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Room for a shy newbie?

AstroMum

By AstroMum
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AstroMum

AstroMum

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Welcome from one newbee to another! :D

I'm looking at getting the Evo-star 102 on an EQ3-2 so another plus1 for the refractors lol

Good luck with your purchases :)

Ooh lovely, would love to know what you think of it if you go ahead. :)

Welcome Becky, I would go for the EQ5 mount, it will be more stable, I have the same set up on an eq3-2 mount and there is a lot of wobble. all the best.

That's worrying, I think my husband will have a heart attack if I dare to suggest something even more expensive lol.

Are you using it stock, or do you have a camera or other modifications attached?

I've seen some people mention putting something heavy like a sandbag or their 12v battery in the accessory tray to stabilise it a bit. Has this made any difference for you?

lol, I did exactly the same thing, hours and hours...

One thing that I forgot to mention about the Evostar 120 is that it is quite a size (it's hard to get much idea from the sales pictures). I keep saying that I will put a photo of it on here, so I will (honest!) asap to give an idea to anyone considering buying one. :)

I did notice it looked a decent size, though I guess that's going to be the case whatever I go for. Found a couple of photos on flickr (I think - seen so many 'scopes it's all becoming a blur lol) but would really love to see yours if you have a chance to upload something. :D

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AstroMum

AstroMum

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evostar120refractorii.png

Picture of Evostar 120 & yours truly as promised. I am 5' 9" so this is not a little scope :)

evostar120refractorii.png

Looks like I was a bit slow at submitting my last reply and nearly missed your post.

Looks awesome, just the right size I think! :)

Thanks for sharing the photo!

Rocket launcher!

Too true lol! :D

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Frank the Troll

Frank the Troll

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Hi Becky and welcome

You can get a good basic 4.5 inch new for £200 = Tal-1 or £300 for a resonable Dob (new) which will sort you out, or even a skywatcher

Do your homework and look at ebay and you will cut this in half, but do take the offer of visting first, if you need can send you item numbers as possible candindates

Best of Luck - and Welcome to the unending wonders of this and other Universes

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titan79

titan79

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Hi Becky, i have just been doing the same thing as you for the last couple of weeks, but in the end i got a dslr camera and a tripod to do some basic astrophotography. Last night was my first night out got some nice pictures to after messing around with the focus for half an hour lol . Anyway the point i was trying to make is i killed two birds with one stone i got a start in astro-imaging and i got a nice camera ( canon 1100d ) to use when the sky is not so good . Maybe that could be an option for you and maybe its one way to get round your other half with the price vs functionality .......... Welcome to the forum by the way !!

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carastro

carastro

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Welcome Becky.

Your choice of an ED120 is a good one, especially if......

I also want a motorised or GOTO mount as I intend to dabble in some astrophotography

I use an ED120 for imaging. For Imaging will need an Equatorial mount capable of guiding, however the price for that might upset you husband even further, but you can always purchase that later and put your ED120 on it and meanwhile use a slightly cheaper mount to get you started.

Carole

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AstroMum

AstroMum

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Hi Becky and welcome

You can get a good basic 4.5 inch new for £200 = Tal-1 or £300 for a resonable Dob (new) which will sort you out, or even a skywatcher

Do your homework and look at ebay and you will cut this in half, but do take the offer of visting first, if you need can send you item numbers as possible candindates

Best of Luck - and Welcome to the unending wonders of this and other Universes

Thank you. :) The Tal refractor looks very nice indeed and not hideously expensive I note.

I've looked on eBay a few times, bit nervous about buying second-hand though. I'm not experienced enough to know of someone is trying to sell me a lemon lol.

Am off to visit a 'scope shop today, not as good as a club but will give me a chance to see some 'scopes in the flesh.

