Resources

Track Planets from your Cellphone

NxGTR — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:48:03 GMT

Hi, I am very new to Astronomy, I have just bought my first telescope a few weeks ago, but I have been working since then in an OpenSource software to track planets from any java-enabled cellphone. The project page is: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mobileplanettra/ Mobile Planet Tracking, is an OpenSource application that lets you track the position of any of the 8 planets in the Solar System, you can specify your current earth position, date and time to get the most approximated values. The project goal is to provide an easy to use application that can be executed in most of cellphones today, to help amateurs astronomers to find objects in the sky without the need to carry electronic devices or laptops to make the calculations. I would like the community here help me to make the project better, with bugs report, translations, ideas or whatever makes the application better. Any help from experienced astronomers would be great!. If you have a change to test it and tell me about the results and behavior in your particular cellphone would be great.

The New Solar system, great book!

Tarcin the Stargazer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:01:08 GMT

The New Solar system is a great and up to date book about our solar system and the search for life. It is a must buy for any astronomy fans!

Very good atlas for free download

Sky Beast — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:10:51 GMT

You only have to print them. Laminate to make them dew-proof and bind them.

http://www.uv.es/jrtorres/index.html

Click on "TriAtlas" in the upper right corner.

Enjoy.

Finding stars

cjw — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:39:42 GMT

Is there a website that allows you to type in the name or number of a star and it will tell you the r.a. and dec.

Astronomy Library Top 5

AstroBrian — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:01:08 GMT

Since I am getting back into astronomy, I would like to build a nice reference library. If you are not overly concerned about having you books in mint condition, they can be had for cheap if bought used through Amazon.

Anyway, if you were just starting out to build your own astronomy library, what five books would you consider "must have" to use as a foundation for your library? Which five do you think are the best?

Star Walk for the iphone

SYZYGY — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 21:46:36 GMT

What a great app. And it is only 2.99 through today.

The only thing I wish it had was the ability to increase light pollution. Other than that,

it is incredible!

Skytools 3 - Standard or Pro version?

lookinupinawe — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:27:02 GMT

Would like to ask those that have Skytools 3 which version they are using. Since I have no plans to do any imaging, would it really benefit me to pay the extra money for the Pro version for visual astronomy? Based on what I can see on their website, I am not so sure that the extra money would gain me anything. If I got the standard version, I might consider adding in the Real Time option though. Appreciate any comments. Thanks in advance.

Download astronomical software

ricci — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:12:06 GMT

I have created a special area for the download of astronomical software : now they are only 500 but I hope to increase within end month. Excuse me but I have not tested all links. www.pierpaoloricci.it/download/downloadsoftware_eng.htm

NASA Photos ... Web Site

CGRANT — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:12:49 GMT

I found this web site and thought I would pass it along. Seems to be very comphrensive with some pretty cool pictures.

www.nasaimages.org

Telrad Overlay for Uranometria?

M Cornell — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:24:02 GMT

I have an older copy of Uranometria 2000.0. I noticed the new copies come with a Telrad overlay for the atlas. Anyone know where I could get the overlay?

The Millennium Star Atlas

starramus — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 21:28:57 GMT

I hereby suggest that we amateurs that frequent this site form a union with the prime goal of demanding that Sky Publishing reduce the price of The Millenium Star Atlas to at least 50% of its list price. I have had it with this price gouging and will take it no longer. I hereby declare the DAROSGU to be in existence and will draw up a petition laying out our demands. DAROSGU = Disgruntled And Ripped Off Star Gazers United. If it tastes like SPAM it is SPAM.

Free Star Atlas

zachsdad — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:35:35 GMT

Below is a link to a set of star charts . . . actually three sets of charts. They are some of the most comprehensive I've seen. I won't go into great detail here, except to say that the most detailed set goes to 12.6 mag stars and 15th magnitude galaxies. All are in pdf format. The most detailed level consists of 570 charts. The quality and detail appers to be very good. And they are free!

http://www.uv.es/jrtorres/triatlas.html

Astromart reviews and information.

tkerr — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:33:24 GMT

If you plan on doing any business with astromart, anacortes wild birds and telescopes or buytelescopes.com you should know what kind of person you will be dealing with. That person is Herb York.

Here are just a few interesting readings that can be found with a simple google search.
http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.as...2/msg01625.html http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/archive...php/t-3104.html http://www.astroclassifieds.com/forums/any...-herb-york.html

You can find many more complaints like this all over the net.
I've had my own dealings with him in the past, and from that experience I can tell my honest opinion of him is that he is rude and a complete jerk. And that's putting it politely. I get the feeling that he has no idea of what manners or tact are when it comes to personal and customer relations, or he just doesn't care.
My own and the experiences of others along with his own email responses to other people are proof of that.

