SETI@Home...for real!

[Fardringle]

This is off topic, but I can't resist. I finally convinced my wife to let me get one of my life-long "wants" in a nice sized telescope for back yard and mountain (family cabin) stargazing. I had a small tripod mount telescope back in the late 80's that could almost provide a not blurry "blob" of the moon and haven't had one at all since then because it always got put off for more important budget needs. But now this beauty should be sitting on my doorstep some time this Tuesday!
http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes...sonian-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/13/p/102005.uts

So...where exactly should I point this "light cannon" to see the aliens that the SETI program is looking for? (Or anything else you personally think is interesting enough that my girls and I will want to see.) The moon won't be rising until nearly 3 AM next week so that's not going to be a realistic viewing option for the near future so I plan to stare at the currently visible planets (Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn) as well as any other significant features I can find from the Messier Catalog and other sources, but I'd love to get suggestions from others if you have any.

 

[Rudy Toody]

How about satellites? Space station?

 

[TennesseeTony]

The 8" is a perfect choice my friend! Now get yourself a cheap green laser (flashlight style) and a mount made for a small finder scope, align it, then point and view!

Saturn is going to amaze you for hours, the other planets will not impress I'm afraid. Stick with 40x maximum, as you'll have a wonderfully sharp image, tiny, but far more pleasing. Orion's nebula won't be available until winter, not sure about the Andromeda galaxy, but it is truly amazing in that it won't fit into the field of view even on low power eyepieces it's so huge, and it has a neighbor! The ring nebula again is winter I think, had to find, but truly rewarding when you do!

As for the moon, you will want to get a darkening filter (camera lens filter, nuetral density). Most eyepieces have threads inside for filters, sorry that I can't provide the size in mm at the moment. But anyway, the moon will blind one eye with that light bucket! Dobs are great at low magnification. Have I mentioned to use a low power eyepiece yet?

 

[TennesseeTony]

I've now read the full description of your scope. The red dot finder is great, forget the laser. And the 25mm will be 48x (1200mm focal length / 25mm=48x), but eventually you should ebay a cheap wide angle 2" eyepiece between 30-38mm, soooo much better.

This one's not wide angle, but cheap: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-32mm-Ce...925?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item463d9df985

 

[Fardringle]

How about satellites? Space station?

I need to find a "map" of potentially visible satellites. That could be interesting. Sadly, the Hubble Telescope is on the other side of the world from us for quite some time to come, and the ISS only passes over around 4-5 AM, and while that would be neat to see, I'm not willing to get up then just to see it, except MAYBE on a weekend.

Those are definitely on my want to see list, though. Do you happen to know of a site or registry somewhere that shows the coordinates of readily visible satellites? I have several different programs for stars, planets, nebulae, etc. but haven't found one for man-made satellites yet.

 

[Fardringle]

The 8" is a perfect choice my friend! Now get yourself a cheap green laser (flashlight style) and a mount made for a small finder scope, align it, then point and view!

Saturn is going to amaze you for hours, the other planets will not impress I'm afraid. Stick with 40x maximum, as you'll have a wonderfully sharp image, tiny, but far more pleasing. Orion's nebula won't be available until winter, not sure about the Andromeda galaxy, but it is truly amazing in that it won't fit into the field of view even on low power eyepieces it's so huge, and it has a neighbor! The ring nebula again is winter I think, had to find, but truly rewarding when you do!

As for the moon, you will want to get a darkening filter (camera lens filter, nuetral density). Most eyepieces have threads inside for filters, sorry that I can't provide the size in mm at the moment. But anyway, the moon will blind one eye with that light bucket! Dobs are great at low magnification. Have I mentioned to use a low power eyepiece yet?

The link I posted is the standard scope. I actually got a special "bundle" from Orion that includes a 25mm Sirius Plossl eyepiece, a 2x shorty Barlow extension, several different astronomy books, and a set of colored filters, and all for only $329 compared to the normal $380 for just the scope! I think it has a lunar filter in there but won't know until it arrives because the package deal isn't actually listed on their site so I can't go back to check. If not, I'll pick one up pretty soon, before the Moon's orbit cycle brings it back into view at a time when I can actually let the girls stay up to see it.

I actually saw Venus and Jupiter through a significantly less interesting old 4", scratched, warped, short, and un-collimated dobsonian about two weeks ago, but even that was fun enough that I got the itch to get my own scope again, and my girls agreed that I needed to buy one so they can see more. I know it's not going to be ideal viewing for those two planets right now since they'll be setting right into the sunset, but I still want to try.

And yes, Saturn will probably be my main eye candy for a while, but the girls will probably get bored looking at just one thing so I want more for them to see as well. The guides I've looked at say Andromeda should be very visible right now, but Orion won't be back around until Winter.

 

[Fardringle]

I've now read the full description of your scope. The red dot finder is great, forget the laser. And the 25mm will be 48x (1200mm focal length / 25mm=48x), but eventually you should ebay a cheap wide angle 2" eyepiece between 30-38mm, soooo much better.

This one's not wide angle, but cheap: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-32mm-Ce...925?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item463d9df985

Yep, in some ways I actually like the red dot finders better than actual magnified finder scopes because you don't have to put your eye right up to the finder in order to use it. It's not as precise as a properly aligned finder scope, but will be a LOT easier for the girls to use.

