looking up

[alecras2345]

 Hi m y name is Ash, im 39 (nearly 40, OMG!) and i live in north wales.   I'm disabled and use a wheelchair.    I have an interest in astronomy but due to my disability im unable to go outside at night.   Sometimes i look out of the window at the stars and think wow! i also see the moon as its path is in that part of the sky, it faces south.  My mate takes me out during the day to go bird watching which i enjoy.    I use an Opticron 10x25 monocular for bird watching, I was wandering, could i use the same monocular to point at the window to see the stars?     I know the window will distort the image but if i could just see the moon with them would be good.    The sky is  hardly ever clear here but on the odd occasion like now the skies are clear.

[PeterCPC]

Something like this might be better if you can put it on a small table. Yes the windows will distort the image but it's worth a try with the monocular first to see if it's worth spending any money.

Peter

[alecras2345]

i have a Meade ETX Spotting scope, not go to, but firstly it has electronic focuser that doesn't work anymore and they've stopped making them, secondly  i feel it's too big for what i want, i want to just go to the window and look up with my monocular s.

[Ricochet]

If you've got a monocular then by all means start using it. There's no reason why a monocular can't be used for astronomy. See how you get on and go from there. 

[Nyctimene]

Hello, Ash,

of course you can use your 10x25 monocular; and the distortion with this low magnification will not (or only slightly) affect the views. Last winter I had bought a 76/300 mm Skywatcher Infinity ("Blue Penguin"), and used it several times as a literally "desktop" scope to look through the double-glazed window facing west. With magnifications of 15x and 30x, I got very nice and crisp, undistorted views of the three Auriga clusters M 36, 37 and 38, of the open clusters NGC 1907, 1893 (Y-shaped), and 1778 (partly resolved), and had a lot of fun. So just give it a try; if someone could fix the focuser of your Meade ETX, I'm guessing, it could be put to good use again, as long as you keep the magnification rather low (30x).

With the window facing south, you'll be able to spot a considerable number of celestial objects during the course of the year. I'd put some time in preparing a list of easy objects for your observations, and then just start. Give it a go - and let us know!

Stephan

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi Ash and welcome to SGL.  

SGL'er @LukeSkywatcher has been with SGL for a number of light years. He will offer you some advice of what to upgrade to, once the monocular has whetted your appetite. 

Clear skies.  

[JOC]

Phillip R I was going to add earlier that there are other SGL'ers in wheelchairs who might be able to offer advice.  I'm sure they will be along to offer advice to Ash soon

[cletrac1922]

Welcome Ash from land down under

With club belong to, do have disable people as members, and a couple of them use bino's mounted on a camera tripod

Give u a more stable environment to operate your monocular

John

 

[Charic]

I would suggest binoculars too, as two eyes are better than one, but you'll be limited as to the amount of detail you'll see compared to a telescope, but if its just for viewing the Moon and some constellations, they'll fine, even through extra glass ( living room window ) although an open window may be the better option if you don't mind waisting some  heat from the house!

The weather prevents / hampers most of my observing sessions.
Although not the perfect answer, but in more ways than one, this software program, Stellarium,  works wonders for my needs.
Its a great program,  plenty to learn and see, and for me, a better visual  than my real  sky above.
Totally free, have a look here http://stellarium.org   

[Sunshine]

Welcome to SGL Ash! what an amazing coincidence! just an hour before i read your post i was looking at the moon through my window with my telescope. I have pointed all manner of scopes, binoculars out windows countless times and enjoyed many moon views through windows, where i live winters are as cold as space itself so sometimes i do look through my window. I have gone as far as to clean my window from outside and in to help, one tip, darken your room as much as you can to avoid any reflections, you'd be surprised what you can see through a window!. 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Hi Ash. Welcome.

I am also a wheelchair user and have been doing astronomy for 38 yrs. I'd be interested in knowing more about your disability and why you cant get outside at night.The more you tell us, the more we can suggest ways of getting round your disability. 

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 2/28/2018 at 18:27, Philip R said:

Hi Ash and welcome to SGL.  

SGL'er @LukeSkywatcher has been with SGL for a number of light years. He will offer you some advice of what to upgrade to, once the monocular has whetted your appetite. 

Clear skies.  

LOL. Am i the only resident disabled astronomer here?. 

[Sunshine]

Not to mention “LukeSkyWatcher” has to be the greatest name ever!

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 3/15/2018 at 02:47, Sunshine said:

Not to mention “LukeSkyWatcher” has to be the greatest name ever!

That's true.

[alecras2345]

I'm having another go at reading Patrick moores book called teach yourself astronomy. im reading the chapter about early astronomy, the book has a section of things to remember from that chapter. Here is what i've got,

Astronomy goes back to our cave dwelling ancestors
Originally it was thought that the earth was flat and motionless
Constellation patterns date back to around 3000 BC
True astronomy began with the Greeks
Ptolemaic system - Earth lay at the centre of the Universe, with the Moon, Sun, planets and stars moving around it.
Stagnation after Ptolemy’s death – Dark ages
Revival of Astronomy due to Arabs in the ninth century
1543 AD – Copernicus stated that the Sun not Earth should be at the center of the system
140BC – Hipparchus of Nicaea discovered Precession
240BC - Eratosthenes made an accurate estimation of the Earths size
Seventeenth century, the German mathematician Johannes Kepler published his three Laws of Planetary Motion,

Ptolemaic system involves epicycles, what do epicycles illustrate, do they show the planets retrograde motion?  What's another way of saying Astronomy goes back to our cave dwelling ancestors?  Astronomy goes back to stone age/prehistory?

[Nyctimene]

2 hours ago, alecras2345 said:

Astronomy goes back to stone age/prehistory?

Yes, indeed. During the last Stone Age period, the Neolithic era, solar observatories like this one in Goseck, seem to have been widespread throughout Europe:

http://www.sonnenobservatorium-goseck.info/

The German archaeo-astronomer Wolfhard Schlosser gave another hint: "What is displayed in the constellations? - persons (men, women, gods...), animals, objects/tools. No plants.

What can you see in the cave paintings, dated to the late Stone Age in Europe and Australia? - persons, animals, objects. No plants".

Something to think about...

Stephan