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Jupiter and Saturn Great Conjunction

Bernoulli

Bernoulli

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On and around December 21, the planets Jupiter and Saturn will have something known as a great conjunction. It has to do with how close together they will appear in the sky. In about 10 days, they will be so close together in the sky that it will appear to be a double planet. The last time that they appeared this close together was in 1226.
 
That's really interesting! I'll have to pull out the telescope if the sky is clear!
 
This is so amazing! I would really like a new telescope. (y)
 
I love this stuff. My wife saw this too and just randomly talked about having a telescope to help with her goal of taking up bird watching. I filed that and need to do the appropriate research so I can bring it up. Problem is, a terrestrial scope means a refractor, and I was kinda thinking reflector.
 
Bernoulli said:
On and around December 21, the planets Jupiter and Saturn will have something known as a great conjunction. It has to do with how close together they will appear in the sky. In about 10 days, they will be so close together in the sky that it will appear to be a double planet. The last time that they appeared this close together was in 1226.
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Will appear as a star of Bethlehem it will be so bright. If you are watching the 2 planets every night you can tell they are getting closer together even though they are still millions of miles apart. Amazing.
 
Reframmellator said:
Have you gotten to the point of having any specific models in mind?
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I was looking at the Celestar NexStar Evolution models. Just tap in coordinates or an object in the app & it aligns itself. So cool ... hands free (y)
 
golfinnut said:
I was looking at the Celestar NexStar Evolution models. Just tap in coordinates or an object in the app & it aligns itself. So cool ... hands free (y)
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That's where I was going too. Pricey, but you get what you pay for.
 
YukonLiving said:
That's really interesting! I'll have to pull out the telescope if the sky is clear!
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Hoping you have a clear sky. They will be getting closer each day. And I assume that in the Yukon they will appear much lower in the sky to the south as you are much further north. That has to do with planetary orbit around the sun.
 
I saw this yesterday, and will be looking out for it as the month progresses. Excited!
 
I love space! It is so magnificent and interesting.
One day I plan on purchasing a nice telescope to use for such occasions as this!
 
Bernoulli said:
On and around December 21, the planets Jupiter and Saturn will have something known as a great conjunction. It has to do with how close together they will appear in the sky. In about 10 days, they will be so close together in the sky that it will appear to be a double planet. The last time that they appeared this close together was in 1226.
Click to expand...
I can't wait to see pics of this. Sounds very very cool.
 
Shame it's not on a weekend. I'd drive out to the observatory.
 
golfinnut said:
I was looking at the Celestar NexStar Evolution models. Just tap in coordinates or an object in the app & it aligns itself. So cool ... hands free (y)
Click to expand...

They had those at Best Buy on Black Friday. Bought it. Returned it a few days later. The app sounds cool and all, but not when it doesn't sync up. I tried for days to get it to, followed everything they said and NOPE. I was like HEY FIND ME THE MOON IT'S LITERALLY RIGHT ABOVE ME and the app was like turn your telescope Eas...*Throws telescope into Hell*
 
MWard said:
They had those at Best Buy on Black Friday. Bought it. Returned it a few days later. The app sounds cool and all, but not when it doesn't sync up. I tried for days to get it to, followed everything they said and NOPE. I was like HEY FIND ME THE MOON IT'S LITERALLY RIGHT ABOVE ME and the app was like turn your telescope Eas...*Throws telescope into Hell*
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Good to know Thanks Now I have to look at other models :unsure:
 
 
golfinnut said:
Good to know Thanks Now I have to look at other models :unsure:
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I was so salty about it. I eventually just tried to manually find stuff and that's next to impossible. It took me about 10 minutes to lock onto Jupiter manually. Used the strongest lens I had on top of the 2x Barlow lens. Couldn't see a single detail to identify it, other than just knowing what I was looking at.
 
We have a Meade Polaris 130 Reflector. It's enough that the kids can see some cool things, and it wasn't outrageous in price.
 
MWard said:
I was so salty about it. I eventually just tried to manually find stuff and that's next to impossible. It took me about 10 minutes to lock onto Jupiter manually. Used the strongest lens I had on top of the 2x Barlow lens. Couldn't see a single detail to identify it, other than just knowing what I was looking at.
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Good to know.

Has anyone read any reviews on the best one out there? Consumer Reports? I guess I need to do some more research :rolleyes:
 
I recently put together a rig for wide field, deep sky astrophotography. I still haven’t learned to use it all though, and am starting to wonder whether I got myself in over my head. I mean, I‘m capable of learning it all. I’m just not sure if I’m interested enough to put in the time and effort for a late night activity that needs clear skies when I live in one of the worst places for astronomy in the US and have trouble staying up past 11pm most days.

I’m considering cutting my losses and selling it all to get a Skytrak which I’d get much more use from.33BFA6E5-4593-435F-9A55-B3CD23C35220.jpeg
 
That is one impressive looking rig.
 
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