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Another new astronomer for you to help ;)

W8152

By W8152
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W8152

W8152

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Good afternoon lords and ladies.

For years I have wanted a scope and someone to share the experience of learning about the sky with. My wife and I have decided to just that.

After a fair bit of research I bought myself a celestron 130eq and the celestron ep & filter kit. I also have the adaptor and t piece to put my nikon on to hopefully chart my success and failure (gotta take some time to get it right) in this new hobby of ours.

Following dag123's example after finding stars last nit a little flared I have adjusted my primary and believe I have achieved similar results (thank you dag for the easy step by step instructions).

I am looking to join or at least tag along to a Swindon stargazers meet or two when they reconvene in the autumn. In the meantime I hope you will all bare with me as I ask what must be stupid questions and ask for clarification on many things astronomical.

To give you the gist of my knowledge, I know planet names, occasional constellation names and how to use a compass. Basically both myself and my wife are complete beginners and will need slot of patience... :)

We live in Swindon, wiltshire (as you probably guessed with the Swindon stargazers reference).

I hope for many interesting and memorable sights and good conversations with people that I can learn and eventually help.

Gareth and his understanding wife Mel.

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Gareth (and Mel)

Welcome to the forum. There is plenty to learn but that's what makes it so much fun. None of it is difficult, its just the sheer volume of what is known and being discovered which will always throw something up to keep you interested! I read that you are experimenting with imaging and if that is a direction that you wish to explore I would certainly recommend that you get hold of Steve Richards "Making Every Photon Count" (First Light Optics £19.95). This is not a sales pitch but a pointer towards a definitive source of information that will help you understand what you need, why you need it to get the standard of images that you're after. Modestly priced and will certainly save you money in the longer run. A simple webcam and some free on line software will get you imaging the moon and planets in no time. Deep sky imaging such as galaxies, nebula etc requires a little bit more kit than you currently have and is why you might find this book an interesting read and why for others it has proved so popular.

Wishing you clear skies and more observing!

James

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DarkV0!D

DarkV0!D

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Hi and welcome to SGL! Now that you have a telescope may I suggest you find some good sky charts. Sky and telescope's pocket sky atlas comes to mind. Along with that get a planisphere. Alternativly you can download the paper sky maps from skymaps.com for free, but they don't last long

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W8152

W8152

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Sorry i forgot to mention i have a Philip's planisphere, Philip's Stargazing 2011, Philip's Guide to the Night Sky, Astronomy A self teaching guide - Dinah L. Moche, I read a recommendation on this forums some time ago and bought it - I'll admit i haven't read it properly yet but i'll do that in Teneriffe by the pool in a couple of weeks. I'm and IT professional so i also have all the gadgets including the IPAD with skywalk and solar walk, plus the laptop with Stellarium and TheSkyX First Light which came with the scope.

Now to learn how to use them all :)

I'm also waiting on Astronomy Manual: The Practical Guide to the Night Sky.

I'm all for reading up on the subject and using them as reference as and when.

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EssexMigrant

EssexMigrant

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Welcome folks!

You'll find the first thing you have to cope with, is information overload! So much to learn, so little time. The secret of course, is to enjoy what you do. I'm not that far away from you in terms of experience, so I can perhaps offer a few tips. Firstly, and most importantly I feel, is don't get bogged down in equipment; very easy to do. Secondly, pick easy things to start with; the moon, Jupiter, and for instance a single constellation such as Cygnus. Cygnus alone would stand a lifetime of study, as would most things up there, the problem being of course that they're not always above the horizon, let alone visible through clouds! Double stars can be a fascinating study, and there are, like in most things in astronomy, specialist books available if you fancy. Don't igore old books entirely, some classics such as this, brilliant for doubles, are well worth a look; particularly if they're free!

http://ia700500.us.archive.org/0/items/instarlandwithth00olcorich/instarlandwithth00olcorich.pdf

Good luck with all your learning; it's a long and profitable road to travel.

Max

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W8152

W8152

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I think i'm mostly interested in plantary objects and constellations, once i feel comfortable finding what i'm looking for i'll try my hand at some DSO's :)

I'll make sure to share some pictures as i take them aswell!

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brantuk

brantuk

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Hi Gareth and Mell and welcome to SGL :)

Take a look in the "Communites" section (blue bar top of page) and choose "Social Groups" from the drop down menu. You may find a local meeting of SGL observers to join up with :(

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