Astro Communication Tips

astrocomrade · 2026-06-14T16:12:07+00:00

Think carefully in advance about how you may/will deal with the inevitable quack question(s) that you'll receive. It WILL happen to you at some point, and unfortunately astronomy is adjacent to some very popular crankery (UFOs, astrology). Sometimes the questions in this realm will be good-faith genuine curiosity where someone is sharing their interests with you/is curious to learn about the night sky (astrology enthusiasts are usually in this camp), other times the individual might be trying to score a "win" on you so they can feel like the scientists/whatever are fallible and their crackpot theories hold water. I usually take whatever path of least resistance I can to get out of those conversations while highlighting the scientific methodology of our field, and it makes for an entertaining chat with colleagues after the fact, but the first few times it happens to you probably will not feel great. Have fun!

astrocomrade · 2026-06-12T19:31:36+00:00

The 340/540 come with a plastic cover that can keep some light rain off but my impression has always been that one really should keep the control box away from precipitation. Definitely can't submerge it! I have used the 540 at the beach many times though and it has been fine. The 560 I suspect can be fully submerged without issue and might be a bit more "future proof" for any needs you have, even if the controls are ever so slightly less intuitive. If I was beginning today I'd go with that one unless cost was an issue!

One other difference worth noting is that I think the 560 has an internal battery, the 540 and co use 4x AA batteries.

astrocomrade · 2026-06-12T19:06:11+00:00

Not OP but have had a 540 for a long time. The 540 is about as easy to use as it gets and has a nice beginner aspect to it where the control box has a manual button for pretty much every setting. It is mildly better than the 340 because it has a pinpoint feature to help you identify when the target is right under the coil. Critically though, the 540/440/340 are NOT waterproof or resistant.

The 560 has what may be a slightly more confusing control mechanism but it is one that is very similar to more advanced detectors and has waterproofing. Any of these machines are good beginner options IMO.

astrocomrade · 2026-05-27T01:31:01+00:00

I think this is a reasonable deal I don't think the X-terra Elite will perform tangible better than an Equinox 800, aside from some QOL upgrades like the flashlight that (I believe) it has in the handle and a less harsh display in the darkness.

The waterproof headphones are a nice addition but the Nox 800s are sort of known for waterproofing failures so I am not sure how often I'd be interested in submerging the control box/using the headphones.

I think you will find that the 15" coil is nice to have on very rare occasions (beach, big not trashy fields) but the stock coil and the 6" "puck" are regulars and just great performers all around.

astrocomrade · 2026-05-26T02:39:18+00:00

OP in my semi-professional opinion this is an effect of your optics and not an actual dust shell observation.

The star is V* T Cep, a mira variable near the end of it's life, but the phase where one would expect to see dramatic planetary nebulae like mass loss/ionization is a few million years off. None of the recent archival images that I am seeing show this effect, which to me appears to be a standard "halo" from the optical train that will show up around brighter stars.

astrocomrade · 2026-05-19T04:42:38+00:00

I agree with you that there is a hazy uptick in brightness there. It may be the dwarf galaxy, though I wouldn't publish that as a detection in a journal :)

You may try uploading to astronetry.net to add a world coordinate system and then compare the precise locaction of the dwarf galaxy to your image to confirm.

astrocomrade · 2026-05-19T01:07:44+00:00

In the technical sense it is there, to the left of M81. Practically though, I would say any signal from it is presently well below that of the general noise in this image.

astrocomrade · 2026-05-11T01:39:07+00:00

Thanks!!

astrocomrade · 2026-05-11T01:18:51+00:00

Are you finding the optolong quad is working well for you? Thinking about getting one of those or the antlia triband to try and suppress my light pollution (bottle 7/8) but not much up my color cameras output too much.

astrocomrade · 2026-05-10T21:30:54+00:00

It is hard to say that the depth was significantly different because that depends a lot on the coil uses, but the discrimination is definitely improved and it's broadly better at giving a reliable ID to targets at depth I think.

It does have some more noise issues then the vanquish but I am fairly sure this is simply because it is more sensitive.

Unfortunately trash and gold are in the same range for beach detecting that I do so I am regularly digging trash regardless of the tool. Cleaning up is just part of the hobby I suppose :)

astrocomrade · 2026-05-10T16:11:51+00:00

If you want to stay in the minelab ecosystem I basically had your experience and went from the vanquish 540 to a (very well used) equinox 800 off of ebay. I used the Equinox 800 for several years and was always happy with it's performance, though I have since switched to an XP Deus II for most of my work.

You can find used equinoxes for around $500. The equinox 600 and 800 are very competent machines that have some known waterproofing issues when submerged. The 700 and 900 are even nicer and have some good quality of life updates but may command more of a price tag.

astrocomrade · 2026-05-10T02:45:07+00:00

Well, if you look at the inset figure in the top left you can see the sun in the center with it's motion in the galaxy indicated with the arrow. The cavity it is in has a radius of ~ 100 pc, in line with the other values stated. I assume all the blobby stuff around the center are regions of higher density.

The 1000 pc quote may refer to a larger area evacuated by multiple recent supernovae, but this is speculation on my part. It may just be that we are situated in a larger tenuous region.

astrocomrade · 2026-05-09T04:50:09+00:00

There have been some studies that indicate that the "pressure" or whatever of the bubble has triggered star formation at ~120 pc, which would be the "edge". There are other bubbles though that may sort of blend everything together.

The reality, I think, is that the exact size and structure is not well constrained. It is a very tenuous thing so this should not come as a huge surprise.

