Subject:
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Re: (not quite) Looking at Mars
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Sat, 16 Aug 2003 10:52:40 GMT
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Viewed:
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311 times
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In lugnet.space, Tony Alexander wrote:
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Greetings, fellow .Spacers!
A few years ago I went to Target and bought a little telescope from the
toy section: a Discovery Channel telescope, 300 power, 50 mm; I forget the
actual manufacturer’s name, but it was a real telescope company, and this was
their lower-end introductory version. It came with a 3x Barlow lens, a little
right-angle doohickey, and 3 lenses: h20mm, h12.5mm, and f6 mm. And
instructions, but it’s been several years, so God only knows where those went.
Buying another isn’t an option for me; I can barely afford to feed my Lego
hobby when I’m lucky.
I can look at the moon, and she’s beautiful. But I SUCK at trying to
bring in anything smaller than that. I can almost get it in sight, but it’s a
manual, old-fashioned telescope, and I might not have the gentle touch needed
to really focus and point the thing. One day, but not soon enough to see
this; I need to pay the bills first.
Do any of you know anything about telescopes? I’d like to ask for your
suggestions on how to see Mars, which I verified is what I’m seeing out there
with two different programs (the excellent freeware Skyview 3.0, 1993-94, by
Steven Michael Schimpf; and the Astronomy CD from Science Advantage 2000, by
Encore Education, with programming published by Dorling Kindersley).
* First, how the heck do you aim one of these things accurately at a
little dot in the sky and keep it still long enough to see anything?
* When I use the different lenses, I think that the lower the number the
higher the magnification. Is this right, or is it the other way around? I
wear glasses; should I take them off to focus an image in? Are the focus
settings similar for each different lens, or will I need to exend the lens
tube farther and farther for each lens? Should I move the actual telescope
tube itself, and refrain from touching the lens tube?
* Do I need a special camera adapter to take pictures of any images I’m
lucky enough to get? I understand that the images are upside down and
flip-flopped, but believe that to be correctable with image-editing software
(or a very expensive (IMHO) correcting lens.
Please share your experiences and advice with this poor lost skywatching
soul. Any help you can provide will be much appreciated. Thanks!!!
Peace and Long Life,
Tony Alexander
CEO, Tw0nCo Enterprises
& VERY amateur astronomer wannabe
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I have some reply, but I don’t think it’ll be entirely correct. Let me know
if you want me to spill my brains all over and speak it, or just to sit back and
play Earth and Beyond again.
-Dan
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: (not quite) Looking at Mars
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| (...) Dan, Please do share! But not if your brains need to leak to do it. 8>) I'm interested in any advice you might have. Thanks! Peace and Long Life, Tony (21 years ago, 16-Aug-03, to lugnet.space, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | (not quite) Looking at Mars
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| Greetings, fellow .Spacers! A few years ago I went to Target and bought a little telescope from the toy section: a Discovery Channel telescope, 300 power, 50 mm; I forget the actual manufacturer's name, but it was a real telescope company, and this (...) (21 years ago, 16-Aug-03, to lugnet.space)
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