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pylon · 01-28-2010, 05:04 PM

This Christmas I decided to treat myself to something I have always wanted. A high quality amateur telescope. I decided to go full bore with the Celestron Nexstar 8SE 8" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope. With the CAD dollar where it is at, and the low entry cost to get involved, it was a no brainer. All in after eyepieces, GPS, scope, CCD imager, case, power tank, SLR photography adapters etc. it all came in at about $2500. I was looking at the same equipment about 3 years ago, and it was almost double the cost. Anyone who has ever had an interest in this stuff, now is the time do some research, and you would be amazed at how prices have come down.

Heres the scope:

Anyhow, my first night out was absolutely amazing. After getting all my stars tringulated, I pulled up Saturn on the planet menu, and after about 30 seconds of tracking... there, dead centre in my eyepiece was saturn and her rings at about 4:00 in the morning. I popped in the 2X barlow lens, put in the reccomended filter for Saturn, and went down to a 15mm eyepiece, and I was stunned. Color, and cloud bands were visible. The rings are to on edge right now to make out the Cassini division, but in about 7-8 months it will be, and that will be equally awesome to see. Last night I got a glimpse of Jupiter, cloud bands, GRS and 3 of her moons, equally stunning.

So my questions are these:

- As opposed to setting up in cemetary out in Springbank to get good dark skies, where do you guys set up?

- Does anyone have any experiece with SLR astrophotograhpy, looking for good pointers and possible live help.

- And being relatively new, what are some good pointers in general.

Also thanks to Ken at All-star Telescope in Didsbury. What a cool store, and incredible service. For only about a hundred bucks more than getting the stuff online, I got to deal with a true entusiast, and that is there for any service concerns. I would recommend anyone looking to take up this hobby to visit his incredibly cool shop, and get advice.

link to Kens shop:

http://www.all-startelescope.com/

01-28-2010, 05:04 PM	#1
pylon Lifetime Suspension Join Date: Jul 2007 Exp:	Any amateur astronomers post here? UPDATE!! My first photo of Jupiter This Christmas I decided to treat myself to something I have always wanted. A high quality amateur telescope. I decided to go full bore with the Celestron Nexstar 8SE 8" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope. With the CAD dollar where it is at, and the low entry cost to get involved, it was a no brainer. All in after eyepieces, GPS, scope, CCD imager, case, power tank, SLR photography adapters etc. it all came in at about $2500. I was looking at the same equipment about 3 years ago, and it was almost double the cost. Anyone who has ever had an interest in this stuff, now is the time do some research, and you would be amazed at how prices have come down. Heres the scope: Anyhow, my first night out was absolutely amazing. After getting all my stars tringulated, I pulled up Saturn on the planet menu, and after about 30 seconds of tracking... there, dead centre in my eyepiece was saturn and her rings at about 4:00 in the morning. I popped in the 2X barlow lens, put in the reccomended filter for Saturn, and went down to a 15mm eyepiece, and I was stunned. Color, and cloud bands were visible. The rings are to on edge right now to make out the Cassini division, but in about 7-8 months it will be, and that will be equally awesome to see. Last night I got a glimpse of Jupiter, cloud bands, GRS and 3 of her moons, equally stunning. So my questions are these: - As opposed to setting up in cemetary out in Springbank to get good dark skies, where do you guys set up? - Does anyone have any experiece with SLR astrophotograhpy, looking for good pointers and possible live help. - And being relatively new, what are some good pointers in general. Also thanks to Ken at All-star Telescope in Didsbury. What a cool store, and incredible service. For only about a hundred bucks more than getting the stuff online, I got to deal with a true entusiast, and that is there for any service concerns. I would recommend anyone looking to take up this hobby to visit his incredibly cool shop, and get advice. link to Kens shop: http://www.all-startelescope.com/ Last edited by pylon; 08-08-2010 at 03:08 AM.