Messier Marathon at GMARS

[IIXCygnusXII]

Nice video! Very enjoyable. I loved your deep sky pics. They were really clear with nicely corrected star images!

Cheers!

[TheGreenOpossum]

i`m a member of an italian high school-astronomy group and we observe from a rooftop. we primary observe cy-aquarii for research. probably we will go to a international-high-scool-astro­nomy meeting in bruxelles. it would be about exoplanet-transits. surely you know more about it. probably i will need some vocabulary because as you see my english is not really good :D

[petrolheadwill]

Nice video guys! Is astronomy awesome or what!

[Designandrew]

5:51 I've only noticed "Earth shine" recently,didn't know it had a name. I recently got prescription glasses which have improved my l long distance eye sight. I cannot describe the improvement. I've always loved the night sky and am a massive fan of the moon/apollo missions etc. So when I Was going for a walk one night I noticed this. I thought why is the moon lit when it should be in the suns shadow? I figured it must be reflected light, but I never thought it was called "earthshine!". Thanks.

[Designandrew]

@Designandrew sorry not in the suns shadow, but shadowed due to it's position relative to the sun*

[Arkalius80]

@Designandrew Yeah it's pretty cool to see. Remember that the phase of the Earth from the moon is opposite what the moon's phase is from the Earth. So, when the moon is a crescent, the Earth is gibbous. So, the smaller the phase of the moon, the brighter the Earthshine is.

[gliderrider]

Gosh, I keep coming back to this video. So I guess. . . good job? Hope to see more from you guys. I'd share light with you-all anytime.

Been in this since 27Sept2011 10"Dob Stockton,Ca

[Arkalius80]

@gliderrider Thanks for the kind words. Hope you have some good dark skies up there to enjoy that 10" dob with. I haven't been out in awhile, I need to do a trip soon. The long, cold winter nights are always a challenge though...

[killeroftheshadows96]

Can you please allow video playback on iPad/iPhone

Thank you in advanced

[Arkalius80]

@killeroftheshadows96 It won't let me allow playback on mobile because of the music being used in the video. Sorry!

[Astromaster90]

lol transcribe audio fails

[Arkalius80]

@Astromaster90 OMG hilarious... "otheriwse known as GMARS" = "autistic KMart" lol

[Astromaster90]

@Arkalius80 lol look at 2:00 "mislead systems that we're getting cancer tonight"

[SUNNYRAINWIND]

Great shots they are amazing.

[GeorgeChar95]

music from the Sims! haha

[Arkalius80]

@acs1978aust It won't let me enable it for mobile for some reason. It may be because of the music I have in the video. Sorry!

[shermanwray]

Great Video guys! Questions: Why did you pick the Orion Atlas EQ-G Mount? Is it better than the Celestron mount? 

[Arkalius80]

@shermanwray Which celestron mount? Are you talking about the CGEM? That mount wasn't available when I bought the Atlas.

[gronki1]

I'm getting my 14" soon, so far I've only had 6", can't wait to see nebulas through it :D

[gliderrider]

I like that line, "Apreture Rules!" Blaaah hah hah!!!

[S69NER]

i want to get into astrology and get a major in it whats the best route to take

[lurion]

@S69NER I think you mean astronomy.

[GeorgeChar95]

@S69NER oh make sure nobody hears you say astrology:P It's astronomy! Astrology is that crazy thing that they use the planets alignments(yeah right) to see your future! So don't say this to an amateur astronomer or he might be mad at you:P

[Sylarjp]

is a cooooool video.. great equipament!!

capella 22" is amazing..

[StringandMembrane]

The video music is Exceptional!

[youtease0]

Great shots! nice equipment, and the video with the music is pretty darn good too

[Arkalius80]

@youtease0 Thank you. I look forward to doing another video like this sometime in the future. It was fun to make.

[reggiehudson]

@Arkalius80 Righteous!!!! I loved the video and the event. Keep 'em coming.

[armchairastronaut78]

Thanks mate! Cool video.

[armchairastronaut78]

Please make this playable on mObile!

[Arkalius80]

@armchairastronaut78 Not sure why it wasn't... I fixed it :)

[Nurr0]

Also, +5000000 points for the QFG music as the final track!

