Hello from Surrey

[alan g]

Hi Alex and a warm welcome to the lounge, you'll get all the help and advice you need here to get you started

[Optical Dob]

Hi and welcome .

[Charon]

Welcome aboard.

[AlexM83]

Thanks everyone

[sologuitarist61]

Hello and welcome to SGL

[AlexM83]

Thanks Richard!

[sloz1664]

Hi Alex and a warm welcome to the Lounge

cheers

steve

[AlexM83]

Thanks Steve

[Pig]

Hello & welcome

Shaun

[Aenima]

Welcome Alex and hope you find what you're looking for. SGL is definitely the right place to begin.

As for astronomy, others might disagree but I think you dont need any qualifications to enjoy stargazing, and at the beginning pretty much everything you see through the telescope will be rewarding and a learning experience, astrophotography will come later when you are familiar with the equipment, it also can be less complex than it sounds but you will find the learning curve is steep when you progress onto more technical methods like deepsky long exposure - bit costly too, but budget set-ups are often quite workable - mine is pretty stingy

Anyway best of luck and clear skies.

Regards

Aenima

[CedricTheBrave]

Welcome from a fellow newbie