Telescopes.....any thoughts ?

[Lance]

We've bought a property down in Gippsland and hope to relocate there in 18-24mths.
It's got a high set back veranda overlooking wooded farmland and nights down there can be a tad dark so I want to crank up a telescope to see what I can see.

Does anyone use a t/scope and have some ideas on what I should be considering in specs ?

Don't want to spend as much as we did on the house but $200-300 should get something reasonable shouldn't it ?

[BruceS]

Lance I've had a powerful one for quite a few years & intended setting it up in my retirement.
Unfortunately it would be useless mounted on a houseboat because of the movement.
I don't know a lot about them except if you use mine for watching birds they turn out upside down!!
You intend to use it for watching stars etc of course?
No days with digital cameras you can buy attachments to mount the camera & display the scene on a screen or capture it for later viewing.
I was going to get the attachment for tracking stars without adjusting the (whatever you call it?) Up /down!!

[bagmaker]

Whirlpool forums are great for that sort of stuff Lance

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2588023

What region is the block?

[Lance]

Thanks chaps.
Majority of viewing will probably be astronomical, but also having a bit of open area in view of the new house some would be of animal activity on the paddocks.
Do all t/scopes invert the image ?

Whirlpool, I hadn't thought of that site. That takes care of tonights reading......thanks BM
The new place (to us) is in Drouin, only just 'Gippsland', but 'Gippsland' enough for us

[native pepper]

Lance, I have friends who live between Drouin and Warrigal, that are into astronomy and they say the air is to polluted for good viewing now, because Drouin and Warrigal are virtual suburbs of Melbourne. If you are south of Drouin, it would be better. They have a holiday place here in Tas and do most of their astronomy there.

I have a telescope and have always had trouble locking on to things, but my friends have computerised ones that locate and follow their target and a home made observatory. By the time I get my scope locked on to something, it has moved and is no longer there or way out of focus. This means my scope sits there doing nothing, because I get to frustrated trying to keep the moving object in focus and centered. Could count on one hand the number of times have been able to actually view something for more than a couple of seconds over the last couple of decades, but well worth doing if you are really into it and get the right equipment.

[BruceS]

Each time an image is reflected in a mirror it loses "stuff". (technical term)
To get the image the right way up it needs one more mirror.
Binoculars have 2 mirrors in each eye so OK.
The best night sky viewing is in very dark areas. If you can see the glow over the horizon of a town, a city or even freeway lights you can forget seeing small stars or other objects.
Lance if you did take a look at that Linux distribution I mentioned a while back, it has a program in it to help 'navigate' by the skies. Very informative.
http://www.stellarium.org/

[bagmaker]

Amazing to think of Droon being a suburb now, Geez I must be getting old.
Great butcher in Longwarry, good enough to travel and build a relationship with.

[Dot]

How close is your nearest neighbour??

[native pepper]

Amazing to think of Droon being a suburb now, Geez I must be getting old.
Great butcher in Longwarry, good enough to travel and build a relationship with.

Taralgon is where the suburban train line stops now, have dropped and picked up people from the train station a number of times, rather than go into Melb. It's only an hour or so trip express.

[Lance]

My brother has been in Drouin for about 6yrs and loves the environment, we got the same feel when we started going down there.
We spend a lot of time in Gippsland with our Ukuleles through several groups, so that area was an easy attraction for when we retire.
The house is in town but south of the railway line and as I said we have a good view from the back veranda, that's what I want to spot with the t/scope.
I'm not particularly wanting to put The Planetarium out of business, they apparently do a reasonable job keeping an eye on all the aliens and stuff, but I'd like to have a bit of a sticky beak at our terrestrial neighbours, hence my interest in a t'scope.