coins and astronomy

1907Quarter

two great hobbies, and for me passions! I was doing both last night. An interesting bond exists between these two.
I'm a visual observer of deep sky objects and I love looking at coins. I use a star atlas to chase down a galaxy. I don't use a computer and GOTO device. I star hop. Similarly I reap the benefits of others being able to post their coin pics, but I do not have a scanner, nor do I have the knowledge yet on how to generate photos.
I have a tremendous respect for astrophotograhers. What a tough job that is! Waiting for ideal conditions, film, making sure there is no stray light, and with all that said sometimes the view is better through an eyepiece when the shot does not have any over-exposure. Look through a large enough scope and you see EVERYTHING.
Same story with coin pics. We always hear around here "can't tell by the scan" It's better in person. But sometimes you folks have some amAZING scans that make me drool.
I find this pair of hobbies has much in common, don't you think?

nwcs

I used to be an amateur astronomer. It is a lot of fun. I still have a Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope, too. But I haven't thought about a correlation between numismatics and it. But when it comes to astrophotography, I know what you mean. Trying to get a decent photograph is hard. Especially if you're using eyepiece projection. I had a very nice quality SLR and it was so hard to obtain a truly sharp focus. I can understand why people are switching to CCDs with them.

MJPHELAN

Astronomy is great! I use a Meade LX200 SCT. I also like to photograph coins through my microscope. I just discovered my adapter also fits my telescope eyepieces. I cannot wait for the next clear night!

Mark

jeffnpcb

Start collecting ancients! Most reverses are based off astrological events of the particular era!