And Holy crap lol |
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Ok, so we've had a thread which was supposed to be turned in to a repository for space happenings, but since that wasn't it's original purpose, it died off. |
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And Holy crap lol |
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The transit won't be anything spectacular, just a tiny black dot moving across the sun. Hell, there are sunspots larger than Venus on a regular basis. |
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Interesting topic. I cannot believe I never heard of this event. (Shrugs) At least it was not too late to hear of it. |
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How do you watch this Venus transit without burning your eyes out? |
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special spectacles? |
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Those are kind of two different missions. Planets/Moons and deep sky objects benefit from different kinds of optics. The best telescope for solar system objects is a refractor. Unfortunately, the good refractors (apochromatic) are very expensive, and the cheap ones (achromatic) suffer from various levels of colour distortion. Deep-sky objects (nebulae, clusters, galaxies, etc.) require maximum light-gathering capabilities, which directly translates into the size (aperture) of the telescope. The cheapest way to get a large telescope is with a reflector, especially on a Dobsonian mount (you'll want 8 inches or more of aperture). |
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Visual Astronomy: Reflectors versus Refractors |
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Nice thread. |
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Here is a great site for finding dark sky spots. In other words, places that have little to no light pollution. |
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The three telescopes I plan to buy are the Orion Space Probe 130 EQ Reflector, the SkyScanner 100mm Telescope, and the Orion Observer 60mm Altazimuth Refractor. All three of these are purchasable on the Orion telescope website, which I will not link, lest I get in trouble for advertising. I do not know if Orion is a good company or not, though I have heard good things about it. |
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I was looking at Orion telescopes as well. But it turns out that they do not ship to Australia. So I'm going to have to try to get one from this guy in Queensland :S |
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Is there any reason you want all three of those? They are quite similar and you will not notice much difference between them. I bet within a month you'll have a favourite and the others will sit in a corner collecting dust... |
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That's the one I was looking at getting. |
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The intelligent version is the exact same telescope with a computer and database for zillions of objects in the night sky. Dobsonian mounts aren't motorized so all it can do is "point" you to an object that you selected (not sure how tbh). I'm not a fan of "Go-To" scopes, part of the thrill of stargazing is finding the objects for yourself, you'll get bored fast if the scope is doing all the work for you. Getting a star chart and learning the skies on your own is the way to go. |
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This is a cool thread |
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^ Stellarium? |
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Thanks. Yeah it might have been I think. It did have that cross of stars above it, almost point at it, which I took mental note of to find it later. |
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Hmm, interesting program. I have always used Neave's Planetarium, but this Stellarium seems to be better. |
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