HutchStar

What do you mean by the scope being unforgiving? A more powerful score requires better quality eye pieces?

Thanks for posting this, I've been watching as many documentaries about space as I can find recently. Still new to all this and I'm trying to learn as much as I can before my scope arrives. I've just finished watching The Planets on BBC Iplayer and I thoroughly enjoyed that. Brian Cox documentary, worth checking out if you've not seen it.

I have a telescope which cant see space. Well, I say telescope, its actually a tube of pringles.

I wouldn't even mind as much if they were doing something worthwhile. Tens of thousands of pieces of space junk seems like a hefty price to pay for faster Netflix buffering.

I bought Sky at Night for the first time this month. Enjoyed it but didn't think it was worth the £5 it cost. Any recommendations for astronomy magazines?

Yeah my next door neighbours have 4 security lights which were all going off last night. I live in a semi detached so there's not really any escaping them in my garden. A house 2 doors down from me has a security light so bright it lights up trees at the bottom of their garden so brightly you'd think it was daylight. I really dont get the appeal, at all. Its become trendy to adorn your property with LED lighting. I hate it but sadly think it'll only get worse.

That's great news if they turn them off. You may even find they dont bother turning them on during winter.

I ordered my very first telescope a few weeks ago and the very same day I ordered it, my neighbour put up a motion sensor security light which can detect me in my own back garden and illuminates both my lawn and his. Unbelievable! The good news is it only stays on for about 30 seconds and if I move veeeerrry sloowwwly I can avoid setting it off. You've got to laugh...!

FWIW I'm an absolute novice as well and I ordered the skywatcher 200p dob. The reason I went for that one rather than a smaller, more portable scope is I'd read a lot of posts by people saying they'd enjoyed their 130 so much they decided to upgrade to an 8 inch reflector. I kind of figured going straight to the 8 inch I'd save myself a bit of money in the medium term. I did a lot of research and most people say the scope, although large, is still portable in an average sized car. I've not got it yet so may be in for a shock when it arrives but this was my reasoning, if it helps. Comes very highly rated in reviews too, not read a bad thing about it.

My garden is south facing but I can only see a tiny slither of the southern sky due to trees so I'd either have to wait until Jupiter/Saturn appeared there or go somewhere else to get a look at the planets. I get a decent view east and west though, and can see things higher up to the north so it's not all bad. Thanks for all the input everyone, very much appreciated. Good point about not stargazing alone too, I'll look into clubs when my scope arrives.

I'm new to Stargazing and I've recently ordered an 8 inch Dob. I did a fair bit of research and it seemed to be the best fit for me in terms of affordability and practicality. So now I'm trying to plan what to do with my scope when it arrives. I think most of the time I'll use it in my Garden. I live in a medium sized town near the cotswolds, Bortle 5 so I think it's ok for stargazing. My main issue is obstruction in my garden from trees. On the one hand it blocks a lot of light pollution which is great but it only leaves me with a (relatively) small portion of sky to view. I was wondering where people in a similar boat take their scopes? I live a 5 minute drive from some really quiet rural areas so I was thinking I'd probably be ok to set up in some fields with public right of way? Would be interested to know what you all think and what kind of places you look for to stargaze. Thanks very much!