anyone into astronomy?

[Brandon Chng]

i've been reading up on cosmological stuff like stars and galaxies since i was young. had a small telescope then but wasn't really good. happened to try my future father-in-law's celestron telescope...and i think i'm hooked on it!!! what's more my area is far far from town so there's plenty of clear dark sky for viewing.

anyone else here into astronomy? i would like to get a small telescope to start out, but wondering whether to order from overseas or to get from science centre shop... any recommendations?

[Junwei]

hey, my friends are having a astronomy star glazing session this coming sept.. let me noe if you are interested.. its during 11 sept to 13 if i am not wrong.. and also.. i remember reading a news on the mars being nearest to the earth on the 28 rite.. its said that we would see two moon in the night.. keep a look out when you are out at nite.. back to my studies liao.. poly life so sian.. still got exams.. haiz..


junwei

[mave]

A good place to do star gazing is our Ubin island. You will be amazed how many stars that are out there and the best part is you don't need a telescope to see them... This is what you don't see in singapore night sky.

Since your father-in-law already have one, why don't built on it?

[9VDXN]

Erm...i can't remember the local shop name, but most of the local astronomers buy their scope from overseas. my bro used to have a celestron Nexstar GPS controlled one and a Meade basic scope if i remember correctly..

Everything is motorised & tracked automatically....kinda cool, but i was never in to star gazing..

[Brandon Chng]

i dropped by the telescope shop at the science centre today...the prices on their scopes are like...astronomical(pun intended).

i was eyeing this celestron scope that's retailing for about $580SGD from us, but it was $1100+ at the shop. still doing more research into it. my house's segar field is awesome...near lim chu kang there

[9VDXN]

well, u have to take in factors of shipping.....one scope can be very heavy and fragile......one light knock due to mishandling can cause the optics to go out of alignment too...

that's why it think the local prices are obscene.....

If i recall correctly, the shop or shop owner is called Albert or something...but not too sure if it's the one at SCC.

[mave]

$580 including the tripod?
Sometime the tripod can be quite expensive too..

i dropped by the telescope shop at the science centre today...the prices on their scopes are like...astronomical(pun intended).

i was eyeing this celestron scope that's retailing for about $580SGD from us, but it was $1100+ at the shop. still doing more research into it. my house's segar field is awesome...near lim chu kang there

[Brandon Chng]

yup it includes an equitorial tripod somemore...the one in SSC is altizimuth one...

i never factored in the cost of shipping, but seems that most telescope shops only ship within continental US. i guess its about the optics also...