Any astrophysicists/astronomers here?

[george graves]

Yup!

On a date...."Oh look, there's the moon, and there's venus"

Her: "Ummm so what's that over there?"

Me: "That's got to be a plane"

Her: "Why's it not moving?"

[ForcedFirebird]

On a date...."Oh look, there's the moon, and there's venus"

Her: "Ummm so what's that over there?"

Me: "That's got to be a plane"

Her: "Why's it not moving?"

Lol. You're not alone. Last night one of the locals came by to tinker with his engine and I saw Venus bright and shiny. Pointed it out to him and he asked the very same thing "Isn't that a plane?" and my reply was, "Wouldn't it be moving?"

[george graves]

....so...this is coming from my amazing time seeing the eclipse...but

It's been a long time since I've traveled far enough out of a city to escape the light pollution stuff, but wondering if I should make a trip to watch some salights go over? When the conditions are right, they sparkle in the sky, and quite amazing.

[parkerbink]

Great thread. I got a Celestron 8 in February and have been geeking out on this.

So amazing!

[cheffy30]

i went up to mount rainier one year, camping. took a late night walk with the wife up the road... pitch black fucking dark... zero pollution. the stars looked like clouds. so thick. it was difficult to pick out the most common constellations. amazing. i'll never forget that night... so yeah, gotta get out of town for the good shit.

[ForcedFirebird]

So far, I have just pulling the scope out in the back yard. I live in West Broward county, so the everglades are just a few miles away, need to takle a drive out one night. Friends tell it's better, but I have been able to see everything decently so far.

Great thread. I got a Celestron 8 in February and have been geeking out on this.

So amazing!

Ours is a Celestron 127 eq. One of my good friends has the 130 slt, it's on a motorized mount and he says it takes a few minutes to set up, but them at the push of a button, you have your target.



My only gripe about the scope so far is a viewfinder. The mount is flimsy and just moving it/out of the house throws it off. I find it's takes just as long to eye the target, then use the fine tune handles to scan. When the moon is out, often use it to reset the viewfinder.

[parkerbink]

Ours has the computer finder system, I think it's called sky align. It works well.

I live in the West valley of Phoenix, it's pretty clear & dark at night so I get great viewing most nights in my backyard.

[ForcedFirebird]

Came in extra early to work at the shop (2am my time). So I don't have the scope here, but can clearly see Mars, Jupter and Saturn with the naked eye, even in the city. The shop is right off i95 in Pompano Beach, just a few miles from Ft. Lauderdale Beach, so even if I had the scope, Neptune and Pluto would be out of the question to view here, but according to my phone app, they would both be within view.

[ForcedFirebird]

BOOM! All major planets in view right now.....

[ForcedFirebird]

here are a couple vids illustrating all the planets on one side of the sun.
super rad!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om9HIAopXjs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om9HIAopXjs

Same link :P

Are these signs of the apocalypse?

i sure hope so!:popcorn:

Well seeing we have had 2 major eruptions of volcanoes, perhaps the doomsday YouTube'ers are right? hehe

[george graves]

Damn, the outer planets are slow. I guess that's a function of the "1/(r^2)"

Pluto, get your ass in gear. If this was a 4th of July parade, the sun would be blowing its whistle non-stop. Silly planets!

(and don't get me started about pluto not being a planet. Screw NDT)

[ForcedFirebird]

"1/(r^2)"

close. According to Newtonian/base physics...



F = Gm1m2/r2


By the way, you should really consider a Florida visit :P I'm at a loss with my CNC machine.

[ForcedFirebird]

Gravitational waves are reduced by square of distance. aka "inverse square law of gravitation"

[george graves]

close.

Since m1 and m2 are constans. It reduces to 1/r^2 :D

I'm at a loss on my CNC machine too. It's been in the corner for over a year now. Mach 3 is easy, but the tooling paths are a steep learning curve.

[ForcedFirebird]

Since m1 and m2 are constans. It reduces to 1/r^2 :D

I'm at a loss on my CNC machine too. It's been in the corner for over a year now. Mach 3 is easy, but the tooling paths are a steep learning curve.

Tool paths, speed/feed, and g-code are fluent for me. The issue is in the ancient electronics. They are full sized surface mount with very few proprietary integrated circuits (have blueprints for most). I have a missing handshake between the NC controller and DC motor servos. Was on the phone again today for over an hour with the "CNC Doc", but think I just need another pair of eyes.