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Star tracking as a hobby

Viker

Viker

Häxan
When I was very young I fell for the stars. My uncle introduced me to astronomy and star tracking. I wanted to be a space explorer, too. I still imagine when I am tracking stars that I will journey to them.
Things came up in life that would make being an astronaut not possible.

I currently have a star tracker on my phone. On a night like tonight it's not possible to see the stars. So tech is where it's at.

Tonight I have my device propped on it's stand. I have it aimed at the Messier 45 cluster also known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. The prominent star being Alcyone. I wish I could take off in a light warp starship and explore.

I find this hobby relaxing. I use it to meditate and even pray.
 
Spirit of Light

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
Viker said:
When I was very young I fell for the stars. My uncle introduced me to astronomy and star tracking. I wanted to be a space explorer, too. I still imagine when I am tracking stars that I will journey to them.
Things came up in life that would make being an astronaut not possible.

I currently have a star tracker on my phone. On a night like tonight it's not possible to see the stars. So tech is where it's at.

Tonight I have my device propped on it's stand. I have it aimed at the Messier 45 cluster also known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. The prominent star being Alcyone. I wish I could take off in a light warp starship and explore.

I find this hobby relaxing. I use it to meditate and even pray.
Click to expand...
When i was young i used to have a telescope to watch stars and the moon :) it was as you say both fun and relaxing. But here in norway it was winter when i used to watch, so often it was freezing cold :crescentmoon::earthamericas:
 
The Hammer

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
What's the star tracker that you use? I miss seeing views like this:

FB_IMG_1622607479378.jpg


While I was deployed out in the Pacific Ocean.
 
The Hammer

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
Viker said:
It's just called star tracker. I even checked it's accuracy with the old compass and sexton. It's not bad.

BTW. I wanted to join the Navy or Air Force. I couldn't.
Click to expand...

Cool, maybe I'll check it out.

I've always been interested in the stars. Just never bothered to get a telescope. My grandfather introduced it to me when I was young. I distinctly remember seeing Mars with him.

The US military is tough as a whole to get in these days. Not many do qualify. Air Force turned me down, I went Navy, tried to go Air Force again after navy enlistment. Still got denied, lol.
 
Heyo

Heyo

Veteran Member
Viker said:
When I was very young I fell for the stars. My uncle introduced me to astronomy and star tracking. I wanted to be a space explorer, too. I still imagine when I am tracking stars that I will journey to them.
Things came up in life that would make being an astronaut not possible.

I currently have a star tracker on my phone. On a night like tonight it's not possible to see the stars. So tech is where it's at.

Tonight I have my device propped on it's stand. I have it aimed at the Messier 45 cluster also known as the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. The prominent star being Alcyone. I wish I could take off in a light warp starship and explore.

I find this hobby relaxing. I use it to meditate and even pray.
Click to expand...
I never was much into star gazing. I can locate maybe a dozen or two stars and constellations. But I'm interested in the science behind star gazing. While you watch the stars, I watch Anton Petrov, SciShow space, PBS SpaceTime and Dr. Becky on YouTube.
 
Viker

Viker

Häxan
Heyo said:
I never was much into star gazing. I can locate maybe a dozen or two stars and constellations. But I'm interested in the science behind star gazing. While you watch the stars, I watch Anton Petrov, SciShow space, PBS SpaceTime and Dr. Becky on YouTube.
Click to expand...
I love this as well. :)
 
Mock Turtle

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
I had three telescopes as a youth - all not that powerful though - and made a tripod for them whilst at school. I did spend some time looking at the stars but this was in the suburbs of London, so not that many occasions for clear skies. The first time I saw the full extent of the Milky Way I was blown away. This I think occurred in North Wales whilst camping there but have seen the same in Scotland, where again it was far from city lights - and often in winter so the skies being much clearer. One can just imagine though how it was for our ancestors, where such sights would have been seen virtually every day, and how such might have impacted them.
 
Twilight Hue

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Conscious thoughts said:
When i was young i used to have a telescope to watch stars and the moon :) it was as you say both fun and relaxing. But here in norway it was winter when i used to watch, so often it was freezing cold :crescentmoon::earthamericas:
Click to expand...
Strangely enough, cold areas are the absolute best for viewing where the atmosphere has less interference, in addition to places without light pollution.
 
Twilight Hue

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Heyo said:
I never was much into star gazing. I can locate maybe a dozen or two stars and constellations. But I'm interested in the science behind star gazing. While you watch the stars, I watch Anton Petrov, SciShow space, PBS SpaceTime and Dr. Becky on YouTube.
Click to expand...
I like Anton. His passion for science, particularly astronomy comes across in his videos.

I kind of see him as a young Carl Sagon or Jack Stargazer. "Keep looking up"!
 
Mock Turtle

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
Mock Turtle said:
I had three telescopes as a youth - all not that powerful though - and made a tripod for them whilst at school. I did spend some time looking at the stars but this was in the suburbs of London, so not that many occasions for clear skies. The first time I saw the full extent of the Milky Way I was blown away. This I think occurred in North Wales whilst camping there but have seen the same in Scotland, where again it was far from city lights - and often in winter so the skies being much clearer. One can just imagine though how it was for our ancestors, where such sights would have been seen virtually every day, and how such might have impacted them.
Click to expand...
And I've no doubt mentioned this before .... but I have a nice pair of Zeiss 12x50 binoculars with which I have seen the rings of Saturn and observed the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet hitting Jupiter in 1994. The bins were bought to observe birds, since I couldn't afford a spotting scope at the time, and I can recommend them, given that one can see birds not normally visible to the naked eye - so, an early warning system. :D

Star tracking across the universe. :oops:

 
Polymath257

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
I've spent a lot of time outside with telescopes, learning not just the visible constellations, but many of the patterns of dimmer stars. I love watching the dance of the moons of Jupiter, or tracking down 'fuzzies' (galaxies, nebulae, etc).

Amateurs can still do relevant work by keeping track of variable stars, for example. Look up the AAVSO.
 
amorphous_constellation

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
I used to see the starts real good way up in the U.P... I saw some funny zigzagging ones too.. And I saw the northern lights once, or something like that.. The whole sky was abstract green waves and stuff, from end to end. But that was before camera phones

The mars photos are kind of neat to explore, the new ones they got in recent years
 
amorphous_constellation

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
The Hammer said:
The US military is tough as a whole to get in these days. Not many do qualify. Air Force turned me down, I went Navy, tried to go Air Force again after navy enlistment. Still got denied, lol.
Click to expand...

Speaking of that.. and you don't have to answer this, but what do you make of all this recent talk about navy ships getting swarmed by ufos.. zig-zagging, diving in the water and all that.. the footage they had looked like a blinking green triangle. They must have better footage, I figure.. I thought they said it's been happening for a while too
 
Polymath257

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
One of my peak experiences was when I got the opportunity to look through the 40 inch telescope at Yerkes observatory. This is the largest refracting telescope in the world (there are larger reflectors).

The whirlpool galaxy showed wonderful spiral arms (you don't see those in amateur scopes, usually). I forget which globular cluster we looked at, but it filled up the whole field of view. And you could see the ice cap on Mars and a few black details.

The scope itself was so nicely balanced that you could move it by hand even though it was the length of the building and weighs tons.

I was buzzing for days.
 
ChristineM

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
I use google sky map to identify stars, it's quite accurate and identifies the planets, main stars, constellations, galaxies and nebula.

Going to give your star tracker a try
 
Viker

Viker

Häxan
Anyone catching a glimpse of the alpha Capricornids meteor shower? I'm tracking them on my phone but can't see them in the sky.
 
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