Hi

[moogoomonkey]

Hey and welcome to SGL!

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL

[JamesM]

Hi Gary and welcome to the forum. +1 for Stellarium as it will help you locate some objects of interest along with identifying those you discover along the way. With regards to rationalising the choice of scopes out there which admittedly can confuse the best of us at times here are my suggestions.

Certainly go along to your local astro club to see what they are up to and to see what kit people are using. At this time of year there is a very good chance that this club will also be running some public viewing sessions, which is a brilliant way of getting your eye in at the business end of a scope to see what all the fuss is about. More importantly though, it will help you establish your own bench mark of what size and type of scope will best meet your aspirations. All the reading up on this specification or that statistic won't be of much use to you until you can put that data along side personal observational experience. I would go to at least to a couple of these events, even if it means a bit of travelling as this experience will eventually direct you to the right scope for your needs. One small footnote here and that is to also make a note of the eyepieces that you look though, as some of them can make quite a difference to the view that you can see and will certainly save you a bit of research time later on when it comes to upgrading the initial eyepieces that came with the scope. Lastly, the best value scope that you can buy will be the dobsonian, as this design places most of your budget into the optics, meaning you are able to enjoy larger apertures which ultimately provide you with greater observable detail. The downside with this design is that it doesn't come with tracking or Goto (computerised SatNav of the night sky drawing on a database of objects) which will mean that you will have to provide these functions yourself. This isn't a problem because as good as Goto is, it does come at a price and if it means that less money is spent on aperture, then all the lists of objects in the world won't mean a thing if you don't possess the means by which to see what the Goto system has been able to find for you. So clearly there is a balancing act to be done and of course the bigger the budget, the more options you will have without feeling the need to compromise.

The key thing is to get your eye in on some scopes whilst asking as many questions here as you like along the way. It is important to take your time as, "...the stars aren't going anywhere" in order that you get the right scope for you in order to help you observe the objects that you want to see with it. Hope that helps.

Clear skies for now and enjoy the forum.

James

[Bizibilder]

Hello Gary and welcome to SGL!!

[VigdisVZ]

Good to have on board, Gary.

[ilove1995]

Welcome to SGL Gary.

Al

[stellawolf]

Hi & welcome to SGL

[Siriusmeg]

Hello and welcome from me too - enjoy your bins, a really good way to learn your way around the sky

[Pete Presland]

hi gary welcome to SGL from peter in bedfordshire