[Arkalius80]

@Nurr0 Silmarian meanderings is such a wonderful piece, isn't it? I'm proud to say I played all 5 QFG games with a character created in game one! :)

[Nurr0]

Damn! Nice scope man. One question - What are those 'platforms' everyone is setting up on? Are they just tarps on the ground or are they wood or permanent structures?

[Arkalius80]

@Nurr0 Those are concrete pads. Club members can purchase them to have one reserved. Some members have purchased space for observatories which you can see in the panning shots. Some people install permanent piers on their pads to give their scope and mount a super-stable platform to sit on.

[Nurr0]

@Arkalius80 Thanks for the info! And yes I did the same with the character through all 5. Ahh, so satisfying. The only game I get a similar feeling of progression with now is Mass Effect. But that's totally off topic! Great video again.

[LordNeb]

Fantastic... also.... loving the sims music. Lawlllolll

[Arkalius80]

@LordNeb Ahh someone noticed :) Lots of great music from that game... great for videos like this heh

[klunatsch]

do the eq6 have enough power to handle that c11 with cam on it?

the c11 is really big,i plan to buy an eq6,maybe with the c9.25.

[Arkalius80]

@klunatsch It works well enough as long as there's no real wind or anything. I don't use the C11 for photography as much anymore due to the field curvature and long focal length.

[klunatsch]

@Arkalius80

thank you 4 the answer;-)

[klunatsch]

nice equipment and very nice location,the weather seems to be pervect in the dessert,for any kind of observation!

i wish i was also there!

[IIXCygnusXII]

Very nice video!!! Thanks for posting.

[brian4480]

A your a giant and B nice house. I thought that garage was tiny at first, then i saw you compared to the other guy lol. What are you 6'7?

[Arkalius80]

@brian4480 6'6" :) And it's not a house, it's an apartment building.

[brian4480]

@Arkalius80 oh, not as impressive if more then one family lives there, but still very pretty

[CondorTanaka]

such a gathering of telescopes, beasts , love them all, thank 4 sharing

[acs1978aus]

What an absolutely fabulous video. It's been ages since I have watched it.

[Regurtless]

I love this video. Make more please!

[hiian123]

Very cool! Unfortunately i live in the nearest suburb to Dayton, Ohio so the light pollution nly permits me to see very bright messier objects through my small 4.5 meade DS2114 starter scope. I am saving for a nice sized Celestron Nexstar 8se and a nice big ole 2in Televue eyepiece and some filters including a moon and skyglow light pollution reduction and im going to take a 30 minute trip to a darker area in the countryside! For seeing any galaxies i really have had no luck! any suggestions? ty

[Arkalius80]

@hiian123 For seeing galaxies there really isn't any substitute for aperture and dark skies. It seems the closest spot for good dark skies to Dayton is about 100 miles southeast, east of flemingsburg. I'd look into joining a local astronomy club. They likely have good ideas of where to go for good viewing.

[hiian123]

@Arkalius80 yeah great idea thanks!

[hiian123]

@Arkalius80 Thanks! How big of a difference is their between a 8 inch SCT versus a 12 inch dob? I know the dob is manual operated but if im not doing any astrophotography and im just going through the Messier list and a lot of dso's. Also the 12 inch dobsonian i might look into is the meade lightbridge which is a truss tube so i could easily transport it to a dark sky!

[Arkalius80]

@hiian123 12" vs 8" you're talking more than double the light gathering ability. The 12" is an f/5 where SCTs are typically f/10. With an f/5 newtonian you're going to have to deal with more coma, and will probably want to invest in a paracorr. If seeing galaxies is your thing, more aperture is the way to go, so long as you feel confident in your ability to find things in the sky.

[adonisaugusto]

Very beautiful.

Thanks for sharing.

[Spraycando]

Rubbish. You're supposed to take time to view these objects. Not race around like theres no tomorrow. Just cos its dark doesn't mean theres good seeing. Pfft.

[Arkalius80]

@Spraycando I didn't personally do a marathon. I don't really find it that interesting personally. However that doesn't mean the practice isn't a valid one. It's an interesting challenge, especially if you are using a setup that does not have goto.

[Khalidmarwat]

We are attempting a marathon in Pakistan on 17th March 2010.

