Moon Occults Antares, 6*6*09 Pics

[Ras Asad]

Hey all,

Did any of you get a chance to watch the Moon occult Antares last night?

I was watching through my telescope and got some pics of it.

Antares went behind the Moon, and came back out on another side,

These pics are from before it was hidden by the Moon, and after.

Antares~( the little red "star") is 300 Million KM large!

Our Sun, (Sol), is only 0.7 Million km. large! lol

Before~


and 2 afters~




Here is a size comparison of Antares and Our Sun....


Hope you enjoy them.

[Hippie3]

cool that you caught its' red color nicely

[Jaspmf]

[Ras Asad]

thanks Hippie!

thanks jaspfm!

i was happy that the color of the "heart of the celestial scorpion" came out so well in some of the shots. lol
i appreciate it.

[5-hydroxytryptamine]

sweet!! thanks!!! love hearing and seeing these things!!

[FieldofShrooms]

Nice shots! What kind of equipment do you use? I have always been wanting to get a 'scope, but haven't done the research to make an informed decision yet.

[johnnydigital]

Ya, I'm curious too, how'd ya take the pics? Screenshot? Or you must have a nice telephoto lense

[Ras Asad]

thanks 5 hydroxy! your welcome!

thanks field of shrooms!

my equipment is pretty basic ( bout as basic as one would want to get, minus the GOTO computer) lol

I use a 4.5" Newtonian reflector on a GOTO computerized mount,
(Meade DS2114) ,

and I just hold my sony cybershot up to the eyepiece and snap pics, sometimes using the GOTO for tracking, sometimes not.

I didnt use any tracking for these pics.

Just pointed the scope, help the cam up, and snapped pics.

If you want to get started in amateur astronomy,
you can do it for a fairly small price.

Im pretty much a newb in amateur astronomy,
But I now know enough to be able to get friends going at a decent startup cost for quality equipment that is beginner friendly.

if you decide you want to get started ( and its 2009, the international year of astronomy, so what better time than now!?!)...lol

if theres anything i can do to help, let me know, id be happy to.

thanks again!

[prism]

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Ras Asad again."


Nice pics old friend...

Can you give us an idea of whats needed?

Im interested homey!

[Ras Asad]

haha, thanks Johnny!
nah, no telephoto lenses. lol, not yet.

Thanks Prism bro!

sure!

first one just has to decide what kind of scope they want.
for most beginners, that would be either a refractor ( with the long tube and the glass lens in the front, sending light straight down into your eye),
like this>


or a reflector, ( wider, shorter tube with a mirror in the bottom, sending light to a secondary mirror, then into your eye),
like this>


The reflector requires a little more upkeep, (aligning mirros once in awhile)
but you can get much more aperture (mirror or lens size~light gathering ability, )
for your money. )

then decide if you want it to have a "goto" system or not.

thats basically the ability to track objects thru the sky,
or have it find objects for you, and be able to "slew" your scope across the sky by simply pushing a button to move the scope where you want it.

today good goto systems can be bought for pretty cheap.

200-300 dollars could get you a whole system that would keep you busy for years.
and even less if you wanted to go without the goto system.

there are cameras you can get to attach the the eyepiece holder,
but i dont have one of those yet, so I just hold my lil digi cam to the eyepiece and snap pics.

so all one really needs to get started is a decent camera and a telescope.

depending on peoples preferences,
and how , when , and where they will use the scope
and how much they are able to spend
will determine what kind of scope is best for them.

hmm..... i am kinda 'd at the moment....

did i even answer anything?

hmm... a camera and a telescope is really all thats needed. ( or no camera if you dont care about takin pics!) lol

if you got any specific Q's or anything bro, ill be happy to answer the best i can.

i hope maybe at least somethin in this post made sense... damn. lol



(whoahh.. since when did the rasta dudes smoke wiggle?!?!) haha

[tenjin]

Thats awesome Ras!

I was admiring the full moon this weekend too
but wasn't aware of Antares. I used to own a telescope
a long time ago, watched Hale-Bopp with it.
Sometimes it is rather difficult to pinpoint a section of the
sky with it, that's why those goto systems would be great.

