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I've been out of the scene for a few years but I intend to get the telescope out again this winter. To prep for it, I've refreshing my brain on the constellations. The other night, I was watching a satellite in the western sky when I saw bright flash at maybe 50-60 degrees that lasted around a second. It happened maybe 5 seconds after the satellite had passed and was a 'different' king of light.... very white and much bigger than the satellite. I'm curious. Any ideas?

I just saw something I thought was strange in the sky! It was quite bright and had a trail behind it. The strange part was how the trail was separated into segments. I took a picture as it faded and just before it disappeared from view. Then, I did some research. Then it was painfully obvious that I may have been looking at something Starlink related. My grandmother took the two closeup photos. I will post the photos below. I took mine on an IPhone 13 Pro. If you can help me out in verifying what this is, I appreciate it! By the way, I took the photo less than 20 minutes ago in Flathead Valley, Montana. September 26 2022.

Hey guys! I'm not sure what to do. I currently have a t7c astro camera (asi120mc clone) and would like to get a better planetary camera. I'm eyeballing the ASI178MM as I've seen some amazing work done with it, but can't find anything substantial on using it with a 6" scope. My scope is a Skywatcher Explorer 150p and I usually use a 3x barlow as well as a svbony ir-pass (685nm) filter when doing high res lunar mosaics. I've seen some awesome work with 127mm scopes and the asi178mm which is why I can't wrap my head around what the results might look like. Will using an asi178mm give me a better result than the t7c when used on same focal lengths (2x, 3x barlows)? I understand that the resolution might be similar between "asi178mm + 2x" and "t7c + 3x" which could help me save time when doing huge mosaics, but is that all that I'd gain from this (not much better resolution?)? Let me know please as I'm in a bit of a conundrum. Thanks! You can find my work with the t7c here.

So recently I bought the star adventurer and am planning on using the z61 as my imaging telescope. I have seen a lot of people recommend it as a great telescope to use and after doing some research have decided that it is probably the telescope that I should get. I am confused on one simple thing though, do I have to be polar aligned while imaging? And if I do, how do I all the telescope I am using to point close/towards zenith. Wouldn't I have to stay at the latitude of Polaris to image?

I'm fairly new and on one of my daily stargazing sessions I viewed, with the naked eye, a huge passing light going SE, from my perspective it was brighter and bigger than any stars, planets or meteors that I've seen before. It was roughly the size of a baseball. If this was a star -> . this is roughly how big it looked -> O It had a trail of similar size, seemingly dusty. It also passed and disappeared between Corona Borealis and one of Hercules' legs. Viewed on May 16th, 22:00- 23:40 I assumed, based on recent headlines, that it was Comet Swan, but upon further investigation, that was far from true. Comet Swan should not be visible with the naked eye, and definitely not to the degree I saw. Additionally, based on my coordinates* it wouldn't even cross the sky I saw, it would be below the horizon. (*roughly 15 °N, 120 °E, PH) Considering again the magnitude of the object amd the fact that I viewed it with the naked eye discounts it from being an asteroid or meteor*. (*More possible but still hard to believe with its size, you wouldn't even see something like that during meteor showers) So I then researched if it could be space debris. I thought that something as big as that should be covered by a news article somewhere. *The only results were of the 18 ton Chinese Rocket but it couldn't be that because: A. It passed over Los Angeles and New York then fell into the Atlantic Ocean, with some pieces landing in Africa. Meaning it wouldn't pass over my country. B. That happened 5 days before my viewing, on May 11 at 11:33 AM ET (08:33 PDT) It's still possible but it just seems unlikely, and with how big it was I'd assume that it would attract some media attention but I cant find anything else. Does anyone have any idea what it could have been? I have to know. If it was debris then all I need is confirmation. * https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/05/16/chinese-rocket-falls-to-earth-space-debris-problem-worsens.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2020/5/13/21256484/china-rocket-debris-africa-uncontrolled-reentry-long-march-5b

Background info: I have 2 scopes a nexstar 6se (150mm aperture and 1500mm focal length - f10) and a evostar 72ed (72mm aperture, 420mm focal length - f5.8). I haven't had chance to use the evostar yet thanks to the clouds. 😡 Question: Does the f5.8 mean I'm going to be able to reduce my exposure time or is it cancelled out by the fact the aperture is so much smaller?

