Chaotic Astronomy

The beginning of modern Astronomy is often linked to Galileo building his first telescope in 1609 — roughly 400 years ago! While he was not the first person to use a telescope, Galileo made many fascinating discoveries, ultimately revealing that the Earth orbits the sun.

This video showcases the Zenith Telescope, built by Troughton & Simms in London, England circa 1872. Surveyors used this telescope to mark the boundary between Canada and the United States along the 49th parallel in western Canada.

To learn more about Telescopes, visit the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

http://www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/

Duration : 0:2:25

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A good basic introduction to what spectroscopy is and how it’s used in Astronomy.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectroscopy and so on for more detailed information.

Duration : 0:9:47

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Dave goes on holidays to Hawaii and rants a little bit about a variety of things, yet ultimately manages to tie Sex Toys, big Telescopes, Cable TV, NTSC, UHF Modulation, Renewable Power Generation, and bad product design together in the one blog.

Duration : 0:12:49

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Reissued in HD. Bad Astronomer Phil Plait shows us the ropes on the Red Planet. His amazing book “Death from the Skies,” is now available in paperback via Amazon.com.

Duration : 0:3:21

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Dobsonian telescope mounts are commonly used for reflecting telescopes or Newtonian Telescopes. Learn about Dobsonian mounts for telescopes in this free video on home astronomy from a telescope salesperson.

Expert: Jesse Sturgeon
Bio: Jesse Sturgeon has served as a sales and customer service representative for Anacortes Telescope in Anacortes, Wash. for several years. He enjoys introducing people to the science & art of Astronomy.
Filmmaker: Curtis Enlow

Duration : 0:2:24

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An astronomer shows us why the periodic table is much simpler through his eyes. More about the creation of the elements at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhhdkYFmd7A

Duration : 0:1:50

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I was just wondering about telescopes whats the cheapest you can get one that actually works? And how much can you get one for, that you can see the moon and planets with in quite good detail?
I’m only sixteen so anything over £100 is going to be too much, is it worth it?

The best deal in telescopes is the Dobsonian design, such as these:

http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/astronomical_telescopes/sky-watcher/dobsonians

With telescopes, you very much get what you pay for. A £100 telescope will be extremely limited in what it will show you, and you will soon be frustrated and wanting more. Most of the telescopes in this price range are cheaply made toys…the ones on the page above are some of the rare exceptions. Quite frankly I wouldn’t recommend any of the competition. Read some of the recent telescope questions here and you’ll see how frustrating cheap telescopes can be! Anything less than a 150-mm Dobsonian is probably a waste of money, so realistically you’re looking at around £200.

Here are a few web pages with good information on beginner’s telescopes:

http://www.gaherty.ca/tme/TME0702_Buying_a_Telescope.pdf

http://www.scopereviews.com/begin.html

http://observers.org/beginner/j.r.f.beginner.html

For more advanced information, read Phil Harrington’s Star Ware, 4th edition (Wiley).

You’ll get the greatest value for your money with a Newtonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount, such as these:

http://www.telescope.com/control/category/~category_id=dobsonians/~pcategory=telescopes/~VIEW_INDEX=0/~VIEW_SIZE=1000000

http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php?class1=1&class2=106

Buy from a store which specializes in telescopes and astronomy, either locally or online; don’t buy from department stores, discount stores or eBay as mostly what they sell is junk. Find your local astronomy club and try out different telescopes at one of their star parties:

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizations

I strongly recommend that beginners steer clear of astrophotography until they have learned their way around the sky. Astrophotography is by far the most expensive and difficult area of amateur Astronomy.

Many people who buy Telescopes have no idea how to find interesting things to observe. A good introduction to finding things is NightWatch by Terence Dickinson (Firefly). A more advanced book is Star Watch by Phil Harrington (Wiley).