Chaotic Astronomy

The PowerSeekers come in a choice of refractor or reflector, equatorial or altazimuth mount design. The PowerSeekers come with all coated glass optical components with for enhanced image brightness and clarity. The Newtonian reflectors offer larger aperture and greater light gathering power needed to resolve the faint detail of hundreds of deep-sky and other celestial objects.

All PowerSeekers come on either sturdy equatorial mounts for tracking the sky, or collapsible altazimuth mounts suitable for terrestrial viewing as well as astronomical use.

The PowerSeekers come with a full range of eyepieces plus a 3x Barlow lens, allowing an increase in viewing power hundreds of times greater than that of an unaided eye!

The PowerSeekers PS 114 EQ is a great choice for children and families.

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Then how would we detect any commets and asteroids in time? Because it’s impossible for two telescopes to look in the right place at the right time all of the time.

There are quite a number of survey telescopes devoted to asteroid searches (and which also find comets.)

The Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey uses 2 1.0 m Telescopes of the same design as those used by the US military to track space junk.

The Spacewatch program uses a 0.9 m scope and a 1.8 m scope.

The Catalina Survey uses a 0.68 m Schmidt telescope, its sister the Mt Lemmon Survey uses a 1.5 m telescope and their southern partner the Siding Spring Survey uses a 0.5 m Schmidt telescope.

The Lowell Observatory Near Earth Object Survey (LONEOS) uses a 0.6 m Schmidt telescope.

The Near Earth Asteroid Tracking Survey (NEAT) shares the 1.2 m Palomar Oschin Schmidt telescope with Mike Brown’s deep solar system survey that is finding lots of Kuiper Belt objects.

There’s also the Lulin Survey in China (a 0.4 m RC scope.)

There are also many amateurs with 0.3 to 0.4 m scopes doing asteroid work, even some with larger equipment in the 0.6 to 0.7 m range.

There are also programs that use time on scopes such as the 2 m Faulkes telescopes.

PanSTARRS and LSST are on the drawing boards (well in the case of PanSTARRS there is actually a prototype telescope running now) and would dominate the survey scene should they come on line.

The discovery rate of asteroids has jumped markedly in the last 10 years because of the efforts of these surveys.

I used to think I knew the difference. After studing astro physics I realized it was – or included – everything I thought that astronomy was.
Thanks a lot to whom can answer .

I guess astrophysics is all done in the lab on paper or blackboard done to support the imperical data and explain it in terms of Newtonian and Relativistic equations.

Astronomy also includes experimental field work.

The Astrophysicist or physicist if you will. Einstein, postulates based on math and computations and seeing it in their head and comes up with gravity wells and says the light will shift position when it is close to a gravity well.

The astronomer sees this for real during and eclipse and sets up experiements to try and prove it based on the data and as such the astronomer needs to interpret the data provided by the physicist.

That means they BOTH need to know the same math.

Einstein rarely looked throught a telescope and when he did he was probably more like a kid with a 6" cellestion seeing Jupiter for the first time.

Clyde Tombough did the math, from the physics he knew about Neptune, Uranus and postulated where PLUTO might be and then he went out and took pictures through Telescopes and used a blink microscope to try and find a star that moved and that would be PLUTO.

So he applied both ASTRO PHYSICS and Astronomy

Astronomy is about NAMES of objects.

Astro physics is about labels.

X Y Z

Astronomy gives these names

Neptune, Pluto, Uranus

The math is the sample.

So ASTRONOMY is APPLIED astrophysics at times.

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All C6-S models come standard with Celestron’s StarBright XLT coatings at no extra cost.

Mounted on the Advanced GT Series computerized mount, this telescope has some high performance software and hardware features. Operated by the company’s proven NexStar computer control technology the telescope has a 40, 000+ object database with 400 user-definable objects and expanded information on over 200 objects. Custom database lists of all the most famous deep-sky objects by name and catalog number; the most beautiful double, triple and quadruple stars; variable star; solar systems; objects and asterisms.

Using the RS-232 communication port on the hand control, you can control the telescope via a personal computer and the flash upgradeable hand controls allow you to update your telescope’s operating software via the Internet. An autoguider port is also included for astrophotography. No matter at what level you are starting out, this precision instrument will satisfy your needs both visually and photographically.

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Star Theater SE by Uncle Milton Planetarium with Interactive Astronomy Software Take a journey into space as you explore the night sky like never before! Watch as your darkened room is transformed into a home planetarium. Project hundreds of stars and constellations on your walls and ceilings. -Projects hundreds of stars, planets and constellations on walls and ceiling -Dome overlay for realistic star projection -Includes interactive Stellarium astronomy software and 45 minute CD guided audio tour of the night sky -Meteor Maker lets kids make realistic streaks across ceiling! -Accurate to season, month, day and hour -Super bright halogen light source -Built in compass -Activity guide -AC adapter jack (adapter not included) -Requires 3 AA and 5 AAA batteries (not included) -Ages 8 and Up Length: 12″   Width: 10″   Height: 7″ Shipping Weight: 3.1 lbs

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It is easily argued that the greatest technological breakthrough in Astronomy was the invention of the telescope. How would our knowledge be limited without telescopes?

There where no Telescopes in the Mayan era, and they are considered excellent students of the skies. Astronomy dates back to the beggining of earth. Many civilizations based their believes and philosophies in the study of astronomy. So, we can say that, telescope extended, like any other instrument in sciences, the field of studies, but I don’t believe that without it, there will be limitations.

I want to become an Astronomy teacher/professor. How many years would it take to get my PhD in astronomy? And how many years to get teaching degree? Also, what school would be best to go to for the PhD? Thanks so much! =]

MIT might be your best bet plan on four years plus for undergrad.

The Maksutov optical design is recognized for being a portable design that is easy to use and has a variety of applications, making it an excellent choice for both terrestrial and astronomical usage. This C90 Mak has excellent optics with razor sharp images over a wide field. The C90 Mak features an internal flip mirror design which allows the user to view celestial objects at a 90 degree angle and also corrects the image orientation to view land objects at a 45 degree angle. The full-featured C90 MAK is also rubber covered and completely waterproof. This model features durable black rubber armor for protection, a flip up lens cap for safety, and it comes complete inside its own soft sided carrying case.

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