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Post this on the forums Ted - more people view those. You should get a quicker response there. Doug

Take a look at this thread Dawn: http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/91418-vixen-custom-90m-refractor.html Doug

A novice imager's diary Wow! Never thought I'd write a blog, but here I am writing a blog. There's no such word as Imager. But it's a hell of a lot quicker than typing astro-photographer! That's just an aside. Why am I writing this? Good question. I've been doing this crazy hobby since September 2010. I'm obsessed with it, which probably isn't healthy. I do it, or something to do with it, when I should be doing other far more important things. While I'm typing this there are probably a dozen other things that I could and should be doing. But all those other things, and work, just interfere with my new found hobby. And what are we here for anyway - to enjoy ourselves, right? So that's what I've decided to do. Have some "me" time - rather a lot of "me" time. What the hell :D. But that doesn't answer the question. I'm posting this blog because it's something else to do that's connected with the new love of my life, and to record all the ups and downs (more downs) that I'm experiencing as I climb the incredibly steep learning curve that is astro-photography (imaging). If I learn something, I can hopefully pass that knowledge on to another newbie and he/she then won't make the same mistake. Very noble of me! :cool: :). But it's probably just self indulgence. ;) This is another little aside. Take a look at this: I didn't take those images by the way! ;) This is worthy of great big(ish) text. The image above is from the Hubble site. If shows an area of the sky imaged by Hubble over a one year period. You can see the very narrow strip of sky targeted in the left hand image of the big dipper. That narrow strip is reproduced in the centre, and the image on the right is the small section highlighted in the centre image. The narrow strip is about the size of an index finger held at arms length. It contains at least 50,000 galaxies. WTF?!! :eek:. My thoughts exactly. I read once that someone got into astronomy because it was their connection with the infinite. For me, that more or less sums it up. It's infinite out there - or as near as makes no difference to us insignificant entities. That's also why I'm into DSOs (deep sky objects) rather than our local planets - that seems a bit "in your own backyard" to me: a bit too local, if you see what I mean. Jupiter and Saturn look spectacular, for sure, but I'm more into what's out there in the great beyond. And if you're into that, imaging is the next logical step, because most of what's out there our human eyes can't see, even with a scope. So this diary will be about my experiences getting into DSO imaging. My entire collection of kit, by the way, cost me about £400. Not thousands of pounds that I could easily spend - and many do - on this stuff if I lost all control (that hasn't happened - yet). I've taken about 6 images so far (six that are worth posting, many more that aren't), and they're in my album. Not top quality stuff this, but for £400, what do you expect? ;). I'll start from the beginning - how I picked my scope and where I bought it - in my next post; this one is getting a little wordy now. :) Cloudless skies! Doug

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Hi Jordan Good blog (not that I would know what a good blog is, but enjoyed reading it!) and congrats on your new scope. Yes, it does get cold out there doesn't it? I generally wear two layers of thermals and then 5 layers over the top of that. Can't move, but at least I'm not cold! Give my regards to Chingford. Used to live there (Highams Park more specifically), but now in Reading. I'd rather be in Chingford! :) Regards Doug