Astronomy is fun, tell your friends

[Tyguy]

I have a sub-par telescope that I got a decent number of years ago and I bring it out a couple times a month at most...but anyway, Jupiter has been very close the past month and with a telescope you can make out the 4 moons. It's unreal looking at it in real time and seeing the moons move over a little time. Even with my old telescope I can see a few of the bands that go around the planet.

Try and tell me another way to conclude a night of drinking and drug use with your pants on...

Here what a great telescope would see:

and what mine sorta looked like, but cool nonetheless:

(image reversed)

so ya...buy a damn telescope you fags.

 

[Warped]

i went out tonight and saw similar things, but slightly smaller. i think mine is a 40X telescope and I want to go much much better someday.

 

[Raziaar]

Astronomy?

Let me introduce you to Astrology!

 

[dfc05]

Sweet, I took an astronomy class last fall. I can't remember what size telescopes we used, but the image came out pretty much like yours. I recall Jupiter being the coolest thing we saw. The moon is nice to look at too, and also the Seven Sisters constellation (can't remember the greek name at the moment).

Once I looked up telescopes because it would be fun to have one, but I probably can't afford it. And I'll probably move after 4-5 years so it would be too much hassle to move it around. But I just found out the other night that stars are visible from my patio even when I left bright lights on inside. The side of the building blocks out the north side, but it was still amazing... I'm so used to living in places with light pollution where you don't see anything.

 

[lefty]

meanwhile, astrology is bullshit.

 

[Warped]

you can get a decent telescope for $100-$150 nowadays. I got mine on clearance for $50

 

[dfc05]

I went to an astronomy lecture with a friend once, sponsored by the astronomy department, but where half the content presented was basically astrology (but not advertised as such). I'd call it pseudo-science, but it was so bad it doesn't deserve to have the term "science" anywhere near it.

The lecture was from a book called "The View from the Center of the Universe" that an astronomer wrote with his wife on things like dark matter. But his wife had some kind of liberal arts or law degree. So the stuff he presented was fine, but then his wife came out with an entire system of symbology that she had pulled out of her ass, inspired by existing symbols except modified to be completely retarded.

The whole point of her symbology boiled down to: Humans are the center of the universe. Her arguments were things like...

(1) out of all the visible matter in the universe, most is hydrogen or helium. Since people contain other elements like carbon, we are special. And if you count invisible atoms, dark matter, and dark energy, we're even MORE special (represented by a modified All-Seeing Eye pyramid where humans are apparently the eye and the light of the universe. Of course she seems to fail to realize that animals, rocks, uninhabited planets, and stars also contain elements that aren't hydrogen or helium);

(2) if you take a size scale from atomic sizes to the size of the universe, the height of a human-being lies somewhere near the middle, so we must be the center of the universe (represented by a modified Oroboros aka snake eating its own tail, where the head and tail of the snake represent tiny and humongous sizes. Out of all the retarded arguments in the book, this one was probably the most ridiculous);

(3) if you take time from when the universe began to when it supposedly will end, human civilization supposedly falls in the middle.

I saw the book at Borders once and read some of it. The end was like a motivational guide on how we should live based on being in the center of the universe. I'm just appalled books like this are put in the Astronomy section, and that a couple of real astronomers gave their support for this book alongside people like the founder and director of "The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences."


SO.... astrology is way better because at least it doesn't present itself as real astronomy.

 

[Warped]

The asteroid Juno was photographed in 2003 with a special optics system on the Hooker telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory. The researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who took the picture used varying wavelengths of light as measured in nanometers, starting with cyan and going into the infrared. Image Credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Asteroid Juno Grabs the Spotlight

Toward the end of September, the sun will turn a spotlight on the asteroid Juno, giving that bulky lump of rock a rare featured cameo in the night sky. Those who get out to a dark, unpolluted sky will be able to spot the asteroid's silvery glint near the planet Uranus with a pair of binoculars.

"It can usually be seen by a good amateur telescope, but the guy on the street doesn't usually get a chance to observe it," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office at JPL. "This is going to be as bright as it gets until 2018."

