Newbs - whats your thoughts on your new hobby at the end of your first season?

[SteveWxm]

its such a weird thing - never in my life have I wished the summer away - but this year - well its just not the same lol

I'm the same! Look forward to the darker skies again already!

[tich]

I've only had my scope since the beginning of Dec last year. I've always had a facination in what's up there & I remember driving home from work in November & seeing Jupiter in the night sky. A friend of mine has a cheap 4" refelctor & I was nagging him to bring it over for weeks until enough was enough & I went & brought a 200P. The day I ordered it he brought his scope over & after battling with the mount etc I very nearly had second thoughts. My scope came & I quickly set it up & had it in the garden. I never set it proper just wanted to get a glimpse of Jupiter & the moon which for me at the time was a wow factor. The only thing I was struggling with was the polar alignment & after reading many threads & watching videos on youTube I was starting to get something near but still by no means perfect.

I saw a thread about SGL7 & I thought to myself you know what I should go, & I'm glad that I did as I managed to pick up some tips make some friends & drank a few ciders LOL. I have since brought more stuff as I quite fancy having a go at imaging some DSO's. I have managed a few planetary images although my early attempts started off poor but have improved the more I tried.

I love observing & imaging I don't really care about the expense as it's worth every penny. I've seen some of the images that folk have managed & it's such a big wow factor for me plus it's a hobby where you learn so much.

Oh & hope you're looking forward to the starparty in October Steve as it will be nice to meet you & catch up with Mat & David too

[boabsta]

I remember when i joined these forums it was to ask how to focus my mak!

I had only started stargazing in november and the mak was my 5th scope having progressed from a 76 cel to 114 sw to 130m sw to 114 cel goto at a rate of about a different scope per month. For the most part I was clueless to what I was realy doing but I could find jupiter and that was all that realy mattered. Even the 76 was a wow when I could see jupiter and 4 moons.

It was only realy after joining here I started to find my feet properly.

Advice came thick and fast as has new ep's and various other wee bits and bobs and books.

I also followed a link for the Central Scotland Observer group and after meeting meeting a few of the boys and girls on there I feel much more grounded in what it is I want to be doing.

Having bought all my prevoius astro gear 2nd hand I had got away with not spending too much with the exception of a couple of ep's but now I know that this is something that I enjoy and not just another fad I have just taken delivery of a shiney new sw 200pds which will sit on a HEQ5-Pro mount which I got 2nd hand.

Unfortuneatley I havent had a chance to use it yet, darned weather, but I'm sure when the time comes it shall be wow all over again.

So I say cheers boys and girls for the support and advice and long may it continue.

[Jandy100]

Got got my telescope back in July 2011. I became "hooked" after watching stargazing live 2011.

As a newbie I wanted to see & photograph everything, but over time using this forum & information around I have "calmed down" & now understand that it necessary to have a goal or wish list of what to see. Mine is planets & the moon.

Astronomy has certainly tested my level of patience. I remember my very first session after I got my refractor. Set up nice & early and took my time making sure everything went into the right bit, 1 hour later just finishing the set up & a great big blanket of cloud came over.

Observing at nightsky is not only challenging but very rewarding. I will never forget my first time seeing Jupiter in the EP and then realising that it was 391 million miles away. That was the wow factor I wanted to feel with the hobby.

Now I am a learning more observing nights are always looked forward to. In the daytime I spend more time now staring at the sky & wondering if the evening & night will be clear enough for observing.

Looking at the night sky whether it be with my scope or binoculars for a quick mid week observing is great in my opinion & gives me a way to relax. I love the tranquility & peacefulness and the escape from the normal day to day hustle & bustle.

It's a great hobby. I don't know if I will ever spend the fortunes some people do, but even with my relatively simple set up there is so much to gain & enjoy. I think I'm hooked for life......

[stevetynant]

What a good thread this is - everything and everyone so positive so far - surely theres someone out there disenchanted?

Tich - looking forward to October as well will be nice to meet up mate.

Thinking about it - theres a lot of common themes on this thread between all of us new starts to astronomy - If I list some of my experiences I bet they will be 90% common to most peoples experience.

