If You Can’t Name That Star, Try Asking Your Telescope

[Gerald]

LONGTIME stargazers learned the basics of the night sky the hard way — with pencils, star charts and lots of patience with their telescopes.

Now high-tech equipment and smartphone apps are making the task a lot less daunting for beginners.

New point-and-shoot telescopes, for example, require only the push of a button to go into action: Plunk one down in the driveway and the device gets its own bearings, aligning itself with the stars above so it can tell you that the twinkling light in the eyepiece is Betelgeuse.

Three models of these new, self-aligning telescopes, costing about $700 to $800, will be offered this July by Celestron. The company’s new line, called SkyProdigy, is intended for amateurs who don’t have in-depth knowledge of the night sky, or may not even have a clue of how to set up a telescope, said Danyal J. Medley, a principal engineer at the company in Torrance, Calif.

Even seasoned astronomy experts are heralding such automation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/bu...ml?ref=science

Note: April 9, 2011

[Torplexed]

I don't know. After seeing lots of beginners fighting with these mounts I'm not sure they are a good idea for a starter scope. A simple Dobsonian mount and knowledge of the sky is a far better deal giving more telescope aperture and thus better image to the eye and less headaches for the same cost.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

I don't know. After seeing lots of beginners fighting with these mounts I'm not sure they are a good idea for a starter scope. A simple Dobsonian mount and knowledge of the sky is a far better deal giving more telescope aperture and thus better image to the eye and less headaches for the same cost.

Certainly, but it is a great addition to explorations.

[Torplexed]

To find its position and then recognize the stars above, the telescope has a digital camera that takes pictures of the sky. It then compares them with its computerized database of stored images, Mr. Medley said. The process typically takes less than three minutes.

I hope so. I'm still not sure how one of these $800 beauties is gonna get a clear digital picture of the sky from your driveway considering the amount of light pollution put up in the typical American suburb by shopping malls, parking lots and airports. You're lucky nowadays if you see any stars at all with the unaided eye.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

I hope so. I'm still not sure how one of these $800 beauties is gonna get a clear digital picture of the sky from your driveway considering the amount of light pollution put up in the typical American suburb by shopping malls, parking lots and airports. You're lucky nowadays if you see any stars at all with the unaided eye.

It is true, therefore, one must go to higher altitudes or in particular where it is pitch black,no neon lighting or other stray light.

[the_tyrant]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

I don't know. After seeing lots of beginners fighting with these mounts I'm not sure they are a good idea for a starter scope. A simple Dobsonian mount and knowledge of the sky is a far better deal giving more telescope aperture and thus better image to the eye and less headaches for the same cost.

I always wanted a 8" automated telescope when i was 10
Glass is heavy, I just couldn't lift 25kg when i was 10

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by the_tyrant

I always wanted a 8" automated telescope when i was 10
Glass is heavy, I just couldn't lift 25kg when i was 10

I did have a decent 2.5" refractor as a kid. But then found if you wanted to see the faint stuff like galaxies and nebulae you needed a car and a driver's license to get into out the dark skies of the sticks where they weren't blotted out by a million glowing street lights.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

I hope so. I'm still not sure how one of these $800 beauties is gonna get a clear digital picture of the sky from your driveway considering the amount of light pollution put up in the typical American suburb by shopping malls, parking lots and airports. You're lucky nowadays if you see any stars at all with the unaided eye.

So true torplexed. You may want to throw that at some of the astronomy mags, they'll love that pic.

The clearest skies I can remember seeing was on top of Upper wolfjaw mountain in the adrirondack park. It was midnight, we were 8 hours behind schedule, no food, no water, and 5 very mountainous miles to go. Oh and no flashlight, and no moon. We thought we were going to die, especially since it was mid october (those that know the park know how bad the weather can turn in that season, the 10th mountain div trains there), it was supposed to drop below freezing that night, and we had no cold weather gear on us, it was day hike and as I said, 8 hours behind. But the view from the summit was so awesome we stopped to take it in.

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Gargamel

The clearest skies I can remember seeing was on top of Upper wolfjaw mountain in the adrirondack park. It was midnight, we were 8 hours behind schedule, no food, no water, and 5 very mountainous miles to go. Oh and no flashlight, and no moon. We thought we were going to die, especially since it was mid october (those that know the park know how bad the weather can turn in that season, the 10th mountain div trains there), it was supposed to drop below freezing that night, and we had no cold weather gear on us, it was day hike and as I said, 8 hours behind. But the view from the summit was so awesome we stopped to take it in.

Sounds like an impressive sky. Stars always look brighter in clear cold weather if you have a moonless night. Of course, some of that may be due to winter constellations like Orion having brighter stars than summer ones.