The Official Astronomy Thread

[Crusader]

It's now been featured on Universe Today too!

I'm famous!!!

 

[Kalvaer]

HAHA... Claire said she was going to send the details to ASSA as well for you. I'll remind her tonight

 

[Kalvaer]

Some awesome images around our Solar System.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/09/around_the_solar_system.html

 

[mercurial]

Some awesome images around our Solar System.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/09/around_the_solar_system.html

Stunning! Thank you.

 

[Kalvaer]

I SOOOOO badly wanna spend a week on the IIS after seeing some of those photos

 

[SYN]

I had my scope out last night as it was pretty windless here in Cpt. I screwd on my 2.5x APO barlow & zoom lens and had a look at Jupiter and noticed the missing belt was returning. Any1 else sen this?

 

[Crusader]

I had my scope out last night as it was pretty windless here in Cpt. I screwd on my 2.5x APO barlow & zoom lens and had a look at Jupiter and noticed the missing belt was returning. Any1 else sen this?

It's been too windy for me to do any observing, but the missing belt is definitely returning. It's been in the (astronomy) news the past couple of weeks.

 

[SYN]

A nice warm clear night after a day of constant south easters made for great transparency tonight. Got to try out my new 72 deg. 33mm eyepiece on some galaxies and other DSO's. Man what a difference a good quality eyepiece makes. And it is true what they say: "Petrol (or Diesel) is the best light pollution filter money can buy"

 

[Kalvaer]

IIS, the Sun and the Moon, partial eclipse

http://legault.perso.sfr.fr/eclipse110104_solar_transit.html

Absolutely brilliant photo! I wonder if he was just in the right place at the right time.. or if he specifically went all the way out there to get it?

 

[Crusader]

He went there to get the shot. Had to compute the orbit of the ISS and the exact spot where it would be visible was a small specific geographic location.

 

[wrathex]

Congrats Crusader on your epic astro fame

Lovely photo post Kalvear.


______________________
My favourite constellation is Orion and after that it's the Pleiades

 

[Crusader]

Congrats Crusader on your epic astro fame
Lovely photo post Kalvear.
______________________
My favourite constellation is Orion and after that it's the Pleiades

Hardly epic astro fame. What Thierry Legault does is epic. The whole transit of the ISS takes a fraction of a second, so he KNOWS what he's doing.

And I can't help myself, but I have to make a correction. The Pleiades is a star cluster, not a constellation. It is in actual fact part of the constellation of Taurus.

 

[wrathex]

Hardly epic astro fame. What Thierry Legault does is epic. The whole transit of the ISS takes a fraction of a second, so he KNOWS what he's doing.

And I can't help myself, but I have to make a correction. The Pleiades is a <b>star cluster</b>, not a constellation. It is in actual fact part of the constellation of Taurus.

Gotcha - I do realise that, but I should be more careful of my astro lingua

 

[Crusader]

Gotcha - I do realise that, but I should be more careful of my astro lingua

Nah, it's just me being overly particular and in nitpicky mode.

 

[Kalvaer]

Doesn't this just make us feel small and insignificant:

http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/

 

[Kalvaer]

Anyone in, or know of anyone in JHB who might be interested in a Skywatcher 200mm Reflector on an EQ5 mount?

I've replaced the R&P with a DSO crayford focuser, and I have a few EP's and some tools as well. If anyone is interested I can list everything I have.

My Wife and I are heading over to Geneva in 3 months, and unfortunately the 200mm is just to big to take with

 

[Crusader]

Another amazing shot of the ISS silhouetted over the Sun. This is especially great since you can also see Discovery after it undocked from the ISS. Now that's skill (or mighty expensive equipment!)!

 

[Crusader]

And this one from the master Thierry Legault is just gobsmacking in how awesome it is!

 

[Praemon]

Reviving the thread here

Just bought myself a Explore Scientific 80mm and Celestron CG-5 mount, and I'm looking to get into astrophotography. The last accessory I need is a basic T-2 40mm extension tube so that I can bring my Canon 350D into focus when setting it up with a Hyperion Clickstop Zoom. The problem is finding a local shop which sells this item. I normally order everything from overseas, as it's faster and cheaper, but in this case, it's just not practical. So, does anyone know of a good astronomy shop in Durban (or Pietermaritzburg) that sells something like this? I'd prefer to pick it up directly, as dealing with the online astronomy shops in SA is a real headache.

Any help would be appreciated

 

[SYN]

Hey Denouncer

Congrats on the new scope and mount. Please post some pics once you get going. I am looking into a cg-5 as well as my current alt-az mount is doesnt seem to give more than 10 seconds before stars start dragging around. I know you dont want to deal online, but Andrie from Eridanus Optics (www.eridanusoptics.com ) has by far the widest range of astrophotography accessories (I know for a fact he has 40mm tubes) If you ask him to ship overnight you can have the tube by the w/e. I have a Hyperion Clickstop Zoom and find that I can easily focus without any tubes. So basically I go "camera-t2-m42adapter-eyepiece-scope" but it could be because I have a different scope. What are you planning on photographing (DSO's or planetary)? Anyways, Good luck, and keep us updated