Jasonb

Welcome Kevin! I'm only a newbie myself but from what I've read here, I think you will be happy with the results you get from your Heritage 150p!

Yeah, I plan to get some BSTs when I have the money, first step is try out what I have and then look for upgrades! FLO have some of them in stock now, and some of them are out. Moore Winter Marathon looks interesting, found some stuff on it on the BBC Website. It looks like it's 25 items for the eye/binoculars and 25 for telescopes. Is that every night (there's an option to choose the date/time) or is it those 25 objects over the winter? It's a cool idea to give you something to aim at though. And after all this talk, the bloody thing better arrive tomorrow! Anyhow, how's the 130 Dob working for you Rob?

What a great idea for a present! I'll echo a little what others have said, it's a tough time to be trying to buy a telescope and as you've seen there are hundreds of different options (and most of them out of stock!). I know it's not what you're thinking of, but what you could do is get a voucher (as suggested here) for the £200, FLO (First Light Optics) are highly recommended on here by everyone, and also get the book 'Turn Left at Orion'. That way you have something to give him on the day, and it's something that will pique his interest, and he can also be involved with the decision on what scope he wants with £200 in his pocket to help! And hopefully some stock will be in over Christmas/New Year so he'll have more of a choice/less time to wait.

Excellent Heather, it sounds really cool! I was chasing Neptune a couple of nights ago with binoculars, but that was a lost cause. I think the first time I look at a planet in the scope and see a small disc instead of a point of light will be pretty amazing. After I bought the 130 Heritage (for approx. 21 hours before I changed it for the StarQuest 130) I did a bit of research, and the PFTE tape and shroud were mentioned a lot. The tape seems easy, the shroud maybe a little more fiddly. In the end I was delighted to get the StarQuest instead, as it was the one I'd decided on originally. A quick question, using something like a 8-10mm eyepiece, how long does Mars etc. stay in view? A few seconds? A minute? I'm assuming it 'moves' quicker in a 10mm than it would in a 25mm, as you're more zoomed in? That's a great website on what to look for on Mars, nice one! I reckon I'll end up getting a few bits and pieces, (Barlow, Eye Pieces, Filters etc.) but I'll see how I get on with the 25mm and 10mm first. Did I mention I should be getting it tomorrow? P.S. Sorry Rob, for hijacking your thread!

Would have loved to go up to 150, but it was out of my price range. Looks like a lovely scope Heather, how have you found it? Any highlights in your observations? That link is a great price, though it is without a base.

Ha, see! If he's allowed to be giddy, then so am I, especially as he's older than I am! I'm 47...

Well, fingers crossed you get to use it and see something out there! Don't you be picking on me, I'm a newbie! I'm feeling pressure now to mention my new scope in every reply I make, just so you don't think I forgot to bring it up!

Nice one! Looks like a nice scope! I'm hoping to get mine tomorrow, a similar 130 Newtonian but on an EQ mount. And then all we need are clear skies!

Your first telescope becoming a finder for a later telescope has to be the ultimate upgrade?

Heh heh... Is it that obvious? 😀

Yep, I'll be giddy on Tuesday opening the box alright!

Great idea for a thread! Given that I'm a complete newbie to this hobby, I'll be able to take my picture next week when my telescope arrives! 😀

Thanks for your answers, it looks like keeping it on the tripod in the shed will be fine!

Ah yeah, definitely, I used to fly quite a bit so am well used to the dark arts of weather forecasts! The android App doesn't seem to have the date/time of the forecast, whereas the web version does, so that's what made me wonder if the app was old/out of date. They both show cloudy skies until Thursday unfortunately, but hopefully that'll change. I'm checking out Nightshift now, thanks!

@Stu Yeah, I really enjoyed just having a look around, and I'm already hoping for some clear skies tonight, though Clear Outside is currently telling me the next clear skies will be Thursday! Speaking of which, the App seems quite old, is it still ok to use, or should I be using the website version? @Pixies Ah, I won't mind too much, it's my first proper telescope, I'll put up with a bright moon!

Well, I just had a cold but nice half an hour outside! Just had a look with binoculars (7x50) and was impressed with what I could see. Unfortunately Clear Outside had promised very clear skies for a couple of hours, but I'd say about 50% or so of the sky was cloudy, with the moon sometimes being covered and sometimes not. That said, I found the moon easily enough! 😀 Found Polaris as well, using Ursa Major, and saw Sirius for a little while before it was covered, twinkling away like mad. Unfortunately Orion was covered the whole time. Mars came out so I looked at that for a few minutes, marvelling at how many other stars appeared once I was using binoculars. Then a strange thing happened. I've always been good at maps, and it suddenly clicked with me that a starmap is exactly that, a map (well duh!). So looking around Mars, I was able to follow some stars and shapes that different stars make, and identify 60 Piscium and 62 Piscium. Nothing major, nothing fancy, but I knew that's what they were, and it was cool that I could figure that out. I thought I'd try to see if I could find Uranus, even though I reckoned it would be tough with just Binoculars and so close to a bright moon. I had fun looking, and used some more star hopping to get from Hamal to Sheratan to Mesarthim and then Iota Arietis. I knew Uranus was on a line between that and the moon, closer to the moon. I didn't find it, I barely glimpsed some small stars in the area (giving averted viewing a go) but nothing I could positively say was Uranus. But that didn't bother me at all, the fun was correctly getting to the ball park. So all in all i had a lot of fun (clearly, or I wouldn't be writing this!) and I'm looking forward to giving it another go tomorrow if the skies are clear!

