@dystopian
now you've gone and done it. I will definitely take you up on that invite. You have been forewarned! The scope is portable so that will be no problem bringing it along, that is, if I get that one.

The visit to the hill country was great. Every time we go there we cuss at the folks with their mansions on top of the hills. How dare they be so lucky.

I don't want to sink 10K into a scope like the Schmidt-Cassgrain 10" that you mentioned, but the Celestron I highlighted should temper my star gazing appetite. It's a champagne diet on a beer budget type thing.

Thanks for the comment and excellent vids, mi hermano.

Hi all, Hi JtC,

Hope you had a good hill country visit! But please be careful. This place and these people will trick you into moving here. The water supply and quality was huge in my/our decision to be here. Black skies was another major strong point. If you ever get near my part (link in profile), especially after you get that scope, ya better shout. I got cold ones and stuff here. A place to set up without people or lights usually. Town events sometimes have night lights a couple miles away.

These guys (BOC) black & white period was great at the time, when they went color on the album cover, they went pop. First three was the good run.

If it is clear out I can spin around and name a couple dozen constellations usually, and lots of the key stars of course. But my scope is a birding type. I can see the ring of Saturn but no detail, it is a dot. The problem in the eastern U.S., anything in the south east especially, and certainly the east half of Texas is humidity. Summer sky-watching is really hampered by it. Go west young man. Once you get west of about 100W you lose most of it. Winters are great, the humidity is gone. But it is cold.

Having spent lots of my life camping, and some with some astro people I did have some good exposure to real deal star men.
Starman

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Had a buddy with a Schmidt-Cassgrain 10", the full monty. I think it was about 10K, decades ago. He had a box of lenses for it, another 10K, with things like Helium and Hydrogen filters so we could see different types of nebulas. Freaking mind-blowing awesomeness.

One of the great problems of mankind is that they no longer can see the stars, the galaxy, and the universe from their cities. This has contributed greatly to their lack of understanding of their place in it, and why they are so out of touch with it.

Gotta get to work! Have good ones all!

be well!

edits to fix a couple minor not worth mentioning things...

@jakkalbessie
how wonderful the experiences you and d.o. had on your travels, especially the observatory in Hawaii. Wow! I am envious.

Where is the observatory near Austin. That sounds awesome.

Thanks for stopping by, happy trails!

Never have gotten involved with searching the stars as much as I have with birding but have had some interesting history with astronomy. While in college, I began my education planning to be an elementary teacher and you were required to have two science credits. First one was geology and most elementary majors took astronomy as the second because the teacher took you up on the science building and you looked through the telescope and was an easy course. Signed up and they changed professors. The new professor gave us math problems dealing with where the stars etc., were in the sky. Not having the math background was a dismal semester.

Fast forward to teaching on the secondary level. Joined some fellow teachers that were leading a two week trip to Hawaii and got to join them when they took the students up on Maura Kea to see the observatory there. Because we were not responsible for the students, the gentleman at the observatory invited myself and Divine Order to come back that evening and look through some of the telescopes. That was an incredible experience though so many years have passed cannot remember all the details.

On our trips to Africa, going on night drives, you were treated to the awesomeness of the night sky with no light pollution from any nearby towns. On one of the drives, it was a slow night for animals and so our guide stopped the vehicle and invited us to step out and he gave us a mini lecture on the constellations visible in the night sky from where we were in Zambia. Was a special bonus for the night drive.

On my “things to do in the near future”, one is to visit one of the Observatories within driving distance from Austin or Santa Fe.

Hope all have a great day and don’t forget to look at the stars in the evening. Have no suggestions for what kind of telescope.

@QMS
man, seeing the stars on the high seas has to be some kind of special. Next time you go out you're going to have to invite me along! I'd make really good ballast.

Thanks for stopping by, Cap.

Back in my tugboat days, would always take the midnight to 6 AM shift so I could step out of the wheelhouse and admire the jewels of the heavens. When I became serious about licensing, in order to get the 'all oceans' endorsement, had to learn celestial navigation. Did a course at Chapmans in Stuart, FL. to learn how to run a sextant, noon sights, twilight sun and moon sets, etc.

When I moved to the mountains of Arizona, the school had an astronomy club. We would go out to some hills away from town (elevation 5200') and gaze thru this large, round scope. Saw the rings of Saturn, moons of Saturn, amazing nebulas .. It was fantastic, on most nights you could read newspaper print from starlight alone.

It was a great way to learn the constellations and navigation stars. Really helped when I passed the Coast Guard test later to open up my license.

The sky here is great for lack of light pollution, but with so many trees, the vistas are limited. Also, being close to the ocean, we need a high pressure system coming from the north up Canada way to chase the humidity away. Still, many sparkling nights.

Thanks for the OT!

@Fishtroller 02
Fermilab, that's up near my old stomping grounds.

I own most of Sagan's books but missed that one. I will hunt it down.

I wholeheartedly agree with this:

the universe provides a far more vast experience of awe creation than any religion ever has... and it's real!

Thanks, my Kentucky bluegrass friend.

I attended every lecture given by the staff involved in astrophysics. It was a heady time in my life and I loved every minute of it.

One of my favorite books regarding Carl Sagan came out after he died. It was edited by his widow Ann Druyan. It was a series of lectures he gave on his personal view of the search for God. The title was a take on the famous religious book "The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James. The Sagan book is titles "The Varieties of Scientific Experience". He pretty much demonstrates that the universe provides a far more vast experience of awe creation than any religion ever has... and it's real!

@zed2
in the past, it's a great little program.

I run a pretty good machine that's capable of virtual astronomy (Celestia). I used to do that quite frequently a few years back. I should install it again.

The go-to software for use with a programmable telescope is Starry Nights. It's a little techie but awesome when you get used to it.

Other science hobbies? Computers and internet community building (you know, like herding cats), heh!

Thanks for the suggestions Dawn.

Their web site is Celestia.space

What OS platform (computing) are you on, Linux, OS-x, Windows? and do you have video acceleration card (for example, Nvidia, or AMD Radeon) in your computer? To use Celestia without pain you really need one.

What OS do you use, and is your net connection fairly fast? You might be able to have a lot of fun with virtual astronomy.

To find amateur astronomers, find a local star party. You might be able to find nearby astronomy buffs via NASA Social. Look them up.

Do you have any more specialized science interests/hobbies?

@zed2
above my pay grade, but interesting none the less.

If I was going to get into astronomy it would probably be radio astronomy.