The Official Astronomy Thread

zophas said:
Damn, why is the best viewing time always in winter. Can anyone suggest a warmer hobby? Couch rugby or something?
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Gluhwien is the answer :D I'm seriously thinking of getting a goto though and running PC cable through to my Study with a webcam attached to the focuser
 
I currently have a 25mm eyepiece so should not be a problem. This is the 3x Barlow lens I was looking at. Its variable so I can us it at 2x as well. However I am worried about the quality if it costs the same as a 2x Barlow lens.
 
I'd stick to a high quality 2x barlow. The 3x might be a bit too much and I don't know how good the variable barlows are.
 
I ordered the Orion Shorty-Plus™ 2x 3-Element Barlow and Sky Guide 2009 Handbook from TechnoPro just now. I hope there is stock of both so that I can collect before the weekend.

Must say I have created a nice little black hole for all my hard earned cash. :o Ah well atleast I enjoy it a lot and keeps me out of trouble.
 
It's as expensive as you make it. Luckily most of it is only a initial once-off investment. Once you have a good telescope, EP's etc. you'll be using them for years to come. Good advice is to stay away from any overseas astro sites where they discuss new gear and if you see Nagler mentioned run as far as you can...
 
Crusader said:
It's as expensive as you make it. Luckily most of it is only a initial once-off investment. Once you have a good telescope, EP's etc. you'll be using them for years to come. Good advice is to stay away from any overseas astro sites where they discuss new gear and if you see Nagler mentioned run as far as you can...
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Duly noted thanks. The only thing that bothers me is the Sky-Watcher pricing. Why are they so much cheaper? It must come at a price to build quality...

Ok so I should have my Barlow by the end of the week. What would you recommend as a first deep sky object to try and look at?
 
Normally I would say M42, Orions nebula but it's not visible right now. Start of with Herschel's Jewel Box in Crux and in the same area try to go for Omega Centauri.
 
Finally got my 2x barlow lens yesterday afternoon and I must say the moon looked amazing last night when I combined it with my current 25mm eyepiece. Now I need to start thinking about my next eyepiece. I was thinking about a 15mm eyepiece which combined with the 2x barlow lens and my 750mm reflector should give me a magnification of 100x. Should I look out for any specific make?
 
It depends on what your budget is. An Orion Plossl should still to reasonably fine for a cost effective price. If you are looking at higher end ep's Baader, Televue and William Optics are brands to look at, but these go for around R1.5k+ per EP.
 
Well I decided to go for the Orion Plossl 10mm eyepiece. I hope to collect it this afternoon and see what it can do in combo with my Orion Shorty-Plus Barlow lens.
 
I have both of those and they work well together. The only downside is that the eye relief is pretty small.
 
I guess there is no way around the eye relief issue with smaller eyepieces unless you get a 3x barlow or a zoom eyepiece but that all comes at a cost to quality of the image.

Next I think I will have to look at a moon filter. Looked at the moon for 5 minutes last night and saw a white spot for 10 minutes after I packed my scope away. :p
 
Agreed. It is a nice eyepiece but in general, the eye relief sucks. That's why I love my William optics eyepiece so much :D Eye relief is incredible.
 
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