An excellent clip from an excellent show, thanks! 😀 @MercianDabblerYep, am starting my planning now, though it's possible that the first night ot two will just be having a look around with a couple of things in mind, while i get used to stuff, and then I'll have a more planned session and see how that goes.

Hi all... Another newbie with lots of questions, I'm trying to ask them all in the correct areas of the forum! I've a StarQuest 130P on the way, my first scope. It comes with an EQ-3 mount and tripod. My question is where's the best place to store it when not in use? I basically have two options. One is inside the house, and the other is in the garden shed. Obviously it's less 'in the way' in the shed, and I'm assuming, probably incorrectly, that if it lives in the shed, its temperature should be much closer to outside conditions, probably just a few degrees warmer than whatever it is outside. I'd also store it in either place with the tube cover on etc. I assume it's ok to leave the scope attached to the mount/tripod the whole time? Should I try to get some sort of cloth cover for it too? Should the EPs also be in the shed, or should they be indoors? The shed is a standard wood shed, it's dry but can be dusty and a lot of spiders call it home! Any advice appreciated, thanks!

Ha, I had heard of the connection between buying new equipment and cloud cover, FLO have a blog about it! It's a manual EQ Mount, though there is an optional drive available for it, so power source won't be an issue for me yet anyhow. I am looking forward to trying a darker site too, but I definitely want to get used to the equipment first, I'll feel very self-conscious setting up somewhere in public! I was actually talking to Bristol Cameras a week or so ago, they had a 1145P in stock online but when I rang them it had been sold a few hours before! They were very friendly and helpful though, and in the end it worked out well as I got a 130P instead. By the way @Tiny Clanger, it is wrong that I keep humming Tiny Dancer by Elton John whenever I see your username? 😀

And now I've just learned that I may need more than one type of view finder in the future! 😀 Am doing lots of reading, learning about things like averted vision etc. I'm really starting to get a sense that apart from all the tools and good conditions etc. observing is also a skill that should be practiced and improved. That hadn't really occured to me. Even the idea of watching something for a while as there will be moments of more clarity due to conditions changing was new to me. The good news is I got my dispatched email today, and all going well the scope should be with me on Tuesday! After researching for weeks and not being able to find the scope I wanted in stock anywhere, I had given up on getting anything this side of Christmas and was wondering what Brexit might do to my telescope budget with potential new customs charges etc. I'm so lucky to have found this forum, especially a day or two before the FLO sale! Have been looking up light pollution too, I'm living in a Bortle 5 area apparently, though there is a bright street light out the front so I need to stay in the back garden. Once I get used to all the equipment I'm only a 5/10 minute drive away from some countryside that looks to be Bortle 4. So much to learn, but that's cool, I love learning things!

Excellent advice you two, thanks! Really appreciate the suggestions of actual things to go find, gives me some targets! Didn't think I'd be able to see Saturn's Rings with the basic eye pieces. Even if tiny that would be amazing. And I'm looking forward to discovering even just other categories of objects, I know so little about them. I've been spending some time using Skysafari and that's beginning to give me a sense of what's out there, and will hopefully help me find your suggestions. Not sure when I will get the Scope, still waiting for the 'dispatched' email from Flo. Thanks again!

Hi all, Newbie to the site and to the hobby, though if the hobby goes as well as the site has gone so far I'm in for a treat! I'm looking for some advice for my first night observing. I have a telescope ordered and hopefully it'll be delivered soon. It's a Skywatcher Starquest 130P on an EQ mount (that can also be used as an AZ mount). It comes with two eyepieces, 25mm and 10mm, so I can get 26x and 65x out of the box. I will be getting a Barlow and other bites and pieces as time goes on, but my first while with the 'scope will just be those two eyepieces and nothing else. I'll be using it in my back garden, which faces SW, and I live in an urban estate on the edge of a town, so there will be light pollution kicking in too. Of course I will venture further afield (literally a field, I'm lucky enough to live near a large open expanse of fields that should be a lot darker) but I want to try to get used to everything at home first. So, basically, where do I start? I'll do my best to focus the RDF, check collimation etc. during the day. I know it's hard to know depending on how clear the sky is, what's up above that night etc. etc., but I'd like to have some sort of a plan of what to look for, what do I try to find? The Moon obviously (if it's up) and any other planets (I spotted Mars, Jupiter and Saturn just while I was driving home last night), but are they other good beginner stars/clusters/whatever etc. that I should see if I can find? Do I plan some star hopping from a particular star and take it from there? Like I said, I'm a newbie (as is probably clear!) so any advice is welcome. Thanks!

Welcome! As I'm telling anyone who's joining recently, check out the Black Friday sale FLO are having, not only might you get a good scope for a bit of a reduction, but with stock levels at the moment, it might be the only place to buy one at all!

Hey @gadusmorhua this 200 Dob just came up on the sale...

Welcome! I'm only a newbie, but joining this forum is definitely a great start in this hobby! As Zermelo has said, definitely check out the FLO sale, without it I wouldn't now have a telescope waiting to be shipped to me! I think there have already been a couple of good Dobsonians in it...