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Greetings from the Pacific Northwest

CatRas

By CatRas
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CatRas

CatRas

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Hi,

 I have been stargazing off and on for many years now so I am not completely new to the hobby.  It started when I was in college and I had some friends in the Astronomy Club and could go to the observatory and planetarium.  I can't give you specifics on the that telescope but it was pretty big. The first time I looked through I saw Saturn and it was amazing. But soon after I met a guy and being with him was more important than the astronomy.   About 9 years ago I bought a telescope and saw many cool sights. But when I  was pregnant with my daughter i just could not go out anymore. I was always too tired. So I ended up selling my telescope.Wish i would of just kept it in the closet. Now a friend of my husbands sold him for very cheap a nice little Celestron 80 mm refractor. I have only been out a couple times mostly because it is raining and /or cloudy. (This should be improving)  I looked at the moon. As soon as I get a good clear night I will load up my scope and drive out a ways to get away from the light pollution and maybe see if i can look at Jupiter.

The best part of this  is my daughter almost 8 is extremely interested in astronomy and loves to look at the moon.  We have gone out and done many nights of naked eyes astronomy and she can name many Constellations in the night sky. Last summer she saw the meteor shower.

 The problem with the "new" scope is the tripod/mount is horrible made of wood and very clumsy to set up. So I want to update it.  So I have been looking at various mounts. If anyone has any input please let me know. I will eventually be doing astrophotography so I can combine both of my hobby's stargazing and photography.

Thanks

Clears Skies

Cathy

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Cathy (+ daughter) and welcome to the forum. It goes to show that once you've got some astronomy in your bones it's difficult to shake off! If you haven't done so already I would certainly recommend that you download a free piece of planetarium software called 'Stellarium'. It has some great features to play and will keep you and your daughter occupied when the clouds come in. It can be configured to produce an identical night sky to that which you can see from home which makes understanding the sky and discovering where the cool objects to observe are in seconds. There is also an advance date/time feature which allows you to progress the night sky forward to anticipate when objects of interest will come in to view, useful for your daughter when she's got school the next day.

Difficult to answer the mount question without knowledge of a budget and it might be worth posting a question over on the beginners equipment section as you will get more replies over there.

Wishing you both clear skies and hope that you enjoy your time with us here.

James

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ronin

ronin

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If the idea is observing and photography you will need a reasonable stable equitorial mount.

Minor problem is that stable often means heavy, and I suspect that heavy is out of the question.

One "warning" is people here will talk about mounts that are common here but they may not be in the US. The Skywatcher brand is common here but not in the US. There are similar but not necessarily identical.

Possibly look at the iOptron range of equitorial mounts, they do a "lighter" one that should be fine. They are goto and also equiped with GPS - makes life easier. It is the SmartEQ, will handle 11lbs which is not that much, so you may need to look at the iEQ30 - just heavier. This of course if if you go for the iOptron offerings. For photography you should not load the mount up fully, say about 2/3 of max.

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tony210

tony210

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Hi Cathy - welcome- for photography IMO the mount is far more important than the scope, and you will get far more out of a small scope on a solid mount than a large scope on an inadequate mount - its all good fun though so enjoy - bets wishes -Tony

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CatRas

CatRas

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thanks for the very warm welcome.

 I know how important the mount is which is why I haven't done much so far. Like I said the one I have is not very good.  But the little refractor which I know isn't an apo does well with the moon. 

 I have been researching and looking at as many websites as  I can. I won't have any problems if the mount is heavy. I want one that is sturdy so when I decide to start taking pictures the mount will be able to hold my camera. Plus i am pretty strong so lifting it shouldn't be a big deal.

I am starting to really lean towards the Celestron VX  mount and looking at  the 6" and 8" reflectors. Also the VX 6" refractor. My previous scope was an Orion with the Sky View Pro mount. So I am looking at those also but  the Sirius mount not the Sky View.

Too cloudy last night to look at the moon or anything else. I am hoping by the end of the week it is clear so i can go out  away from the  light pollution and try to see more. Plus the moon will be waning, although still fairly full.

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CatRas

CatRas

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I forgot to say that someone recommended Stellarium software. I downloaded it but it was loaded with malware and Rubbish so i wasn't too happy spent several hours trying to get rid of it. I like this software because I can use it to teach my daughter more constellations. 

 I also  have Starry Nights but not sure if it run on this computer.

As soon as I reset my laptop I'll down Stellarium and have my husband do it so he can take care of the malwre. 

What about stacking software for astrophotography? I have used Deep Space stacker but not with much luck. I took pictures of the stars with my camera on a tripod. But had the darn hardest time trying to figure it out. But this was quite a while ago so there is probably an updated version. 

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trazor

trazor

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I forgot to say that someone recommended Stellarium software. I downloaded it but it was loaded with malware and Rubbish so i wasn't too happy spent several hours trying to get rid of it. I like this software because I can use it to teach my daughter more constellations. 

 I also  have Starry Nights but not sure if it run on this computer.

As soon as I reset my laptop I'll down Stellarium and have my husband do it so he can take care of the malwre. 

What about stacking software for astrophotography? I have used Deep Space stacker but not with much luck. I took pictures of the stars with my camera on a tripod. But had the darn hardest time trying to figure it out. But this was quite a while ago so there is probably an updated version. 

Their is nothing malicious about Stellarium, unfortunately you must have visited the wrong sites to download it.

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