Calling all Space Nerds

[wilson]

The moon was quite impressive last night, especially coming over the horizon - here in Mebane, NC.

Same here in Atlanta. It was a beautiful, clear night, and the moon really did look especially big and bright.
The stargazing/nerding/smooching on the lawn was not bad, either.

[CameronBornAndBred]

What my camera saw last night. This was as it was rising.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Employee break at Kennedy Space Center.

[CathyCA]

Employee break at Kennedy Space Center.

Those NASA people are so clever!

[EarlJam]

I remember growing up, my neighbor had a telescope so powerful you could see the moon in 3D. So fucking cool. Not only could you see that, but you could also see the moon moving out of the lens "window." Aggravating? Yes. But cool.........and worth it.

I have NEVER seen the rings around the planets with a scope. Any recommendations? I want one.

-EarlJam

[bjornolf]

I wanted to be next to the guy on top of the building with the calculator and the camera and the walkie-talkie calling down to tell them where to go. I bet he had on a white button down shirt, big glasses, and a pocket protector with a zebra pen and pencil set in it. My kind of people.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I wanted to be next to the guy on top of the building with the calculator and the camera and the walkie-talkie calling down to tell them where to go. I bet he had on a white button down shirt, big glasses, and a pocket protector with a zebra pen and pencil set in it. My kind of people.

[DukeUsul]

I remember growing up, my neighbor had a telescope so powerful you could see the moon in 3D. So fucking cool. Not only could you see that, but you could also see the moon moving out of the lens "window." Aggravating? Yes. But cool.........and worth it.

I have NEVER seen the rings around the planets with a scope. Any recommendations? I want one.

-EarlJam

You can see quite a lot with a small scope, but the difficulty is with the mount and whether it's motorized for automatic tracking. You can get a pretty good view of Jupiter and Saturn with an entry level scope, but the problem is the difficulty 1) getting it aimed at the planet or star and 2) keeping it tracked there as the earth rotates and the stars appear to slide across the sky. I've got a really cheap telescope and it's impossible to get it aimed with any precision. What I'd like to do is take it off its current mount and slap it on something like this: http://www.telescope.com/control/access ... cope-mount That would make life so much easier. The cheap telescopes have screws that need to be tightened to lock it in place - but just tightening the screw actually moves the scope - a huge pain.

And then once you get it lined up, then everything starts moving. A telescope with a motorized mount that actually tracks to the sidereal motion is the bomb.

[DukeUsul]

I remember growing up, my neighbor had a telescope so powerful you could see the moon in 3D. So fucking cool. Not only could you see that, but you could also see the moon moving out of the lens "window." Aggravating? Yes. But cool.........and worth it.

I have NEVER seen the rings around the planets with a scope. Any recommendations? I want one.

-EarlJam

Look for a local astronomy club or the talk to the physics department at a school near you. Duke's physics department sponsors astronomy viewings at a site out in Duke Forest (they moved the telescopes I used to look through on the roof of the physics building back in the day). Anyone is welcome and no need to bring a telescope. I recall from the Duke physics dept. scopes I could see all the rings of Jupiter, the great red spot, the four major moons. The rings of Saturn were easy to see.

Look for something similar by you.

[DukeUsul]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... scope.html

5 grand for a motorized mount

[captmojo]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... scope.html

5 grand for a motorized mount

You've gotta have a heavy case of 'want to'.
Now, I feel much better about golf and fishing. They're nowhere near as expensive a pair of hobbies as I thought.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The last shuttle flight launches today at 11:26am. Here's the video feed.
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/135_splash/index.html

[CathyCA]

Good-bye, Atlantis! Safe travels!

[CameronBornAndBred]

Was a flawless launch. I wish I had gotten to see one in person.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Was a flawless launch. I wish I had gotten to see one in person.

OzzieDaughter and I did when I picked her up from Space Camp in 1994. I saw a Saturn V Apollo lift off from along I-95 near Titusville in ~1971. THAT was far more impressive, even from a greater distance away - the vibration could be felt 20 miles away.

[YmoBeThere]

I tried getting tickets to a launch at the Space Center several times starting last year. Never made it in the lottery they held.