Deep Space

Socrates the Greek

I Remember them....
Apr 15, 2006
4,968
36
48
I think I gave up feeling humble about our surroundings when I was very young. Now I am just curious and sometimes thrilled.

I was reading the other day that the entire cosmic system from corner to corner is something like 47 Billion light years across, at the speed we do here on earth to go one light year is equal to 6 Trillion miles it will take 4000 man years to travel 1 light year, this all so ham-bulling. We are like my ancestor in mythology, Ikaros, he wanted to fly so bad he resorted to gluing wings with wax as the mythology goes and attempted to fly and did, and when got close to the sun the wax melted and the wings came off, similar here today we wished we could freely fly in physical form like Luke Skywalker any speed goes in space, what a great fantasy. I am buying a strong telescope.
 

Socrates the Greek

I Remember them....
Apr 15, 2006
4,968
36
48
 

Socrates the Greek

I Remember them....
Apr 15, 2006
4,968
36
48
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are forecast to collide in fewer than four billion years | Science | The Guardian

The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are the two heavyweights in our cosmic neighbourhood. Our home galaxy reaches 100,000 light years across, around half the width of Andromeda, but both are now known to pack more mass than 200bn suns.
The white band of the Milky Way is visible on a clear night, but the Andromeda galaxy is more than 2m light years away and rarely seen by the naked eye. They are hurtling towards each other at a million miles an hour and could meet within fewer than 4 billion years - but it is highly unlikely that planets or stars from Andromeda will hit those in the Milky Way. The space between them is equivalent to a football field between grains of sand.
While the stars and planets will pass each other, clouds of dust and gas will smash into one another, creating enormous shockwaves that force particles together so violently they form new stars. The collision will create a new galaxy, which some astronomers have nicknamed Milkomeda.
It is hard to date galaxies, but the oldest star in the Milky Way is believed to be 13bn years old. The universe is thought to be 13.8bn years old.
 

Dexter Sinister

Unspecified Specialist
Oct 1, 2004
10,168
539
113
Regina, SK
I am buying a strong telescope.
You'll never be sorry. And if I may make a suggestion, drop into your favourite book shop first and pick up Terence Dickinson's book Nightwatch. It's one of the standard references for backyard astronomers. There's a very good section in it--Chapter 5 I think--about how to choose a telescope that's worth the $35 price tag all by itself. It'll save you many times that much by preventing you from getting the wrong equipment. Be sure to get the 4th edition, the 3rd edition may still be on the shelves and its info about celestial events expires in 2010. 4th edition's good to 2018.

Actually though, if you're just starting out, I'd suggest you begin with a sturdy tripod and a quality pair of 10x50 binoculars, they're a lot cheaper than a good telescope. You can always use those for other things than stargazing, and that equipment is good enough to show you whether you really want to get into this in a big way. And talk to #juan, he's been doing this for ages. I'm a little surprised he hasn't come into this thread, he's posted some really good photos of his own in other threads. Maybe he saw Deep Space in Arts and Entertainment and thought it was about a tv program.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
28,180
10,552
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Huh...I spotted a 10x50 spotter scope with a tripod in a
recent Princess Auto flier for about $35.00 or so...would
that fit the bill? Princess Auto stores are all through the
west, I believe...
 

Socrates the Greek

I Remember them....
Apr 15, 2006
4,968
36
48
Huh...I spotted a 10x50 spotter scope with a tripod in a
recent Princess Auto flier for about $35.00 or so...would
that fit the bill? Princess Auto stores are all through the
west, I believe...

Hay Ronn good evening, what a stimulating subject, I wan to share my experience with all of you here.

