Well this is my first entry.

Been interested in the heavens for years, remember first getting hooked at school by a book called something like "search for planet X" and of course, now Pluto is no longer a planet! living in London I thought that it was a waste of time viewing the skies anyhow. then family, work etc took my time. Watching stargazing live got my interest going, but then looking at star maps full of stars made it a bit overwhelming!

So January again, stargazing again, and now i have time on my hands and a thought that maybe I will give it a go. I can blow hot about things and then they cool, so I hope that this is one I will stay with.

As usual, I like to read up on things and hate being a dummy, thank god for the internet! I also have visited the various local Astronomy stores and found them all very helpful - thank you very much!

Starting a hobby like astronomy in the weather we have had over the last few weeks is a trial in itself, rain, rain, go away! The light pollution I think may be a bit of a problem, I live in Orpington, SE London and I can see the glow of the city to the NW, think the main problem is keeping my night vision with all of the street lights that surround me. I dont think i can observe from my back yard as I have a path with lights and tall trees. However, I have some common ground to the side where i can set up, and meet lots of dog walkers probably. From there I can see most of the main constellations, ther moon and jupiter.

I have started reading various books and bought myself a pair of 10 x 50 binos, on the one clear night so far, the moon was astounding and I think I saw three moons round Jupiter and something of the orian nebula, but I was shaking, so first accessory to buy is a clamp to attach it to my camera tripod.

I have also signed up to do the Astronomy GCSE - reason - it will give me a structure to my learning and also it will help me if my interest were to wain.

Think my interests are going to be solar - already looking at the daily sunspot pictures on the SOHO website, planets and things like star doubles and at some point some astro photography.

So have been looking around at scopes and liked the Nexstar 5SE but it is a bit above my buget at the moment and so I am opting for the Nexstar 127 SLT.

Will probably join the Orpington Astronomy club, but joining new groups is a bit daunting as I dont like to look like a compleate fool!

anyhow suppose I had better get on with some work! finally, this site is great for somebody starting off like myself!