The Planets...so perfect . . . and seeing colour ?

Hi All,
I'm not religious, but looking in the Astronomy binaries, some of the pics
of Saturn and Jupiter make space look so - "Perfect" ?

I mean - looking at the moon through my recently purchased 6" Reflector
telescope (I'm a newb) - the moon really does look like it's made of cheese!
How bizarre when you zoom in.

Saturn looks like it's been modelled and created, so perfect. There's got to
be a creator of these, it couldn't have just 'happened' to make them look so
fantastic.

On a different subject - I've read that looking at planets\Nebulae etc..
that due to the cones and rods in the eyes at night, you don't see colour.

If I hook up a digital camera, will that catch colour that my eyes can't see
?

Finally, I bought one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...category=32 4

They are peddling them on E-Bay, and it seems okay and I can see a fair bit.
What do you serious amateurs\pro's think to it ? I got mine for £125 in the
end.
Any good - or sucks like a hoover ?

Cheers,
Paul

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004 17:53:22 -0400, Paul wrote:

Hi All,
I'm not religious, but looking in the Astronomy binaries, some of the
pics of Saturn and Jupiter make space look so - "Perfect" ?

I mean - looking at the moon through my recently purchased 6" Reflector
telescope (I'm a newb) - the moon really does look like it's made of
cheese! How bizarre when you zoom in.

Saturn looks like it's been modelled and created, so perfect. There's got
to be a creator of these, it couldn't have just 'happened' to make them
look so fantastic.

On a different subject - I've read that looking at planets\Nebulae etc..
that due to the cones and rods in the eyes at night, you don't see
colour.


You need very dark skies and a large scope to begin to see color in
most deep sky objects. Our eyes are not really made to see at night too
well.


If I hook up a digital camera, will that catch colour that my eyes can't
see ?


It depends how long the shutter on the camera can be left open. The
longer, the more light and hence the more color as well. Too long will
oversaturate though and wipe out color for the most part.



Finally, I bought one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...category=32 4

They are peddling them on E-Bay, and it seems okay and I can see a fair
bit. What do you serious amateurs\pro's think to it ? I got mine for £125
in the end.
Any good - or sucks like a hoover ?


Who makes it? I'll reserve comment. 6" is a nice little scope but
what's the quality like? Optically how is it? How stable is the
mount/tripod?


Cheers,
Paul


--
Chris: "Dad, what's a blowhole for?"
Peter: "I'll tell you what it's NOT for and then you'll know why I
can never go back to Sea World."
("Family guy")

Paul wrote:

Hi All,
I'm not religious, but looking in the Astronomy binaries, some of the pics
of Saturn and Jupiter make space look so - "Perfect" ?

I mean - looking at the moon through my recently purchased 6" Reflector
telescope (I'm a newb) - the moon really does look like it's made of
cheese! How bizarre when you zoom in.

Saturn looks like it's been modelled and created, so perfect. There's got
to be a creator of these, it couldn't have just 'happened' to make them
look so fantastic.

On a different subject - I've read that looking at planets\Nebulae etc..
that due to the cones and rods in the eyes at night, you don't see colour.

If I hook up a digital camera, will that catch colour that my eyes can't
see ?

Finally, I bought one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...category=32 4

They are peddling them on E-Bay, and it seems okay and I can see a fair
bit. What do you serious amateurs\pro's think to it ? I got mine for £125
in the end.
Any good - or sucks like a hoover ?

Cheers,
Paul

Have no fear, that is a very reasonable deal you got there. I paid 180 US
for a Celestron Nexstar GT 114mm at Costco, its not too bad either. Like
you I'm new to this also, but the Celestron has whetted my appetite and now
I'm seriously thinking about a much larger scope. With my 4" i can see the
clouds on Jupiter and 4 of its moons, the rings of Saturn, and Mars polar
icecap. The only thing, i wish there were "star parties" nearby so i could
take a look through a 10" or larger unit.
Eric
Olympia WA

In message , Paul
writes
Hi All,
I'm not religious, but looking in the Astronomy binaries, some of the pics
of Saturn and Jupiter make space look so - "Perfect" ?

I mean - looking at the moon through my recently purchased 6" Reflector
telescope (I'm a newb) - the moon really does look like it's made of cheese!
How bizarre when you zoom in.

