11mahW

First scope. 6” Dob. Apologies to everyone in the north west who will now have cloudy skies for the next month

Hi all, fairly new to the astronomy/astrophotography game, i am still waiting patiently on my first telescope to be delivered. According to clearoutside.com i am going to have a few nights of hopefully clear skies, i thought i could use this to practise getting started with some wide field imaging and practise processing any images i capture. Can anyone recommend any constellations or area of the sky that i will be able to image tonight in bortle 7/8 skies?(UK) I know the moon will also be out and extremely bright which i know isn't ideal but i am more interested in practising getting the focus on the stars right and generally getting to know my camera settings more to help with future astrophotography. I would also like to practise stacking and editing images, i own a macbook and as far as i am aware cannot access DSS although i could always borrow my dads window laptop to stack any images. Unless there are any alternatives to DSS for Mac? Equipment; -Canon EOS 450d -18-55mm f3.5 wide lens -100-300mm f4.5 telephoto lens -Sturdy Tripod I know this is limited equipment for AP but i am more interested in getting to know my camera for AP and just practising in general, along with practising stacking and post processing, appreciate any advice or pointers anyone can provide. Thanks!

Hi SGL, I've been a semi-frequent lurker here over the last year or so. I've been observing the sky when possible through a good pair of binoculars, i travelled to a dark site a few month back to try my hand at some astrophotography (failed miserably, completely botched my camera settings) and visited a local astronomy club twice. Other than these half hearted attempts to take up astronomy i'm pretty much a complete beginner. I recently ordered a SkyWatcher Skyline 150P Dobsonian telescope, i'm super excited for it to arrive, although now sort of wishing i would've forked out the extra £60 and gone for the 8", ah well. I have ordered a few accessories to go with my scope, a Telrad, Barlow with a T-adapter and a Canon T-ring - I'm not too interested in deep field Astrophotography right away, Turn Left At Orion to get me kicked off observing the sky. Just wondering if anyone has any tips or anything i'm missing, if anyone has any recommendations for certain eyepieces to go with my scope. I'll mostly be observing from my backyard under bortle 7 skies with hopefully frequent visits to darker sights once COVID has passed. I'm based in the Greater Manchester area if anyone knows of any dark sites that are accessible. Appreciate any advice or comments anyone can give. Cheers! *EDIT*: Just editing straight away to ask a few more questions, 1) Will it be necessary for me to culminate my scope when it arrives? 2) With the Telrad, am i right in assuming this basically replaces the use of my Finderscope? Cheers.