Always interested but not quite enough to spend on the scope- then when did wondered why I hadn't done it before.

Never quite understood the scope was the cheap part until after buying it and then starting on the extras

Dreading the wife coming home after realising how big the boxes your 200p came in were in the flesh

So glad to have found this forum which is probably the best thing I did to help me learn

Conscious to NEVER - and I mean NEVER - let your mind wander to any sort of horror / ghost film when your out alone in the dark.

Constantly checking the weather forecasts

Perpetually checking the windows to see if theres cloud out there in the night

Bags under my eyes

Can't wait to talk about the hobby to any one who will listen.

An aversion to street lighting

Spend a lot of time just looking upwards when out in the evening

Sense of awe and wonder at the night sky

Have I missed anything?

[boabsta]

Usually after having been out and seen what there is to see I quite often feel empty. It's like letting off a big firework. I enjoy the knowing that I'm going, the anticipation as its lit, the excitement at seeing it burst, then, that's it. Done.

Doesn't take long for it too all start over again. After the initial "oh well that's that, I've seen it now" feeling, I start to look forward to seeing it again. Maybe try and get a photo of it. Maybe see something new. Maybe show someone new. And again like with fireworks, next time I go I've got bigger and better gear to try and the excitement has started building again.

The only real downside is that I feel like I have aged. I can also be a bit sheepish at times when people ask if I have a telescope. I'm not embarrassed but there are times when maybe a wee bit as I know I used to rip people with they're telescopes when I was a wee bitty younger.

Anyway I could go on but shan't.

I am turning into a geek and I don't care!

[Kevdan]

Not sure if anyone else gets this but,

I get several phone calls, for example the one I had from my gaffer who asked what was the big star that hangs around the lampost outside his house (turned out to be Jupiter), and others mainly form mates who are on their way home from pub on a clear night phoning to ask what star it is they can see when they dont know what direction they are looking or how to get home.

When any tv quiz show comes on and theres an astronomy question my misses always says "you should have know that" because now Ive been an amature for a year she thinks I know more than Brian Cox and Patrick Moore put together (unfortunatly I know the truth which is I know a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of what Brian Cox knows)

Kev

[nickdud]

after my first season i have started to notice how careless most of you have become, you all go out and buy loads of new gear, you get it home and excitedly rip the box open like a kid at christmas without thinking of your own stupidity.... yes! you all just chuck those clouds out with the cardboard!!!

so after my first season with my "new big scope" i have had some great views of the moon in some awsome detail. saturn is a regular spot from my back garden , i cant get enough of it tbh. i just caught orion and m42 when i first stepped out with my new toy. m42 is my special nebula as it was the first easy to find nebula many years ago even tho it was just a star to the naked eye. jupitor and its moons were great but i cant wait to see it again with my 6mm ep and 2xbarlow(lets not wish the summer away tho).venus is impressivly bright even tho its only half in view, mars gives me plenty of agro as i cant really see much detail of my setup. and finally andromeda, i need to spend more time in darker skies tho as the lp from leicester does ruin my northern view. i will work on more dso's when winter comes and i get more early skies.

my main problem with this sport is that being a working bloke i find that late skies and early mornings do not mix so until late autumn it will be on hold a bit leaving plenty of time to read astro mags and dream up more ways to spend my cash trying to keep up with all you jones' haha

of course it goes without saying i have spent far too many nights on here reading loads about all sorts of stuff from your obsies and equipment to your pics and how much effort goes into compiling your images.

cheers all, happy summer and dark skies:D

[Fandango]

I love my new hobby! It comes at a time in my life when I'm trying to recover from the after effects of a serious illness. To be honest I think it stopped me from losing the plot and has given me a focus outside of my illness. I'm quite limited in what I can do; so I cannot get out to star parties, or meet up with other amateur astronomers just yet but to lose myself for an hour staring at the sky is wonderful beyond words. Saturn is amazing! That little blurry blob in Hercules is thousands of stars! Jupiter with it's moons lined up - Wow! I would love to take some pictures, one day I will learn how to. In the meantime there is so much to see. This forum is great. Thanks everyone.

