Space Chat | Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

[Blazyd]

What's up with this galaxy?

[t]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0912/NGC660Hagar.jpg[/t]

[Arnold]

[QUOTE=Pelf;43586175]
Also, space frog should be added to the OP[/QUOTE]
Done!

[salmonmarine]

Sup guys, I spent today making a crappy animation.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/J5Pudso.gif[/img]

Loosely based on Falcon 9 and Antares

[Rulz]

How do you guys do telescope, some time ago I got a telescope like this

[img]http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005PJR8.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img]

But never saw anything but small dots in the sky, maybe because of the light pollution. Do you guys go to the contryside? Tried new moon and low light, follow star charts?

[lordcrypto]

[QUOTE=Rulz;43589793]How do you guys do telescope, some time ago I got a telescope like this

[img]http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005PJR8.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img]

But never saw anything but small dots in the sky, maybe because of the light pollution. Do you guys go to the contryside? Tried new moon and low light, follow star charts?[/QUOTE]

just gonna point out that that there's a huge difference between a 100 dollar telescope like yours

and a ~2000 dollar telescope

larp's was $2000, and assuming that sweboner's is the same basic scope, probably about the same price

[Geeray]

Just pulled an old telescope out of my basement. No idea what I'm doing and missing eyepieces.
Its a beat up version of this.
[IMG]http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00oBvQwAtnLGgs/Astronomical-Telscope-BM-900114A-.jpg[/IMG]
Only information I can find on it is a site called "Madeinchina.com" which leads to some small chinese optics company. Off to a great start!

[Hattiwatti]

[QUOTE=LarparNar;43586979]You can do a lot without getting super-telephoto lenses.

For things like Andromeda, you don't really need a lot of zoom, because it's actually really large in the sky.
[/QUOTE]

Ya I've been thinking about getting a 100-200mm zoom for quite some time. Any idea if there's a lot of DS object that can be captured, besides Andromeda, with that setup?
I've been out with a 600D and the starter kit lens, but so far the stacks haven't been anything that spectacular.

Also, lets have some J-P Metsävainio in this thread. Oh and has anyone tried Google Sky Map? A nice app if you ever need to identify or find an object in the night sky.
[video=youtube;AsVcPp_sDOc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsVcPp_sDOc[/video]

[Brainmaster]

[QUOTE=Geeray;43591145]Just pulled an old telescope out of my basement. No idea what I'm doing and missing eyepieces.
Its a beat up version of this.
[IMG]http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00oBvQwAtnLGgs/Astronomical-Telscope-BM-900114A-.jpg[/IMG]
Only information I can find on it is a site called "Madeinchina.com" which leads to some small chinese optics company. Off to a great start![/QUOTE]

Hahaha, holy shit! I have the same one in my attic :v: My parents gave it to me after I spent an entire month asking about space. That month was also my first encounter with an encyclopedia. Let me know if you find out anything more!

[Paul-Simon]

[QUOTE=Hattiwatti;43591878]Ya I've been thinking about getting a 100-200mm zoom for quite some time. Any idea if there's a lot of DS object that can be captured, besides Andromeda, with that setup?
I've been out with a 600D and the starter kit lens, but so far the stacks haven't been anything that spectacular.

Also, lets have some J-P Metsävainio in this thread. Oh and has anyone tried Google Sky Map? A nice app if you ever need to identify or find an object in the night sky.
[video=youtube;AsVcPp_sDOc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsVcPp_sDOc[/video][/QUOTE]

Google sky map would be nice if they fixed it so that it actually rotates realistically instead of just randomly spazzing about.
According to Google sky map, east is in every direction. No other accellerometer / compass app does this.

[LooperNor]

[QUOTE=Rulz;43589793]How do you guys do telescope, some time ago I got a telescope like this

[img]http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005PJR8.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img]

But never saw anything but small dots in the sky, maybe because of the light pollution. Do you guys go to the contryside? Tried new moon and low light, follow star charts?[/QUOTE]

Stars are going to look like points of light, pretty much no matter what kind of telescope you get (at least as far as what anyone on Facepunch can afford). If you want something with detail you're going to have to look at the moon, planets or deep sky objects (nebulae, star clusters, galaxies, etc..).

[editline]19th January 2014[/editline]

[QUOTE=Hattiwatti;43591878]Ya I've been thinking about getting a 100-200mm zoom for quite some time. Any idea if there's a lot of DS object that can be captured, besides Andromeda, with that setup?
I've been out with a 600D and the starter kit lens, but so far the stacks haven't been anything that spectacular.[/QUOTE]

The most important thing is that you get a lot of light, so the lens should have a relatively large aperture, but that boosts up the cost a bit too, especially if you want a zoom lens. f/5.6 does decent for Andromeda I think, but you'd have to boost the ISO a while.

You could probably get something good-ish of the Orion nebula too, but the outer cloud parts of it are very dim.

I haven't tried the Triangulum galaxy yet, but I think it would be possible with about the same equipment as Andromeda, it's a bit dimmer and smaller, but still one of the brighter galaxies.

Bottom line, if you have a lens that's somewhere between 100 or 200mm, it should have a large aperture to gather a lot of light, and [I]don't[/I] expect images like the really amazing ones you see online, those are taken with long exposure and tracking and really expensive equipment overall.