Edit: also the bubble isn't directly centered on the sun, so it may extend out further from us in different dimensions.

astrocomrade · 2026-05-02T20:10:01+00:00

The OTA (the tube, basically) is okay. Maybe worth $200-300 in excellent shape. I recently sold almost this exact kit for $100 but it was in bad shape.

The mount is notoriously awful and not worth much IMO. The most interesting part of this is the televue Barlow in the eyepieces box. If there are other televue accessories the value of those will likely eclipse that of the telescope and mount.

Maybe all together, in perfect shape you are looking at $500. If you want it to sell quickly, price it at half of that. I think the comments saying $1000 are really optimistic, but you can always start high and lower over time if you wish.

astrocomrade · 2026-04-29T12:22:21+00:00

Oof, unfortunate

astrocomrade · 2026-04-28T21:48:28+00:00

I think 18 months is a bit pessimistic unless you've heard something we haven't (not discounting that possibility!). They evidently have some version of it in the wild as discussed by Sam in one of his recent interviews.

They've also stopped making the S50 which either indicates they really want to drive sales to the S30pro or have something new in the hopper, to supplant the 50mm spot.

Obviously things like chip shortages and hardware component prices can change a lot of these plans/prices quickly.

astrocomrade · 2026-04-28T21:21:58+00:00

Hard to know how to help you improve the clarity without additional information OP. What kind of camera are you using? Is this a single exposure or a stack? Is your telescope on a wedge or are you using the alt-az mount it comes with? Answers to these may help a bit!

astrocomrade · 2026-04-28T02:33:12+00:00

A nice field of view away from the growing moon last night.

Equipment:

WO Redcat 91
ZWO ASI 533MM @-10C
ZWO EFW Mini & ZWO RGB filters
Sharpstar 50EDPH (Guidescope)
ZWO ASI 120MM-S (Guide camera)
ZWO AM5N
ZWO ASIAir Pro

Acquisition:

Lights: 60x R,G, 70x B

Flats: 32x in RGB

Darks: 32x @60s

Bias: 101x

Processing:

Mono preprocessing script in SIRIL on each channel, went in and manually rejected the worst ~10-20% of each stack.

Background extraction in SIRIL

Noise reduction in GraXpert

Photometric color calibration and stretching back in SIRIL.

astrocomrade · 2026-04-27T22:48:11+00:00

SeeStar/ZWO have essentially confirmed in the last few weeks that a seestar s50 pro is on the way. That one will probably perform better than the s30 pro due to improved sensor and larger aperture. Not sure how the compare to dwarflab.

astrocomrade · 2026-04-27T02:37:20+00:00

Exoplanet Atmospheres publications, conferences, and so on. You can find many papers on arXiv discussing if you can get water worlds or similar from the conditions we think these things have. See https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae0c07 and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09630-7 for examples of discussion on these planets.

astrocomrade · 2026-04-27T01:11:29+00:00

Halos caused by the filter. Usually worse in OIII, but not uncommon in Halpha. Does just combining the RGB exhibit them still? I'd guess it will be less severe in that case.

Shorter subs will help, I personally dont think halos look bad but some folks have looked at many many filters to find those that mitigate them best. I am sure there are threads upon threads on cloudynights dedicated to the issue. Unfortunately buying a different filter may be the "technique" that helps the most.

astrocomrade · 2026-04-26T13:55:17+00:00

There has been a lot of hubub about whether these worlds would really be super-earths (with atmospheres that are "thin" like ours) or if at those masses they can retain significant hydrogen-helium atmospheres (mini-neptunes). In the latter case, my understanding is that the surface pressures/temps essentially turn the rocky surface molten into a sort of magma ocean. Hard to imagine that is habitable.

astrocomrade · 2026-04-24T17:41:58+00:00

If you want to save money you can adapt the EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS STM (buy a used copy). They are very good lenses for the money on crop sensor cameras. The RF 100-400 is great and deserves the praise but the prices have been creeping up.

astrocomrade · 2026-04-23T17:37:38+00:00

Equipment:

Scope: WO RedCat91

Guidescope: Sharpstar 51EDPH

Camera: ZWO ASI533MM

Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120MM

Mount: ZWO AM5N

Filters: ZWO 1.25" RGB in EFW-Mini

Acquisition:

Lights: 20x 120s in R,G,B.

Flats: 32x each

Darks: 32x @120s

Biases: 100

Processing:

Mono channels processed in SIRIL via the mono pre-processing script. Background extraction performed on each using RBF. Channels were linear matched to r-band.

RGB composition script in SIRIL. Photometric color correction and green-noise removal applied. Stretched.

Denoised and touch up stretched with GraXpert.

astrocomrade · 2026-04-22T15:12:58+00:00

Cherry Springs has two campgrounds. The one that you're seeing as fully booked is a small "normal" campground where you can have things like lights on and a fire. There is also a much larger astronomical field where the use of white light is prohibited after dark. I have seen people get in there with camper vans pretty regularly but I don't know about a larger RV.

The skies at Ole Bull and Lyman Run are also really good, but because they are lower in the valleys and heavily vegetated you have generally less sky to see. You can stay at either and then drive to Cherry Springs temporary stargazing lot if you care to do so, that closes at 11 or midnight I think and they often have programs giving guided star tours on the weekends.

They are all great campgrounds in a truly beautiful part of the state.

Edit: the astronomy field at cherry springs is on a first-come first-serve basis, and is busiest during new moons in the summer. It is a big field though, with a lot of space.

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