Hello stargazers, welcome. I had posted a picture yesterday of Uranus that had appeared to show its rings. I am using a Nexstar 4se, a 2x Barlow, and my Neximage Burst Color and capturing hundreds of photos and stacking them for my results. But still had me and others curious to if I were actually seeing the rings of Uranus or maybe just a glare of some sort. So I got back out there this morning, might I note I live in FL where the weather tends to stay hot so clear imaging during this time of year can be difficult, but not impossible as this image that I stacked 150 out of 300 images taken may show that statement holds true..............or I could just be mistaken the object in the image, but all in all I am feeling pretty confident that I have a decently clear image(stacked 150 images) of Uranus, its rings, and one of it's distant moons. It may be necessary to zoom in on my photo in order to see the moon it should be down and to the right of the planet a good distance in relation to the size of planet, I noticed that looking at Uranus in the photo helped bring the moon out just like stargazing in real-time. If anyone can better distinguish what I might have done right or wrong here any help would be appreciated (also forgot to change format save for my images so I am stuck with .bmp and setting it as a download, sorry for any inconvenience.) - - - J47(JAY) uranusringmoon.bmp

Hi I'm new here. Briefly looking through this site, it would seem this site is geared towards discussion regarding instruments. So in advance, I apologize if this is not the appropriate forum/website for my question. And. If at all possible, might anyone link me to a website that might be better suited for me. I looked on youtube, and a few other websites and nothing concrete came up as to where the appropriate place to post might be or what it was I was observing regarding moon activity on this early morning of 11/28/2017. So here I am and once again I apologize if this is the wrong forum for my question. I'll be brief. My knowledge of astronomy is very limited. Though I've always had a passion for astronomy. My question. What exactly was I observing in regard to the moon's orbit/position/speed in which it changed? Now, allow me to set the stage. It was roughly 12:30AM here in North East Texas on this day of 11/28/2017. On my way to the store I stopped to take a look at the night sky as I always do. The moon was roughly at a 50 degree angle above the southern tree line. Forgive my ignorance but this is the best way I can describe what I was observing. In less than one hour the moon had radically relocated to just above the western treeline. Once I got home the moon was obviously no longer visible from this viewing point. I am very curious as to why the moons position changed so quickly. I've never seen this before. Is this a common occurrence within the moon's cycles and or time of year? I look forward to hearing your responses. To hopefully shed light on what is seemingly a strange phenomenon to me. Thank you in advance!

Hey all, I was hanging with the in-laws out on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state last night and managed to stumble onto this cluster. I was just using a $100 4" reflector, no tracking, no guiding, no eq mount, just a camera tripod (quite the challenge!), which is the reason I'm not sure what I captured here. Definitely in the Sagittarius region though, which is another reason I'm not sure (so many DSOs there!). My best guess is that it's M71. Can anyone confirm or tell me what it is? Thanks! - Josh P.S. It's just a single 5 second exposure with a Nikon D3100.

I was wondering what people's experiences are with using the wider angle eyepieces with a fairly fast Newtonian and what they'd recommend? Currently looking to upgrade to a couple of very wide angle eyepieces to help with viewing DSOs and to make manually following objects like the smaller planets with our 10" dob a bit smoother compared to the current 7mm plossl we're using. As I understand it, the more budget 82 degree eyepieces will struggle vs a higher quality, lower FOV eyepiece due to the faster scope, but I was curious as to what the "minimum" (for lack of a better word) I should be looking at for an 82/100 degree eyepiece should be? I'm in the UK so any eyepieces available in the UK/Europe should be fine. Some of the series I was looking at would be SW Myriad, the ES 82/100 degree series, Meade series 5000 UWA and there also seems to be a series of 100-degree eyepieces that get sold under a few different brands, one of which is the TS XWA series. Looking at both a ~20-28mm and ~5-9mm EP to pair with a 2x barlow for a good range of magnification, and will probably be purchasing a coma corrector at some point. Are there any of these I should be looking at avoiding in particular? A small amount of aberration at the edges isn't really a huge issue as I'm not expecting perfectly sharp images across the whole field, just wanted to avoid the worst offenders on fast scopes so I know what to avoid and what to keep an eye out for second hand as well.

How good is this telescope for an amateur astronomer ( https://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/skywatcher-explorer-130p-synscan-az-goto.html )? I've started taken Astronomy up as a hobby due to health reasons. I have a telescope already but it's like a kids toy which I got many years ago. I know I will not be seeing Hubble style images no matter what telescope I purchase but I want to be able to see all the planets, craters on the moon and some deep sky stuff like Andromeda. I was going to do an online course on Astronomy but I think I might be better training myself up with a few books and apps. I took a mock exam online and scored not bad so I think it might be a waste of money that I could put to better use via a decent telescope. Will this telescope run via an iPad and the Sky Safari 5 software app....I purchased the Plus version over Basic and Pro due to the stuff included in each. Basic is well....basic and Pro is in my opinion for real professional Astronomers which has a lot more of deep sky objects etc in the 1.5gb data catalogue. Any help or information about what telescope to purchase for a budget of about £300 - £350. I'd like the telescope to be easily transportable on foot ( I don't drive ). I live in a slightly populated area but surrounded by countryside and fields which are easily accessible on foot and light conditions are great to view the free show which is the beautiful starry night sky.

