Targets for Beginners?
- GCoyote
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Targets for Beginners?
https://astronomy.com/magazine/news/202 ... ry-nebulae
Gary C
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Delos, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Solar: HA: Lunt 50mm single stack, W/L: Meade Herschel wedge.
Observing: DSOs: 3122 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2196, S110: 77). Doubles: 2461, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 261
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
Gary C
Celestron Astro Master 130mm f5 Newtonian GEM
Meade 114-EQ-DH f7.9 Newtonian w/ manual GEM
Bushnell 90mm f13.9 Catadioptric
Gskyer 80mm f5 Alt/Az refractor
Jason 10x50 Binoculars
Celestron 7x50 Binoculars
Svbony 2.1x42 Binoculars
(And a bunch of stuff I'm still trying to fix or find parts for.)
- Baurice
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
I would recommend starting with the brighter
The Moon and Jupiter are good places to start with solar system objects. Venus can be somewhat challenging and you won't see anything more than its phase. Saturn is not easy and nothing like the photos that they put on the boxes of telescopes for sale.
Yes, astronomy is fascinating but starting off with more difficult objects is not recommended.
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
For color, I agree with his recommendation of
Similar, though it isn't mentioned in the article and I forget the designation, but there is another very blue planetary in Ophiuchus that I have found pleasant to view. I think it was the Blue Racquetball nebula
binoculars: 15x70
- OzEclipse Online
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
I agree with Henk's conclusion.SkyHiker wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 5:31 pm He mentions 20" to 21" reflectors; those are not really beginner telescopes. Suggestions about seeing color with anything less than 16" are wishful thinking IMHO, except for the brightest targets such as M42. Like beginners, I am not an experienced observer, but I look through other people's 18" telescopes once or twice a year and see no color even in those. With practice it should get better, I read, patience and practice should help. If I had the patience I would know.
On a couple of nights when transparency was greatest, I have seen the faintest hint of rust red colouration in M42's and
Seeing blues and greens in planetary nebulae is much more common even in much smaller scopes.
I had the opportunity to view through a 28" f3.6
Joe
Amateur astronomer since 1978...................Web site : http://joe-cali.com/
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
I looked through Dennis Young's 28" "one-armed bandit", aOzEclipse wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 6:33 am I had the opportunity to view through a 28" f3.6 dob last July at Queensland Astrofest. No colour on the brightest parts of the brightest winter nebulae eg Lagoon, Triffid, Omega. The Magellanic Clouds were sub polar during early evening and lost in the glow from Brisbane. We typically didn't observe very late due to fog that began forming around 1am.
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Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Delos, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Solar: HA: Lunt 50mm single stack, W/L: Meade Herschel wedge.
Observing: DSOs: 3122 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2196, S110: 77). Doubles: 2461, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 261
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
Most astronomical photos are processed to enhance detail. Deep sky objects are often photographed using colour filters that detect light from specific wavelengths corresponding to discrete elements. Even if one could travel in a spaceship to view an object close-in, you would not be able to see it to the same level of detail as photographs.
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
Now however years later I am taking pictures of Orion Nebula and getting color, mind you it is stacked images and enhanced in Post Processing and that was with just a 70 or 85 mm camera lens.
Telescope: N/A
Cameras: Nikon Z7ii 85mm f/1.8 ; DSS & Siril
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∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6R, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100 ∞ AP Gear: ZWO EAF and mini EFW and the Optolong L-eXteme filter
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°
Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."
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- helicon
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
What a beginner might want to do instead of buying a big
I at first was skeptical of this movement but it is catching on amongst the membership of my old club in California and my new club in Washington. Why stare at faint fuzzies when you can get an
Definition of
"Electronically Assisted Astronomy (
The point is if I was starting now this might be the direction I would take...
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
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This is very true. I've had a couple of police officers tell me I couldn't see the difference between yellow and red!
Scopes: Celestron EdgeHD14", Explore Scientific ED152CF & ED127 APO's, StellarVue SV70T, Classic Orange-Tube C-8, Lunt 80mm Ha double-stack solar scope.
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One don't even need to break the wallet. There are new entry level all-in-onehelicon wrote: ↑Mon Jul 03, 2023 10:43 pm What a beginner might want to do instead of buying a big Dob and hoping to notice a tinge of color is join the EAA bandwagon and either buy a Unistellar or other make (3,000 or so) or even better and more economically, acquire the newer AP cameras that can be turned into EAA devices with some jury rigging, software, and computing power (Electronically Assisted Astronomy).
https://agenaastro.com/zwo-seestar-s50- ... scope.html
https://dwarflab.com/products/dwarf-2-smart-telescope
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Delos, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Solar: HA: Lunt 50mm single stack, W/L: Meade Herschel wedge.
Observing: DSOs: 3122 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2196, S110: 77). Doubles: 2461, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 261
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Even though I just got an ST102, I'm close to pulling the trigger on a Seestar. I still have until the end of the month to get the intro price.
Man... That's some icky-tasting stuff!
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
Just checked that out. Pretty darn cool at only a 50mm objective andpakarinen wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 10:06 am I can't even see mag 10 objects at home due to light pollution, much less extended objects. Ok, planetaries are more starlike than galaxies, but still...
Even though I just got an ST102, I'm close to pulling the trigger on a Seestar. I still have until the end of the month to get the intro price.
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
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Re: Targets for Beginners?
We get question quite often from beginners: I want a scope to do visual andhelicon wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 2:45 pmJust checked that out. Pretty darn cool at only a 50mm objective andpakarinen wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 10:06 am I can't even see mag 10 objects at home due to light pollution, much less extended objects. Ok, planetaries are more starlike than galaxies, but still...
Even though I just got an ST102, I'm close to pulling the trigger on a Seestar. I still have until the end of the month to get the intro price.f/ 5. I'm sure larger versions will become available. I see these devices eventually cutting into the traditional telescope sales - fracs, Dobs,SCT 's, etc. Who doesn't have a smart phone?
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Delos, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.
Solar: HA: Lunt 50mm single stack, W/L: Meade Herschel wedge.
Observing: DSOs: 3122 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2196, S110: 77). Doubles: 2461, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 261
- SkyHiker
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Except of course that 10" Coulter Odyssey that I bought for $100, then built a dual-axis autoguided barndoor drive to put the 65 lbs.Bigzmey wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 4:46 pmWe get question quite often from beginners: I want a scope to do visual andhelicon wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 2:45 pmJust checked that out. Pretty darn cool at only a 50mm objective andpakarinen wrote: ↑Tue Jul 04, 2023 10:06 am I can't even see mag 10 objects at home due to light pollution, much less extended objects. Ok, planetaries are more starlike than galaxies, but still...
Even though I just got an ST102, I'm close to pulling the trigger on a Seestar. I still have until the end of the month to get the intro price.f/ 5. I'm sure larger versions will become available. I see these devices eventually cutting into the traditional telescope sales - fracs, Dobs,SCT 's, etc. Who doesn't have a smart phone?AP under $500. Before the answer was there is no such thing, focus just on visual, but these new systems could be the answer.
Explore Scientific is the usual place where I look for the cheapest solution. They always have beginner PMC-8 tracking systems such as an 80 mm
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