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Post pics of your telescope(s).

dennilfloss

dennilfloss

Past Lifer 1957-2014 In Memoriam
Or pics taken with your telescope(s).

I'll start with 1998-vintage gear that is no longer mine as I sold it last summer to my ex-wife's companion and went to install it at their place in northern Ontario (they have wonderfully dark skies). Due to chronic fatigue syndrome and having moved to a smaller apartment that faces north instead of south, without a veranda and in a risky neighbourhood, I could no longer use them and I decided therefore to sell them (I needed money to upgrade my computer). They were used for only a few months before I became too ill and had been in their boxes since. At least the telescopes remain in the family.

Celestron 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain Celestar 8 (F/10)
Celestron Short-tube 80 achromatic refractor (Japanese optics)
6x30 Celestron finderscope
24mm Speers-Waler ultrawide eyepiece (no longer made, very prized ocular)
15 & 20 mm Antares SuperPloss eyepieces
Antares 2x (Ultima) barlow
45 & 90 degree Celestron star diagonals
Orange & blue planetary filters
Broadband nebular filter
Many magazine articles, books, atlases & charts
Instruction manual
Home-made dew cap
Rubberized barbells needed as counterweight because of the piggyback refractor.
Optics cleaning pen/brush

The guy also bought a full-aperture solar filter. We set the scopes on his patio and the optics did not need to be recollimated. Star drive worked still flawlessly. Jupiter looked awesome as usual but Saturn was still below the horizon. It was quite an experience for him and my ex- to see 5 jovian satellites, cloud bands and the red spot for the first time. He'll probably buy some JMI digital setting circles to affix on the scope later. Wished the seeing were better though (and fewer bugs - got my first mosquito bites in 25 years).

Anyway, here are pics of the gear:

General pic with legend.
General view.
Wedegepod & dewcap.
Closeup.
Celestar 8.
Dials.
Stardrive.
Speers-Whaler ultrawide angle ocular.
General view.
Frontal view.
Frontal view.
 
Why is that painting crooked?

Also, I must assume that you live in the suburbs or country-side, no? In the city we get nothing but streetlights and smog.
 
I must have hit that painting while moving the scope. That is not my place. It's my ex's and she basically lives in the woods. Her skies are really dark, Beautiful milky way above.

City lights are a problem if you want to look at deep-sky objects (so-called faint fuzzies) but a nebular filter can really help. Most planets are bright enough that light pollution is basically irrelevant to planetary observation.
 
I don't have any pics of my scope on this computer but I do have some pics that I took WITH the scope. These pics were taken in the most primitive way possible....pointing an old HP 2 megapixel camera at the eyepiece with a tripod. Focusing the camera was a bitch since you had to do the manual controls through the menu.

Moon - I took many pics of the moon this one was always my best.

Saturn - very low quality but I was proud I was able to get anything at all considering the setup.

The telescope is just a 80mm (3 inch) refractor.
 
Originally posted by: dennilfloss
Or pics taken with your telescope(s).

I'll start with 1998-vintage gear that is no longer mine as I sold it last summer to my ex-wife's companion and went to install it at their place in northern Ontario (they have wonderfully dark skies). Due to chronic fatigue syndrome and having moved to a smaller apartment that faces north instead of south, without a veranda and in a risky neighbourhood, I could no longer use them and I decided therefore to sell them (I needed money to upgrade my computer). They were used for only a few months before I became too ill and had been in their boxes since. At least the telescopes remain in the family.

Celestron 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain Celestar 8 (F/10)
Celestron Short-tube 80 achromatic refractor (Japanese optics)
6x30 Celestron finderscope
24mm Speers-Waler ultrawide eyepiece (no longer made, very prized ocular)
15 & 20 mm Antares SuperPloss eyepieces
Antares 2x (Ultima) barlow
45 & 90 degree Celestron star diagonals
Orange & blue planetary filters
Broadband nebular filter
Many magazine articles, books, atlases & charts
Instruction manual
Home-made dew cap
Rubberized barbells needed as counterweight because of the piggyback refractor.
Optics cleaning pen/brush

The guy also bought a full-aperture solar filter. We set the scopes on his patio and the optics did not need to be recollimated. Star drive worked still flawlessly. Jupiter looked awesome as usual but Saturn was still below the horizon. It was quite an experience for him and my ex- to see 5 jovian satellites, cloud bands and the red spot for the first time. He'll probably buy some JMI digital setting circles to affix on the scope later. Wished the seeing were better though (and fewer bugs - got my first mosquito bites in 25 years).

Anyway, here are pics of the gear:

General pic with legend.
General view.
Wedegepod & dewcap.
Closeup.
Celestar 8.
Dials.
Stardrive.
Speers-Whaler ultrawide angle ocular.
General view.
Frontal view.
Frontal view.
Click to expand...



I hate you. I would love to have the finder scope on that setup.
 
Originally posted by: kami
I don't have any pics of my scope on this computer but I do have some pics that I took WITH the scope. These pics were taken in the most primitive way possible....pointing an old HP 2 megapixel camera at the eyepiece with a tripod. Focusing the camera was a bitch since you had to do the manual controls through the menu.

Moon - I took many pics of the moon this one was always my best.

Saturn - very low quality but I was proud I was able to get anything at all considering the setup.

The telescope is just a 80mm (3 inch) refractor.
Click to expand...


very cool...like that pic of saturn:thumbsup:

 
don't know too much about telescopes but that looks like a nice setup. just curious how much did it run you originally?
 
Originally posted by: dighn
don't know too much about telescopes but that looks like a nice setup. just curious how much did it run you originally?
Click to expand...

My gear was about two grand in total.

 
Where is your observatory and how much is it?

Oh and nice suff. I would like to have a nice setiup like this and I am so jealous.
 
Originally posted by: dennilfloss
kami,

Used some freeware (Noiseware & Image Analyzer) to enhance your moon pic a little. Just a quickie job though.

moonxr8_filtered.jpg
Click to expand...

It does "pop" a bit more. Someday I'd like to go back with a modern cam and get a high res pic of it. However getting that one pic using the method I used took me several nights. Most of the images were out of focus, or either too light or too dark.
 
For the price, that sounds good but the angle of view will be very narrow and you might find it hard to track sky objects manually with that tripod. Most people start with binoculars as they have wider fields of view. Still, if you get it, it will probably be very nice for bird and babe watching anyway. At that price, it's not much of a risk. 🙂
 
KDOG,

I have used Celestia for fun a few years ago but uninstalled it as it was addicting and grabbed too many CPU cycles away from my SETI crunching. 😉
 
I just put a bunch of telescope ideas on my Christmas list and gave it to the wifey. In about a month we shall see....
 
Ha! The blue fringe doesn't show when looking off centre slightly towards the right with my glasses. Now that you mentioned it, I see some when I look at various angles with my glasses. Still, I introduced no colour in the pic, just enhanced what was there so maybe it's our glasses that have the chromatic aberration and not the image.:laugh:

Edit: yup, flipped the pic and I see red to blue when I tilt my head sideways, so I think the fringe comes from my glasses and shows because of the high contrast between black space and the lunar surface.

I see the same phenomenon on his original pics and his telescope is a newtonian, which has only mirrors and therefore no chromatic aberration except in the oculars & barlows.
 
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