telescope (1 Viewer)

Collyer911

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hi

does anyone on here have a telescope ?

i originally bought my first camper for this, nipping off to a dark site to look at the stars,
although i,m more into the motorhoming now than the skywatching!!

never the less does anybody use any good dark sites at all,
me and my lad are thinking of kelling heath next week with the scopes for a bit of stargazing
but if you know of any better pls give your opinion and recommendations

thanks

andy:thumb:
 

icantremember

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I have a couple of astronomical telescopes although not used them much ..... I got bored looking at the underside of clouds! The night sky never really gets dark this time of year and in the winter months when it is dark it's too flaming cold.

A nice summer day with solar filters fitted watching transits and sun spots with a cold beer in hand is more my style now:thumb:

Brian

edit: We moved to Norfolk from Kent 3 years ago expecting nice dark sky ..... how wrong I was in our particular area.
 
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Collyer911

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I have a couple of astronomical telescopes although not used them much ..... I got bored looking at the underside of clouds! The night sky never really gets dark this time of year and in the winter months when it is dark it's too flaming cold.

A nice summer day with solar filters fitted watching transits and sun spots with a cold beer in hand is more my style now:thumb:

Brian

couldn't agree with you more

although there are still some nice views if theres no moon in the sky, and with goto you can always find something that will keep you occupied for an hour or two.

i daren't go the solar route the mrs would go mental if i turned up with another scope!!

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icantremember

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couldn't agree with you more

although there are still some nice views if theres no moon in the sky, and with goto you can always find something that will keep you occupied for an hour or two.

i daren't go the solar route the mrs would go mental if i turned up with another scope!!

No need for another scope, I use a home made Bader film filter and an angled eye piece adapter so not looking directly towards the sun.
 

hilldweller

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does anyone on here have a telescope ?QUOTE]

Somewhere.

Not 'till you've bought one do you realise that when stars are good, not often, you freeze your nuts off watching them.

BUT, the star event of my life was on Teneriffe. The hotel did a star gazing night. They took us in 4x4s up Mt Tiede. We passed through the clouds. Then when the sun set at over 8000' the sky exploded. Pebble-dashed. The temperature plummeted but they provided padded coats. It was beyond awesome.

Next best was Scotland. I was working there and got in the car and drove a few miles outside the little village north of Aberdeen. Not quite as good as Tiede but I did get an awesome comet.

A place with huge potential, The Long Mynd in Shropshire. I've been up there in the dark, cloudy, pitch black and very spooky as creatures can be heard all around. Not sure if you are allowed overnight in a MH.
 

Chris

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I rented a villa once in the hills near Ronda in Spain.

The night sky was something to behold.

That was 25 years ago though so it might be spoilt now.

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hilldweller

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I rented a villa once in the hills near Ronda in Spain.

The night sky was something to behold.

That was 25 years ago though so it might be spoilt now.

We went through Ronda a year ago, now it has a huge "tacky white houses for rich Germans" estate tacked on the side.
 
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Collyer911

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does anyone on here have a telescope ?QUOTE]

Somewhere.

Not 'till you've bought one do you realise that when stars are good, not often, you freeze your nuts off watching them.

BUT, the star event of my life was on Teneriffe. The hotel did a star gazing night. They took us in 4x4s up Mt Tiede. We passed through the clouds. Then when the sun set at over 8000' the sky exploded. Pebble-dashed. The temperature plummeted but they provided padded coats. It was beyond awesome.

Next best was Scotland. I was working there and got in the car and drove a few miles outside the little village north of Aberdeen. Not quite as good as Tiede but I did get an awesome comet.

A place with huge potential, The Long Mynd in Shropshire. I've been up there in the dark, cloudy, pitch black and very spooky as creatures can be heard all around. Not sure if you are allowed overnight in a MH.

i was lucky enough to have a holiday in hawaii in 2003

we drove over the volcano at night going back to the resort and pulled over at a high vantage point, the star canopy was overwhelming you couldn't pick out individual stars as the sky was awash with pionts of light gas and dust clouds etc

i can still picture it now... beautiful thats where the bug started

thanks for the tip though ill google long mynd:thumb:
 

scousebird

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Funny you should bring telescopes up. Just thinking of buying one for my son & fiancée as they have just moved to a 10th floor apartment in Liverpool with great views over the Mersey out towards the estuary. What do I need to look for 'cos I haven't got the foggiest idea! Any tips?

