Discussion: All Moved In, Now I Need A New ...

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: Well, we survived the trip and have moved into our new house on Vancouver Island. It was pretty easy on me, since we hired movers for the first time in 11 moves. The place is great, with a massive backyard, and lots of space. One of my neighbors informed me that we were moving into the cleanest house in the city. Apparently the former owners had a reputation for being... meticulous.

As I'd hoped, the skies are much much darker, so I'm thinking of getting a new telescope, but I need your help. What do you think I should get? If you love your telescope, let me know what you've got and a few paragraphs of why you like it. Take a photo of you and your telescope, if you dare. I'll publish an article with a bunch of your photos and reviews, so everyone can take advantage of your recommendations.

Send me an email at info@universetoday.com.

Thanks!

Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today

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[stars tonight]

Most people have a Refracting type scope but I assume some of you have scopes already. The scopes will come in one of 3 three kinds

The Refracting Telescope
The refractor gathers light with an single lens at one end and the user focuses the light at the eyepiece at the other end. This it the type of scope most people are familiar with, you see them all the time in department stores (Don’t buy one from a department store!&#33.

The Newtonian Reflecting Telescope
The Newtonian Reflector uses a parabolic mirror at the end of a tube and focuses the light back at the front of the tube, where the eyepiece sits, after being deflected by a smaller secondary mirror in the light path.

The Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
The Schmidt-Cassegrain uses both mirrors and lenses to fold the optical path back onto itself, resulting in a compact tube.

Of course only you can decide what scope is best for your needs but beware; most backyard astronomers usually end up with two or three scopes so they can use the best one for the occasion

[stars tonight]

Congrats on the big move ! It sounds like a very nice place

[damienpaul]

okay, big yard!.....so now can we have that party in your backyard???

so it is big enough to launch UTSS1?

[dantheman]

:P
nice move...
enjoy the new home and wish you every best for the future.
It's a really nice house ,really.
Don't be scared about what neighbors said... You know...they're just jealous



dan

[jay kilsdonk]

:P cherokee8@shaw.ca

Congrats on the new digs ...Don't get to busy in your new yard ..Work to do here Keep it up Will help when i can ...

[DippyHippy]

Congrats Fraser

My friend and I bought a 4" Orion Dob for my stepson but we haven't had a chance to use it a lot yet - when we have, we've had some cracking views with it

[Eric Vaxxine]

My wife bought me a Meade etx70 for christmas...it is supposed to find 1000's of objects itself but continually fails to work. It also gets stuck turning when it's trying 'locate'. So electronically it scores 0/100. Manually aiming the bugger produces good results. In winter/spring, Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons where easily visible, even here in W. London's light polluted skies.

Buy one that works (or are all Meade products like mine?) :angry:

[Manchurian Taikonaut]

Fraser Cain well done and congrats on moving house, I hope you have a good time there.


Eric Vaxxine, about your scope
sent it back to the company for repair staright away or get them to replace it with a new one, the ETX is supposed to help you see in the sky. Of course there are other factors like light pollution and cloud cover but if you know what you're doing there are tonnes of stuff you can see. An ETX is a great scope.
check some of the images that are possible
http://www.weasner.com/etx/guests/guests_deepsky.html
and planets
http://www.weasner.com/etx/guests/guests_p..._planets00.html
If it stuck turning when it's trying 'locate' that sounds like a serious electronic problem or it could be software, there is no point in playing around get it repaired straight away
Check out the universe today photo section where members have put in their photos, one guy seeker372011 has an ETX also
http://www.universetoday.com/forum/index.p...?showtopic=3806
maybe he might know what could be wrong

[fleetwizard]

Fraser,

I'm sold on my Orion 10" dob. And the new ones have the Intelliscope option that will even help you find the things you are looking for. Plus, now they've put out a 12" dob with Intelliscope! Perfect for a nice, new, big yard! L L

I can't wait til I can move up to the new 12". I know the views I get with my 10" are great, but imagine how much sweeter they'd be with 2" more mirror!

Have fun. Congrats on the new place. And best of luck in the future.

Ken