Would you like to learn how to find amazing objects in the night sky? Learn about telescopes and equipment used to observe the cosmos? Discover a bit more about the problem of light pollution and reducing it? You're at the right channel, and I've been doing this since 2010 too.
I respond to most comments, so feel free to say something either positive or constructively critical (so I can improve what I share here). Presently, there is a new series of videos being uploaded that detail exactly how to find the best targets in the northern hemisphere night sky, even through moderate light pollution using small to medium sized telescopes.
I hope you'll subscribe and continue watching to learn more about what YOU can find and see as an amateur astronomer.
This series is really cool, exploring objects while pointing out things about light pollution. I guess I now have something to binge watch the video series while my photos are stacking :)
overall it's one of the objects where it's more interesting to know whan you're looking at than just the apearance of the object it's self something an armature astronomer probably should do with most of their targets
Since the expanse 6 and 9 use built in barlow lenses like the premium eyepieces, they also happen to work well in fast scopes. The 15 and 20mm are just like other budget wide fields and will suffer greatly at the edges in fast scopes. I started with 2 slow scopes, an 80mmf11 refractor goto, and then a 127mak on the skyview pro dual axis drive package, since my plan was to later add an 8" newtonian and use it on that mount with the 80mm refractor piggybacked as a manual guide scope, and do film astrophotography as a DSLR was out of my budget, and since they were relatively new, cheap used ones werent plentiful like they are now. Of course being heavily influenced and informed by the orion catalog, i was planning on an orion 8"f5 ota that was what also came on the SVP mount, it didnt come with rings, dovetail, finder or eyepieces, so I went with a hardin star-hoc 8-4 which came with rings, eyepieces and finder for the same, or slightly less money (it was 20 years ago, i forgot exactly but it was about $300). I figured the f4 ratio would be beneficial on that class of mount, being faster requiring shorter exposures than f5, and the added benefits of shorter focal length and a shorter tube length were appealing as well. What killed me was how poorly a the.cheap meade 18mm WA and the more expensive meade 13.8mm SWA (japan series 4000) performed at f4. The 18 was like a whirlpool effect, and the 13.8 was just very astigmatic in the outer 1/2 of the field, but cleaned up great with a barlow. Both were excellent at f11 and f12 in my other scopes. So I started buying older.nagler and UWA eyepieces, since they are a must at f4 if you want to use most or all of the field at 82-84 degrees. But the expanse 6/9, and the stratus/hyperion from 3.5-21mm as well as the planetary 58deg eyepieces based off of the tmb/burgess planetary, and all of those other long eye relief and flat field designs, offer acceptable performance in the more moderate 58-68deg range. This was before prices on celestron, meade and later explore scientific 82deg had come down to 100 bucks in the 1.25 sizes. Explore cut off meade and celestron, and went exclusive on the 68 and 82, and then doubled the price. Tip, used meade series5000 SWA is the same as es68, and the original lineup of 5000 UWA is the same as es82. Celestron axiom LX was also the same as es82
Refork, or better yet get some money back by selling to somone on a budget with an 8" meade tube. If I ever defork my 10, im definitely going to try to sell the forks wedge tripod, and original giant trunk case as a package
Remember folks, more light = more crime. In my neighborhood, everything is extremely dark. If you're going to be a prowler, or a burglar, you better bring a flashlight. Having any light source leave your own property is no different than cranking up rap music on a large outdoor speaker. Keep YOUR light on YOUR property. It's very easy to know if you are doing things right. The light source should only be visible from your property. Once off of your property, only reflected light is acceptable.
Two of the brightest stars known in the Milky Way are in Cepheus, Mu Cephei and VV Cephei. Both are Supergiant red stars and Mu Cephei would reach to Jupiter's orbit. VV Cephei would reach beyond Jupiter. VV Cephei is about halfway between NGC 7160 and Xi Cephei. As Red Supergiants they are of course variable and if either one was as close as Betelgeuse they would far outshine it. VV Cephei is approx. 5,000 ly and Mu Cephei is 940 parsecs* or 3,064 ly and Betelgeuse is 600-700 ly from the Sun. The 2nd link below has a photo of Mu Cephei and an outdated chart showing relative stellar objects sizes. In the IC 1396 Nebula next to Mu Cephei and next to the Elephant Trunk Nebula is HD 206267 a quintuple star, but only 4 are visible, it is the brightest star in the Nebula at 5.7 magnitude you'd need dark skies to see it without magnification, but a decent size scope can make out the multiple stars except one, you'd need at least a six inch scope to see it at 13.3 magnitude. Alfirk the right corner of the roof of Cepheus is also a visual double star, it's actually a triple star, but one is too close to Alfirk to see in what is called a spectroscopic binary. Spectroscopic binary stars are quite common and they're called that because it often takes a spectroscope to pick them up and/or an observatory class telescope to see them. I enjoy studying double/multiple stars and my back porch faces North by Northwest so I often look at the circumpolar constellations like Cepheus in the evening when I don't want to go out to my son's house or out to Bortle two dark skies about 30 minutes out of town. *A parsec is 3.26 light years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsec en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_Cephei
According to some authors, Meade's ACF telescopes are long-lasting, but the electronics in the base are not: they wear out faster--and likewise for Celestron. For that reason, I like the idea of mounting a 10-12 inch Meade ACF on an equatorial mount that I use with different OTAs. My Meade 8 inch LX2 was an excellent introduction to deep sky observing, so I am inclined to go further with a larger and more recent version. Thanks for the video and I hope you adopt Buy Me a Coffee and/or Patreon.
I saw this star outside today walking inside my apartment. Sometimes you gotta just look around and appreciate the things that are out in this world and universe. It’s astonishing. That star is extremely bright and flairs every second it sticks out from every other star. Idontknow for sure what we are living in but it sure is beautiful
I didn't think about the fact that you could line up the telescope with the shadow on the ground. My brain wasn't thinking three-dimensionally. Thank you.
first time viewer. Like + Subscribe simply for 'Salutations' xD Great tutorial thanks for taking the time! when I first opened it on my pc it is a bit empty of info haha