I have a friend who spend $5000 on a scope and man you have to see through it to believe the true existence of this cosmos, to give you an idea a scope of this type like my friend brought Saturn so close, you can see the moons the ring just total fascination, it is sad that man is only able to take pictures from the nearest galaxy and never be allowed to go there because of vast time differentials, the closest galaxy from our milky way galaxy is as you may know Andromeda 2.5 Billion light years away, it is said that for man to travel 1 light year will take him 4000 man years, oh my God this is far but still, to be able to see with in the milky way our galaxy which by the way as you may know it is believed to be 12,000 light years thick and close 100.000 light years across. It is astonishing to know that there is Billions of galaxies in the entire Universe like the milky way, with the same concept of planetary survival, how can it be that we are the only ones on this enigmatic cosmos. Enjoy the weekend Ron
 

Socrates the Greek

I Remember them....
Apr 15, 2006
4,968
36
48
You'll never be sorry. And if I may make a suggestion, drop into your favourite book shop first and pick up Terence Dickinson's book Nightwatch. It's one of the standard references for backyard astronomers. There's a very good section in it--Chapter 5 I think--about how to choose a telescope that's worth the $35 price tag all by itself. It'll save you many times that much by preventing you from getting the wrong equipment. Be sure to get the 4th edition, the 3rd edition may still be on the shelves and its info about celestial events expires in 2010. 4th edition's good to 2018.

Actually though, if you're just starting out, I'd suggest you begin with a sturdy tripod and a quality pair of 10x50 binoculars, they're a lot cheaper than a good telescope. You can always use those for other things than stargazing, and that equipment is good enough to show you whether you really want to get into this in a big way. And talk to #juan, he's been doing this for ages. I'm a little surprised he hasn't come into this thread, he's posted some really good photos of his own in other threads. Maybe he saw Deep Space in Arts and Entertainment and thought it was about a tv program.

Good evening Dexter, many thanks good suggestions on the book how to get the correct equipment with out breaking the bank. I am finding this subject to very invigorating and a good way not to fall a victim to the doom and glum. What a fascinating way to pass time. Thank You
 

Dexter Sinister

Unspecified Specialist
Oct 1, 2004
10,168
539
113
Regina, SK
Huh...I spotted a 10x50 spotter scope with a tripod in a recent Princess Auto flier for about $35.00 or so...would that fit the bill?
Probably not, not compared to a good 10x50 binocular. For $35 it's not going to have really good quality optics or a stable tripod, and in the low light, low contrast circumstances you'll encounter in stargazing, it's likely to be just frustrating and irritating.
 

Socrates the Greek

I Remember them....
Apr 15, 2006
4,968
36
48
Enjoy this mini Astor travel, a cosmos most of us wish we can latterly meat other species similar to our ways of existence. The interesting part here is that this cosmos was created with us humans in our galaxy not to be able to physically travel across the Milky way 100 Million light years across, or talk to any one that far. We are able to see in the out layers of our galaxy and yet physics are restricting the physical transfer of the human body.
I wander if other life is as adversarial as it is here on earth?

Zoom 100 million light years away from earth in tw-Star,Sun,Space,System,Mars,Way,Earth,Venus,Galaxy,Saturn,Uranus,Mercury,Asteroid,Solar,Neptune,Jupiter,Milky Video Search - The Best Star,Sun,Space,System,Mars,Way,Earth,Venus,Galaxy,Saturn,Uranus,Me
 

earth_as_one

Time Out
Jan 5, 2006
7,933
53
48
Hay Ronn good evening, what a stimulating subject, I wan to share my experience with all of you here.

I have a friend who spend $5000 on a scope and man you have to see through it to believe the true existence of this cosmos, to give you an idea a scope of this type like my friend brought Saturn so close, you can see the moons the ring just total fascination, it is sad that man is only able to take pictures from the nearest galaxy and never be allowed to go there because of vast time differentials, the closest galaxy from our milky way galaxy is as you may know Andromeda 2.5 Billion light years away, it is said that for man to travel 1 light year will take him 4000 man years, oh my God this is far but still, to be able to see with in the milky way our galaxy which by the way as you may know it is believed to be 12,000 light years thick and close 100.000 light years across. It is astonishing to know that there is Billions of galaxies in the entire Universe like the milky way, with the same concept of planetary survival, how can it be that we are the only ones on this enigmatic cosmos. Enjoy the weekend Ron

The faster one travels, the slower time passes for the traveller. In theory a traveller could travel a light year in distance and yet only experience a second in time... if they travelled sufficiently fast... if they were able to survive the crushing acceleration forces...

Time dilation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia