Nexstar 8SE with lens kit while we were in Florida.  Will you guess it got the bug bad, lol.  While in Florida found a Meade LX600 10" at a great price and bought it.  Now back in TN and building a Roll Off Roof home for them.  The Roll Off will be 8' x 8' with a 12-inch pier centered at 32" from floor.  Have a clear view of the south and south west but some what limited to the North East.  Have the decking and pier done and trying to figure out wall height.  Plain to put up some tarps around at different heights to come up with a plain, any ideas would be appreciated.  Now its time to start reading lots of post. Thanks Roger

[Sugarfreak]

Hey!

My name is Jack and I'm from the North West of England. I've always been fascinated by astronomy, I caved in about 5 years ago and got my first scope, a 4" refractor. It blew me away that I could see little dots of lights around Jupiter, the 4 Galilean Moons. I could see some banding on Jupiter but it was never 'good'. 

It was decent, but I feel like I've exhausted most of what I wanted to do with it, so I've recently purchased a Bresser Messier 10" Dob. It'll be arriving soon.

I'll make a post about that when it arrives but I am beyond excited. Where I am I think it is Bortle 6, which I'm aware will dampen things that I can see with a 10" dob, but there are potential dark spots nearby that I'll be looking into.

There's a lot to learn with this hobby (I've hidden in the forums for a bit before making an account) and I feel like I have a fairly good idea of what to expect. 

 

I look forward to observing many Messier objects and the rest!

 

Cheers,

Jack