Anyone Else Into Astronomy?

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I notice this science section doesn't seem to have any recent astronomy topics. I'm a big enthusiast, from eclipses to just staring at the constellations at night, looking forward to the Perseid showers starting next month (first one already spotted though).

I also like astronomy because it takes place at night, and I'm very sensitive to light. So anything that involves working in the dark is fundamentally appealing to me. I sometimes wonder if certain famous premodern astronomers were Aspies, or had autistic traits.

Are there other astronomy buffs? Telescope owners? People involved in online projects?

Somewhat but I'm more interested in stars and black holes...the physics is what interests me about the whole thing, I guess.

Though I was in the right place in Los Angeles late last year to get to see the ISS fly overhead. Didn't have a telescope because I was working overtime but it looked like a steadily quick moving star moving across the night sky. Was pretty cool.

...I think it was the ISS. Not 100% sure, though.

I have been looking at buying a telescope and doing astrophotography, but I am holding off until I am working again. I could buy a cheap scope to start with, but I would sooner look at getting something with a longer focal length and wider aperture (more magnification and light gathering power), but I also want a motorised mount for taking longer exposures and the ability to connect to a laptop. I guess I am looking at 1000-3000 dollars here in Australia, unless I can find a good second hand setup.

Although the city lights are getting a bit bright these days, there is always the opportunity to go out into the outback and take advantage of some incredibly clear skies, or into the Warrambungle Ranges near Coonabarrabran, near Siding Springs observatory.

john

Yes (x3).

Please tell us more about what you do/observe. It might trigger me into doing the same; currently, my mind is occupied elsewhere and needs jogging to shift set.

You can get the ephemeris from NASA.

ruven

I grew up loving astronomy. I miss being able take my telescope outside and see things, living in Vegas has kinda killed that. The sky is always glowing here, it's horrid. At 10 years old I had all 88 constellations memorised, even the southern polar ones. Its really a shame that circumstances made me drop an old childhood skill, I was really quite good at it and could have probably gone to school to become an astronomer. Now the only stargazing I get to do is on NASA website and KStars, along with the occasional trip outside of the city. I have a copy of this book <BOOK> from like, 1991. Very well loved, quite nearly falling apart. Best book I've ever seen for people new to stargazing.

You can see the ISS most nights. It's now the brightest thing in the night sky, I believe, after the moon (and the brief apperances of Iridium flares).
Set yourselves up on: http://www.heavens-above.com

I mostly read, use software to look at what various ground-based and orbital telescopes are seeing, watch documentaries (recently saw "From the Earth to the Moon"), and late at night when the sky is clear just watch for stuff (Perseids are arriving, for instance). I don't have a telescope because the area I live in has too much light pollution.

I used to be as a kid (had a refractor scope, but low Southern humidity made stargazing a bit dicey).

Eventually found out that

1) a goodly portion of it is math
2) the colder, and darker, the better...

plus I discovered girls about then...always something...

You gave up astronomy for girls? I was into astronomy and was dumped because I would rather stare at the sky than go on a dinner date...

-TB

I'd rather try to work through the partial differentials for calculating the 3+ body problem than go on a dinner date.

Fortunately, there's lots of astronomy to enjoy without any maths, except numbers used as names for various objects (NGC, Messier, etc.).

Unless you calculate the distances between various bodies, graph the speed of rotating star clusters, etc.

-TB

I grieve with you. About twenty years ago I had to drive nearly 80 miles from Lowell MA into Vermont to find a sky dark enough to see the Milky Way with naked eye.

Light pollution is a killjoy. When I was a kid I could see the Milky Way from beach near Hyanus in Cape Cod. Now it is impossible. The light pollution kills.

ruveyn

I grieve with you both as well. I live in Steilacoom. The lights on the islands in the Puget sound wreck much of the joy, and (Washington) the clouds wreck the rest. Still, right now Jupiter is very bright. With my telescope, I can see the red spot and the four tiny white flecks that are its four largest moons (Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa). I also had the pleasure of seeing a meteor the other night.

-TB

My problem is that I'm bad at math (I was bad at girls too, but at least I got more sympathy in that arena...

Also, I don't want to look at the sky. I want to go there! Can't always get what you want.

Much more simpler that dating a girl.