Humanity

Valgrindar · 17 days

Because apparently believing in any religion makes you too stupid to understand science, and if you're an atheist, you are an automatic genius. At least that's what the kids tell themselves. It's juvenile, but what can you do.

sundaysatan · 17 days

In my opinion, it's absolutely the right forum to ask. Never thought about this but I really wonder what the results would be like... I don't understand why you would get downvotes on this when the constant flood of "what telescope should I buy" gets upvoted. This is a pretty interesting topic in my opinion that I haven't seen on this subreddit.

BilboBaguette · 19 days

Light pollution should have no effect on viewing Saturn. The "seeing" conditions will affect that.

StinkYourTrollop · 22 days

This is a completely dumb title. I doubt most here would think space is the ONLY place we need to explore more of, but we do definitely need to explore more of it. That doesn't mean we can't also explore other areas. What's with the one track mind?

vasht · 23 days

Just don't tell them the Sun is the biggest star in the universe! I kid you not, my niece was telling about things she learned in grade 6 science class (she knows I'm an amateur astronomer and wanted to share some info with me) and blew my mind with this little (factoid). I told her she may have misunderstood what the teacher was trying to say and explained sizes of objects in the universe. When she told her teacher, he confirmed that her information was wrong and that indeed the sun is the largest star. She asked him to google it and he found he was wrong and apologized. Great to admit he's wrong to the kids, but really? What kind of science teacher doesn't know something so basic. How is he to inspire kids when he himself is clearly oblivious. Anyhow, sorry for the rant...It's great that you care enough to be on here asking for ideas, you clearly care about your students. You can talk about the Mars rover booming over at 21000km/h (I believe) and will reach Mars on Aug. 6th. Kiponator had some great ideas because there is lots of visual videos in his suggestions.

Taron221 · 23 days

I bought this telescope for my fiance's father since he always seems so interested in my ramblings on and on. Figured if he doesn't get much use out of it I didn't blow too much money...6 months later it's still in the box and he was just being polite trying to seem interested...wish I could tell you if it's any good but a table top 3" dob seems pretty good for that price, I just dont know how well the eye pieces will perform.

Spayorneuteryourkids · 24 days

Earth? It's the only surface they're showing water rather than rock :/

Soylent_Veal · 24 days

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but my fear is always that "they" will find something or know something truly spectacular and not tell us about it.

eaglessoar · 28 days

Don't use those apps if you really don't know the night sky well. Most people might disagree with me, but I just don't trust their calibration. I had one that was extremely accurate so was very convenient, then all of a sudden it went bonkers and was unbelievably off. I uninstalled and tried google's sky map, but that was way off too. Could be my phone, but that's why I just don't trust them. I would simply use Stellarium.

eaglessoar · 28 days

I agree it's nicer with greater magnification, but I just don't have the patience to keep up with the movement for too long.

eaglessoar · 28 days

No, it wont change the size just the clarity. But as others have mentioned, I would bet you're looking at Spica instead of Saturn. The best way is to crouch behind your scope and see if it's aimed at the one on the right or the one on the left (Spica looks south relative to Saturn in the sky). I use Stellarium which is a great freeware software and track objects based on starhopping and the brightness of the stars. So if you're tracking an object based on stars in the constellation, those stars should be brighter or dimmer (is that a word?) based on the display in Stellarium which you can set the light pollution in to mimic your area of viewing. So, looking for Saturn for example in Stellarium I would see a bright star right beside it and they are the two brightest objects South East at the altitude shown on the computer, I would simply then look and align with the naked eye to the correct one, then align with the finderscope.

eaglessoar · 29 days

That's your problem. Looking through my telescope right away vs. 20-30min later makes a ginormous difference. The first being a fuzzy unclear image the second a crisp detailed image.

eaglessoar · 29 days

I own a similar Skywatcher 8" Dob with a 25mm, and 10mm Plossl and a 2x Televue Barlow. With the 25mm you should be able to see Saturn very distinguishable. You will have no doubt it's Saturn and although small, you will see the rings. It should look like a little bowling ball floating in the rings. The only difference you're going to get with a 10mm from my experience is you'll see a belt (or shadow?) and It'll look closer. I find that my TV Barlow with 25mm eyepiece is my best view. Still looks great with 10mm, and with the 10mm and 2x barlow but a pain in the butt to track. So, if you were only out for 30min, did you give the scope 30min to cool down first? Even with light pollution, you should see Saturn clearly.