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Madwife

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Howie bought an astronomical telescope when we moved to the wilds of wanny in Northumberland as we had no light pollution there. Used it a few times but the cold nights made star gazing a bit of a hypothermia hazard! We did see the international space station and the shuttle docked together and then split for the final time but that was with the naked eye.

We have relatively little light pollution here and I love walking the dogs on a cloudless night as the sky is awash with stars.

If you are looking for a good site to visit for skywatchers try the CC site at Kielder Forrest as no light pollution - the only downside there are the midges which are vicious :Angry:

Kath and Howie
 

icantremember

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Funny you should bring telescopes up. Just thinking of buying one for my son & fiancée as they have just moved to a 10th floor apartment in Liverpool with great views over the Mersey out towards the estuary. What do I need to look for 'cos I haven't got the foggiest idea! Any tips?

I would save your money 'cos they don't need a telescope ...... on the 10th floor they are up among the stars anyway!:winky:
 

Wildman

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I have a couple of astronomical telescopes although not used them much ..... I got bored looking at the underside of clouds! The night sky never really gets dark this time of year and in the winter months when it is dark it's too flaming cold.

A nice summer day with solar filters fitted watching transits and sun spots with a cold beer in hand is more my style now:thumb:

Brian

edit: We moved to Norfolk from Kent 3 years ago expecting nice dark sky ..... how wrong I was in our particular area.
well bring them to the meet in august. as you know there is very little if any light polution at the site and who knows someone might even buy one especially if it is better than my old thing.

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hilldweller

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Funny you should bring telescopes up. Just thinking of buying one for my son & fiancée as they have just moved to a 10th floor apartment

The sensible answer -- there are two main types of telescope, astronomical and terrestrial. Astronomical ones have the image inverted because less lenses mean less light loss and it does not matter. Terrestrial are upright images.

Rule of and optical viewer - bigger the main lens the more light it collects. Bigger the magnification the more light it loses.

Never buy a zoom under £1000 it will be a disaster, too distorted.

I've a pair of 75 x 15 binoculars, heavy so need a tripod for length use but what a staggeringly bright picture, suitable for star gazing.

You see adverts "Staggering 60x magnification and smallest on the market". Disaster. 1. You can't hold 60x steady, it magnifies you shakes 60x. 2. Small means they collect little light the stretch it 60x, so dimmer than a candle.

Now who is going to pick holes in this, I've left plenty to work on.
 
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Two of the best stargazing locations in the North of England are Kielder forest in Northumberland

http://www.kielderobservatory.org/

Then the Queens forest in Dumfries & Galloway near Newton Stewart

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/a...72447/Britains-best-stargazing-locations.html

I'm fortunate living near Kielder with almost zero light pollution and awesome views of the night sky when its cloudless. Have visited the Queens forest numerous times there are some great little CL's close by and lots of wilding spots :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 
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The sensible answer -- there are two main types of telescope, astronomical and terrestrial. Astronomical ones have the image inverted because less lenses mean less light loss and it does not matter. Terrestrial are upright images.

Rule of and optical viewer - bigger the main lens the more light it collects. Bigger the magnification the more light it loses.

Never buy a zoom under £1000 it will be a disaster, too distorted.

I've a pair of 75 x 15 binoculars, heavy so need a tripod for length use but what a staggeringly bright picture, suitable for star gazing.

You see adverts "Staggering 60x magnification and smallest on the market". Disaster. 1. You can't hold 60x steady, it magnifies you shakes 60x. 2. Small means they collect little light the stretch it 60x, so dimmer than a candle.

Now who is going to pick holes in this, I've left plenty to work on.

