Does anyone have a recommendation for a not-too-expensive, beginner telescope?

I grew up in the country looking at the stars (though never got into it seriously) and recently returned to the country. I've watched all 500 episodes of #StarTalk and am a patreon subscriber. I'm not looking to get into it every night, but every so often when a planet is close or a meteor shower is happening.

Also if it can take a beating that helps. I'm clumsy and walk with a cane!

#Astronomy #Telescope #Help

Does anyone have a recommendation for a not-too-expensive, beginner telescope?

I grew up in the country looking at the stars (though never got into it seriously) and recently returned to the country. I've watched all 500 episodes of #StarTalk and am a patreon subscriber. I'm not looking to get into it every night, but every so often when a planet is close or a meteor shower is happening.

Also if it can take a beating that helps. I'm clumsy and walk with a cane!

#Astronomy #Telescope #Help

Don't leave Laravel Telescope running on a production fediverse server 😅

#laravel #telescope

Finally managed to capture #Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon with my #Vespera2 #telescope tonight. This last passed Earth in the Middle Ages around 1000 years ago!
#astronomy #astrophotography

Finally managed to capture #Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon with my #Vespera2 #telescope tonight. This last passed Earth in the Middle Ages around 1000 years ago!
#astronomy #astrophotography

Ok I have a very specific #electronics question... I want to control a #telescope mount from an Raspberry through the ST4 interface. This interface is very simple, you just have to "short" one of the 4 lines to the common ground to send the signal to move in that direction. On my mount I've measured 3.3v. On the interwebs everyone does what I want to do with optocoupleurs, but I don't have those at hand. In my mind I can achieve the same thing using transistors. Am I going to break something?

M81 Bode's Galaxy and M82 Cigar Galaxy.
ZWO Seestar S50.
250mm, f5, 1220 exposures of 10’’.
#telescope #telescopes #zwo #zwoasi #zwoseestar #zwoseestars50 #seestar #seestars50 #astro #astrophoto #astrophotos #astrophotography #astrophotographer #spacephotography #astronomy #spaceexploration #nasa #universe #space #deepsky #deepspace #galaxy #galaxies #bode #bodegalaxy #cigar #cigargalaxy #m81 #m82 #messier81 #messier82 #messier

M81 Bode's Galaxy and M82 Cigar Galaxy.
ZWO Seestar S50.
250mm, f5, 1220 exposures of 10’’.
#telescope #telescopes #zwo #zwoasi #zwoseestar #zwoseestars50 #seestar #seestars50 #astro #astrophoto #astrophotos #astrophotography #astrophotographer #spacephotography #astronomy #spaceexploration #nasa #universe #space #deepsky #deepspace #galaxy #galaxies #bode #bodegalaxy #cigar #cigargalaxy #m81 #m82 #messier81 #messier82 #messier

It's 1967 & she's 24 years old. It had taken her 3 months to go through the chart-recorder paper manually. She had helped build the radio #telescope that picked up the waves. There was a pulsating signal, regular; it turned out to be a #pulsar.
Her supervisor didn't believe her. She insisted it's real.

It was. But the press would ask her about boyfriends. Her male colleagues were asked about science.

7 years later, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell
would be excluded from the #Nobel Prize of #Physics.

It's 1967 & she's 24 years old. It had taken her 3 months to go through the chart-recorder paper manually. She had helped build the radio #telescope that picked up the waves. There was a pulsating signal, regular; it turned out to be a #pulsar.
Her supervisor didn't believe her. She insisted it's real.

It was. But the press would ask her about boyfriends. Her male colleagues were asked about science.

7 years later, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell
would be excluded from the #Nobel Prize of #Physics.

APOD from 2025-07-30

Coronal Loops on the Sun

Solar loops, shaped by the Sun's magnetic field, can envelop #Earth and last days. These prominences, often near sunspots, were captured in hydrogen light by a personal #telescope in Italy. Some may break and influence Earth's space weather.

HD image at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250730.html#space #astronomy #universe

APOD from 2025-07-30

Coronal Loops on the Sun

Solar loops, shaped by the Sun's magnetic field, can envelop #Earth and last days. These prominences, often near sunspots, were captured in hydrogen light by a personal #telescope in Italy. Some may break and influence Earth's space weather.

HD image at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250730.html#space #astronomy #universe

My journey with photography began about 11 years ago when I bought my first telescope. The photos were terrible, but it ignited a passion for sharing the beauty of the world and universe around us.


I had to sell all my astronomy equipment when my family and I were downsizing and readying ourselves for nursing school 4 years ago, and my daughter and I have talked ever since about how we would one day get a new telescope to see the moon and stars once my nursing program was complete. Last week, that time finally came when I found two people selling their equipment, and long story short I was lucky to end up with a Star Adventurer 2i tracker and a Sky-Watcher 102mm Mak telescope.


While I haven't had the opportunity to test out the telescope with the tracker, I did get out on the night of July 14th to test out the star tracker with my collection of Sigma lenses and the images above are single exposure test images taken to assess the maximum exposure time with various focal lengths. I also took a few photos of the moon to combine into HDR images.


I hope you enjoy!

#photography #astrophotography #telescope #nightsky #astronomy #moon #stars

My journey with photography began about 11 years ago when I bought my first telescope. The photos were terrible, but it ignited a passion for sharing the beauty of the world and universe around us.


I had to sell all my astronomy equipment when my family and I were downsizing and readying ourselves for nursing school 4 years ago, and my daughter and I have talked ever since about how we would one day get a new telescope to see the moon and stars once my nursing program was complete. Last week, that time finally came when I found two people selling their equipment, and long story short I was lucky to end up with a Star Adventurer 2i tracker and a Sky-Watcher 102mm Mak telescope.


While I haven't had the opportunity to test out the telescope with the tracker, I did get out on the night of July 14th to test out the star tracker with my collection of Sigma lenses and the images above are single exposure test images taken to assess the maximum exposure time with various focal lengths. I also took a few photos of the moon to combine into HDR images.


I hope you enjoy!

#photography #astrophotography #telescope #nightsky #astronomy #moon #stars

Messier 16 - Eagle Nebula

is a visually stunning emission nebula, located in the constellation Serpens, about 7,000 light-years from Earth. It includes the famous Pillars of Creation and reaches its annual culmination at astronomical midnight, making it best observed in late June.

Detailed Information: https://astrocamp.eu/en/messier-16-eagle-nebula/

▼ Takahashi FS60CB | Canon EOS M100(a) '23

#astrophotography #nightsky #space #astronomy #telescope #clearsky #photography #nature

Messier 16 - Eagle Nebula

is a visually stunning emission nebula, located in the constellation Serpens, about 7,000 light-years from Earth. It includes the famous Pillars of Creation and reaches its annual culmination at astronomical midnight, making it best observed in late June.

Detailed Information: https://astrocamp.eu/en/messier-16-eagle-nebula/

▼ Takahashi FS60CB | Canon EOS M100(a) '23

#astrophotography #nightsky #space #astronomy #telescope #clearsky #photography #nature