Jupiter and Saturn

Capn Jack wrote in post #19270245
It depends on the app. I don't have a stand-alone compass app on my Samsung phone, but my iPhone compass settings are associated with the compass app; ForeFlight on the same phone works only as magnetic, but that is intended for a particular navigation environment.

Magnetic variation or declination, as you know, varies by location. Your 11 degrees is only 2.9 degrees here to the east, and it is about 5 degrees west in Indiana. I just mention it for others following the conversation.

Thank you, I never needed to find out as I never image from anywhere except here. 5 degrees is pretty close to usable, particularly with shorter focal lengths.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19270245
It depends on the app. I don't have a stand-alone compass app on my Samsung phone, but my iPhone compass settings are associated with the compass app; ForeFlight on the same phone works only as magnetic, but that is intended for a particular navigation environment.

Magnetic variation or declination, as you know, varies by location. Your 11 degrees is only 2.9 degrees here to the east, and it is about 5 degrees west in Indiana. I just mention it for others following the conversation.

xa-coupe wrote in post #19270256
Thank you, I never needed to find out as I never image from anywhere except here. 5 degrees is pretty close to usable, particularly with shorter focal lengths.

You are both talking above my education level, what you are saying is kinda twirling around in circles inside my brain. I am not really understanding what you are saying. Maybe I really do not need to understand all of that.

I did call the camera store this noon and was able to talk for a few minutes with the telescope expert in the store. From what I understood from him I do not need to see Polaris for lining up a telescope, all I need to do is point the scope in the north direction as close as I can with the scope being level to the ground, and from there the scope with find a couple different points that I need to verify each point being good and go from there.
One thing I learned about the store I was not happy with, is that they do not stock ANY telescopes in the store, they sell Meade telescopes so I need to find them on the web to do a preliminary search then go in and talk to him when he is there The telescope expert only generally works Mon-Wed-Fri and then from only 10AM to 2PM so basically he works 12 hours per week. I am sure he would help me from me telling him my needs/wants and then guide me better from there.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #19270291
You are both talking above my education level, what you are saying is kinda twirling around in circles inside my brain. I am not really understanding what you are saying. Maybe I really do not need to understand all of that.

I did call the camera store this noon and was able to talk for a few minutes with the telescope expert in the store. From what I understood from him I do not need to see Polaris for lining up a telescope, all I need to do is point the scope in the north direction as close as I can with the scope being level to the ground, and from there the scope with find a couple different points that I need to verify each point being good and go from there.
One thing I learned about the store I was not happy with, is that they do not stock ANY telescopes in the store, they sell Meade telescopes so I need to find them on the web to do a preliminary search then go in and talk to him when he is there The telescope expert only generally works Mon-Wed-Fri and then from only 10AM to 2PM so basically he works 12 hours per week. I am sure he would help me from me telling him my needs/wants and then guide me better from there.

All we are saying is that the magnetic poles and the geographic poles aren't in the same spot on the earth, and you need to compensate for that when using a compass. Some electronic devices can male the compensation for you.

While I don't know much about working with scopes, I know a little- the physics and optics work the same for a telescope, camera, or microscope. Remember that you have been using your camera lens as a telescope for your nice pictures. Make sure you can attach a camera to a telescope, there are some fittings for that. Reflector scopes might be easier in that respect than refractors. Some telescopes (probably the cheaper ones) only make a virtual image. Those are good for looking at distant objects, but a virtual image can't be projected (onto the camera sensor). While you don't need to know this bit of physics, verify there is a "T-mount" available for the telescope. If it can take a t-mount, it can project a real image for photography. This is the adapter for a camera. Make sure whoever is selling you something understands what you want to do! Also, you'll likely need to manually set the camera on the t-mount at the correct position (as I've done for microscopes).

See: https://opentextbc.ca …croscopes-and-telescopes/ for more information about telescopes and virtual images.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19270365
All we are saying is that the magnetic poles and the geographic poles aren't in the same spot on the earth, and you need to compensate for that when using a compass. Some electronic devices can male the compensation for you.