[firerat]

Awesome man!!

I can never figure out how to get such good pics from a telescope.

[Ras Asad]

thanks tenjin!

yeah man,
its very cool to be able to spend time looking at things rather than looking for them. lol

and i dont even use it very much for finding objects often
my favorite thing about it is just being able to move it anywhere without touching it.
just hold the controller and yer set, . lol

and if ya come across something that you dont know what it is,
just hit a button and itll tell ya what yer looking at. ...

or track the same object for hours if you want,. lol

definitely worth it imo bro.

Thanks firerat!
its tricky at first, specially just holding the camera in your hands,
but after a little bit ya get the hang of it and its pretty easy.

do you have a scope?

man, just the comments in the rep boxes,
saying how inspired some of you guys are to get your own telescopes,
makes sittin outside for hours to take pics worth it. lol
if my lil amateur pics can make even a couple people want to look up more, thats awesome! lol

thanks!!!

[shroom_seeker]

Ras those pics are awesome man! Beautiful!

[PartOfTheWhole]

Very nice pictures! Thanks for all the info ras. About time for me to pull out the old tele!

[Dr.Hallucination.]

Awesome pictures Ras,Thanks for sharing those,I really love looking at photos of the moon and outer space.

[Ras Asad]

thanks all!
i appreciate it a whole lot!!

i love yous.

[chimp]

[weeeeeee]

hell yeah sweet pics ras

[firerat]

Originally Posted by Ras Asad

Thanks firerat!
its tricky at first, specially just holding the camera in your hands,
but after a little bit ya get the hang of it and its pretty easy.

do you have a scope?

I don't, but I have quite afew friends who do and love them.

I need to get one man. I'm missing out.

[Brakiska]

Wow Ras, those are beeauutiful pics you got there.

it seems you have acces to a nice clear light-free spot, thats great, happy for you

am saving money (its coming in!) to buy 10` Lens (maybe 12, who knows!) to build myself a dobsonian telescope. easily mountable and unmountable, great to move around with

thanks for sharing, always had a spot for Antares. had a nice experience once while looking at it.

have you ever looked at sirius-b

hopefully it will be done by this summer, if not Ill just get a temporary visa to the USA to enjoy the warmer temps of the fall down there

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

cool pics

[Ras Asad]

definitely, firerat!

thanks Brakiska bro!

this area is 'fairly' clear, i guess.. compared to some other places...lol
although it is a 'yellow zone'. lol

I do have access to green and blue zones *almost*whenever i like though. .

wow a 10" dob would be great!!
or a 12"!!! lol

I want to build a dob also,
bu that wont be for a few years i think. lol
as optics for them are freekin expensive!! .. and i am poor in regards to paper money. lol
but the building and all the other parts seem pretty simple.

Id like to hear of your experience while observing Antares.

I actually did get to watch Sirius B for while through a 20" research grade scope, and a 14" celestron.....

interesting.. that i still have not filled in my notes about that observing session... lol....
everytime i go to do it, ... i cant think of of more than a few words...
but while observing it i had tons of thoughts and excitement. lol

Ill have to try and get back to filling that in.

hell yeah bro...
if you get a temp visa ,
you are more than welcome to visit here whenever you like.
thanks again!

[MushroomJoe]

Awesome post man! I hope to get some good shots myself. i just picked up an 8" dobsonian style scope. I'm not too sure how well I'll be able to image with it, but I'm going to try.

Maybe one of these years I'll get a goto schmidt.. Then start imaging some nebula.

[beautypath]

Nice pictures of that celestial show!
Is there any astrological significance to that?

[stonedcoder]

Thanks for the thread Ras - much appriciated - and great pictures.

i just bought my frist telescope this summer (well actually hand-me-down from my brother ) it's a 8" dob. I'm such a noob that i'm not even sure how it works... but it's great for looking into the living room of houses a block or two away - not that i would ever do that

[copelandiaKidd]

I always get a rush when I see you posted Ras, I know it is gonna be worth my while!!!!! thanx brother!!!!!