[Eastridge]

I think of myself as a 'born again' observer but by most standards I'm newbie.

We had a Skyhawk 1145 manual on EQ1 for 6 years but setting up, finding etc. was such a faff it rarely got used. I now know with hindsight I never got the best out of it, but that was how it was.

Then last winter I walked past our local photo shop that also does scopes and they had a 250P Classic Skyliner in the window - such big apeture for less than £500 & I was smitten.

Of course, did research to find out what the 'catch' was and after due consideration of the cons & provision by my empoyer of a big enough bonus we decided to go for it. No forgien holiday this year, scope instead - would I regret it??

No. I love my Dob, it's a whole new ballgame over the Skyhawk, for planets & naked eye visible objects it's so easy to piont at the right thing.

Finding this forum is a big help, but also lets you know what you are missing and feeds the desire for the 'better kit' that others have. In some ways I am 'lucky on that my annual bonus is the only sizeable spare cash we have so I can't fritter it away on the EP's I'd love but can't really afford.

Now awaiting delivery of a Telrad to help me get to the less easy DSO's but now I am hooked. If I had the money would I have gone GOTO? I don't think so but can't be sure yet, it will depend on how difficult it is to find the next 'level' of DSO with the Telrad in future.

[Oily]

I've only had my scope,a Heritage 130P for a few months but in that time I've seen Jupiter and it's moons,Saturn which was simply stunning and of course the Moon.Seeing Saturn has made the initial expense all worth while.My viewing time is limited as I work shifts but always eager to get out into the back garden.

Now as everyone has said,the wallet is going to take another hit soon to replace the EP's that came with the scope,I've already bought a GSO X2 barlow and a HoTech laser collimator

My only downside is that I should have bought a bigger scope such is the bug!

I didn't want to spend to much as I didn't know if I would take to the hobby and have the scope as a dust collector.

[mart rich]

Steve & all

This is a great thread for motivation on these miserable evenings we have at the moment, although it sounds like Monday evening could be clearer.....fingers crossed please everyone.

I got into this when I was lent a friends Bresser Skylux 70mm (its still in the garage), I bought a T ring and adapter and somehow managed to get a half decent shot of the moon. That was it, the next couple of months were spent researching this forum and I took the plunge on a 200p.

My thoughts on what I have learnt and things I am still a long way off getting right:

1. Expectations - I have a lot of LP, 3 small kids and other hobbies. My expectations are somewhat lower than the day the 200p turned up, but I still love it and can see the hobby growing over the years.

2. Accessories. Money pit, enough said.

3. Best moments, well the moment Saturn swims into focus is always a thrill. Can't wait for Jupiter again either. Once I had my webcam - I opted for a more expensive plug and play job rather than having to modify (or ruin more likely in my case) an off the shelf model - getting a few thousand frames of Saturn and messing around with Registax is fantastic. Its a slow process getting it right and I know I have a very long way to go but its amazing what you can get out of some relatively cheap and simple kit.

4. Disappointments - has to be viewing DSOs in our area. Its a long way to a proper dark site from here and I haven't done it yet. Thats fine though, the planets are still a real buzz. Another diappoitment after shooting the moon through a cheap refractor was the coma that ruined my first shots with the 200p. Well I am waiting to get a Coma Corrector, so more money....

4. The future, well I currently plan to get an NEQ6 and maybe a decent refractor, plus guiding equipment, but then again the house also needs an extension......

I notice there are a lot of 200p users on this thread alone, aren't they great?

Martin

[M4lcs67]

I totaly agree Fandango. The same for me. I had a stroke three and a half years ago and since then I have been in and out of hospital numerous times and had various life saving operations. Luckily things are heading in the right direction and my check-ups are beginning to get further apart. I even got my driving licence back last week and also went out on my Mountainbike with my buddies for the first time since my stroke. Things are finally on the up and I love my new found hobby. Like many other I am wishing the summer away. How mad is that????

[stevetynant]

Its an astronomy thing never in my life have I felt like this but can't wait for the autumn

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[nickdud]

This is a shameless 'bring the topic back to the top of the pile' reply because I think after the star'cox n dara'live effect it would be nice to know who is still here?