I plan to eventually add eyepieces around 35-40mm and 6mm if I can find good ones to fit the budget. Combined with the Shorty Barlow (starred), that'll give me 40mm (or 35mm), 25mm, 20mm* (or 17.5mm*), 12.75mm*, 6mm, and 3mm* viewing options. And maybe some day fill in the starred spots with actual lenses instead of the Barlow. But for now, the budget says I'll play with the 25mm and use the Barlow when I want more magnification.

 

[Rudy Toody]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymg0YBBRn3A

 

[petrusbroder]

Congrats! That is a nice scope!

 

[GLeeM]

I hope you have a great time with family

 

[Fardringle]

This is a bit delayed, but the trip was fun, and I got some surprisingly nice pictures just holding my 10-year-old Fuji super-zoom camera up to the telescope eyepiece. This one is my favorite:

2015-07-24-13 by fardringle, on Flickr

 

[petrusbroder]

Very nice pic!

 

[Rudy Toody]

Very nice pic!

I agree!

 

[Pokey]

That is pretty darn cool................. :thumbsup:

 

[Orange Kid]

That is pretty darn cool................. :thumbsup:

Agree :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[VirtualLarry]

supposedly, there was an ISS flyby tonight in the NE USA.

 

[biodoc]

Very nice pic, Fardringle!

 

[Fardringle]

supposedly, there was an ISS flyby tonight in the NE USA.

It flies over here (Western USA) almost every morning, but it's around 4 AM so not a very convenient time to go outside and look..


Edit: Apparently the "ISS schedule" app I was using previously is wrong since the ISS just flew over here at about 9:50 PM MST today. I was outside walking the dogs and looking up the sky thinking it was interesting that the apparently thin cloud layer was just thick enough to make bright stars like Vega and Arcturus appear as VERY faint dots, when suddenly a super bright light started crawling across the sky. I'm not sure what brightness magnitude rating the ISS gets, but through the clouds that were almost completely blocking out magnitude 0.00 and 1.00 stars, it looked brighter than Venus does on a perfectly clear night. Anyway, it was a surprise, and hopefully it will happen again on a night that's clear enough to make use of the telescope!

 

[Spacehead]

Nice scope. I bought the same one in 1999 i think.

Do you happen to know of a site or registry somewhere that shows the coordinates of readily visible satellites?

I use Heavens-Above
Coordinates? Those are only for geosynchronous satellites.
As far as i know satellites are only going to look like a dot of light in your scope other than the ISS. And you have to track them as they move across the sky. Not an easy thing with a dob.

Suggestions:
M13 in Hercules - globular cluster
M57 in Lyra - planetary nebula (The Ring Nebula)
M11 in Scutum - open cluster
M27 in Vulpecula - planetary nebula (The Dumbbell Nebula)
Albireo(Beta Cygni) in Cygnus - nice double star... blue & gold
M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy (with bonus M32 and M110)
Lots of globular clusters (& other stuff)in the Ophiuchus, Sagittarius & Scorpius regions.

No telescope needed but the Perseus meteor shower is coming up. Peaks on the night of August 12 with no moon this year.

 

[Fardringle]

Nice scope. I bought the same one in 1999 i think.


I use Heavens-Above
Coordinates? Those are only for geosynchronous satellites.
As far as i know satellites are only going to look like a dot of light in your scope other than the ISS. And you have to track them as they move across the sky. Not an easy thing with a dob.

Suggestions:
M13 in Hercules - globular cluster
M57 in Lyra - planetary nebula (The Ring Nebula)
M11 in Scutum - open cluster
M27 in Vulpecula - planetary nebula (The Dumbbell Nebula)
Albireo(Beta Cygni) in Cygnus - nice double star... blue & gold
M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy (with bonus M32 and M110)
Lots of globular clusters (& other stuff)in the Ophiuchus, Sagittarius & Scorpius regions.

No telescope needed but the Perseus meteor shower is coming up. Peaks on the night of August 12 with no moon this year.

By "coordinates" I should have clarified as just locations/times to look for the more visible objects. I have actually seen quite a few satellites accidentally through the scope while looking for other things. It's a fun surprise when a new dot of light starts wandering across the view in the eyepiece. I took a look at Heavens Above. Satellites aren't going to be a primary goal for us, but that's a nice app and I'll keep it on my tablet for when I do want it to try to identify the wandering dots that I find.

I'm hoping the meteor shower will still be active enough to be interesting when we go back up to the cabin on the 14th. There's just too much light pollution here at home to be able to see many of them even with a new moon. For a reference, I know exactly where M13 is, and it's very clearly visible at the cabin, but it's still not visible through this telescope at home because of the light pollution. A lot of the time it's hard to pick out some of the stars of the Big Dipper and nearly impossible to see any of the Little Dipper except for Polaris. It's not quite as extreme as the joke from the movie Madagascar where they announce, "Oh look, THE star is out" but it's definitely too bright to clearly see much more than the moon and a few of the brighter planets.

We have looked at all of the items on your list and quite a few others. Except for the Andromeda galaxy. With the trees and the hill to the east of the cabin, Andromeda wasn't up into visible range until about 3 in the morning and none of us want to stay up that late. We'll look for it later in the year when it will be up in the sky before Midnight.