Hi Becky, i have just been doing the same thing as you for the last couple of weeks, but in the end i got a dslr camera and a tripod to do some basic astrophotography. Last night was my first night out got some nice pictures to after messing around with the focus for half an hour lol . Anyway the point i was trying to make is i killed two birds with one stone i got a start in astro-imaging and i got a nice camera ( canon 1100d ) to use when the sky is not so good . Maybe that could be an option for you and maybe its one way to get round your other half with the price vs functionality .......... Welcome to the forum by the way !!

I have a digital camera and a reasonable quality tripod and have been taking a few shots of the night sky lately, this is what re-ignited my interest in astronomy again. I seem to have gotten the stargazing bug quite quickly, especially when I realised I could get some pretty shots with surprisingly little effort.

When I get a 'scope I'll experiment with using my current camera. It's a Panasonic FZ-38 bridge camera, so I'll have to do afocal photography, but it will give me a chance to see if astrophotography is for me.

Welcome Becky.

Your choice of an ED120 is a good one, especially if......

I use an ED120 for imaging. For Imaging will need an Equatorial mount capable of guiding, however the price for that might upset you husband even further, but you can always purchase that later and put your ED120 on it and meanwhile use a slightly cheaper mount to get you started.

Carole

Unfortunately I can't stretch to the ED, I'm looking at the standard Evostar. I will be buying an equatorial mount though and and after an earlier suggestion by proflight2000 it will likely be the EQ5. I doubt I'm going to be able to buy anything further for quite a while, except EPs perhaps, so need to try and get as good an initial setup as I can.

Thanks again to everyone who has been so kind and said hello. :)

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Ian123

Ian123

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Hi Becky, if you have'nt done already check out the members gallery to get some ideas of the various scopes.

I too did some consideration between a nice frac and dob but decided i want the ease of use and more aperture of the dob.

It was more or less half the price of the frac i wanted but be warned they can quite big and heavy, heres my 10" Dob.

post-18509-133877726666_thumb.jpg

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AstroMum

AstroMum

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Hi Becky, if you have'nt done already check out the members gallery to get some ideas of the various scopes.

I too did some consideration between a nice frac and dob but decided i want the ease of use and more aperture of the dob.

It was more or less half the price of the frac i wanted but be warned they can quite big and heavy, heres my 10" Dob.

Thanks, I will give the gallery a look. :)

The dob does look very easy to use and it's quite a nice looking bit of kit. The weight and size is a concern for me though. I'll hopefully get to see one today and be able to determine if it's really an issue or not.

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Westgaterose

Westgaterose

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Hi Becky

I'm a fellow newbie, also in Suffolk and I am grappling with my new telescope that my hubby gave me for a certain landmark birthday recently.

I have a 5 year old so I know how tricky it is to get out in the evenings. But I'm determined to do it one night. I'm not sure how far out of Ipswich you are or in which direction but there are few clubs in East Anglia. As far as I know there is Cambridge, Orwell, north Essex (which is actually the other side of Braintree) and a new one in Cavendish. I think visiting a club would be really helpful as I certainly feel a bit like a complete idiot working my machine just from the instruction manual.

Anyway, enough ramble! Hope you get the scope you want.

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AstroMum

AstroMum

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Hi Becky

I'm a fellow newbie, also in Suffolk and I am grappling with my new telescope that my hubby gave me for a certain landmark birthday recently.

I have a 5 year old so I know how tricky it is to get out in the evenings. But I'm determined to do it one night. I'm not sure how far out of Ipswich you are or in which direction but there are few clubs in East Anglia. As far as I know there is Cambridge, Orwell, north Essex (which is actually the other side of Braintree) and a new one in Cavendish. I think visiting a club would be really helpful as I certainly feel a bit like a complete idiot working my machine just from the instruction manual.

Anyway, enough ramble! Hope you get the scope you want.

Lovely to meet another Suffolk mum! :) I'm a little north of Ipswich, up near Debenham. Orwell is the group I was looking at, but goodness knows when I'll get a chance to go.

What 'scope did your hubby buy you? Is this your first foray into astronomy?

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