Where are YOU going?

[spot1]

[quote source="/post/10099/thread" timestamp="1430233920" author="@cadman70454"] "My plan is to buy the family a telescope to take camping with us to see some cool stuff."

There are a number of entry level scopes to consider.  For something small, an Astroscan is great for kids.  It's a table top 4" reflector.  Orion makes a 4.5", 6" and 8" dobs that are great bargains.  The 4.5 is small enough for small kids to carry outside but can be outgrown quickly.  I would suggest an Orion 8" dob at around $350.  This scope is big enough for someone to keep and use for a lifetime.  A child would have to be 12 or so to be able to carry it outside so they would need help if younger.  However, the 8" is good for adults also.  As you get bigger than 8", a tube telescope is difficult to handle.

Refractors look cute and have their uses but for viewing bang for the buck, a dob can't be beat.

Here is a website for Orion.  They have a very good guide for buying your first telescope.

http://www.telescope.com/[/quote]Thanks for the info.

We camp at Stone Mountain SP NC and a local astronomy group has star events there. Need to get a telescope.

[cadman70454]

"We camp at Stone Mountain SP NC and a local astronomy group has star events there. Need to get a telescope."

You don't need a telescope to attend. In fact, I suggest signing up and attending with a pair of cheap 7 x 50 binoculars and a good planisphere.  I like this one,

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1928771017/skymaps

From a dark sky location with binoculars, you can see galaxies, globular clusters, nebulas, the moons of Jupiter (which move over the course of a night) and best of all, just sit in a chair and slowly scan the Milky Way.  The planisphere I linked to has 15 bright objects in the night sky listed on the back and has a location key code on the sky map.  I found Andromeda Galaxy with $50 7 x 50 sailing binoculars.  That got me started in Astronomy.

Go to the star party and walk around during daylight, admire people's equipment and ask questions.  Make friends and get invited to come back at night for views thru their scopes.  You just have to be nice, sound interested and tell people how cool their stuff looks and they'll usually invite you for views later after it gets dark.  Don't bother the people with imaging equipment, they won't be sharing views.  You can get a good idea of what equipment is available, and what can be seen in different size telescopes before spending any money.  People tend to enjoy sharing views as long as they are not being bothered.  In some cases, lines form at some of the larger telescopes.

[djsamuel]

[quote source="/post/10160/thread" timestamp="1430403163" author="@brenda"][font size="3"]May!!!  The best month to travel!  Next week we're heading back to the land of vast canyons and towering red rocks!  Our favorite town, Moab, UT, maybe Bryce Canyon, then Mesa Verde, and explore Chaco Canyon and more ancient ruins.  We love this indescribable area and its visual contrast to our own lush green Oregon.  Husband is bringing his telescope and camera so let's hope for cloudless dark skies and bright stars!  [/font][/quote]Enjoy.  We're ready to go back!  We were in Moab in September and our daughter and son in law went around Easter.  Felt homesick when they were there, and I don't live there.

[charliem]

[font size="3"]For you amateur astronomers with an iPhone let me call attention to skyguide. It uses GPS and the phone's internal inertial sensors to display any portion of the sky you point it at. It can display in real time or any preset time/date/locaiton. Truly point and search. A beautiful color display. For you high rollers it also works on the Apple iWatch   The universe on a 1"x3/4" display for $2!
[/font]

[aznighthiker]

Up on the Mogollon Rim in Central Arizona.

[cadman70454]

"For you amateur astronomers with an iPhone let me call attention to skyguide."

I don't have a cell phone, much less a smart phone, but I've seen these apps in action.  I take my telescopes out for public viewing.  These events can be in really bright central city areas where only a couple of the brightest stars are visible.  I need 2 identifiable stars to align my goto system on the scope.  So as I'm looking up with my planisphere in hand trying to identify a bright star overhead, a 12 year old with a smart phone walks up, points his phone at the sky and tells me, that's Aldeberan.  So I said, and what star is that, as I pointed to the only other star visible.  He pointed his phone at it and said, Regulus.  It was incredible and functional.  It certainly beats a planisphere.  Sometimes the scale of the sky and the diagram on the planisphere are hard to reconcile.  But the app on the smartphone leaves no doubt about what you're looking at.