Juno, one of the first asteroids discovered, is thought to be the parent of many of the meteorites that rain on Earth. The asteroid is composed mostly of hardy silicate rock, which is tough enough that fragments broken off by collisions can often survive a trip through Earth's atmosphere.

Though pockmarked by bang-ups with other asteroids, Juno is large; in fact, it is the tenth largest asteroid. It measures about 234 kilometers (145 miles) in diameter, or about one-fifteenth the diameter of the moon.

The asteroid, which orbits the sun on a track between Mars and Jupiter, will be at its brightest on Sept. 21, when it is zooming around the sun at about 22 kilometers per second (49,000 miles per hour). At that time, its apparent magnitude will be 7.6, which is about two-and- a-half times brighter than normal. The extra brightness will come from its position in a direct line with the sun and its proximity to Earth. (The asteroid will still be about 180 million kilometers [112 million miles] away, so there is no danger it will fall towards Earth.)

Skywatchers with telescopes can probably see Juno from now until the end of the year, but it is most visible to binoculars in late September. On or before Sept. 21, look for Juno near midnight a few degrees east of the brighter glow of Uranus and in the constellation Pisces. It will look like a gray dot in the sky, and each night at the end of September, it will appear slightly more southwest of its location the night before. By Sept. 25, it will be closer to the constellation Aquarius and best seen before midnight.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/neo20090916.html

its a beast! 145 miles is massive...glad its of no threat to Earth

 

[Raziaar]

its a beast! 145 miles is massive...glad its of no threat to Earth

Don't tell it that, or it might come and kick our asses just to prove itself.

 

[PJ]

Ha! I've just started my GCSE astronomy course. It's a twilight course - and i'm having to fit a two year course into one, which means I'm teaching half the stuff to myself in my own time.

One of the pieces of coursework i can choose is actually making my own telescope, along with loads of other awesome stuff (I have to choose one from A and One form either B1 or B2)

Now, which to do:

Spoiler

List A Observations

Naked eye observations

1 Observe and draw the Moon’s phases over a period of at least one lunar month, recording the dates, times, seeing and weather conditions, and rising and setting times.

2 Observe and make detailed drawings of three different constellations, recording dates, times, seeing and weather conditions and noting colours (if possible) and magnitudes by comparison with reference stars.

3 Observe a meteor shower. Record meteor trails on a drawing of the stellar background from sketches and estimate magnitudes of the meteors. Locate and show the position of the radiant.

4 Use a shadow stick to record the direction of the Sun at different times on at least two days and hence determine (a) the time of local noon and (b) the observer’s longitude.

Photographic, binocular and telescopic observations

5 Observe the Moon with the aid of a suitable optical instrument and present photographs and/or drawings of lunar craters and/or other surface phenomena on at least two occasions, including details of the instrument(s) used with dates, times, and seeing and weather conditions.

6 Observe three different celestial objects with the aid of binoculars or a telescope and present photographs and/or drawings of these objects, including details of the instrument(s) used with dates, times, and seeing and weather conditions.

7 Project the image of the Sun onto a suitable background and either observe and record sunspots over a sufficiently long period of time to determine the Sun’s rotation period or observe and record the various stages of a partial or total solar eclipse. WARNING The Sun must NOT be viewed directly, either with or without optical aids.

8 Take long-exposure photographs of the circumpolar stars around Polaris or the South celestial pole and use them to explain and determine the length of the sidereal day.





List B1 Graphical and computational work

1 Construct a star chart on a large rectangular grid using stars of the main constellations. Plot the positions and path(s) of at least one planet using either original observations or published ephemerides (eg Handbook of the BAA).

2 Draw a large chart of the Moon from references to photographic material, marking in and naming principal features and positions of Apollo and other notable lunar landing sites.

3 Use a spreadsheet and/or a graphing package or write a computer program to plot the stars of the main constellations and plot the positions and path(s) of at least one planet using either original observations or published ephemerides.

