Unpacked my new telescope last night. Up and running in matter of minutes. Holy cow! What a scope!!
It talks. It shows videos. It moves gracefully to the objects of my desire.
Despite the all too bright Norwegian summer sky, it showed the Ring Nebula (M57) nicely. Despite clouds scattered across the sky, that hour last night will go down in history.
If anything could match sex, this certainly would be a worthy candidate.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Bliss!!!
Geir Isene - uncut 
Oh, great! I think I should take my children to see the observatory on a near mountain (http://www.klet.org/).
Jealous!!!
You are treading in the footsteps of the great ones. Imagine their pleasure to have had such a wonderful instrument.
Tell us more of what you see.
I will – as soon as I take it out for a spin again. But, unfortunately, at 60 degrees North (Oslo), it is very light until midnight all through summer until mid-August. So until then it will be mainly moon and planet gazing. But I will report 🙂
I am curious to see how much detail you will get from watching the moon. Also you may be able to get a fix on some of the sattelites in the orbit which would be very interesting too.
The scope’s computer includes scores of satellites orbiting Earth as well as some 100 000 other objects (nights will never be dull again)
Great!
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Super Earth!
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/first-light-from-exoplanet-0508.html
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I would love to see a photograph of that Ring Nebula (M57, taken from your telescope ).
That may take a bit of time… 🙂
In 1995 I was visiting a spiritual retreat in north Georgia state USA during Christmas time.
There was a couple also staying there, of which the wife gave her husband a scope for a Christmas present. As far as scopes go it was supposedly a more top of the line amateur scope of the times, as I was being told by the wife. There was some ARC between us.
He was kind of anal and there was no ARC between him and I.
It was about three feet or one meter long and I think it was in the 1000s of dollars price range.
As I recall can’t imagining where they ( she) got such money to buy it, especially for such a jerk as her husband.
It was about 9 PM or so and he was setting it up outside.
I was there and while waiting for him to get it set up and focused I was scanning the mountainous horizon with my eyes.
Actually big hills….
And to my surprise, I looked between two mountains ( big hills) and I saw Saturn and it’s rings with my bare eyes. I think it was in the western sky just above the horizon. I am not sure of the directions there.
I said look there is Saturn. It was very clear to me.
And he said in his anal tone, that is impossible, you cannot see Saturn with your bare eyes.
So a few minutes later he got it set up and turned his scope on the area where I pointed.
And lo and behold, he reluctantly and gruffly said, yes it is Saturn.
And his scope was unable to make it much more detail than what I could see with my naked eye.
I guess the air had to be very clean at the time and maybe different density air masses had a magnifying effect to make it so clear and visible.
Has anyone else ever saw Saturn with their naked eyes?
I have never looked for it again.
I am not much of a star gazer.
I probably would if I had more time and not so many other interests.
Dio
Yes Dio- When I was younger I was on my way to work and I looked up in the sky and saw Saturn as if someone just pasted it’s picture up there. I keep looking on line to see if others have seen it and they all say it’s impossible. It was in the 80’s and it was early in the morning. There is no ather planet that I know that has the rings around it that I know of. It was amazing, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to see it!!!
Good to read about your experience of also seeing Saturn.
I wonder what caused us to see it?
Dio
you were out of the body.
Geir, that looks like an awesome ‘scope.
Saturn is a good one to view. I once viewed Saturn through a telescope at an observatory. It was very cool, the rings were clearly visible.
Dio, the air low to the horizon does/can magnify objects in space. For example, when the moon is just rising, it can look enormous. By the time it gets well up in the sky it shrinks by a factor of 5 or 6, I’d guess. Anyone else noticed this?
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/05/13/why-does-the-moon-look-so-huge-on-the-horizon/
It shrinks by a factor of 14%.
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Proof of illusion
A popular belief, stretching back at least to Aristotle in the 4th century B.C., holds that the Moon appears larger near the horizon due to a real magnification effect caused by the Earth’s atmosphere. This is not true: although the atmosphere does change the perceived color of the Moon, it does not magnify or enlarge it.[3] In fact, the Moon appears about 1.5% smaller when it is near the horizon than when it is high in the sky, because it is farther away by up to one Earth radius and also because of atmospheric refraction, which makes the image of the Moon slightly smaller in the vertical direction. (Note that between different full moons, the Moon’s angular diameter can vary from 33.5 arc minutes at perigee to 29.43 arc minutes at apogee—a difference of over 10%.[4] This is because of the ellipticity of the Moon’s orbit.)
The angle that the full Moon subtends at an observer’s eye can be measured directly with a theodolite to show that it remains constant as the Moon rises or sinks in the sky (discounting the very small variations due to the physical effects mentioned). Photographs of the Moon at different elevations also show that its size remains the same.[citation needed]
A simple way of demonstrating that the effect is an illusion is to hold a small object (say, 1/4 inch wide) at arm’s length (25 inches) with one eye closed, positioning it next to the seemingly large Moon. When the Moon is higher in the sky, positioning the same object near the Moon reveals that there is no change in size. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion
I never did this experiment. Anyone?
Good point, Valkov.
Thanks for that.
Dio
Chris,
You made it so complicated, my brain hurts after reading your post.
I just don’t feel like thinking that hard at the moment.
I still think, as Valkov says, that atmospheric conditions can magnify.
Like the harvest moon in the fall, it appears huge compared to a normal moon up in the night sky.
I did open your link, and skimmed over it.
Don’t feel like going into detail at the moment.
More important things to do.
Dio
PS, I am quite sure, what I will cause the harvest moon effect, is likely what occurred that night in Georgia.
I know the facts are not determined by what I think, all I know is that I saw Saturn with my naked eyes.
I don’t think that is a normal occurance.
If someone can prove me wrong, I look forward to it.
Let the facts speak.
Dio
Dio, it is the “COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT” which dont allow the persons SEE the Saturn. They could if they would believe the can…. simple as that. And the reason why they will not believe that you have seen the Saturn, the very same reason,Collective agreement, those agreements will not allow other reality within the normal reality.. of course you can SEE the Saturn!!!
Chris Here is a thought: What we ” see” the eyes “see” that is what truly blinds us “. said Erzsebet.
Somehow I missed this article earlier, thanks for making available.
“If anything could match sex, this certainly would be a worthy candidate.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Bliss!!!”
Busted my gut on this one, LOL. 😉 Love it when we can get some pics of your finds.