Back to the old school

[mik]

Hi ive been out of the hobby for quite a long time ie 20 years and after getting back into the swing of things

last winter i am quite amazed at the wealth of information available and the equipment is scary to say the least

i started of last year with my ZS66 and a few bits i even bought a webcam and managed a few lunar images,

Now 20 years ago we seemed to rely on books for information but now with the home pc/internet, information

is so available well over the last year or so ive got a bit confused by it all not knowing what branch of the

hobby to wave a stick at,most of the information seems to revolve around getting a EQ6 and imaging

(nothing wrong with that i say)untill i found this site it seems to cater pretty well for the visual enthusiast

as well as the imager, i am interested in visual work and sketching and was wondering if there are many

old school astronomers about or has it all been overtaken with technology.

sorry if this is in the wrong forum

Cheers Mick. :?

[Ant]

Hi Mick,

It's true that most things are now a lot more involved than they were 20 years ago.

But then again 20 years ago was only a few years before I bought my first SCT - that was quite advanced (not by todays standard though).

There are a number of people that are observers within SGL and we pride outself in catering for the visual observer as well as the imager.

It is true that the imaging side of things now ranges from the frustrating to the damn complicated!!! But even the observing side now comes with technology - the EQ6 Pro has an impressive target list, and certainly makes things easier to locate than the old star hoping.

There are a lots of people here that are old school, lots of people have Dob's, some people have driven mounts and some have the GOTO mounts but still prefer to just observe...

There are a couple of people here that Sketch - some ae very good indeed! Other like double stars.

The diversity of interests here really makes here great.

Ant

[Cloudwatcher]

Hi Mick!

I tend to think of myself as Old School (well old anyway ) as I'm by far more an observer than an imager although it has to be said you certainly "see" more in the images posted by Forum members.

In my opinion though, there's still nothing quite like being at the eyepiece on a clear night and just sweeping the skies with your scope.

As Ant says SGL is very cosmopolitan catering for all tastes and you will always find something of interest to read and or comment on. It is the best!

Cheers

CW

[dweller25]

Welcome back to the dark (and cold) side.

I'm am just getting back into Astronomy too after a long break

I am into visual planetary and Messier observing, some drawing too. I will be doing some BASIC imaging of the planets this Christmas. If I can get just half as good as some of the images on this site I will be very happy.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

[The Warthog]

Hi, Mick!

I'm so old school I'm trying to take pictures with a film camera. I, too, am mainly into visual astronomy, and love it!

[mik]

Thanks for the replys ive had a good look over the SGL site over the last few days and

what a superb site ive found i am looking forward to doing some double star work my little

ZS66 has got me going but is limited so i am going to purchase a Dob and i think it will

be in the shape of the SW 250px,I am also looking forward to some planet sketching and

maybe some basic imaging of the moon and double stars with a basic digital compact

when i find a cheap one upto the job of eye peice projection (any ideas)

Thanks Mick.

[Ant]

I had a Pentax EI2000, others will no doubt suggest better.

But if I could persuade the person I sold it to to sell it back to me I would jump at it!

It was only 2.2 Mp but had some great features for Ep projection (manual focus - manual everything in fact).

Ahhhh those were the days...

Ant