Robert Heinlein wrote in one of his stories that someone actually
compared the spectrum of the Moon and cheese, but they weren't the same
:-)


Saturn looks like it's been modelled and created, so perfect. There's got to
be a creator of these, it couldn't have just 'happened' to make them look so
fantastic.

I think it's "just" that the rings have been "modelled" by mathematical
laws, so they are "naturally" perfect. Like the laws determining the
orbits of Jupiter's moons.


On a different subject - I've read that looking at planets\Nebulae etc..
that due to the cones and rods in the eyes at night, you don't see colour.

If I hook up a digital camera, will that catch colour that my eyes can't see

Actually the eye can see colour in the planets, the brighter stars, and
in bright nebulae using a telescope. The Orion nebula is supposed to
look greenish (though I've never seen it myself) and some planetary
nebulae are quite colourful. There's a discussion right now on
uk.sci.astronomy about seeing blue spots on Jupiter, though the famous
Red Spot isn't very bright at the moment.
To get pictures you would need a camera that can do exposures of at
least 8 to 30 seconds or so and a telescope that can track the stars,
but yes, you will see colour. You can take "snapshots" of the Moon and
planets.
If you get anything you like, post it to alt.binaries.pictures.astro (or
set up a web site !) so we can all look :-)
--
Save the Hubble Space Telescope!
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

Have no fear, that is a very reasonable deal you got there. I paid 180 US
for a Celestron Nexstar GT 114mm at Costco, its not too bad either. Like
you I'm new to this also, but the Celestron has whetted my appetite and now
I'm seriously thinking about a much larger scope. With my 4" i can see the
clouds on Jupiter and 4 of its moons, the rings of Saturn, and Mars polar
icecap. The only thing, i wish there were "star parties" nearby so i could
take a look through a 10" or larger unit.
Eric
Olympia WA

Hmmm... This one I bought is a 6" Reflector. I got a trial copy of
"Starry Night" and it seems great for locating stars\planets for an
amateur like me.
Looking at Mars at the moment though, and I see a red dot, sort of
blurred. Is that normal at the moment and with the current orbit and
distance of Mars ?

Wondered if something needed polishing ?

Paul

In message , Paul
writes

Hmmm... This one I bought is a 6" Reflector. I got a trial copy of
"Starry Night" and it seems great for locating stars\planets for an
amateur like me.
Looking at Mars at the moment though, and I see a red dot, sort of
blurred. Is that normal at the moment and with the current orbit and
distance of Mars ?

I don't think this is the time to be looking at Mars unless you're a
real expert and started last year. It's a long way away and quite small
- only 1/10 the apparent size of Jupiter, for instance. Look at Jupiter,
which should show lots of detail, and look at some fairly bright stars
to make sure you're getting nice sharp images, as the telescope will
probably need collimating (lining up)

Eric posted:

The only thing, i wish there were "star parties" nearby so i could
take a look through a 10" or larger unit.

Then you should see if you can find your nearest local Astronomy Club. Sky
and Telescope lists one in Olympia:

Southwest Washington Astronomical Society
Category: Club
Address: 2513 Wiggins rd., Olympia, WA 98501 USA
Contact: Dennis Rech
Phone: 360-491-2013

Olympia is not far from Tacoma and Seattle, and there are a couple of clubs in
that area as well so you should find one which has a star party of some sort
in your area. Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

"David Knisely" wrote in message
...

Olympia is not far from Tacoma and Seattle, and there are a couple of
clubs in
that area as well so you should find one which has a star party of some
sort
in your area. Clear skies to you.

Is it only me who finds wishing someone who lives ins Seattle/Tacoma "clear
skies" to be bordering on cruel and unusual? g

collimating
This is a new word for me, and thanks to you Jonathan, I now won't think it is a canine reproductive act.

Regards Robert
"Get it - collie mating!"

"Jonathan Silverlight" wrote in message ...
In message , Paul
writes

Hmmm... This one I bought is a 6" Reflector. I got a trial copy of
"Starry Night" and it seems great for locating stars\planets for an
amateur like me.
Looking at Mars at the moment though, and I see a red dot, sort of
blurred. Is that normal at the moment and with the current orbit and
distance of Mars ?

I don't think this is the time to be looking at Mars unless you're a
real expert and started last year. It's a long way away and quite small
- only 1/10 the apparent size of Jupiter, for instance. Look at Jupiter,
which should show lots of detail, and look at some fairly bright stars
to make sure you're getting nice sharp images, as the telescope will
probably need collimating (lining up)


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