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Getting to know each other....

Simms

By Simms
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Essex Stargazer

Essex Stargazer

Posted
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hey allen ! sounds like a good way to start to me !!! how was kelling ? we are hoping to head out in august / september if you fancy an evening out (weather depending of course)

Kelling was great , lucky with the wearther , some cloud but it did clear long enough for regular scoping over the 3 days I attended , Also interesting to walk around the site with field after field of interesting setup

Good to look through all the astro stalls and see all the items for sale

I will be up for some viewing sessions dates dependant as I work strange shifts and can only go out viewing on Friday and Saturday nights

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sausages

sausages

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Hi All,

Thought it was about time to say hi to my fellow Essex stargazers! My name is Andrew, I'm 42 years young and living in Maldon (well Heybridge actually). I'm married with a wife and 2 children (girls, oldest is 10). Also have the sweetest natured Cavalier King Charles spaniel ever (called Patch)! I purchased my first scope for Christmas - it was a joint pressie with my younger daughter who had been enjoying learning about the solar system at school and asked if the moon would be bigger through a telescope........I'd wanted a scope for a few years, but didn't have the right excuse, until then so went ahead and bought the Skyliner 150P. And quickly discovered this site......and astrophotography and the costs involved!

I'm loving every minute of my new hobby, and given the state of the weather recently, those minutes are precious indeed! (my daughter is currently more interested in her barbies again as its light too late for her at the moment). To date, I've not been to a dark site - I'm very happy viewing / attempting to image from my back garden. There is so much to see and they turn off the street lights at around midnight.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello! Hope you all have some clear skies soon!

Andrew

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sausages

sausages

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You are a lucky chap Andrew having the street lights turned of at 12am. They have to leave ours on so that the Police choopper can find its way to our local villans.

Hi Bob, I shouldn't said a word - the skies were clear last Friday night and the bl**dy street lights were left on all night! It was a 'technical glitch' according to the council, so hopefully things will be next to normal next time we get clear skies (lord knows when that going to be though, looking at the long-range forecast! :huh:).

I shouldn't moan too much though as I managed to image my first DSO's - M51 and M57. I'll post them up when I get a chance, I'm pretty pleased with my first attempts.

Andrew

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sausages

sausages

Posted
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I Know , he is a talking dog

:grin:

Love it!! I wish there was a funny anecdote concerning my profile name, but alas not! It was the first thing that came into my head when I first signed up and, well, I kind of liked it!

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caerus_sam

caerus_sam

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Hi guys,

I've been on the forum for a while, but I haven't shown myself recently. Since I've been gone, we've gained an official Essex group, so I thought I'd come and introduce myself.

I'm Sam, I'm 25 and I live in Basildon('t). I've always looked up and stared, amazed at what I saw before me but it's not until recently that I started recording what I see using my DSLR. I know Simms lives just opposite me, so if anyone else is in Basildon, do let it be known! Outside of the expanse of wonder above us, I'm usually found stuck to an airfield perimeter fence indulging in my passion for aviation. Civilian, Military, General Aviation; It's all on my list and every year I join the Fuel Ops team at the Royal International Air Tattoo to keep the aircraft flying!

I'm looking to enjoy some nights out with like minded locals, so I'll be back a bit more regularly this time!

All the best guys and clear skies,

Sam.

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caerus_sam

caerus_sam

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Thanks guys! It's good to see it growing, which is nice. :smiley:

I do believe we need a viewing sessions still Simms. Have you managed to get up to St. Nicholas church yet? It's a good thing you're close by. I could use some help with my scope! :embarassed::confused:

A move is not advised Si! :grin: It's fine if you're here to start off with, but moving in is reserved for the insane! :tongue:

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mister brot

mister brot

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I posted this in welcome thread and will edit a little bit out .......

hello everyone...I am 49 years old ,american born,(illinois)living in Germany, served 8 years by the us army 6 of which where in germany....1984 to 1990. Married a German national, and decided to stay here in germany...have two daughters and two grandkids, and since 1990 I am a cement truck /dump truck driver... I am sort of new to astronomy... :undecided: sort of as in I just liked reading magazine stories and looking at pics and once and a while looked through scope to look at moon.been doing this since I was 20+ years old.