While I don't know much about working with scopes, I know a little- the physics and optics work the same for a telescope, camera, or microscope. Remember that you have been using your camera lens as a telescope for your nice pictures. Make sure you can attach a camera to a telescope, there are some fittings for that. Reflector scopes might be easier in that respect than refractors. Some telescopes (probably the cheaper ones) only make a virtual image. Those are good for looking at distant objects, but a virtual image can't be projected (onto the camera sensor). While you don't need to know this bit of physics, verify there is a "T-mount" available for the telescope. If it can take a t-mount, it can project a real image for photography. This is the adapter for a camera. Make sure whoever is selling you something understands what you want to do! Also, you'll likely need to manually set the camera on the t-mount at the correct position (as I've done for microscopes).

See: https://opentextbc.ca …croscopes-and-telescopes/ for more information about telescopes and virtual images.

Yes I have thought about asking about being able to photograph something with the telescope. I did not think of that yesterday when I spoke on the phone with him.

I would suspect some of your knowledge of geographic poles you learned from being a pilot.

Thank you for the link!

Got these last night with one of Indiana's very rare clear sky nights.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2mhf​YRv

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2mhe​Mjs

Inspeqtor wrote in post #19271874
Got these last night with one of Indiana's very rare clear sky nights.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2mhf​YRv Jupiter 08-15-2021 by inspeqtor, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2mhe​Mjs Saturn 08-15-2021 by inspeqtor, on Flickr

Wow- These are best I've seen with a DSLR and regular lens!

Capn Jack wrote in post #19271880
Wow- These are best I've seen with a DSLR and regular lens!

Thank you Capn! As you know it is RARE to get Saturn even close to being "in focus" on a DSLR, and I agree what I got last night on Saturn is pretty dang good!

I have gotten some a bit better of Jupiter, and gotten some of Jupiter showing some color as seen in my first post in this thread.

I am hoping to go to the brick & mortar camera store tomorrow to talk to the telescope "expert" on which scope he thinks will work pretty good in my budget, and include a camera also.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #19271981
Thank you Capn! As you know it is RARE to get Saturn even close to being "in focus" on a DSLR, and I agree what I got last night on Saturn is pretty dang good!

I have gotten some a bit better of Jupiter, and gotten some of Jupiter showing some color as seen in my first post in this thread.

I am hoping to go to the brick & mortar camera store tomorrow to talk to the telescope "expert" on which scope he thinks will work pretty good in my budget, and include a camera also.

The camera you have now should work, if you want to save some money. It depends on what you want to do.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19271987
The camera you have now should work, if you want to save some money. It depends on what you want to do.

In the past, I have seen online other cameras I "assumed" were built for telescopes that are MUCH smaller than a DSLR. I did not know, and still really do not know if a DSLR will be too big, heavy and maybe bulky for a telescope. Example of one picked at random shown below.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #19271993
In the past, I have seen online other cameras I "assumed" were built for telescopes that are MUCH smaller than a DSLR. I did not know, and still really do not know if a DSLR will be too big, heavy and maybe bulky for a telescope. Example of one picked at random shown below.

Hosted photo: posted by Inspeqtor in
./showthread.php?p=192​71993&i=i187205473
forum: Astronomy & Celestial

I'm not sure what I'm looking at there. It appears to be a camera mounted on a telescope piggy-backed on a larger telescope, but I may be wrong.
Here is one example if what I mean when I mentioned "T-mount" earlier:
https://www.celestron.​com …re-t-adapters-and-t-rings
https://en.wikipedia.o​rg/wiki/T-mount
I used them with microscopes, sometimes I used a C mount, but that is something different.
https://www.telescope.​com …pters-T-Rings/pc/4/62.uts

Capn Jack wrote in post #19272000
I'm not sure what I'm looking at there. It appears to be a camera mounted on a telescope piggy-backed on a larger telescope, but I may be wrong.
Here is one example if what I mean when I mentioned "T-mount" earlier:
https://www.celestron.​com …re-t-adapters-and-t-rings
https://en.wikipedia.o​rg/wiki/T-mount
I used them with microscopes, sometimes I used a C mount, but that is something different.
https://www.telescope.​com …pters-T-Rings/pc/4/62.uts

I apologize, I should have given you a LINK for that product.
I have heard of T-Rings before and knew what they are for. I never knew they were originally made by Tamron hence the T-(name) I am guessing!

