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Hi, from Yorkshire

skylab

By skylab
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skylab

skylab

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woof, woof . . . woof, woof, woof!! :)

Hello all, I keep getting taken for evening walks around 9pm and the guy at the end of my lead keeps stopping all the time and looking up into the sky. Not sure, but I think he's looking at something he calls stars and planets. I know nothing about all that stuff, except I know where the 'dog star' is, of course! Anyway, his name is Phil and if he's going to keep dragging me out in the freezing cold to do my business every night and then holding the job up cos he's more interested in what's going on 'up there' than sniffing and snuffling around in fragrant tussocks of grass, then I might as well join in and learn more about all these pinholes in the velvet curtain of the night too.

So, that's me, black dog, aka 'skylab' . . . pleased to know ya!

Oh, and BTW and FYI . . . we're up in North Yorkshire, it's regarded as 'Dog's Own County' or something-or-other like that up here . . dark skies, woof, woof!

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skylab

skylab

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Hi, thank you all for the warm welcome. I am hoping to learn about taking photos of the constellations and the MW. I don't have a telescope so I will just be aiming for getting pictures of the sky pretty much as we see it with the unaided eye. I've seen some fantastic examples, really inspirational, and I would love to be able to get some good quality images myself. Any advice would be very gratefully received, bearing in mind I am just starting out, but I'm not familiar with all the terminology yet. It's a steep curve, but you have to start somewhere.

Looking forward to getting to know my way around all the threads,

Phil

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Phil and welcome to the forum. I have to admit that I read your opener twice as I wasn't quite sure who was asking for help and for whom - it's me, I must be barking mad. Anyhow I'm going to take the lead here and recommend that you download a free bit of palnetarium software known as Stellarium which you can view from here. Lots of 'toys' on it to keep you entertained when the clouds come in (...and stay in!) There is a nice advance date/time feature which can allow you to anticipate when a chosen object will appear and where to find. So many of us use this useful tool and it will certainly help you find your away the night sky.

Clear skies for now!

James

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skylab

skylab

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...software known as Stellarium

Thanks for the suggestion James, I have downloaded Stellarium . . just getting the hang of some of the features. It looks amazing! This will be very helpful for learning where and when to see things (and I might even be able to learn some names of stars too!)

Thanks also to glowjet, those 'special information dog biscuits' will definitely go down well here :)

Actually, I do have a field spotting scope for nature/birding use, but I don't think it will be good enough for stargazing, but in the absence of anything else, I could always give it a try. It has a 20 to 60 times zoom eyepiece and an 80mm objective lens (if that's the right term?) I have looked at the moon through it once or twice and that seemed really cool.

I feel like I'm getting myself kind of stuck here on this thread, but I don't really know where else to post my replies yet. Are any of you guys into taking photos of the sky? . . sorry if it's a dumb question, but where do I need to be looking on the forum? There seems to be so much!

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skylab

skylab

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Thank you 'todd..', 'Nibor' and Dana and everyone else! Your welcomes are much appreciated.

I've posted a question about astrophotography in the Primers and Tutorials section of the Beginners Help and Advice forum. Not sure if I should have placed it there, but it was as a result of reading a really good 'noobs' article by ASIGN_Baz (I liked the humour!)

Basically, I would like to try and get better at taking wide-field shots of constellations incorporating a bit of foreground landscape interest. The pictures I've taken so far have not been too good. I am hopeful that by reading some of what's already been written on SGL I'll be able to glean a few pointers. I think I need to get into image stacking to sharpen my pix up a bit.

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