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Matt1962

By Matt1962
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Matt1962

Matt1962

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My father was a keen amateur astronomer - keen also to pass on his interest to my ten year-old self. I remember it well: standing around in feezing cold dark while Dad fiddled for ages with tubes and legs and knobs and eyepieces with the result that his scope ended up pointing almost - but not quite - directly at a supposedly interesting celestial object. A bit more fiddling, and then I got to squint down the eyepiece to see the object - which invariably turned out to be small, feint and not at all as impressive and exciting as I thought space stuff ought to be.

For some reason, I never quite caught my dad's enthusiasm.

Fast forward thirty-plus years, and I'm looking for ways to feed my own ten-year-old's voracious appetite for all things scientific. She's got star charts and astronomy posters on her wall, junior astronomy books on her shelf and stands out in the garden lining up Google sky map on my phone with the things she can she in the sky. So, obviously, the time was right for a telescope. Recalling my own early disappointments, the answer seemed easy - Goto tracking to cut out the endless fiddling and loads of aperture to bring feint objects to life. Being a typical bigger-is-better kind of bloke, I almost pushed the button on a new 8" or 10" computerised scope.

Fortunately, common sense intruded just long enough for me to do some research before I separated myself irrevocably from the best part of a zillion quid. And now, with help from the dozens of folk here with the experience and sense to offer decent advice to people like me, I find myself the possessor of a little Sky Watcher Heritage 130p, a couple of decent eyepieces to make up for the sub-par ones in the box, and an Orion webcam imager. And the best thing is that this package is simpler, easier to use and more fun than I could possibly have imagined (even if it does lack the raw, macho phallic splendour of a big dobsonian). I should have done this years ago. Unlike me at her age, my daughter is transfixed with wonder and pleasure, and quickly learning to navigate herself around the surprisingly impressive range of objects concealed to the naked eye by the orange glow of south west London's polluted skies. And we await each new clear night with impatience whilst poring over a star chart and Philips planisphere to plan our viewing.

So really, this is just a long-winded way of saying hi and thanks to everybody here who has posted excellent, patient, knowledgable advice which brings the hobby to life and makes it so much easier for newcomers like me to make the right choices.

Regards.

Matt

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Matt and welcome to the forum. Your reminiscences of participating in your father's astronomical endeavours brought back vivid memories of my own tortuous childhood. Unlike you, I did not experience the wonders of the universe but instead, the terrestrial wonders of sea angling trips which involved endless standing around on beaches till 4:00 in the morning, being buffeted numb by ridiculous freezing wind with just a cup of luke warm Bovril to act as my only distraction - oh happy days!

I think I am going to replace the phrase 'aperture fever' (the never ending need for a bigger scope) with a version of your description, 'Macho Phallicus Splenderitus' :)- more impressive whilst actually sounding more serious! - thanks for that and I am a sufferer! :):D Glad you could join us and I reckon your young assistant is going to keep you on your astro toes for quite some time, therefore we had better make sure your knowledge base is kept up to date. :icon_scratch:

Wishing you both clear skies

James:icon_salut:

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Celtic Deacon

Celtic Deacon

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Welcome Matt, your daughter's thirst for knowledge is wonderful and will inspire you also. I have the same feeling with my 6 year old grandson who lives in Vancouver and insists on taking me to the planetarium whenever I visit. Enjoy!

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Cjg

Cjg

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Hi Matt,

The Heritage 130P was my first scope and my 12 year old used it to find and view Saturn with the help of my iPad last year - it's a great scope and hope you both have many clear nights with it. It's small enough to take on holiday with you, so when you get a chance to escape the lights of London, you'll really enjoy seeing the DSO's from a dark sky.

Chris

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SteveA

SteveA

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Hi Matt,

A warm welcome to SGL...

There's such a fantastic choice of equipment these days at what are quite affordable prices (some not so affordable!)..Along with the vast variety of resources to help people learn and appreciate the night sky...there's never been a better time to get into astronomy...

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