SwiMatt

This looks very cool @orion25 ! Do we know anything about the astronomical knowledge and rituals of the Mississippian culture? Do we have any anthropological knowledge of this, beyond these alignments with stars?

Thanks for the precious advice, @cajen2! I will for sure keep it in mind when the moment comes 😁

Whoops I looked it up, no mount involved. Sorry 🤣 Would a setting like this ever be comfortable out in a field? Realistically, I will mostly go find some isolated fields out of town for my observations.

What kind of mount would that require for visual use? I'm asking because I'm concerned with weight: to me portability will probably mean more than just taking it downstairs to the backyard. Where I am, the only place that has no street lights that I could find for comfortable observation takes a 20 minutes walk to reach.

From the little I've seen so far, I completely agree. And I'm not too interested in astrophotography, so that does not apply to me at the moment. I think I start with low expectations: I never looked through a telescope - hence basically anything will be amazing for me. For many beginners like me, there is a lot of FOMO involved, as in: "sure, an 8" dobs is not very usable where I am, but WHAT IF I get to go to a dark sky?". But I realize that it's mostly due to not knowing much. Eventually, like you say, I will probably settle for a telescope that is portable and as cheap as possible, and invest e.g. in better eyepieces that will always get used 🤣 I figured that bortle 7 (same situation for me soon) would make any search difficult. I also feel that online one finds too much content for beginners dedicated to how to see DSOs, which pushes many to think that you need aperture to enjoy astronomy. I bought 10x50, instead of 8x42, for that exact reason, and then realized that it wouldn't really matter in polluted skies. On the other hand, I'm discovering so many other things like double stars (I split something easy like Nu Draconis last week, and it was SO exciting) but one has to search for that kind of content, and it's a shame.

They told me astronomy was gonna be expensive, but not "4x4-truck expensive" 🤣

Thanks for this great comment! Yes, I'm planning to join the local astronomy club to get my eyes in some eyepieces 🤩 even though I've had an interest in the night sky for more than a decade, I never looked through a telescope - that will need to change very soon. And about aperture... if I could, I would buy something large without even thinking about it too much. But aperture is also the enemy of portability - which unfortunately I have to consider because, as mentioned, my place is surrounded by artificial lights and so I will probably have to take the bus and/or walk to go anywhere to observe. Plus, I live at the third floor of a building. So maybe I'll stay away from the 24 inches for now...

I dream of a dark world... 😏

Somewhere, maybe, reachable by car! Unfortunately even in smaller towns they have the bad habit to put artificial lights everywhere for "safety". The open courtyard in front of my apartment is lit like a prison yard. There are even lights in the closest forest. I am hesitating between a "classical" dobsonian 6 or 8 inches, or a more portable set to be able to walk somewhere darker to observe, maybe an achromat with fast optics such as the SkyWatcher 102/500 or the Bresser 102/600... time will tell. But don't worry, I'll need your help in deciding how to spend money sooner rather than later 🤣 Thank you all for your warm welcomes! 😁

Hey all, I just joined after seeing so many useful threads on here! I'm Matt and I live on the West Coast of Sweden, but am originally from Switzerland. As a teenager I enjoyed stargazing with the naked eye, but only recently I got into it more seriously and bought myself a pair of binoculars - planning to buy a telescope after the summer. The binoculars have been giving me such pleasure and I'm not in a rush to expand for now - also because the sky won't get too dark for another 2 or 3 months... I'm looking forward to participating in this community!