For my part, the scope is now equiped with a new super slippy(waits for mr penrice's grrrrrr!) And a 6mm ep with 2x barlow.

My summer nights have(between the rain) shown me Saturn which I now love and lately Andromeda thru my bins.

I really do feel v.pleased and special that I have seen universal wonders that most of my pub mates have only seen in pictures,

I hope you all had great summers between the rain(uk) and clear skies to all;)

(I'm on my Blackberry, I may be some time;) )

[stevetynant]

Waiting for Friday which will be the first time I've been out with the scope since last may. Really looking forward to it.

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[Siriusmeg]

Yup still here, still with the little scope and still purely visual - and there's still loads to see

Actually it has been very interesting to track the night sky and its changes through different seasons (though I did miss April and most of May due to bad weather) - now looking forward to starting season 2 and revisiting some old favourites.

[lestergibson]

I've been using 15x70 bins and an Olivon TR150 tripod but I scored a new Skyliner 200p a few weeks ago and recently added a Telrad, Cheshire and TAL x2 Barlow. Vixen NPL and I've only managed to get the scope out a couple of times for Jupiter and the Moon. This was enough to convince that I had to work up the melons to collimate - something I'd sort of stuck my in the sand about. Turned out that it IS simple (cheers Astrobaby et al) but the skies have been cloudy since. Hopefully I'll get a chance to view them with a collimated scope and get a bit of detail from Jupiter.

Really, I'm just kicking my heels a bit until things get darker sooner but I'm looking forward to it. Friends are fascinated too and always interested enough to ask plenty of questions.

[stevetynant]

Beautiful clear night here in South Wales tonight. Just getting the bins and map together with a big coffee and going out into the garden for a few hours.

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[Ronnie67]

I bought my scope at Christmas but had to send it back last week as the scope was turning until it jamed my eyepieces at the base, missing it now as the skys been clear

[stevetynant]

That's bad news ronnie, what scope did you have...are you getting it replaced or getting a different model?

[Marki]

Still here and loving the hobby even more, now that I'm nine months in to my astronomy adventure.

Supposed to be clear Saturday night, so I can finally get a decent night in and not have to worry about getting up in the morning.

I've learnt so much in the last few months. One of which is that I hate next doors cats which leave unexpected surpises scattered around my garden for the unwary astronomer to tread in when moving the scope to get a better view over the house. If anyone has any sure fire tips for detering cats (other than getting a bigger cat or dog of my own) I;d be grateful .

[Naemeth]

Still here and loving the hobby even more, now that I'm nine months in to my astronomy adventure.

Supposed to be clear Saturday night, so I can finally get a decent night in and not have to worry about getting up in the morning.

I've learnt so much in the last few months. One of which is that I hate next doors cats which leave unexpected surpises scattered around my garden for the unwary astronomer to tread in when moving the scope to get a better view over the house. If anyone has any sure fire tips for detering cats (other than getting a bigger cat or dog of my own) I;d be grateful .

Try a Vinegar solution (1 pt Vinegar, 1 pt Water) and spray it around the gate to the garden, apparently both dogs and cats hate the smell of vinegar, and won't want to go near it. Alternatively, loud noise could scare them away, but that is far harsher for the cat, and annoying for everyone in the neighbourhood.

[Gohan75]

Defiantly a hobby for life. I started about a year ago with a pair of 20X80 Celstron Skymaster binocs and as soon as i saw Jupiter and its 4 moons i was hooked. After only a few months i couldnt hold out anymore and bought a skywatcher 130p reflector and not long after a set of astro-revelation plossols. Now i'm already wanting more! Saving up for the Orion XT10i intelliscope and some 2" wide angel ep's for DSO's.... cannot wait.

As the great Carl Sagan said, " Astronomy is a humbling and character building experience"

[Ally8446]

I'm with you all on this one. I only took up this hobby in February and by the time I figured out how to use a newt let alone the EQ mount it was May and light evenings were scuppering my new interest. The night sky has always fascinated me ever since I was about 7 years old. I am now 100% positive I have a hobby for life.

Clear Skies

Ally