kevrees

RIP

Agreed. About 20 years ago i can remember my nephew having a telescope for christmas one year claiming to be able to see rings of saturn and the usual stuff only for it to look like a spec.

As for astro-imaging (and ill probably be hated for saying this), im still sitting on the fence where that is concerned as, and this could be me being naive as well due to my lack of experience, but from the little i have read on the subject one takes a video clip of an object, then runs it through a bunch of computer software to stack the frames, adjust colours, magnify etc. which is basically manipulating the image so the final product, as awesome as it looks, is nothing like what was actually captured to begin with.

Going back to the original subject tho, they should have some sort of message on the packaging saying the views are not taken from the actual scope, with maybe some pictures on the box of what one can actually expect to see through the purchased scope.

Have only been on here a couple of days and my total astronomy experience basically consists of a trip to jodrell bank when i was in college about 20 years ago (all i can really remember about it was it was awesome) and occasionally digging out my binoculars to have a look at the moon on a clear night, and i think a few months ago there were 2 planets close together (venus and jupiter i think but dont quote me on that). Apart from that, maybe pointing out the plow is as far as my 'expertise' goes (until i came across this site, i thought the m6 and m25 were only motorways, lol).

At the moment, apart from looking through some of the fantastic pictures posted on here im mainly looking through the beginners threads as i find a lot of the terminology can get a little overwhelming, but thats just me and my lack of knowledge at the moment.

Anyway, as far as first impressions go, the forum is spot on. Plenty of information available through a bit of reading/searching and plenty of friendly members who are always willing to help. Glad i found this site and hopefully will improve my knowledge and sky watching abilities over time, if this darned weather ever clears up. Thanks

Awesome article, thank you for sharing it. I feel so much better after reading that as one of the things that i thought would hold me back was not being in a position to buy a half decent scope.

I got my 10x50's at the moment but will invest in a pair of 15/70 binoculars and a tripod which should be good enough to keep me going and gather enough knowledge and experience that if and when i do get in a position to take the next step and buy a telescope i'll know what sort of thing to look for.