Hello from Bedfordshire UK.

[Dave R Smith]

I recently found this website:

http://www.skymaps.com/skymaps/tesmn1105.pdf

which encouraged me to spend a few nights meteor shower searching and taking a few constelation photo's with a Canon EOS 350D.

I also have a 75-300mm (analogue) lens and 2* convertor.

Other than occasionaly taking long exposure photo's of the moon and night sky, I have little experience of star gazing, other than watching TV on the subject.

I then noticed that telescopes could be bought new, complete with motors, tripod and 'goto' for £300.

This seemed incredible, given a SLR lens alone can cost £300+.

More surfing and as I suspected it seems better to lose the 'goto' and use the budget for optics.

I read numerous specs and reviews for telescopes until my eyes became glazed and judgement of right model can't be gained specs alone, so I went ro a specialist retailer.

Salesman kindly went through pro's cons of different models, but you don't even get to look through them or twiddle knobs to see how easy it is to align etc, which I gather is a first step upon set-up.

If you buy a car, you atleast get the chance to ride in it, buying on specs alone doesn't strike me as a wise approach.

They don't have open nights to demo their gear and I haven't found a club in my area despite searching in the days preceding '7th May Astronomy Day'.

I don't want to spend too much, as I may find the hobby offers little to keep me long term, or the scope is unsuitable for my intentions - which is to explore anything and everything and take photos's / video.

I concluded the only way I'll get to see what a telescope offers is to buy a second hand model in the short term, say a Skywatcher Explorer 150L, preferably with motors, but that can come later.

My budget is £300-£350 including all extras.

I looked here for second hand items, but it seems I have to post 50 times to gain entry?

I won't be making 50 posts as someone without a telescope, and don't want to upset forum members with trivial posts just to get my post count up to 50.

So not sure how newcomers are expected to break into the hobby.

If say 20 Newcomers making 50 posts just to buy a telescope, that's - 1000 trivial posts just to gain entry, at the expense of annoying other forum members?

If anyone has something similar to the Skywatcher Explorer 150L to sell, then please let me know.

Apart from ebay any links to other places to buy second hand appreciated.

Also, if there are any clubs in the Bedfordshire area, I'd be interested, or just somewhere not too far where I get to gaze through the optics.

The book 'Turn left at Orion' seems highly reccomended, which I'm getting from my local library.

I'm hoping this is the first of many years of posts relating to our miniscule existance.

Best wishes.

Dave.

[twotter]

Welcome to SGL!

There is an astro society in Bedford you could contact, or visit...BAS Web Site - Home Page Some of their members post on here.

SGL is an excellent place to ask questions - there is no such thing as a trivial post here There is always someone who can offer advice.

I too didn't want to spend a lot of money before knowing I would enjoy this hobby, but I was more interested in seeing things, rather than photographing things. So I've ended up with a Skywatcher Skyliner 200P on a dobsonian mount. I really like it, but it may not suit your interests.

I know some of the astrophotography guys spend lots of money on mounts, kit and all the other gubbins they use to produce the wonderful images posted on SGL. Truly fantastic some of them There are a number of threads you could read through to see what's what about the dark art!

Clear skies

[Dave]

Hi Dave

Welcome to SGL.

If you are near enough to Bedford, BAS have a meeting tomorrow night (25th) at Bedford School off De Pary's Avenue starting around 7:45. If you become a member we have a number of telescopes which are available for loan free of charge.

Let me know if you can come along and I will dither around (No change there then!) and look out for you when I arrive. Or PM me for my mobile phone number to give me a ring when you arrive.

Cheers,

Dave

[Astromart]

Hi, welcome to SGL

[Dave R Smith]

Wow.

Thank-you Twotter, Eagleseye and Astromart.

This really is a friendly place ... and perhaps I should have gone with a stellar name or something like 'Zob' rather than my terrestrial name.

I've done some reading here, but there's no substitute for the real McCoy, so Dave/Eagleseye I'd love to chat to likeminded folks.

I'll PM you.

Twotter - you tell the folks at Scotland airports it's clears skies.

It seems Ryan Air and CAA have differing views.

Post count now increased to 2, still another 48 before buying from sub-forum.

[Charon]

Welcome to SGL Dave

[Astro Imp]

Hi Dave,

Welcome to SGL.

[Mr Spock]

Hi Dave, welcome to SGL

[Adamski]

Hello Dave and welcome to sgl. For your budget you can get a brand new skywatcher explorer 150pl and have enough change to buy the appropriate motor drives. It would be worth your time to check out First Light Optics if you haven't already done so, they're very good. I got mine through them for a very good price and delivery was only 3 days.

Good luck.

[Pete Presland]

hi welcome to sgl from also in bedfordshire

[Dave Smith]

Hi Dave

Welcome to SGL from your namesake

Dave

[Gamma Ray]

Welcome to SGL. Have you seen this website for second-hand stuff?

[Multi-Coated]

Hi & Welcome..........

