robbymain

Welcome to the forum! My wife and I (plus her parent's Big Brown Dog) stayed in an apartment overlooking Mullion Harbour last Christmas and we loved it down there. Come to think of it, my current profile pic is at Kynance Cove on the very same trip

Welcome from North Bristol! Fascinating to hear about your situation - would absolutely love to come out to La Palma one day!

I was really looking forward to attending this on the Saturday, meeting some of you like minded folk and drooling over some shiny hardware (though with credit card held firmly in check as I'm buying a new guitar today) but it turns out we're going to be in Northumberland for a family get together that weekend! Never mind - I will meet some of you at Lucksall soon instead

Thanks all for the suggestions! The SW 72 or 80 ED certainly do seem to be highly recommended...

Good point - I picked up an APP-TL130 tripod for added stability.

I've been enjoying my 2nd hand setup of consisting of a self-flocked 150P on a classic green GP (SW enhanced dual drives) for a while now and have been pondering the addition of a small general purpose refractor. I'm thinking mainly visual (including lightweight binoviewing) with a bit of DSLR imaging only. I would really like something that is mid-way between Skywatcher and Tak in terms of cost and quality (happy to pay £4-500 used) but light enough to sit on a Porta II for portability and travel. Any suggestions from you good people?! I was thinking of a Megrez 72 or similar. I would consider a SW but have owned several of their reflectors now and fancy treating myself to something with a little more premium

Just my Nikon Monarch 8x42 safari bins... I did have a little look at some bright globs in Sagittarius and Scorpio from outside our tent at Thanda safari camp but otherwise this is strictly honeymoon and most definitely not astronomy holiday Epic whale watching this morning from Gaansbaai - Cape Town tomorrow!

A slight change from our usual suburban Bristol Skies as my wonderful new wife and I are on honeymoon at last! Here in rural Kwazulu-Natal the dark skies are truly sensational with Sagittarius and Scorpius sailing high overhead and Centaurus and Crux (just visible) to the South. Don't recognise many other constellations!!! Oh and the Large Magellanic Cloud was truly impressive naked eye from the helipad (!) at our hotel up in the Central Drakensberg mountains the other night!

That's a great result! I hope our UK councils can be so helpful. A lot of issues with annoying light trespass (unfortunately all too common these days with poorly designed, thoughtlessly installed, mega-bright LED floodlights) could be solved with a bit of cheap shielding.

Apologies in advance if I drool over your new mount at Lucksall - one day I will own one of these beauties! In the meantime I must be content with my vintage GP (SW enhanced drives) and not impulse buy an OTA that is too heavy for it (hate to overload a mount!). Can I ask, did you consider an AP before deciding to buy this? At the current UK prices, the SX2 seems like much better value for money (not the Starbook 10 version obviously)

Just out of interest, have you made a complaint to your council? This type of light trespass is against the law under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (2005). Politely make a nuisance of yourself until they do something about it!

Hello Pete I definitely understand your motivation - I'm a mechanical design engineer currently working in offshore energy after spending the bulk the bulk of my career date in military and civil aerospace with a bit of space thrown in). Personally, it would be amazing to be involved in the development of large research and 'giant' optical telescopes. Have you considered contacting the Science and Technology Facilities Council's UK Astronomy Technology Centre? They might be able to help put you in contact with some of the companies that they contract work out to across the UK and Europe. Good luck with your future career direction and please keep us informed - I will probably be changing course myself soon as my wife and I plan to move to Plymouth from Bristol in the very near future! All the best, Rob

Welcome! I'm currently Bristol based but my wife and I are planning to move to Plymouth in the very near future to be nearer her folks, the water and Dartmoor!!! Looking forward to observing with you at White Works or Wembury one day

Problem solved - she will be at work late on the Thursday but not the Fri so I plan to turn up mid-afternoon nice and early

Really looking forward to this after last years abandonment!!! And the wife should be happy as we have a cosy pod booked The only potential snag is that with the Friday being 'End of Month' she will likely be stuck in work late that day and I don't want to be turning up after dark =P I will have to speak with her to see if she can get some cover for the afternoon so we can arrive in good time for setting up in daylight, quiz and drinks! @Grant Similar to @teoria_del_big_bang's situation is there a contingency for anyone turning up after dark on the Friday?!