Top products from r/spaceporn

Great, glad you find it useful. I cannot recommend it highly enough - it's very soul-enriching, especially in the modern technology age where it's about cramming as many megapixels of saturated color into your retina as quickly as possible. If you are fortunate enough to live in an area with low light pollution, you should definitely consider taking it up!

There are many excellent books out there, and also a pair of good binoculars cannot be beat (like a solid pair of 10x50s from an astronomical manufacturer like Meade or Celestron). For alignment, you can get one of the fancy GPS-guided "go-to" telescopes, or you can get an old school Tel-rad. My favorite books for learning the hobby when growing up were the Peterson's Field Guide to Stars & Planets, the Backyard Astronomer's Guide by Terence Dickinson, and a couple of books on star-hopping. There may be better ones now, definitely check Amazon. I also find the various tablet "Virtual Sky" apps really fun, although you can't really take a tablet out with you because it'll ruin your night vision. Red marker + saran wrap + low power flashlight is the key.

And if you want a nice, easy-to-read and enlightening book to ground yourself in the rich history of several millennia of human astronomy, you should check out Timothy Ferris's Coming of Age in the Milky Way - it was accessible and engaging for me, even as a 13 year old.

Sure.

The gold standard in intro astronomy is the Big Orange Book by Carroll and Ostlie (orange standard?). Probably not the first book to read, but if you're serious about astronomy it's essential reading.

I really like the podcast Space Time with Stuart Gary. He basically goes over recent papers, but at a level that is very approachable for non-scientists.

You may get a lot out of a non-major intro textbook. I believe that John Fix's book is the one we use at my university. There are a number of intro texts out there, I'm not an expert on which is the best. But make sure it's not more than 5 or so years old, a lot has happened in the last few years.

Also, don't let the math scare you off. You need to learn calculus, and it was hard for me, too. But, you can definitely do it.

I hope that helps!

I started with this one. A celestron 130slt. I know people don’t like the computerized ones but in my opinion, for an amateur, it’s really great. Amazon has a warehouse deal for $320 right now. It’s a great telescope for beginners. I even took some pictures of the moon and stars. You can see the rings separated from Saturn but you cannot tell that there are two rings if that makes sense.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007UQNNQ/

I had the opportunity to see the shuttle land in California when I was growing up there and to watch it launch when I was attending college in Florida. I recently read an outstanding book on the Shuttle program I would recommend to anyone who is interested.

Absolutely not, you can definitely see the milky way clearly in a lot of areas of the country. It's quite spectacular. Check out the light pollution map and find an area within a reasonable drive to head to to stargaze. Buy some nice binoculars ($50-$70) and a copy of Left Turn at Orion.

If you're ever able to visit west Texas, stay at a lodge or hotel near Fort Davis (we stayed at the Indian Lodge) and do all the tours and events at McDonald Observatory. There's enough for about two days' worth, and it's not very expensive. Do the private observing session ($50, 2-3 hours of amazing stuff to see through a 36" telescope with a dozen other people, book it early). Bring your binoculars and stargazing book and do your own stargazing at night. This is what got me into astronomy and drove me to build my own telescope!

Make sure you DO NOT go out there before or during a full moon. Optimal lunar cycle is somewhere between a few days after the full moon and no more than two or three days after a new moon. Anything else, and the moon washes out the whole damn sky.

This is also a cover of a pretty great book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Algebraist-Iain-M-Banks/dp/1841492299

I recently broke down and did this.

This telescope. (Heavy but great optics)

This phone holder

iPhone 7 Plus

VSCO camera app to allow control of exposure, ISO, etc.

Gets me this on the second try taking pictures

Get the companion book! It's quite good and you'll probably enjoy it way more than I did.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Science-Interstellar-Kip-Thorne/dp/1494559390

If the Shuttle/Mir era interests you, Dragonfly is a must-read. It has a lot of inside stories of the people involved, and is a great technical and human drama.

http://www.amazon.com/Dragonfly-NASA-And-Crisis-Aboard/dp/0887307833

Any fluid conductor would do it. The sun's magnetic field is generated in hydrogen plasma, for instance.

15 Million Degrees: A Journey to the Centre of the Sun https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241963559/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_rb2IDb78Z0DQJ
Really good, accessible book if you're interested.

People on r/nasa liked this, Thought I would share here also.

Amazon Link - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VHH8MP3

My favorite fiction book about Europa, Galileo's Dream by KSR:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0553806599

While nothing special https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-NexStar-130-Computerized-Telescope/dp/B0007UQNNQ has been a great learning scope for me.

Specs -

Celestron Advanced VX (available on Amazon).

Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L (available on Amazon).

 

Credits -

Created by Mike Hollingshead for his website stormandsky.com

http://stormandsky.com/sky-tracker

Or Contact could happen. That would be sweet.

https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003

It's mentioned in this. Well worth reading if interested in Lockheed's black project planes tested at area 51.

I'm new to amateur astronomy myself, and just ordered these binoculars after hearing good reviews.

Are there any ways to get long-exposure shots, or, pictures in general from using these?

Sorry if that's a stupid question, I've been interested in space all my life but am just now trying the optics out.

https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Explore-Uranus-Space-Launch/dp/0836881346

I actually just saw this image in Space: A Visual Encyclopedia

What actual research have you done, besides reading publications by The Creationists?

https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Landing-Hoax-Eagle-Landed/dp/1906512477
Read some books, you muppet
You’ve been brainwashed

https://www.amazon.ca/Gosky-Universal-Phone-Adapter-Mount/dp/B013D2ULO6/

I used a 12.5mm eyepiece.

Gosky Universal Cell Phone mount https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013D2ULO6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share