[Arkalius80]

That's cool... I'm just about to leave now to go to GMARS for this years messier marathon... though I don't plan on doing a marathon myself. I thought about filiming it again but I'm gonna pass this time. I do think I'll do another similar astro themed video soon though.

[AshRNand]

cool videomate,

[applecounty]

We are going to attempt a Messier marathon (4th attempt in four years - all weathered off!) at the Norman Lockyer Obs in South Devon, England again on 19th March. i suspect it won't be as warm as CA though. Nice video chaps!

[Zeethr]

great vid! i appreciate you sharing this with us.

so sweet dude!

[kingsfan28]

I love how Keith drives an Astro van now. Last time I saw him he had a white SUV with about a million miles on it.

[Arkalius80]

Heh, yeah he finally ditched that thing.

[THEmoonCHANNEL1]

great video i wish they had star partys here in cold old england but i think light poloution would stop it

anyway 5 stars :)

[ziggazaggy]

Can anyone tell me what the tune playing at the beginning is ?

[bosb33r]

Great movie, this kind of star party's you will never find in the netherlands and that's a bit shame! maybe its because of

light pollution but it should be nice to see and meet all the people with the same hobby!

[magicdogfighterV2]

Great video - thanks for posting.

[ziggazaggy]

We are not alone ! WoW, the pics at the end were something else :)

[acs1978aus]

Thankyou for giving us a little snippet of your astronomical/road trip experience. Nicely done.

[rdstephens91737]

It's really cool that I found this on Google Earth, and it played in the Google Earth window. In order to have the location of the video appear in the proper place in Google Earth, the coordinates should be changed to:

geo:lat=34.2909954 geo:lon=-116.3835056 geo:alt=2930

Thanks!

[Arkalius80]

That is cool!

I updated the location, hopefully it will work. I think I tried to set the right location initially but it kept shifting it. Hopefully it will take this time.

[KhalsaSoulja]

Nice video and well edited...

May i kindly ask to have your Celestron telescope pleaseeeeeee :D

[Arkalius80]

You may kindly ask... and I will kindly refuse :)

I want to do some more videos, but haven't had the opportunity lately.

[DirtyThing20]

4:20 it is not 22" diameter..

[Arkalius80]

My scope? No it isn't. It's 11". The 22" scope is shown later.

[DirtyThing20]

btw what`s the cost of your scope in america?

[Arkalius80]

Scope is around $2000, the mount is about $1500.

[DirtyThing20]

Emm..Not that much..If u`ll buy it in my country you`ll pay over 6000$

[crxracer420]

great photos at the end

[DirtyThing20]

why do u need to balance the telescope?..P.s. great vid....

[Arkalius80]

That scope is 23 pounds by itself, probably some more on top of it with the other attachments. Such a large moment arm would put a lot of constant torque on the gears. While the counterweights put more actual weight on the gear and shaft, it removes the torque.

If the uneven torque remained the drive motor would either have to work against it or deal with it helping unnecessarily depending on the direction of movement. It would also make the tracking rather inaccurate.

[oldpreach]

GMARS ! I went there a couple of times when they were just starting work on the outside. Now it is really built up ! Great job to everyone that put in all that hard work !

[MacBooker4444]

awesome video!!!!! nice camera! great video! nice scopes!

[Arkalius80]

Thanks for subbing... though I'm not sure how prolific I'll be with new videos... I've considered starting some vlogging but I don't know if I'll be all that interesting :)

[MacBooker4444]

subbing?

I dont care how prolific you are that was a great video and you deserve credit! you need to do more!

[Arkalius80]

subbing = subscribing

I'll try to make some more then... but I warn you, I edit them on a PC! :)

[MacBooker4444]

lol oh i didnt know that!

i dont care if you edit them on a pc, they look excellent thats all that matters! i saw in the vid that you own a dobsonian, im going to buy the Zhumell 10 inch, is that a good one?

[Arkalius80]

Yes, the one I have is a Zhumell 8" and it was a great first scope. A good sized dob is really the most cost effective (and I think best all around) way to get started in observational astronomy. It gives you plenty of aperture to view lots of things, and it also forces you to learn the sky a bit.

I recommend joining a local astronomy club. The hobby is much more fun when you can do it with other people, especially when they can help you find the cool stuff to look at.