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View Full Version : Needing advice from the Astronomy nerds (telescope)



TheUnnamedSooner
1/11/2007, 02:54 PM
I was looking to get some advice from my fellow Sooner fans on purchasing a telescope. I've always been interested in deep sky viewing and looking for a good starter scope. Right now, I'm looking at buying a Meade 2114 with autostar. It seems to be the best for the money (I know a guy that has a hobby store and said he would sell me a new one at cost which is about $200-$250). I'm not looking to spend a lot of money yet, I just want to see if this is a hobby that I'm going to enjoy. Thoughts on the Meade or a better telescope for about the same price?

Fugue
1/11/2007, 02:57 PM
I think this is exactly like another thread from about a year ago that had some good info in it. I'll try and find tit.

By the way, go out and see the comet tonight before teh storm of the century destroys us all.

TheUnnamedSooner
1/11/2007, 03:01 PM
I'm in Dallas, it's too cloudy to see the comet. I heard you see it in the morning right?

Fugue
1/11/2007, 03:04 PM
sunset and sunrise I think

BeetDigger
1/11/2007, 03:07 PM
BTW - they are officially called "Nerds of the Night"

Widescreen
1/11/2007, 03:17 PM
I'm in Dallas, it's too cloudy to see the comet. I heard you see it in the morning right?
Morning (just before sunrise in the east)
Evening (just after sunset in the west)

You may have a problem with a 114mm scope and seeing lots of deep sky stuff in the Dallas area. I'm in north dallas with a 130mm scope and I can really only see the brightest deep sky objects with any clarity (Orion Nebula, Beehive Cluster, a handful of galaxies). At a dark sky site, that would likely change and you could see a much richer variety of things. When I'm at home, I stick primarily to things like the moon, saturn, jupiter, variable stars, brighter deep sky stuff.

The goto stuff (your autostar) is great. For someone who's a novice, it allows you to see a lot in a short amount of time. I have a friend who has an excellent scope but it's not a goto variety so he has to manually align it and manually find stuff. I can see 3 times as many things in an evening as he can because he has to spend a bunch of time getting set up, finding things, etc.

Also, if you plan on doing any long-exposure photography, that Meade won't work too well (I have the same problem with my scope). To do long-exposure work, your scope has to be on an equatorial mount (instead of the alt-az mount of that scope) so you can polar align. I have a modified webcam that I use to take pictures of planets and the moon/sun but I can't take decent pictures of nebulae and stuff because that requires (sometimes) 30 minutes to 1 hour exposures to get good results and a alt-az mount can only give you a few minutes without the images starting to rotate.

As to not wanting to spend a lot of money, good luck with that. :eek: You're going to want to buy a bunch of extra eyepieces and accessories which can easily double the initial scope investment.

This is the best site I've found that has tons of information for the beginner and the folks are really nice to n00bs. Way nicer than we are around here. :D http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat=

Petro-Sooner
1/11/2007, 03:23 PM
Pffft..... I can see the moon and sun with my naked eye.





:D

TheUnnamedSooner
1/11/2007, 03:32 PM
Thanks for the info WS, that's really helpful. I have recently moved to Anna, where there isn't much light pollution and has really made me want to get into this. Taking pictures is something I will eventually want to do and may have to look into a different mount.

Widescreen
1/11/2007, 03:42 PM
Thanks for the info WS, that's really helpful. I have recently moved to Anna, where there isn't much light pollution and has really made me want to get into this. Taking pictures is something I will eventually want to do and may have to look into a different mount.
Don't expect to see much to the south. You have to go a lot further north than Anna to be able to see much going on toward the south. :(

OUinFLA
1/11/2007, 05:08 PM
Morning (just before sunrise in the east)
Evening (just after sunset in the west)

You may have a problem with a 114mm scope and seeing lots of deep sky stuff in the Dallas area. I'm in north dallas with a 130mm scope and I can really only see the brightest deep sky objects with any clarity (Orion Nebula, Beehive Cluster, a handful of galaxies). At a dark sky site, that would likely change and you could see a much richer variety of things. When I'm at home, I stick primarily to things like the moon, saturn, jupiter, variable stars, brighter deep sky stuff.

The goto stuff (your autostar) is great. For someone who's a novice, it allows you to see a lot in a short amount of time. I have a friend who has an excellent scope but it's not a goto variety so he has to manually align it and manually find stuff. I can see 3 times as many things in an evening as he can because he has to spend a bunch of time getting set up, finding things, etc.

Also, if you plan on doing any long-exposure photography, that Meade won't work too well (I have the same problem with my scope). To do long-exposure work, your scope has to be on an equatorial mount (instead of the alt-az mount of that scope) so you can polar align. I have a modified webcam that I use to take pictures of planets and the moon/sun but I can't take decent pictures of nebulae and stuff because that requires (sometimes) 30 minutes to 1 hour exposures to get good results and a alt-az mount can only give you a few minutes without the images starting to rotate.

As to not wanting to spend a lot of money, good luck with that. :eek: You're going to want to buy a bunch of extra eyepieces and accessories which can easily double the initial scope investment.

This is the best site I've found that has tons of information for the beginner and the folks are really nice to n00bs. Way nicer than we are around here. :D http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat=


pfffftttt. In the other thread Widescreen denies being an astronomy nerd. Yet, he reponds directly in this thread solliciting advice from "astronomy nerds"
Second, look at the depth of his response?

Widescreen = astronomy nerd.