Hello! I am back, this time with a little bit of a bit a question for people who have used the celestron firstscope, or people who just know their stuff. Basically with a bit of bending of my budget, the firstscope fits it pretty easily (possibly with a barlow) I only found out about it since I was looking around on flo, and looked in their "beginner telescopes" section, and saw it there. SO since it fits my budget, even if the weather has been terrible lately. I've always thought its good to plan things ahead. Anyways my question is simply. For planetary viewing, is it any good? does it give nice enough views? least with the eypieces included I dont expect much out of it for like, deep sky viewing, but in a general sense, what have you experiences been with it? Hopefully it'll end up being in a literal sense, a good choice for my Firstscope, haha... Thanks in advance!

I always imagined that if you were to go to one of the solar systems ice giants, your compass would always point to the equivalent of Morocco or Hawaii............... But "always" may not be the case. Not only are the magnetic axis's (thanks spell checker, didnt have a clue on that one) not aligned to the planets rotation, but they also off-center. Therefore I am thinking that the entire magnetic axis is also moving around the center of the parent planets just like me, Muhammad Ali and Australia do around the core of the Earth. Just how would this affect a compass reading? I would imagine it would change like the weather if it were not revolving at the exact same rate as the surface of the planet. Things that make me go "hmmmmmmmmmm". That one I came up with all on my own...

I dont know how to upload images. I prepared one but...... Take this image: Zoom in at the exact 3 o clock position. There is a bunch of green stuff (very faint colored stuff, Im color blind but it looks green to me). Assuming the top of the pic is north and the bottom of the pic is south. What I have noticed is a consistent pattern that appears to point south. This implies (to me) a long term southward force, non seasonal too. Even at Pluto I would imagine its useless atmosphere wouldnt be enough to produce produce patterns in less than 250 years but im daft. Im assuming this has been spotted already, so I would like to know the possible explanations for this phenomenon. EDIT: Didnt realize a link would embed. For a zoomable Pluto I just typed "pluto" into google image search. Thats where I got that one from.

Eventually, due to "dark energy", the universe will be expanding so quickly that it will break the speed of light. This, if I am not wrong, already happened at the beginning of the universe for 10 to the power of -43 seconds. So, what will happen once the universe is expanding at that speed. Will the laws of objects moving faster than the speed of light apply (mass increasing, time slowing down ect.)? I have to stress I am my no means an expert on the matter, if anyone could point out mistakes in this question please do. All answers would be much appreciated.

To my understanding, matter is just crystallized energy. So is dark matter the crystallized form of dark energy? Sorry if this is a bit of a stupid question, just couldn't get it off my mind. Any answers would be much appreciated - thanks.

I found a used Deep Space Explorer 8" for sale online. It comes with a collimator and several lenses, as well as a telrad finder scope. The price is lower than any Dobsonion I've seen before, $75. I am just getting started in the stargazing hobby, especially with telescopes, so I was wondering the opinion of you kind folks. Would this be worth buying? Why or why not? Thank you!

When the barrel of my meridian 675x4.5" reflector telescope falls below around 30 degrees it just falls down, and will only come back up above 35 degrees. This makes it impossible to observe objects towards the horizon. Any help would be much appreciated.

Yo yo! Ti's my first time posting here, but it seems like a good place to ask such a question. Recently I've been getting into astronomy, really interesting stuff imo. And I've been considering getting a telescope (if the weather clears up within the next few months). Currently I'm just viewing by the naked eye, but since it's been a full moon I was unable to see as many stars as I would otherwise. But I'll stop rambling and get to my question. Basically, I've always really accosiated the view of telescopes being just, unclear and blurry. Mainly because I always saw it as strange towards if you can really get a good view, that of course isnt too blurry, just by zooming in and focusing a bit with a telescope. Is that just a misconception of mine? or are telescopes usually rather blurry? Sorry for my newbie question, ahah. My second question is where exactly I should look for a telescope if I do decide to buy one. I'm in the UK by the way. That should be all for now. Any and all replies are appreciated. Thank you~