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Guess what I got for Christmas.

Strath

By Strath
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Strath

Strath

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Hi. I am a long time lover of science and get my original interests from the great Carl Sagan. His tv series, Cosmos, really got me interested in science in general and placed me on a path. My recent interest got sparked again with the popularity of Brian Cox. I have a fondness for both of these guys, mainly due to their ability to make science and astronomy accessible to everyone.

I received a Christmas gift of a telescope today. It is a Celestron 130 reflector and I have already managed, between the clouds, to have a good look at the moon and then to be quite startled by Jupiter and four moons. I have since discovered that these are probably the Galilean moons written about across the web. I was totally blown away by this. I could even make out the banding across the surface of Jupiter. All of this with a 9mm objective. (I hope I got that right)

I can't wait for some clearer skies to see what else is out there.

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Marki

Marki

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Hi Strath! Merry Christmas, and nice pressie :)

Been looking at jupiter in my 125mm refractor and it is indeed gorgeous with the four galilean moons flanking it. You are in for some treats now you have that scope! Try a quick peep at the nebula in Orions sword if its not too cloudy! Thats pretty neat for a quick look! Also the moon is fantastic in its own right. Did the 9mm eyepiece come with the scope?

By the way, Welcome to SGL :)

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Strath

Strath

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<snip>

Did the 9mm eyepiece come with the scope?

By the way, Welcome to SGL :)

Yes. It came with a 25mm and the 9mm. I'll certainly have a look at the items you suggest. I think this is the hardest part, trying to understand what I can expect to see.

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Marki

Marki

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A good place to get an idea what you can see is the sketches section of the forum. Also, I'd really recommend downloading a planetarium programme like Stellarium (its free). And maybe get book like Turn Left at Orion - its really helped me to start out, pointing out good easy targets and how to start working with my scope. Best of luck!

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Special K

Special K

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Hi Strath and welcome! Cosmos certainly is an inspiration still and I recently watched all 13 episodes again after all these years. That is a nice present and not surprised the first views were impressive. I got a similar outfit in October and there has been no looking back! Saturn is swinging around soon (or rather we are swing towards it) and that is a lovely moment to see for the first time. Jupiter was also my first light with this telescope and I'll never forget it.

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Strath and welcome to SGL, congratulations on your new scope, I would certainly follow up on what Mark has suggested, Stellarium is a powerful tool and TL@O is very much an Astronomy standard to many newcomers just starting out in the hobby. Enjoy your Astronomy :icon_santa:

John.

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dtr42

dtr42

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hi mate us weegies are taking over :cool: we were planning a wee meet up tomorow friday 28th near barrhead dams if your in that neck of the woods and if the weather plays ball [you could check here theres also a few meetings in the livinston area [tends to be spur of the moment stuff [heres the web forum www.scottishastronomers.com] and also the astronomical socierty of glasgow www.theasg.org.uk has regular meetings and are a great bunch [althouh the ASG has a yearly fee of £15] i find astronomy with others and sharing my experience is far better than solo astronomy good luck with whatever you do and clear skies

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