[Bizibilder]

Hello Dave and welcome to SGL!!

[Dave R Smith]

Thank-you Taffybuoy55, Astro Imp, Mr Spock, Adamski, Bunnygod1, Me !, Gamma Ray, Multicoated, Bizibilder.

It's great to know this is such an active forum.

Shouldn't you all be in bed or is the hobby largely curtailed during longer summer daylight?

[Demonperformer]

Hi, Dave and welcome to the forum.

Saying 'hi' to other new members is a great way of building up your posts while making others feel welcome.

Or ... take some widefield shots with your camera and lens and post them on the imaging section ... you will get feedback and can raise questions as to improvements ...

50 posts is really not that far away ...

[Dave R Smith]

Hello Dave and welcome to sgl. For your budget you can get a brand new skywatcher explorer 150pl and have enough change to buy the appropriate motor drives. It would be worth your time to check out First Light Optics if you haven't already done so, they're very good. I got mine through them for a very good price and delivery was only 3 days.

Good luck.

Yes, that is a good price. I'm likely to be in Devon in 2 weeks, so could pop in, but looks like there is no showroom.

I know the 'L' suffix in 150PL is for long/1200mm, but don't know what the 'P' is for?

[MikeP]

Parabolic

Mike

[Dave R Smith]

Welcome to SGL. Have you seen this website for second-hand stuff?

Thank-you Gamma Ray.

I've browsed some of the retailers already(which seem to be 'new' only, but haven't seen this mini listing site before, so I'll browse through.

[Dave R Smith]

Parabolic

Mike

No, I've had nothing to drink.

Oh... that's the 'P' - thanks Mike.

[tony69]

hi and welcome i also got a canon 350d and 300mm lens have been taken pictures of the moon but iam hopeing to have a go at startrails when the weather breaks have you done any of these.

[JamesM]

Hi Dave and welcome to the forum

As you are embarking on your astronomical journey I thought I would offer you some comments. Please don't rush to buy any equipment as the stars aren't going anywhere and I'm sure the offer of some free astro kit to borrow will help keep your hunger pangs subdued for a while. Your correct about all the spec and the stats on kit, it's enough to make your head turn into a funny shape and so testing out kit, seeing through other's kit (star parties, local clubs and observing groups) will help you get a feel of what the all those numbers mean for you, because its your expectations that need to be satisfied in order that you will maintain an interest in the longer run. For observing, you really want most of your budget to go on the optics. Any money spent on motors and Goto which is nice to have, will of course need to paid for from this same budget and you might run the risk that you will purchase a system that will point you to a galaxy, but you won't have the size of optics to resolve or even see the object you have selected. Don't be fooled by the advert that lists the capability to find 14,000 objects that is attached to a scope that can only reveal 100.

You mentioned imaging as a future interest for you or as its referred to on here, the "Darkside!". Well, the first thing to point out that kit that is good for observing isn't necessarily the most suitable for imaging. Objects like the moon and planets can be imaged using a webcam and don't require a mount that is motorised (...but it helps) as these bright objects do not require any tracking to gain the necessary data to compile a composite image. If you are wanting to image deep sky objects (DSO's) such as galaxies nebula etc which are faint, then you will require a method to accurately track them in order to collect sufficient faint data to construct image and this is where a reliable accurate mount with a good load capacity comes into play. By definition some mounts are clearly better than others and it isn't the case of using any old mount with a motor, you can try but it is likely to end in tears. To this end I would like to suggest that you get hold of Steve Richards "Making Every Photon Count" (FLO £19.95) which not only tells you exactly what kit you need to get started in imaging but also why you need it! Imaging doesn't have to be expensive though it can work out that way and will depend on what level you are after. So while you're observing with some borrowed kit, have a read through this book so you can obtain a good overview before buying any kit so that you can avoid making expensive mistakes. Capturing the data is only half the problem (fun?) - processing it all is another and although there is a lot of excellent free software out there, there is also a lot which are great but are not free and so again it pays to do the homework first before committing yourself. This is not meant to put you off imaging but it is important that you to make an informed choice, or as the joke goes, the first image of a black hole might be that one sitting at the the bottom of your wallet.:D:D

Hope that helps Dave and look forward to reading on how you progress.

James

[ScoobyStoo]

Hi Dave, welcome to SGL.

Genuinely nice and very helpful bunch of folks.

[Dave R Smith]

hi and welcome i also got a canon 350d and 300mm lens have been taken pictures of the moon but iam hopeing to have a go at startrails when the weather breaks have you done any of these.

Thank-you Tony and Yes, I have taken star trails!

I attach a view looking down my garden.

I also cannibalised a cheap pair of headphones and £10 of maplins parts to make the remote switch.

Wiring obtained from here:

Untitled Document

I also intend to make up a 3.5mm male/female extension lead several meters long for wildlife photography.

[MikeP]

No, I've had nothing to drink.

As parabolic as a newt perhaps?

Mike

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