The Amateur Astronomy Thread

[gavroche]

Don't worry. Gavroche uses a telescope made by Renault.

With Dacia lenses.

 

[icowden]

I have given up using mine. I have 3 of them and they have been in the cupboard for at least 2 years now. With the naked eye, you see small circle of yellow stars. Using a telescope, these circles are a bit bigger but still no details, just yellow circles.
I have seen Mars,( big red circle ) Saturn and Jupiter but not really impressed with the quality.
The only thing worth seeing is the Moon as you can see much details.

To see more detail you need a bigger and more powerful scope. And time. A lot of time.
The atmosphere changes a lot during the evening / night. You aren't going to out-see Nasa, but I get a sense of awe about being able to see objects that are incredibly far away with my own eyes.
If you can find a good dark site on a good night, you can pick out galaxies. But you need to be out for a while.
I haven't got there yet...

 

[MrGrumpy]

My mum and dad bought one of those tripod telescopes for the youngest for Christmas one year . Wrong thing to buy as a total mare to setup . However once you do get it focused in it’ok . The moon does look incredible through a scope . However decent set of binoculars may see you there as well .

Where we are is actually decent enough for the night sky , with not a lot of light pollution considering we live in a large town. Facing south I see loads on a clear night walking the dog .

 

[gbb]

Venus absolutely shining like a torch the last few mornings, 6am, in the south and low.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Venus absolutely shining like a torch the last few mornings, 6am, in the south and low.

Yes, Venus at its closest to us so max brightness.

 

[gbb]

Just stood at my back door last night and was struck how many stars were shing through. Got my birdscope out and had a look at the Plaedies (sp) cluster, crystal clear group of stars considering you normally see a fuzzy group with the naked eye.
What I assume was Sirius was also incredibly bright and low. What was maybe atmospheric conditions gave it a slightly purple blue 'twinkle'

5 minutes later, everything back to 'normal'...far less clear skies, not from cloud but again I assume atmospherics.

 

[MontyVeda]

Just stood at my back door last night and was struck how many stars were shing through. Got my birdscope out and had a look at the Plaedies (sp) cluster, crystal clear group of stars considering you normally see a fuzzy group with the naked eye.
What I assume was Sirius was also incredibly bright and low. What was maybe atmospheric conditions gave it a slightly purple blue 'twinkle'

5 minutes later, everything back to 'normal'...far less clear skies, not from cloud but again I assume atmospherics.

I popped to the shop at about 9pm last night and it was so clear i took a big detour through some unlit paths on the way back home. Chilly but worth it.

 

[icowden]

5 minutes later, everything back to 'normal'...far less clear skies, not from cloud but again I assume atmospherics.

Yup. Atmospherics are a pain.

 

[classic33]

The Moon is about to get walloped by more than 2,700 kilograms of space junk, a punch that will carve out a crater that could fit several semi-trailers.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-03/space-junk-rocket-hurdling-towards-to-moon/100877494

 

[MontyVeda]

Before the clocks sprang forward, I've been enjoying seeing Venus at dawn on my way to work, but never spotted Saturn and Mars...

 

[stephec]

Daddy's got a new toy. 😊

 

[midlife]

Wow!

 

[Johnno260]

Daddy's got a new toy. 😊

View attachment 666885

Nice enjoy that.

 

[stephec]

Nice enjoy that.

As you can imagine there's total cloud cover here tonight. 😂

 

[Johnno260]

As you can imagine there's total cloud cover here tonight. 😂

Typical, I think Juipter is closer to us at the moment, but it’s also close to the moon.

If the cloud breaks you may get some good viewing, fingers crossed for you.