4 Use a spreadsheet and/or a graphing package or write a computer program which simulates the scaled orbits of either at least four planets around the Sun or the major satellites of a named planet.


List B2 Constructional work

1 Design and make a simple telescope using a variety of tubes, lenses and/or mirrors. Test the instrument in the night sky and estimate its power of magnification, field of view, magnitude limit and angular resolution.

2 Design and make a sundial. Use the sundial to record the times of day on at least three widely separated occasions and compare these with the mean local times.

3 Design and make a model of an eclipsing binary system using a motor, lamps and simple electronic components (eg LDR). Obtain measurements suitable for drawing a light curve for the model and compare this with the light curve of a real eclipsing binary system.

4 Design and make a model of the Sun-Earth-Moon system using lamps, spheres etc to illustrate how solar and lunar eclipses occur. Use it to account for the relative occurrences and durations of each type of eclipse.

Note
The report of this task should include at least one photograph of the instrument or model under construction and at least one photograph of the finished article. It is not necessary to send the finished article itself to the coursework moderator.

 

[dfc05]

From List A, #5, 6, and 8 sound awesome. I had to do #1 before -- you'd have to take lots of measurements, and keep in mind that for a portion of the month, you'd need to go out at absurd hours of the night (like 3 AM) for the moon to be out. I was able to do it because I already had a crazy sleeping schedule that involved waking up at 3 or 4 AM, but even my TA wrote "You keep a strange schedule" on my paper.

 

[Tyguy]

I took astronomy a couple of years ago and I got to use the telescope at harvard which at one point was the most powerful in the world...of course it's pretty much obsolete now but it's still pretty awesome. I got a great look at mars and I could even make out the polar caps.

 

[PJ]

From List A, #5, 6, and 8 sound awesome. I had to do #1 before -- you'd have to take lots of measurements, and keep in mind that for a portion of the month, you'd need to go out at absurd hours of the night (like 3 AM) for the moon to be out. I was able to do it because I already had a crazy sleeping schedule that involved waking up at 3 or 4 AM, but even my TA wrote "You keep a strange schedule" on my paper.

That's exactly what I thought! My dad And I had a good look through them, and we like the look of 5 and 6, but he said that 8 would be very difficult (He's a photographer as a hobbie, so that's why I asked for his opinion!)

On list B, making your own telescope looks very cool, and I love Tech, so :E.

 

[CR0M]

ass tronomy

What scope do you have?

Through my entry level Celestron 130 that's pretty much how Jupiter looks with a 15mm eyepiece and 2x Barlow, on good vis nights I can easily see the two main bands. Using a green or blue filter the bands are a little sharper.

Wait til you get a load of Saturn - even though its rings are pretty much edge on, they are still very clear.

But to beat everything, if you haven't seen it yet, nothing prepares you for M42 - The Great Nebula in Orion for the first time - mind blowing. I look at that sucker every chance I get.


edit - btw, download Stellarium immediately.

 

[Tyguy]

What scope do you have?

I have a celestron too but I'm sure yours is better...Mine says d=60 f=700 and that's about it. I don't even know what that means

Where should I look for M42 and/or Saturn. I don't really follow the constellations anymore so I'm sorta lost.

 

[Ennui]

I took Astronomy and the accompanying lab my freshman year. Interesting stuff, I really enjoyed the occasions when we actually got to take nice telescopes out at night.

 

[CR0M]

I have a celestron too but I'm sure yours is better...Mine says d=60 f=700 and that's about it. I don't even know what that means Where should I look for M42 and/or Saturn. I don't really follow the constellations anymore so I'm sorta lost.

Yours sounds like a refractor - long tube with the eyepiece at the end, yes?

M42 won't be clearly visible until November, around midnight in the south-eastern sky. You can't miss Orion's belt, the nebula is just down from there. Look in Stellarium for the exact position.

You will have to wait until February 2010 for Saturn to rise.

 

[Warped]

New views of our Milky Way's center!

This image, showing the center of the Milky Way, from the constellation Sagittarius to the constellation Scorpius, was taken by amateur astronomer and astrophotographer Stephane Guisard.