Eventually, I will get me one of those things.

[cadman70454]

[quote source="/post/10160/thread" timestamp="1430403163" author="@brenda"][font size="3"]May!!!  The best month to travel!  Next week we're heading back to the land of vast canyons and towering red rocks!  Our favorite town, Moab, UT, maybe Bryce Canyon, then Mesa Verde, and explore Chaco Canyon and more ancient ruins.  We love this indescribable area and its visual contrast to our own lush green Oregon.  Husband is bringing his telescope and camera so let's hope for cloudless dark skies and bright stars!  [/font][/quote][p]We love Utah, 4 corners, the West in general and driving hwy 50 from the West coast to Colorado.   I love the sign on hwy 50 that reads, the loneliest road in America.  The sign is accurate.[/p][p]
[/p][p]About 5 years ago we spent 2 weeks in Utah, one week at Zion and one week at Moab.  I should have paid closer attention in geology class.  The formations and geology are stunning and beautiful.  We got to see everything we wanted except Canyon Lands NP.  We spent too much time at Arches and went to the north rim of the Grand Canyon so we ran out of time.  For all those reading this who have never experienced Utah and the west in general, it's worth the trip.  I would put the Grand Canyon at the top of my favorites list, followed by Zion & Arches right behind.[/p][p]
[/p][p]In our 2 weeks in Utah, we had one night of clear skies for telescope viewing.  It was cloudy every night except one.
[/p]

[david]

A number of years ago I camped at a National Forest site on the access road to Palomar Observatory in California. This was a Thursday and some early campers/astronomers were setting up for a star party on the weekend.

I did what Cadman suggested and walked around the campsite in late afternoon admiring the equipment. But later that night 2 out of 3 astronomers were inside their RV observing via video, with the instrument being controlled remotely ;-).

FWIW I do have a Questar 3.5 that I purchased more than 40 years ago. It still works fine and looks exactly like what they make today, at about ten times the price no doubt.

David

[cadman70454]

[quote source="/post/10261/thread" timestamp="1430592030" author="@david"]A number of years ago I camped at a National Forest site on the access road to Palomar Observatory in California. This was a Thursday and some early campers/astronomers were setting up for a star party on the weekend.

I did what Cadman suggested and walked around the campsite in late afternoon admiring the equipment. But later that night 2 out of 3 astronomers were inside their RV observing via video, with the instrument being controlled remotely ;-).

FWIW I do have a Questar 3.5 that I purchased more than 40 years ago. It still works fine and looks exactly like what they make today, at about ten times the price no doubt.

David[/quote][p]A Questar 3.5 is still an expensive telescope.  Very small but incredible build quality and lots of built in features.  Not very good for deep sky objects (dim things) but great on bright things like the planets, the moon and the sun.  The optics are excellent in those scopes.  At 3.5" f13.9, it's like looking thru a straw but  the motor drive compensates for it.  The optics are good enough to push it towards 100x per inch.[/p][p]
[/p][p]While I make fun of the Questar's size, especially compared to my 6' long, 16" telescope, it is truly a mitey mite for certain objects.  And a really cute desk ornament to boot.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Video astronomy is becoming popular these days.  It's not the same as a CCD camera.  A friend is a rep for Malincam, an astro video camera.  They are very sensitive and work well under city lights.  The camera will shoot multiple short videos, automatically stack and align them into a single image and then displays the image on a monitor.  We've had 15 people at a public event crammed in front of a 15" monitor, looking at the Horsehead Nebula from the middle of a city.  And the Ring Nebula with it's central star.  And lots of details that I haven't been able to see thru my 16", even in really dark skies.  It's incredible technology.  In a lot of cases, color is also apparent in the images.[/p][p]
[/p][p]By the way, Venus is bright in the evening Western sky and will get brighter as it gets to be a smaller crescent.  Jupiter is overhead early evening and Saturn is rising above the trees at 10pm.  And today, the sun had a really long filament across it's surface along with a nice, treelike prominence.  All good stuff for a Questar and my toys too.[/p][p]
[/p][p]Maybe one day we can compare views thru our telescopes at an LL meet up.  
[/p]