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Hi John

Good advice from Lorne, when I started out in astronomy if anyone asked what I was interested in ie deep sky, astro photography, planets etc I would not be able to answer, I was interested in astronomy! Thats why going along to a local society/group and see kit in real life and talk to folks who live astronomy is the best thing to do. Even when you buy your first scope you want something slightly different, maybe a bit bigger, then the real learning process starts. I have all my kit from 12 years of astronomy and still use all of it. To me its the best hobby of all, its always changing, kit is always improving and you can always pick up bargins as people are always upgrading. Just go along and start looking through other guys scopes and talk everything through with them.

dave

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Hi John and welcome to the forum. Some clear advice above and if I may add my additional some of my own thoughts. I would certainly recommend that you get yourself along to a public viewing session organised by your local astro club. The reason for suggesting this approach is that it will provide you the opportunity to look through some kit to establish your own benchmark of what will best meet your expectations. All the numbers and specifications that you might read about on the net won't mean a thing to you unless you have a starting point in your head from which to hang this new information from. Going along to these events (...I would suggest going a couple of times) will also provide you with the opportunity to see some of this kit up close as it can be quite a bit bigger than the pictures might lead you to believe, and that is especially important if you need to transport your kit to a dark site. It will also allow you to talk to fellow astronomers about setup times, cool down times (...relevant to newtonian and schmidt cassegrain designs that involve large mirrors) and also allow you to make a note of what eyepieces are being used as they can sometimes make quite a difference to the view seen. Overall, the key thing is to take your time and do the research but all the discussions in the world cannot compete with first hand experience. Binoculars will keep you going in the short term and will be an essential piece of kit to accompany a scope when you decide to buy.

Clear skies for now and enjoy the forum.

James

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Hi John, welcome to sgl. I'm a newbie on this forum. Got my second scope a few weeks ago. First one was an unsuitable gift and rather than plough money into it I decided to start afresh. I'm in Airdrie and live in a house surrounded by nasty street lighting. My back garden only has a partial view of the eastern sky. I am using that solely for lunar visual work, though I observed Jupiter through a moment of clarity on Wednesday evening. My interest is wide (planetary and dso) however my scope is less suitable for dso (6" alt-az goto - celestron 6se). My ambitions were curtailed by funds but most importantly portability. I can only really work with it in the field and therefore wanted something compact and portable for quick trips and camping holidays.

weather and full moon means the next fortnight is limited so no rush, keep researching etc.

cheers

Martin

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