Amateur Astronomers?

[Relic]

If you are really looking into getting a really nice scope and don't want to spend a fortune...you have to check out www.astromart.com

You can get a great used scope for anywhere from $150 to $500. and almost everyone there that buys and sells takes great care of their stuff and pack it very well when shipping.

It really is the talkbass of amateur astronomy. Great sight for info, sharing ideas and buying and selling used astronomy gear.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Sundogue]

Thanks for the info!

You're welcome. Be sure to check out the classifieds. They are broken down into scope types. Whether you are looking for DOB's, refractors, SCT's, etc. There are tons a fabulous deals to be had.

Also look at the Accessories in the classifieds. You can get top notch observatory class eyepieces, mounts, tripods, etc. for very cheap.

Plus the forums have a lot of helpful advice if you need it to help your selection process.

If there is one piece of advice I could give to someone looking for their first good scope. Look for a good, solid mount! The view through even the best, most expensive telescope is useless on a cheap, wobbly mount. I'll take a cheap scope on a solid mount over an expensive scope on a cheap mount every time. [Well...I could always sell the cheap mount and get a good one for the good scope, but you know what I mean].

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

A double-bass player and engineer I used to work with both here at QSC and earlier at Crest Audio (in fact, he got me in touch with the people at QSC who hired me), Mike Lemp, is quite an amateur astronomer. So much so that he left a few years ago to start his own company (www.yamcon.com) to develop an idea he came up with: a device that would identify the star, planet, or other celestial body that you view through it, without any need to first orient it to a reference star. The device uses GPS to determine the viewer's position and the time, magnetic sensors to determine the compass direction it's pointing, and an accelerometer to determine what angle it's being held at. It uses this information along with a large built-in database to determine what the viewer is looking at.

After several years of development, working out bugs, seeking investment capital, etc., he's seeing his product finally being manufactured and sold by Celestron. I hope it does well for him!

 

[Sundogue]

A double-bass player and engineer I used to work with both here at QSC and earlier at Crest Audio (in fact, he got me in touch with the people at QSC who hired me), Mike Lemp, is quite an amateur astronomer. So much so that he left a few years ago to start his own company (www.yamcon.com) to develop an idea he came up with: a device that would identify the star, planet, or other celestial body that you view through it, without any need to first orient it to a reference star. The device uses GPS to determine the viewer's position and the time, magnetic sensors to determine the compass direction it's pointing, and an accelerometer to determine what angle it's being held at. It uses this information along with a large built-in database to determine what the viewer is looking at.

After several years of development, working out bugs, seeking investment capital, etc., he's seeing his product finally being manufactured and sold by Celestron. I hope it does well for him!

Meade came out with GPS on their GoTo scopes before Celestron did, but there is considerable debate about Meade stealing ideas. Very cool about your friend's idea. I see more inventive people in astronomy than anywhere else.

While My Meade doesn't use GPS, I only need to align two stars (takes all of two minutes), and then I use Starry Night Pro to control my scope via my laptop. Sometimes I even control my scope from my living room via my wireless network.

I can then sit in my recliner and "look" through my scope via my laptop.

Granted, it kind of takes the adventure out of being outdoors. But when it's zero degrees out, I can be warm and have a look through my scope anyway.

The technology is really making it all so easy. And now imaging even DSO's is so easy, anyone can do it.

But I'm going to wait on imaging until I get my observatory built on top of an old silo. Then I'm getting a 14" SCT.