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THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF ASTRONOMY

There's an understatement! There are so many different types of astronomy! We are only going to talk about a two types of astonomy, mostly visual astronomy and astrophotography.

Amateur Astronomy consists mostly of visual astronomy and astro photography. Right there is subject matter that has filled hundreds of books. We are going to stick to visual astronomy. That is to say telescopes that we look through or a camera looks through or both.

For our purpose here we will break down the types of astronomy to very basic Amateur Visual Astronomy or maybe we should call it Amateur Back Yard Astronomy.? Anyway, Astronomy can get very complex and head in many directions, that's not what we are looking for here, so we wont go there.<G> Cute huh?

Our concerns are going to be basically up close, Deep Sky and astrophotography.

Up Close Astronomy: Okay, if you use that term around astronomers they will look at you funny cuz I just made that up. But it works for now.

Close up stuff is like the moon and the bigger and brighter planets like the sun.. Some very large and bright clusters, galaxy and nebulae are not considered up close but they can be seen quite well with the smaller scopes. It really depends on the magnitude of the object you are viewing.

NOTE: All scopes are great for Solar Viewing. The sun is so bright that even the smallest telescope is good for slapping a solar filter on. Make sure if you ever get the chance to look at the sun through a H-Alpha filter Do It! It is amazing!

DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITHOUT SPECIAL FILTERS MADE FOR SOLAR VIEWING!!!!

enough said on that.

All most all telescopes are good for "up close" astronomy. Like planetary observation, some close and big nebulas or any thing that is bright. Take the Moon for example. this is great for any size scope. Refractor or Reflector. It's close and it's bright!

Some scopes are built for terrestrial viewing. That is looking at things on the earth ...planes, birds, moose ....etc. Remember: most telescopes reverse images! If you want your telescope to double as a spotting scope, make sure you research that before you buy! Scopes need a mirror or two to make objects appear "right side up" for your brain.

If close and bright objects are all you want to look at then you have a greater choice of telescopes. A good 4" refractor will be better for viewing the moon than a 12" Newtonian reflector! The refractor has better optics and the 12" is actually TO Bright and your pupils close. That being true remember that you can also see faint objects with the 12" that the 4" would never see! So you can put a mask on the 12" and look at the moon. There is nothing that you can do for the 4" to see the same "Far Out" objects as the 12"

DEEP SKY ASTRONOMY

Far Out, Deep Sky or Faint Object viewing These would be star clusters, galaxies and nebulae. When you first get into astronomy it is exiting to see everything. Once the bug really gets a hold of you then you really want to see everything! If you want to see deep sky or faint objects than bigger really is better. Aperture is everything for faint objects. The more light you gather the more you see ...simple as that. Get as big a scope as you can as far out of the atmosphere as you can get it. Them's the rules <G>

This is why most scopes used for deep sky work are Reflectors...

Technology today is allowing some really big reflectors...like the Keck on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Two scopes 10 meters each ...That is a lot of aperture!

I believe the largest Refractor to date is 40 inches. They have a lot of trouble with making the primary lens. Go here for more information on refractors

Remember: To see faint objects aperture is key. You need to gather as much light as possible. Clarity is 2nd. For good "seeing" you will need clarity in the atmosphere and the optics of your scope. The atmosphere is hit and miss and mostly out of your control. The optics in the telescope are controlled by the type and grind of the glass or mirror or both.

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

Astro-photography is a lot of fun if you don't take it too seriously. For the beginner taking pictures of star trails, meteor showers, short exposures of the moon or other bright objects can be extremely rewarding. Again there is tons of information on "how to" so I wont bother with that. This type of photography can be done with most scopes or even just a tripod with an old SLR camera pointed at Polaris.

With that I am going to say that "Faint object astro photography" is one of the most difficult areas of astronomy there is. Very few ever master this type of astro photography. Some astro photographers are extremely good at it, but if you ask them they will be the first to tell you that they have not "mastered" the art of deep sky photography.

For the beginner here I would go so far as to beg you. DO NOT try to start your astronomy hobby with photographing faint objects! Unless you have a solid background in photography, start with visual astronomy for a while first.

A telescope makes a great "big old lens" for the camera that's true ...but its the mounting, timing and tracking of that lens that becomes the challenge.

That is not to say that a beginning astronomer cant take pictures with their scope! Not at all. Just don't start out day one to become the worlds best astro photog guy ..That is asking a lot from anybody!

okay, If you want to do some astro photography with your scope eventually Then defiantly have that in mind when you do your research.

The single most important thing for the beginner to remember is

THE MOUNT IS EVERYTHING IN ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY

The best telescope with the worlds best camera are nothing without a really good mount to hang them on. That means a really good german equatorial mount on a stout set of legs. You can use an OLD single reflex type camera on a fair telescope and get a really neat picture if you can hold it on the object long enough.

Remember: WE ARE MOVING! All the time... The earth is rotating at close to 1,000 MPH. Plus, we are circling the sun at the same time.If you want to see anything for very long you need to be able to "track" your target. Mechanically or manually you need to follow the object to watch it for more than a short while..The more magnification the sooner the object moves from the field of view.

A top of the line equatorial mount is a must if you want to do good Astrophotography

Film is more demanding on the mount than electronic or CCD. That is a "Charged Coupling Device" combined with astrophotography software for CCD takes many pictures and stacks them on a computer one pic over the next. The exposure time is much shorter with CCD so the stringent tracking for hours at a time is not needed. More on CCD Here

Remember that visual astronomy and astrophotography are the most practiced types of amateur astronomy!

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