Do Any of You Double as an Amateur Astronomer?

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DRAGON64

DRAGON64

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When I was a young teen, I had a keen interest in all things space, not just rocketry, but Astronomy as well. Also as a young teen, getting started in Astronomy was far to expensive, and was even somewhat discouraged by my parents, as they knew I would be asking them for a telescope for Christmas etc. On a meager military salary, this hobby never bloomed. So, fast forward 35 to 40+ years... While surfing YouTube I happened across an Astronomy channel called Astro Backyard and I spent the better part of a couple-three hours watching some very well made Astrophotography videos. Got me curious and inspired, and left me wondering if maybe I could afford yet another outdoor hobby.

Do we have many Amateur Astronomers here on the forum?
 
The telescope I am looking at getting is the Aperture AD8 Dobsonian. Living out in the county I have a lot of dark (read as not light-polluted) sky, and the humidity levels are beginning to drop, making viewing the sky an adventure... When Neowise came through, the humidity and low cloud cover made it nigh impossible to view... wish it could have held off until the Fall to pass through...
 
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Have you checked out the Von Braun Astranomical Society up at Monte Sano? Great little observatory, and pre-pandemic they had nights where members would bring their telescopes and the public could look through at various signs of the night
 
DRAGON64 said:
The telescope I am looking at getting is the Aperture AD8 Dobsonian. Living out in the county I have a lot of dark (read as not light-polluted) sky, and the humidity levels are beginning to drop, making viewing the sky an adventure... When Neowise came through, the humidity and low cloud cover made it nigh impossible to view... wish it could have held off until the Fall to pass through...
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That's a good one. You'll be happy for some time with it.
 
yeah, my post!

Yes, i am in the same boat, always been keen on it, and finally taking the plunge..

Many a time camping and one particular vacation on a little Caribbean island (known for rum & Cigars & a defiant dictator!) seeing the amount of starts, the milky way, etc.. got me thinking. Why can't I look up & know!

So, looking forward to changing that!
 
shawn_rocket said:
That's a good one. You'll be happy for some time with it.
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The youtube channel I linked in the first post made an excellent review of the telescope, and so I started researching it myself... definitely tops for me right now.

dr wogz said:
yeah, my post!

Yes, i am in the same boat, always been keen on it, and finally taking the plunge..

Many a time camping and one particular vacation on a little Caribbean island (known for rum & Cigars & a defiant dictator!) seeing the amount of starts, the milky way, etc.. got me thinking. Why can't I look up & know!

So, looking forward to changing that!
Click to expand...

I once viewed the Milky Way Galaxy in the mountains of Cloudcroft, NM and thought to myself "that looks like a backbone" I found out later that it was indeed called the Backbone of the Universe. Like you, I want to look up and see and find more!
 
yes, I think there are a LOT of us on this forum that have interests in both hobbies.
 
Yes. I made a 10" dob telescope (purchased the mirror, didn't grind my own) and recently bought a Celestron 6" Evolution SCT. I use the 6" when I am up in western Maine (close to Canadian border) under very dark skies. I near DC so difficult to see anything other than planets and moon. Double stars aren't too bad providing you can find them. The 10" is used in Virginia at my in-laws house which has decent dark skies.
 
I'm on the exact same trajectory!

For Neowise, I checked out a 4.5" Dob from the local library and took it to the beach on a clear night. We could see the comet, but it looked pretty fuzzy. I was able to see \ Jupiter's moons and Saturn very well (but the rings weren't well resolved), and showing them to my kids was extra cool. I had never seen Jupiter's moons before--I've been interested ever since.

As a result of dr wogz' post, I started Googling about amateur astronomy, became enthralled with the Astro Backyard channel, and have been looking at the Apertura A8 too. I'm going to probably have less money for rocket motors in a few months.
 
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My mind goes numb long before the sun sets, so I just take everyone's word that a "night sky" actually exists, and read about it the next day.
 
We have more astronomers here, than there are rocketry guys on the Astronomy forums.
Kinda sad in a way.
I do my best to promote rocketry on those sites :)
 
BDB said:
This is the only thing that makes me hesitant to invest much in a nice telescope. I can barely stay awake past 10:00!
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A good small scope is good for bird watching :p

swatkat said:
yes, I think there are a LOT of us on this forum that have interests in both hobbies.
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I'm pretty sure I could make a venn diagram or flow chart of where all my hobbies intersect and branch off. It's easy to see how skill sets build off each other when you look.
 
Binoculars are your friend. :)

For those without (or with) a scope, grab a pair, just about any size, you will be amazed at the amount of stars that you will see :)

I have about 10 of 'em :)
 
BDB said:
Great pics. What camera do you use?

I’m thinking that in addition to the 8” dob I may want to pick up a used DSLR just to start leaning about that stuff too.
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I have a Canon T6s with a Tamron 16-300 lens.
 
PXR5 said:
We have more astronomers here, than there are rocketry guys on the Astronomy forums.
Kinda sad in a way.
I do my best to promote rocketry on those sites :)
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There is a reason for that. Both hobbies require participants to be technically oriented, but the average amateur astronomer does not build things, whereas the average rocketeer HAS to build things. Rocketry requires a second skill set. The few astronomers that build scopes and grind mirrors is a very small fraction of the hobby community. The opposite is true of rocketry. A very small fraction buy and fly ready to fly models, nearly 100% build. Finally, as scopes get bigger they don't get more dangerous (unless you drop one on your foot, which, arguably, is worse for the scope than the foot). Bigger rockets = bigger motors = more dangerous. It's why we have cert levels. Any astronomer can stick an eyepiece in any scope, navigate to an object and focus. You can't do the equivalent in rocketry.
 
My biggest issue is (And with all new things, to a varying degree..) is that it seems simple, relatively straight forward at first..

Then you start to look into it and discover..
  • there's a lot more than you initial thought
  • there is a new language to learn
  • tool wise: what you thought was expensive is really a bargain, or garbage!
  • the back yard, or the local park isn't quite adequate, despite the space & such (and an hour drive isn't far enough)
  • you need a bigger car (Despite the pick up & the minivan in the driveway!)
  • the euphoria you have at first soon changes to being overwhelmed.
And, you start to understand why these "subjects" have Ph.D equivalent degrees!!
 
dr wogz said:
My biggest issue is (And with all new things, to a varying degree..) is that it seems simple, relatively straight forward at first..

Then you start to look into it and discover..
  • there's a lot more than you initial thought
  • there is a new language to learn
  • tool wise: what you thought was expensive is really a bargain, or garbage!
  • the back yard, or the local park isn't quite adequate, despite the space & such (and an hour drive isn't far enough)
  • you need a bigger car (Despite the pick up & the minivan in the driveway!)
  • the euphoria you have at first soon changes to being overwhelmed.
And, you start to understand why these "subjects" have Ph.D equivalent degrees!!
Click to expand...
I am genuinely unsure if you're referring to astronomy or rocketry here. Seems to apply equally to both. :)
 
dr wogz said:
there's a lot more than you initial thought
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There is quite literally no limit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_telescope

In the professional world, visible images are only part of it. Pros also make images in gamma, X-rays, UV, (visible), infrared, microwaves and radio waves (all frequencies of electromanetic waves). And in the last few years, they started detecting gravitational waves, which is a whole new realm. These all rely on big budget "telecopes", and immense computational power (to process imaging data).
 
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neil_w said:
I am genuinely unsure if you're referring to astronomy or rocketry here. Seems to apply equally to both. :)
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Neil, it's a general statement!

rockets, cars, model trains, old Victorian doll houses.. (and I'm sure "girls" fit in there somewhere!)
 

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