[swebonny]

You can see enough stuff with most basic telescopes. A 130 mm would probably satisfy a lot of people.
[URL]http://www.ozscopes.com.au/what-can-you-expect-to-see-with-a-telescope.html[/URL]

I suggest reading a lot of stuff online before getting a scope.
[url]http://www.skyandtelescope.com/equipment/basics/12511616.html[/url]

[editline]19th January 2014[/editline]

What you can expect to see:
[url]https://www.astronomics.com/what-can-you-expect-to-see-in-a-telescope_t.aspx[/url]

[RobbL]

[QUOTE=Nibroc;43586294]That reflection on the second pic is fucking killing me.[/QUOTE]

Proof that NASA are lizardmen trying to get back to their home planet? (before taking over the world ofc)

[Pelf]

A little bit about that mars rock that mysteriously appeared by curiosity:

[QUOTE][IMG]http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9070317.ece/ALTERNATES/w460/mars-mystery.jpg[/IMG]

“It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” he said. “It’s very high in sulphur, it’s very high in magnesium, it’s got twice as much manganese as we’ve ever seen in anything on Mars.

[url]http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nasa-says-mars-mystery-rock-that-appeared-from-nowhere-is-like-nothing-weve-ever-seen-before-9070323.html[/url][/QUOTE]

[editline]19th January 2014[/editline]

Opportunity, not Curiosity. Can't edit my post

[LooperNor]

[QUOTE=Pelf;43593708]A little bit about that mars rock that mysteriously appeared by curiosity:

[editline]19th January 2014[/editline]

Opportunity, not Curiosity. Can't edit my post[/QUOTE]

That's fancy, kinda seems to make the theory that it was pushed there by one of the wheels less plausible.

[Porky.]

omg I love space

[Geeray]

[QUOTE=brainmaster;43592019]Hahaha, holy shit! I have the same one in my attic :v: My parents gave it to me after I spent an entire month asking about space. That month was also my first encounter with an encyclopedia. Let me know if you find out anything more![/QUOTE]

Its on an alt-azimuth mount. It has a 4.5 inch Aperture, looking at Swebonny's links, that seems to be mid range. Focal Length is 35 inches which is, judging from those links and some sites I found, largish. So overall its a typical mid range reflector telescope.
Anyone who knows a thing about telescopes, please feel free to tear this post to shreds.
(Also it seems to be an exact copy of this thing, other than the mount. [url]http://www.celestron.com/astronomy/celestron-powerseeker-114eq.html[/url])

[LooperNor]

[url]http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1351032[/url]

So excited about Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey.

Interview with Tyson, Ann Druyan and more about the show here: [url]http://www.space.com/24243-cosmos-tv-series-neil-degrasse-tyson.html[/url]

[swebonny]

It's going to be great. I hope they kept the soundtrack from the original, man I loved it.

[LooperNor]

[QUOTE=Swebonny;43595729]It's going to be great. I hope they kept the soundtrack from the original, man I loved it.[/QUOTE]

I don't know if they will keep any of the original compositions or if anything will be based on it, but the score for A Space-Time Odyssey is being written by [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Silvestri]Alan Silvestri[/url].

[JohnnyMo]

[QUOTE=LarparNar;43595947]I don't know if they will keep any of the original compositions or if anything will be based on it, but the score for A Space-Time Odyssey is being written by [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Silvestri]Alan Silvestri[/url].[/QUOTE]

Dammit, I loved Vangelis.

[LooperNor]

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;43598380]Dammit, I loved Vangelis.[/QUOTE]

I really like his stuff too, but Silvestri is far from a bad composer.

[video=youtube;FcOt6mfjxeA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcOt6mfjxeA[/video]

[editline]20th January 2014[/editline]

He also did the soundtrack for the Contact movie actually.

[video=youtube;V-zypUqaLME]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-zypUqaLME[/video]

[Killer900]

I just hope the new Cosmos sparks an interest in space-related things for younger generations (and older), like the original Cosmos did, that would be great..

[Porkychop~]

[QUOTE=Killer900;43599423]I just hope the new Cosmos sparks an interest in space-related things for younger generations (and older), like the original Cosmos did, that would be great..[/QUOTE]

What we need is an HBO miniseries based on Red Mars.

[Falubii]

I was pretty disappointed that my telescope couldn't even resolve Andromeda. It was naive of me to have my hopes up, but I figured it was so close I should at least be able to see its shape.

[JohnnyMo]

[QUOTE=Falubii;43601069]I was pretty disappointed that my telescope couldn't even resolve Andromeda. It was naive of me to have my hopes up, but I figured it was so close I should at least be able to see its shape.[/QUOTE]

What do you mean by "resolve?" The naked eye can resolve Andromeda.

[Roll_Program]

[QUOTE=LarparNar;43598780]I really like his stuff too, but Silvestri is far from a bad composer.

[video=youtube;FcOt6mfjxeA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcOt6mfjxeA[/video]

[editline]20th January 2014[/editline]

He also did the soundtrack for the Contact movie actually.

[video=youtube;V-zypUqaLME]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-zypUqaLME[/video][/QUOTE]

Contact is in my top 5 movies I've seen.

Really intelligent.

[SL!P]

[img]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01350/eye_of_god_1350800c.jpg[/img]

nebulas are my fav

[Daniellynet]

[QUOTE=Slippery-Q;43603836][img]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01350/eye_of_god_1350800c.jpg[/mg]

nebulas are my fav[/QUOTE]

A giant beautiful eye in space.

[LooperNor]

Signal from Rosetta received. :D

[editline]20th January 2014[/editline]

[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2668640/yay.PNG[/img]

[JohnnyMo]

aw ye look at dem squiggles

science