I use my birding optics for star/ planet gazing, bino's are Leica 10 x 42 very bright then once I pinpoint something with them I use a Leica scope with a zoom eyepiece and an 80mm objective lens, very effective.

Excellent advice Brian, forget zoom bino's and huge magnifications, you'll get more satisfaction and feel better by giving the money to a worthy charity than wasting it on inferior optics :thumb::thumb::thumb:
 

icantremember

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Two of the best stargazing locations in the North of England are Kielder forest in Northumberland

http://www.kielderobservatory.org/

Then the Queens forest in Dumfries & Galloway near Newton Stewart

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/a...72447/Britains-best-stargazing-locations.html

I'm fortunate living near Kielder with almost zero light pollution and awesome views of the night sky when its cloudless. Have visited the Queens forest numerous times there are some great little CL's close by and lots of wilding spots :thumb::thumb::thumb:

Are you really sure that you are seeing celestial bodies through your scope?.............

..... not just the clouds of midges for which Kielder is well known!
:winky:

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magicsurfbus

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Some lucky sod was at that dark sky site in a Scottish forest with his camera on time exposure when that fireball went over last year. I only caught a fleeting glimpse of it from home while he watched it traverse the whole night sky, and caught it on film. Git.
 

Puddleduck

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Sorry to resurrect an 18 month old thread!

Martin has just set up his telescope plus SLR camera attachment and is experimenting with setup.

We have very dark skies here so if anyone wants to come and help with his set up or to bring their own equipment you would be welcome. We can accommodate motorhomes up to 6.5m long on our drive.

If there is enough interest we could even have an astronomy meet!

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Photo4x4

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I have a Celestron Nexstar 5SE which is a 'goto'. I started off when I was 10 with a pair of second hand binoculars.

Whilst we live in a coastal village with dark skies I'm also planning some nights away in the MH amongst the mountains with my 'scope.

I also plan a visit to the Galloway Forest Dark Sky site.

Keith Hart
 
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[/QUOTE]
I also plan a visit to the Galloway Forest Dark Sky site.

Keith Hart[/QUOTE]

We're off to my mate's cottage in Galloway this week, the skies are phenomenal, can't remember where I left my binos though :( Hoping to catch a glimpse of comet Lovejoy.
We do keep a terrestial scope up there for watching the otters in Luce Bay too.
 

Puddleduck

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Martin's new scope is a Celestron C8 if that means anything to anyone.

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Bailey58

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Try Norfolk to the west of Kings Lynn @icantremember, no street lights where we are, no telescope but I do like studying the night sky with the Google Sky Map/App. If I stray too far though the neighbour's security light tends to spoil things.
 

RS_rob

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Im after a Celestron 8se or CPC
Came very close to buying a 10" mead at the weekend but then I got sensible but it wont take me long to save up again
 

Allanm

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I have an 8" Meade LX90 ACF. We are also blessed with very dark skies both here in the UK and in France. ( actually, dark skies were a major factor on house purchases)
RS_rob, I have had a Celestron 8se and a CPC 9.25. Both excellent scopes, but I went back to a Meade and love it.
And if it's too cold outside, I set the scope up and let the Goto do its thing, then go indoors while the scope looks at stuff on its own!
Allan

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Khizzie

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well bring them to the meet in august. as you know there is very little if any light polution at the site and who knows someone might even buy one especially if it is better than my old thing.

I have a celestron astronomical scope, used it once after buying it on a whim,brilliant bit of kit but not for me .I could bring it to ilfracombe rally in August if anyone would be interested in buying it.
 

Khizzie

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I have a celestron astronomical scope, used it once after buying it on a whim,brilliant bit of kit but not for me .I could bring it to ilfracombe rally in August if anyone would be interested in buying it.

Forgot to to add its a celestron astromaster 130 SQ
 

RS_rob

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I'm personally looking for a goto 8" preferably so I can take it to sites for the weekend & set up & use with the laptop inside the van a bit like you Allan.
I'll consider them all if 2nd hand but meads are a bit pricey new.

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