However, In all fairness, If you read the Terms Of Service carefully it even says he can delete your account simply because he feels like it.

Over View of Terms Of Service:
Astromart™ has the sole discretion to amend these terms of use at any time, to terminate your membership account for any reason or no reason at all at any time, to delete posts or ads at any time, and to use or copy material from posts or ads at any time. Anacortes Telescope has the sole discretion to deny anyone the use of the Astromart™ Services for any reason or no reason at all. Astromart™ will be the sole determiner of whether a User is a Dealer/Retailer/ATM/OEM and such determination will be final and will not subject Anacortes Telescope to any liability whatsoever. Anacortes Telescope is not responsible for the content of posts or the products sold via the classified advertisements or sponsor advertisements.

8. TERMINATION.
You agree that Anacortes Telescope may, in its sole discretion, terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Service for any reason or for no reason at all. Such reasons include, without limitation, breach of the Terms of Use or any subsequent amendments, or attempted assignment of your account by you. Any suspected fraudulent, abusive or illegal activity may be grounds for termination of your membership account and may be referred to appropriate law enforcement authorities. Anacortes Telescope shall not be liable to you or any third party for the termination of Service or any claims related to the termination of Service.

He doesn't need a reason other than he just felt like it at the time.

Has anyone here tried StarStrider?

Ian Brett Cooper — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:37:35 GMT

Hi folks,

I just got this new software program called StarStrider. I guess it's not really an astronomy program - it can't help you to train your telescope on stars or planets or anything like that, but it seems to be a pretty darned good solar system and galaxy simulator. It's something I've been looking for for a while.

I'm not really a fanatical amateur astronomer - I have a nice 6" refractor that I take out occasionally - so I'm not really all that qualified to judge a program like this, so I was wondering if anyone here had tried it, to see what their thoughts were.

Either way, I'm really enjoying it. So I guess part of my reason for posting is to make folks aware of it. I guess it's more attuned to the casual astronomer than to the seasoned stargazer - it's more of a "Hey, you're orbiting Mars - look at the cool images!" or a "So that's what it looks like to approach the speed of light in a spaceship!" experience than it is a professional level astronomy tool. On the other hand, it does have some things that avid stargazing buffs will enjoy.

Anyway, the software is available for a free trial at www.starstrider.com. The full program is a bit pricey at $50, but the free trial allows users to use it indefinitely for ten minutes at a time. I upgraded to the full version right away, in order to get the free high resolution graphics and the extended star catalogue add-ons, which (in my opinion) add a lot.

Also note that I have nothing to do with the creators of this software. I just bought it the other day and am kinda keen on it.

Anyway, if you've tried it, what do you think?

Starry Night Pro Plus 6.3

jodoak — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:40:09 GMT

A couple weeks ago I upgraded to the Starry Night Pro Plus 6 version. To tell you the truth I was not impressed with the CCD Mossaic of the sky and how it worked within the program. Not very detailed and only good for so much magnification. I found that just the Pro 6 version to be much better suited for what I do.

How does anyone else feel about this version of the program?

good star guide book?

nick1441 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:16:53 GMT

i went to the book store to find a sky atlas. and all i could find was a star giude book. it showed constllations planets galaxy and nebulas and how to find them in what ever month it is. is something like this an easy way to find that stuff? and is it acurrate? im having trouble finding stuff in the night sky because my laptop runs out of battery so fast, so im thinking about buying this guide book. its the closest thing i can find to a sky alas. what do you guys think???

AstroMart, the dirty truth

Kevin Bozard — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:30:41 GMT

I had always felt that AstroMart was a good resource for buying or selling astronomy equipment, until now. I recently contacted Herb York about problems accessing my account at AstroMart (which worked fine the day before), and his reply was... "sounds like you don't have a good email address on AstroMart. You will need a new account".

Now setting up a new account wouldn't be a problem, except for one small issue. As a long time member of AstroMart, I was one of many that was grandfathered in for not having to pay their current $12 sign up fee. Not that $12 is a lot of money.

I explained that my email account was very much active, and that this was a recent occurence. I asked him to look into my account to see what the problem with it was. To which I got no response.

In the meantime, I've been told by other "non paying" members that their accounts have also suddenly stopped working. I emailed Mr York again today, and got this response... "Is AstroMart worth $12 to you? If not then don't pay it".

It is my opinion that AstroMart is in need of funding, but the way they are going about it is very underhanded. If I had gotten an email that all accounts would need to be renewed, and that every member would need to pay the sign up fee, then I wouldn't have had a problem with it. But to intentionally disable a members account just to collect $12 from him or her, is very poor business management. I can almost bet you that paying supporters of AstroMart that haven't paid the $12 fee aren't being cut off.

