Daf1983

Welcome to sgl Dafydd

After some trouble finding a copy, the Sky and Telescope pocket sky atlas got delivered today. Need to make some FOV circles now to use while star hopping

Totally agree with starwatcher. Only got into astronomy a couple of months ago, and I have already learned so much from people on this site. Such a friendly forum, and members so happy to share their wealth of knowledge.

Thanks @CraigT82. The moon photos were taken a while ago, I think I could do a better job now, as I've become much more comfortable with the scope

These are a few(poor) photos with a Google pixel 3 attached to my skywatcher 8 inch dob over the past couple of months. Photos of the moon are single exposures and saturn is video stacked on registax. I am tempted to buy a dslr, but want to try one out before investing. Have a friend which has offered to borrow me his to have a go. Saturn 11_07_20(2).bmp

Great, I'll give that a go once I have some clear skies

Thanks, I will do. I think these are quite high up in the sky at the moment, so the view will be less likely to obstructed from my back garden.

I should have mentioned that this is with the skywatcher 200p dob in bortle 4/5 skies. Found all of the above fairly easy to find once I invested in a telrad

From another inexperienced astronomer, I can only share what I've managed to find and observe over the past couple of months. I've mostly concentrated on easy targets to begin with, so globular cluster (m3, m5 and m13), as was mentioned above is a good place to start. There are loads of double stars to observe, albireo and the double double being my favourite so far. M57 or the ring nebula is also easy to find, and is also very impressive. I have also had great views of jupiter and saturn for the first time, even though they are not that high in the sky this year. The next targets on my list in the dumbell nebula and I also want to try and observe a galaxy(not sure wwich one yet) when the skies get a bit darker. Good luck

Very nice, I went to uni there, and then taught in a school in Llandaf North for years. My parents and my sister still live there. Lovely city

I currently live on the north Wales coast, not far from Colwyn Bay/Llandudno. I did live in Cardiff for over 10 years until fairly recently.

Welcome Ross, from a fellow newby from Wales

As Barry and John have already said, can't go wrong with the bst. I also have the 200p, and have brought the 8 and 12mm bst, and even for a newby like me, the step up of quality from the stock eyepieces is obvious. If you're looking for low power eyepiece, I can also recommend the vixen npl 30mm which is also available at a similar price to the bst. Cheers

Hi Mark. Really enjoyed your story. Welcome to the forum

My maplin case is starting to fill up, even though it's not half as neat or as impressive as most on here. Celestron xcel lx x2 barlow, 8mm bst, 12mm bst, 30mm vixen npl, telrad, cheshire eyepiece and a red light torch (and the stock skywatcher 10 and 25mm which I'm regretting cutting a hole for). Still room for something in the 15-18mm range, and maybe a wide angle 2inch eyepiece when finances allow.