Widescreen
1/11/2007, 05:28 PM
pfffftttt. In the other thread Widescreen denies being an astronomy nerd. Yet, he reponds directly in this thread solliciting advice from "astronomy nerds"
Second, look at the depth of his response?

Widescreen = astronomy nerd.
Don't you have a social security check to pick up or something?

VeeJay
1/11/2007, 09:18 PM
[] Whoa! Rimshot! [/]

TheUnnamedSooner
2/1/2007, 11:13 AM
Thanks everyone, I got the scope lastnight. Now I just need a clear night so I can try it out. I've read that I should probably get some better eyepieces and possibly a laser collimator. Any advise on those items?

Fugue
2/1/2007, 11:15 AM
Thanks everyone, I got the scope lastnight. Now I just need a clear night so I can try it out. I've read that I should probably get some better eyepieces and possibly a laser collimator. Any advise on those items?

Better check with OUDoc on that one. :texan:

TheUnnamedSooner
2/1/2007, 11:17 AM
Dang Fugue, do you just lurk the south oval all day? Both times I posted you replied within a couple minutes. Pretty impressive! :D

Widescreen
2/1/2007, 11:21 AM
Thanks everyone, I got the scope lastnight. Now I just need a clear night so I can try it out. I've read that I should probably get some better eyepieces and possibly a laser collimator. Any advise on those items?
What scope did you get?

Fugue
2/1/2007, 11:22 AM
Dang Fugue, do you just lurk the south oval all day? Both times I posted you replied within a couple minutes. Pretty impressive! :D

Yes, and on the SO, this makes me different from no one. ;)

TheUnnamedSooner
2/1/2007, 11:22 AM
The meade ds 2114

sooneron
2/1/2007, 11:32 AM
I recently met astro-uber nerd last week when we pre-interviewed him. He friggin discovered a star! In college. He was like a high functioning rain man. He's pictured lower on the link. Guaranteed virgin. NTTAWWT

http://www.swarthmore.edu/x9235.xml

OUDoc
2/1/2007, 11:51 AM
Better check with OUDoc on that one. :texan:
Just need a finger and some KY.
Frikin' Lasers? Kids these days.

Mongo
2/1/2007, 11:52 AM
Just need a finger and some KY.
Frikin' Lasers? Kids these days.

No glove? :eek: You are old school:D

Widescreen
2/1/2007, 12:05 PM
Laser collimators can be nice but they can also fall out of calibration themselves.

achiro
2/1/2007, 12:22 PM
No glove? :eek: You are old school:D
Or perverted...you pick which one.:D

TheUnnamedSooner
2/1/2007, 12:26 PM
Laser collimators can be nice but they can also fall out of calibration themselves.

So, they aren't going to make a big difference in clarity? How about eye pieces?

Widescreen
2/1/2007, 12:45 PM
Collimation makes a huge difference in clarity. My point was that if you don't verify that the laser in the collimator is properly calibrated, you can make the problem worse. I wouldn't worry about collimation right off the bat. The scopes are collimated at the factory and there's a very good chance that the collimation is still in good shape when you get it. As far as eyepieces, if you get a barlow lens, it will effectively double the # of eyepieces you have because it doubles the magnification of any eyepiece. I've got an Orion Shorty 2X Barlow and it works great. Just make sure you have both wide view / low power eyepieces and a middle-power and a high-power and you should be good to start with. As you use it, you'll have a better idea if what you want.

TheUnnamedSooner
2/1/2007, 02:14 PM
Cool, once these damn clouds go away, I can see how well it is collimated (reviews said it probably needs to be adjusted). With the scope came a 25mm and 9mm. I will look into the barlow lens. Thanks!

Mjcpr
2/1/2007, 02:54 PM
Is everyone tired of my Uranus joke yet?

TheUnnamedSooner
2/1/2007, 03:03 PM
It depends, did you find rings around Uranus?

Widescreen
2/1/2007, 04:22 PM
Is everyone tired of my Uranus joke yet?
We're just tired of you.



:P

TheUnnamedSooner
2/5/2007, 01:29 PM
Ok, so I got to use the new scope this weekend and I was a little dissapointed. I bought an $80 eyepiece case that came with a 2x barlow lens, 33mm and 12.5mm eyepieces, some filters and a flashlight. Looking at the moon was great, but I was barely able to make out saturn's rings, it was blurry and small. Anything else I looked at, stars, etc were also blurry and small and couldn't get it to focus or see colors. I read somewhere I should be able to see the polar regions of saturn, venus etc, but they just look like bright stars in the scope. Also, the autostar could never align itself correctly (I am sure I just need to spend more time with it). Any suggestions for the views would be greatly appreciated. (Fugue to answer in 5 4 3 ..) :)

TheUnnamedSooner
2/7/2007, 12:02 PM
Bueller......Bueller........Bueller.....

Dio
2/7/2007, 01:31 PM
I don't know about telescopes, but if you open a checking account with me I can get you a sweet set of binoculars!

YWIA

TheUnnamedSooner
2/7/2007, 02:12 PM
Thanks, but screw your binoculars, I have plenty of those laying around here. But can you refund some od fees for me? And no, I don't keep a check register....

Dio
2/7/2007, 04:11 PM
"Da bank stoled money from my account! How else can I be overdrawn- I made a deposit last week."

TheUnnamedSooner
2/7/2007, 04:14 PM
"I checked my account online and it said I had $50"