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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 77
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 77 |
Did anyone see the waning crescent moon this morning, before dawn? She was a gorgeous little, sideways sliver, arching so enchantingly up at what I thought to be a huge and brilliant Jupiter. But a little checking on stardate.org seems to indicate that jupiter is up in the evenings, leaving the huge, brilliant orb to be my beloved Venus. I recently heard something about either venus or jupiter orbiting as close to the earth as it gets in 26 years.
It is certainly worth waking up early to see such a spectacular sight! It doesn't surprise me at all that the magi would travel so far in search of such a wonder....What a lovely gift to end the old year....
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Well, I was up till 3, so in the pre-dawn (and for a long time thereafter), I was snoozin'. Hmm--is it possible we have a transplanted Venusian among us? 
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
addict
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addict
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679 |
I've had my 8" Soligor set up in the back garden since Christmas Eve but, bar a few hours on that day, all it's been looking at since has been low cloud cover.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Nice to see you back here, Sweetie. Is a Soligor a telescope? Er, is that 8" in length or 8" in diameter, please?
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
must ... resist ... temptation
TEd
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Ted, darn you!!  ;-)
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Both length and diameter, actually
I saw the crescent moon this morning. It was one of the few consolations for going to work so early in the morning.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
All seriousness aside, Jackie, he's referring to a reflecting telescope that has an 8 inch in diameter concave mirror as the main light gatherer. That's a pretty good sized home telescope. Ought to be able to count the rings on Saturn and see the moons of Mars.
TEd
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
addict
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addict
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679 |
It's a beauty - when you get the weather.....
It's 800mm long and has two eyepieces - a 6mm and a 9mm which are used for close and far objects (relatively speaking, of course!). On a clear night you can pick out not only Mars' moons but Jupiter's spot and four of its moons aswell. However, the 9mm is pretty useless unless you have a motor-drive because everything moves so damned fast across the sky!
I have no idea why I bought the bloody thing. It cost a small fortune and in the two years I've had it I've only managed about seven days (or nights) viewing.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Jackie the world of amateur astronomy is pretty cool. Pick up a copy of "Sky and Telescope" magazine sometime and you'll see what I mean. One of my favorite features is the section of photographs submitted by subscribers. They have these motorized telescopes that compensate for the turning of the earth, and they can take time exposure photographs to bring out distant, faint objects like galaxies that are invisible to the eye. (That is, not just invisible to the naked eye but also to the eye with telescope.) Also cool are solar filters that block 99.99% of the light, and allow you to look at the sun and see sun spots, solar prominences, etc.
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