I have a (very old and cheep-bought in discount store) 4.5 inch newtonian scope and have gotten it out maybe 20 or 30 times in the last 25 (said it was old :grin: ) years...never new about aligning scope right :huh:....just pointed in general direction and tried to keep object in lens..... . scope has been in basement the last 5 years collecting dust.( by the way my wife bought it for my birthday the year after we got married...now 27 years ...she saw all my astronomy mags and thoght it would be a good birthday pressent :grin:

Then I saw a video on youtube showing how to align and balance an equalateral mount . I am now a new born astronomy excited person again and in the last month have had scope out several times....and am enjoy my scope and am finaly realizing beauty of astronomy through a telescope. I am looking forward to hopfully getting some tips and with time give a little to someone new to astronomy....happy viewing to all :grin:

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gooseholla

gooseholla

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Hello, 26, live in a small village outside Chelmsford. Got a small portable setup - a Vixen VMC110L on a GOTO alt/az base (don't laugh!). A 8 inch Newt. on an EQ mount, which was my first scope 5 years ago. Few problems with it, looking to sell. And a 12 inch orion optics dobsonian which I love! Some good views from my garden, although a street light, houses and trees make skies limited in east, south and west!! Some good dark locations around here away from trees, but haven't ventured out so far. Probably will in coming weeks.

Going to kelling heath next october, with my vixen setup (if I haven't purchased a new one since then! Tempted by a bigger mak or Scmidt!).

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IanL

IanL

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Another lurker coming out out of the woodwork here, have been reading on the SGL forum for nearly a year, but too lazy to post until now.

About me:

Forty-something-too-much, 1 x wife, 2 x kids. Work in the City.

Been in to astronomy off and on since I was a kid.

Main issue as a commuter (early starts, late home) is that Saturday nights are pretty much the only time I can get outside, get set up and have a decent observing run. Combine that with the weather, moon and short summer nights and I am lucky if I get five really good nights outside in a year!

Location:

Village outside Colchester, near the sea. No street lights (bonus), few annoying security lights (boo) but pretty dark skies overhead and SE through NW.

Major gripe is heavy dew problems most of the year due to being near sea level and out of town.

Overall I don't need to travel to dark sky sites as the home location is pretty good, plus direct access to mains electricity and a warm sofa is a real plus!

Current gear:

Scope: Meade LX10 (20cm F10 SCT) with Revelation Crayford focusser, deforked and mounted on an NEQ6 Pro, EQMOD/Laptop/Stellarium controlled.

Guiding: Orion ST80 piggy-backed with QHY5 mono guidecam, PHD guiding software.

Imaging: Canon EOS 500D unmodified with BackyardEOS software. (Have also done planetary imaging with an ancient Logitech Quickcam 3000).

Processing software: Al the usual free stuff plus invested in PixInsight recently.

Projects:

- I like a bit of homebrew electronics/software fun, previously build an ASCOM compatible autoguider for the standard LX10 fork mount using an Arduino board before deciding to buy the NEQ6.

- Build an SCT air cooler out of bits from B&Q.

- Planning to build some dew-heaters (not willing to pay a couple of hundred quid or more for forty or fifty quid's worth of parts at most!)

- Planning to build a motorised ASCOM focusser for the Revelation Crayford (already have the now redundtant Arduino board, and figure I can do it with a stepper motor, a driver board and a metal bracket for less than 30 quid).

Currently working on:

a) The Mrs. Have just put in a brand new kitchen, should be worth something decent gear-wise don't you think?

B) Guding issues - still working out the kinks in the setup, seem to have plenty of problems when going over 5 mins exposures (not so much trailing as almost 'bouncing' - bright star image with fainter secondary image and a small 'trail' between the two is the most common, think I need to unbalance the mount if the skies ever clear).

c) Cooling/noise issues with the Canon. Have had limited success since the dark nights started this month, partly due to high temperatures I think . The Camera sensor regularly reports 35C+ which is not good. Also last time out picked up some horrendous pattern noise; not sure if this was down to the temperatures or electronic noise (re-routed all my scope cabling over the summer and this was the first decent test). Wondering about building a cooling box for the Canon but not sure if it is worth the effort; I can't risk a modification or a filter change either since it has to do double duty as a daytime camera.

Wish list:

- LP clip filters for the EOS.

- Decent Mono/Cooled CCD camera, but will have to wait a long time since I would also need filter wheel, filters, etc. Don't have the megabucks yet.

- Build a shedobservatory so I can get more time outside.

- Shorter F scope (maybe an 8" or 10" astrograph of some sort). Thought about getting a focal reducer for the LX10, but I am doubtful I can find anything that will work with an SCT with a non-low profile crayford and a DSLR (not willing to take the crayford out of the train since focusing on the LX10 without it is trying to say the least).

Anything else, just ask!

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