AnamMaith · 29 days

Glad to hear you're looking into astronomy. Here's my personal opinion about this telescope:

1- The claims they make are a little bizarre. 114mm, about 4.5" wont let you see deep sky objects (Usually 6" are an accepted minimum for this). Their claim that it's better than a 70mm is kind of silly and obvious. Also, surface textures on Mars? I doubt it.

2- They mention 2 eye-pieces, but not the brand. If they were decent, I would assume they would mention the brand to sell it.

3- The barlow lens is most likely useless. Again no mention of the brand, and the price just doesn't jive with a decent barlow (Even in the barlow picture they seem to hide the brand).

4- My guess is that the mount isn't too sturdy, but I could be wrong about this one.

Hope I'm not being a hum-bug but I hate people's enthusiasm into astronomy turning into disappointment and pushing them away from it out of frustration. You should be able to easily find 6" Dobsonian scopes on an alt-azimuth mount for your price range. They wont come with a barlow, but most come with two good quality Plössl eye pieces.

Edit: To answer your last question, a telescope that would be in your price range should cool down in about 20 minutes and will be fine for the duration that you're viewing outside, but don't leave it outside. Baby it and it will give you years of pleasure.

boergermeister · 1 month

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

albert_dayag · 1 month

That's a pretty low price range for what you're asking for in my opinion. If you want to take quality pictures, you'll need long exposure times, which means that you'll need one that's motorized. What you'll end with in that price range is a poor telescope. What you could do if you're starting, is get a 6" Dobsonian, with camera capabilities (short exposure that is). That way you're getting a quality telescope and can save up and get a T2 ring to attach a camera later on. Something like this I think would run a little over your budget or at the very top of it. $200-250. I'm not sure if any of the other people on here might have more knowledge on lower end scopes within that price range that can get you what you want, but just be careful you don't end up with something poor in every way(tracking, photography, and the telescope itself) because you're asking for everything on a lower end budget.

ZenMasterFlash · 1 month

Everything tensegritydan said. The reason being as a beginner you don't want to get caught up in the sensationalism because on that budget, you'll be disappointed all around. It's best getting into it to invest in the best TELESCOPE possible. The portion that's going into the astrophotography equipment is depleting your investment toward the better scope, which is really the most important part. In terms of it being motorized, as a beginner still learning the night sky, having something like a manual altazimuth mount will force you to learn how to find objects in the sky which will teach you a lot on it's own.

If I were you and seriously JUST getting into it, I'd go with an 8" simple dobsonian to start. It will last you for a very very long time and its right in the middle of your budget. Something like this would be perfect for you.

Hydraulix · 1 month

Are you sure you're looking at Saturn? Also, what type of telescope and eyepieces are you using? Saturn should easily show the rings even with a small scope. Also, the eyepiece alone wont determine how it's going to look. It's a combination of the aperture, eyepiece size, focal length, and usually telescope type (refractor, reflector, etc.).

vagacom · 1 month

This will definitely show you the rings of Saturn, Jupiter, details of the moon, etc. But one thing that really irritates me and would not buy from that site is the 750x magnification advertising push. You will never get that kind of useful magnification with this scope. With the highest power eyepiece they're offering, the 4mm, you'll get a maximum useful magnification of 250. I've never tried this scope, but I would prefer a sky-watcher 6" Dob for the same price. You get better aperture but it doesn't usually come with a barlow. Again, I've never tested this scope though.

Mgmt83 · 1 month

One little trick you can do with a dob if you don't have a filter looking at really bright objects is to leave the main cap on and remove the cap in the middle of it. Dobs usually come with the large cap and a smaller one on that cap...just remove the secondary and it will filter a lot of the light.

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