Thank you for your links!

I was just looking at the Meade StarNavigator NG 102mm Refractor priced at only $599.00

I found good and bad reviews on it.

I need the scope to be fairly lightweight for moving it in and out of the house.

Their cheapest scope id $199.00 - THAT is too cheap for me!!

I went to the camera store this noon to talk to the man that knows the most about telescopes in that store. They only sell Meade telescopes. They do not stock any scopes in the store. I had called before going to give him a heads-up that I was on my way. What he did then was "tried" to get on the Meade website in preparation for my arrival, but he found meade.com not functioning at all. Bummer. While there I asked how many people come in to the store asking about telescopes, he said maybe 1 or 2 per year.

I had been on the meade website last night with no problem. I just now tried to get on again, and now YES it is working!! That is good except it did not work when I needed it to work when I was there. He only works M-W-F from 10AM to 2PM

I had taken with me my tablet and showed him the shots I have gotten in the past of Jupiter and Saturn and he was truly amazed at my pictures I had gotten with my Canon 90D and Sigma 1550-600C with my Sigma 2.0 extender which I have placed in this thread.

I told him of the difficulty I have had getting everything focused with my tripod and using my geared Manfrotto head. I asked if he could recommend a different head so maybe it would not shake so much as my geared head does. He recommended trying a Gimbal head.

I am going to start a new thread asking about Gimbal heads to see what people have to tell me.

Inspeqtor wrote in post #19272513
I went to the camera store this noon to talk to the man that knows the most about telescopes in that store. They only sell Meade telescopes. They do not stock any scopes in the store. I had called before going to give him a heads-up that I was on my way. What he did then was "tried" to get on the Meade website in preparation for my arrival, but he found meade.com not functioning at all. Bummer. While there I asked how many people come in to the store asking about telescopes, he said maybe 1 or 2 per year.

I had been on the meade website last night with no problem. I just now tried to get on again, and now YES it is working!! That is good except it did not work when I needed it to work when I was there. He only works M-W-F from 10AM to 2PM

I had taken with me my tablet and showed him the shots I have gotten in the past of Jupiter and Saturn and he was truly amazed at my pictures I had gotten with my Canon 90D and Sigma 1550-600C with my Sigma 2.0 extender which I have placed in this thread.

I told him of the difficulty I have had getting everything focused with my tripod and using my geared Manfrotto head. I asked if he could recommend a different head so maybe it would not shake so much as my geared head does. He recommended trying a Gimbal head.

I am going to start a new thread asking about Gimbal heads to see what people have to tell me.

Shows what I know. I'd have thought the geared head would be better. I'd have thought that your could dial it in. It needs to me moved easily, but able to be locked rigidly so everything doesn't dance around as you fine-tune focus. I suppose it may be possible to use an app to adjust focus- the lens uses motors to focus! And use the tablet or computer screen for viewing.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19272516
Shows what I know. I'd have thought the geared head would be better. I'd have thought that your could dial it in. It needs to me moved easily, but able to be locked rigidly so everything doesn't dance around as you fine-tune focus. I suppose it may be possible to use an app to adjust focus- the lens uses motors to focus! And use the tablet or computer screen for viewing.

I did just start a new thread, and I said there "I wish they made Gimbal heads with gears!"

The gimbal heads I guess were made for long lenses and the extra weight. Will see what other people say in my new thread.