Any star gazers and amateur astronomers ?

^ Cool telescopes!

I've had an interest in astronomy since college when I bought my first telescope. Since then I've dabbled in astrophotography (some shots below, one including my Bushnell telescope) but never really improved my skills. Not having the budget to upgrade my equipment is part of it, but also living in the city has limited my opportunities to get out there and look up.

Fortunately I have a dark sky park just 5 hours away - Cherry Springs State Park. I will be there for the Black Forest Star Party in September, is anybody else going?

 

Anyone have a favorite place around Joshua Tree to watch the meteor shower?

 

Just found this thread. I'm really super amateurish. Simple scope and just bought a cheap adaptor to hold phone to the lense.
Moon and Jupiter for first shots the other night. Light polluted front yard

 

My first foray into AP. All taken in 2017/2018.




This was the super moon of 2018 taken with EF 400mm f5.6 (this lens now rests in a watery grave)


The moon you say? Nope. Partial solar eclipse of summer 2017.

 

Definitely not an expert, or really a stargazer per se, but as a merchant marine I definitely get to experience a lot of incredible views on the night watch. almost zero light pollution at all, maybe some of the light off the equipment screens is about it. The ship rolling around always makes is damn near impossible to get photos, but I do shoot stars with the sextant every week or so to stay sharp, and also to kill time and have something to do haha. Pretty incredible that navigation by the stars is such an old art, and yet so reliable.

P.S. Incredible photos in this thread! really awesome shots

 

Oh my. I did not need to find this thread... I have a house to repair, and a kid, but man I want to spend a little money on some glass.

 

Send your Grad to space:
https://www.spacex.com/classof2020

 

Clear skies in the forecast for 5/20 and 5/21, so I’m gathering up all my optics and camera gear and headed up to my dark sky park to work on some astrophotography.

First camping trip of the year!

 

Any opinions on the Celestron 6SE for a 1st scope?

 

yea thats a good one. grab the 8 inch if you can afford it and a good 2" barlow to double your magnification power of your eyepieces. be sure to join cloudynights.com and join the community

 

Got some cool shots last night!

 

Has anyone seen comet NEOWISE yet?
Anyone in SoCal have info for sighting opportunities?

 

I live in one of the most overcast areas of the country....Here’s a pic from above the clouds by nearby Mt Washington Observatory:



I keep on looking though...

 

Saw Neowise amongst the trees last night. It’s supposed to get higher as July moves along.

Really easy to find. Pick out the Big Dipper and look below towards the horizon. Easily visible with the naked eye. I’ll try to get some pics as conditions permit.

Here’s the map for tonight courtesy of Spaceweather.com

 

I'm going to try and catch a peek these next couple days of camping but I'm not I'll be able to see it with the mountains to the west of me. Will depend on how low on the horizon it is compared to the 14K ft peaks around here.

 

It’s going to get higher towards the Dipper as the month goes on. Check out the website I posted. They’ll have updated maps.

Good luck! Hope you have excellent weather

 

We saw it last night from Rancho Palos Verdes, very faint, even with 10x binoculars, lots of clouds and city lights.
We're heading to the desert tomorrow for a better view.

 

Neowise tonight...In massachusetts. Very easy to see once you find it. I took this with an OLD night vision camera...



I have a Newtonian PowerSeeker 127EQ telescope that I am sure I could see it with if I had it with me. I don't have any decent photographic equipment for a prolonged exposure...

 

@jbrandt

 

Oh,
and this is great