So, is AstroMart worth $12 to me? No it isn't, and it's administration is worth even less.

If you have an account with AstroMart, and you've never paid them a sign up fee, and if your account is stilll active, then brace yourself; because it won't be for long.

Burnham's Celestial Handbook

Spacedock7 — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 23:59:45 GMT

Seeking humble opinions on the Burnham's 3 vol set, also does anyone know if there were different printings? 1st ed, 2nd ed, etc.

Rick

Cloudy Nights now on facebook

zachsdad — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:51:59 GMT

For all of you facebook friends out there, it's now possible to become a Fan of Cloudy Nights.

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=2012

Looking for a piece of equipment

PamminAlong — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:55:58 GMT

Hello! I read the advertisement section and want you all to know that I am not promoting advertising on this forum! But I am looking for a Good - no - an EXCELLENT star projector (allowing me to project celestial images on a wall or ceiling). Does anyone know where I can find one? If this is not the correct place for this inquiry PLEASE forgive me and (gently!) point me in the right direction!

Thanks so much,

Grace and Peace to you,

PamminAlong~

Brand New! Would like suggestions for reading material!

radchad3 — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:07:37 GMT

Hello everyone! I am brand new to the stars but I am very interested at getting a scope soon! I have no experience with telescopes or the sky so I am looking for suggestions for the very beginner. Are there any good websites/books that you would recommend. Also any good skymaps that I would need starting out? I figured I would do some reading and then get started on my search for a telescope. Thank you all for your time! Chad

Uranometria 2000.0 legend questions

stugots — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:48:00 GMT

Hello,

I'm rebooting my astronomy hobby after a two-decade hiatus. I had moved from central Massachusetts (where the Milky Way was clearly visible overhead) to Seattle (where often the Sun isn't visible in any direction). Between the poor seeing and some other personal factors, I chose to sell all my equipment.

A couple of months ago I got the hankering to pick it up again. So here I am!

I just bought volumes 1 and 3 of Uranometria 2000.0 (the 2001 edition), used. I don't understand a couple of symbols and legends. I'm sure my questions are really stupid, and the answers probably right in front of me, but I'm blind. I've read & re-read the explanatory text, and tried searching on the web, but came up blank. So... here I am.

Can any forum readers explain these to me?

1) What do the small circles in the charts designate? They're not variable stars (no inner dot), nebulae (not irregular), or any other deep sky object, if I correctly understand the legend. (Galaxies are ovals, clusters use dashed lines, etc.)

An example: chart 1, (approx) Ra 1h 20m 00s Dec +85 20 0". There's an "RU" next to a small circle. What is that little sucker?

Another example: chart 68, (approx) RA 16h 46m 00s Dec +17 50 0". V915 is next to a small circle. ?

2) All catalog prefixes in the charts (abbreviated and full) are listed on in the Bibliography, starting on page 7. Yet I'm finding catalog notation in the charts that are *not* in the bibliography. What sources to these refer to? :

V[number] E.g., V915 mentioned above.

S[letter], R[letter]. E.g., chart 46, Ra around 22h 4m, Dec +35 00 0". There's an SZ, SV, SY, and RT. Curiously, also paired with circles. What references do those point to?

O[letter], e.g., OQ on charte 108, (approx) Ra 15h 15m 00s Dec -02 30 0". OQ is a variable star, but, where do I look up "OQ"?

Again, I apologize if these are goofball questions, but I've tried answering them on my own and am flummoxed. Moderators, please move this post if it's not appropriate for this forum.

Thanks!

A good book

craterdavy — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:44:52 GMT

Hello.,.,I have a book I wanted to recommend to beginners, and advancing beginners...,It is called Field Book of the Skies,.,by Olcott and Mayall.,.,it is formatted for a scope of 3" aperture..,and is full of info on all matters of astronomy.,.it has the Messier list with all their locations,.and mag.,,.,and has seasonal star maps.,.,as well as a diagram,..,and discription,..,and lists of the double stars, of all the constellations.,.,visible from 40* lat.,.,.it is an older book first printed in the 30s,.,and can be found at used bookstores for fairly cheap.,.,I got mine for $3:00.,.,and it was worth every penny,.. ,.happy gazing,..,O+O

Our forum policies, including no advertising (updated July 8, 2009)

Karri Ferron — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:04:02 GMT

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Month by Month sky clock averages Info?

PartyDart — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:37:13 GMT

Hello,

I'm looking for Month by Month averages of the skies Seeing,Transparency ect. Anotherwords I'm Interested in planning camping trips in different climates and/or different times of the year.

Just wondering if there is a archive of info that would have documented- you have a XX% of above average nights in location xyz, In the month of xyz?

Thanks