Astro_hobbie

If I get time I’ll be popping in to have a look around. Be nice to meet some people with the same interests as me. For those who are travelling far, there is no snow around Kettering area now so the roads should be clear at this end.

Excellent thank you for this, looks ideal

Thank you all for the replies. Now it makes sense to cover the aperture after your advise and it never occurred to me about removing the finder scope so thank you for that. Looks like the solar film is the way forward for me then. I do worry about how dangerous it can be so I will be double and triple checking everything before I observe. I know i will get hooked and will want a dedicated solar scope but I’ll just worry about that when it happens 😂

Hello everyone, I quite fancy observing the sun but I’m unsure if my equipment is up for the job and if it is, what do I need to make it safe? I have a Skywatcher 200p dobsonian with the standard 10mm & 25mm eye pieces and a Celestron X-Cel LX 7mm. I understand I’ll need a form of filter but the prices range from quiet cheap to rather expensive. Will I need to cover the eye piece end and do I need an actual filter or will a solar sheet do? I have a budget between £50-£100 so will this give me something half decent? Many Thanks.

Thank you all for the welcome. ☺️

Hello everyone, hope you’re all well. Just want to introduce myself before I start asking hundreds of questions and looking for advice. I’ve been interested in astronomy for about half my life (19 years) with buying my first telescope, Skywatcher Dobsonian 200p about 12 years ago. I was out every clear night with it looking at the moon and planets until one day I decided to try and observe some galaxy’s but with every failed attempt and not knowing exactly where to look or what to look for the enthusiasm soon faded away. Fast forward a few years to 2018/19 I decided to get back into this amazing hobby once again so I dusted off the dobsonian and took to the back garden to view the planets and moon once more. (Which instantly gave me the buzz) With the help of a few apps on my phone I was able to find M42,M45,M13 and even managed to find M31. By this time I was contemplating astrophotography as I’d managed to get a few snaps with my DSLR thanks to YouTube tutorials. As lockdown hit I thought it would be a good time to follow up and start taking some images as I would be spending a lot of time at home. So with very little research and only going by what a couple of YouTubers recommended I purchased some new equipment and got to it and have been hooked on it since. Which brings me to now, I still have very little knowledge in what I’m actually doing but I have enough to get me by. I am looking at upgrading some of my equipment so I’ve come here to find answers and hopefully hear advice as I know I have so much to learn. The last thing I want to do now is rush out and buy something then a month later buy an upgrade ( learnt from previous mistake) Look forward to chatting to you all and meeting some fellow enthusiasts at some star parties some time. Clear Skies Chris