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Back to Astronomy after many years!

bbottle

By bbottle
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bbottle

bbottle

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Hi all, I've just returned back to my old hobby after many years due to my career change. I never fully left astronomy as my job took me all over the world and so I always took the occasional peek with a pair of 10X50 binoculars - especially in the southern hemisphere. My, how the standard and types of equipment have changed since my early (1970,s !) Tasco (I know) years. The quality of available equipment and the affordable prices are quite staggering. I have now acquired a Starwatcher 127 Mak on a NEQ3 Synscan goto mount with a Starwacher 9X50 right angle image correcting finderscope arriving any day now. This was purely because I wanted a grab and go kit. I have managed a few hours of observing once I got to grips with good polar alignment. I got a great view of Jupiter and moons the like of which I have never managed before as well as a couple of nebula. What an incredible bit of kit! I think that I will eventually try a few photos as the tracking is spot on. Well, that's it for now, I look forward to contributing to this forum on a regular basis.

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jason.p

jason.p

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Welcome to the friendliest astro site around. I'm fairly new to this so haven't experienced the technical advances. It's comforting to know that the stars are the same as they always have been (in our life times) and that astronomers like Messier did some amazing observing with what we would regard as pretty limited equipment.

Good luck with the new kit, sounds quite impressive.

Hope you get some clear skies :smiley:

Jason

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DaveS

DaveS

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Hi and welcome to SGL and welcome back to astronomy.

I came back a few years ago after a long break and too was staggered by the range and cost (Low!) of today's kit.

When I were a lad we had to make our own 'scopes if we wanted anything more than a toy or had more money than sense.

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi and welcome to the forum. Yes things have certainly changed on the kit front and affordable prices has certainly enabled many of us to participate, with some members here producing amazing images that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

Cl;ear skies and enjoy the forum

James

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bbottle

bbottle

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Many thanks for all of your replies and the very warm welcome! Star Forming - it's funny you should mention about people having to build their own telescopes, I have been dusting off my old astronomy books and came across several build it yourself guides. I don't suppose too many people would contemplate grinding their own mirrors these days! I think modern manufacturing techniques have improved leaps and bounds. Who would have thought that you could purchase a 12 inch Newtonion for less than a thousand quid, albeit on a Dobsonian mount! Anyway, I can't wait to get back out for some more observing sessions. If only I could do something about the weather...

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