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Novice from the UK

gbeecham

By gbeecham
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gbeecham

gbeecham

Posted
Posted

Hello,

I am just starting out on my star gazing journey having always been interested in Astronomy but never actually taking the plunge. I read many reviews about a good starter scope and decided to go for the SkyWatcher Heritage 130p mainly becasue of it's portability and 130mm primary mirror, which seemed a good size for the price. Unfortuantely the weather has been terrible since my telescope arrived, so i haven't actually managed to get outside and start looking around.

Before I've even started I do have a few areas that I would appreciate input on -

- Collimating seems quite daunting and any advice would be weclome. I have only just got my telescope out of the box this week so I don't think it will need any collimation yet. Although some of the holder srews were loose.

- Star maps: Any pointers for good start maps or iphone apps would be weclome. I'm especially keen on looking at planets.

- I have a Canon DSLR camera and would eventually like to be able to take some shots. Again, any advice would be welcome!

Thank in advance and looking forward to being part of the community.

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Mattscar

Mattscar

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Hi and welcome to the lounge. Dont be scared by collimation, its something that most scopes need and I see it as tuning it like you would a guitar. Astro Baby has a brilliant guide on it here

http://www.astro-baby.com/collimation/astro%20babys%20collimation%20guide.htm

As for apps and maps, there are loads of different apps to look for, I use SkyView as it gives some good info about the orbits of planets/sats and the international space station (when they will be visible from where you are for a start).

If you havnt got it already, download Stellarium for your PC http://www.stellarium.org/

Once youv input you location it will give you one of the best ways of finding more objects that you could ever hope to look at :)

Clear Skies!

Matt

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damnut

damnut

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Hi There,

Warm welcome to sgl, firstly download a planetarium program, try stellarium (other flavours available) its great and free, available here :- http://www.stellarium.org/

If you can try copies of 'turn left at orion' and 'sky & telescope pocket star atlas', both will help you 'learn' the sky.

Astrophotography / imaging requires deep pockets to achieve some of the stunning images posted on SGL. Take baby steps, again there is an excellent book 'making every photon count' this will save you time and cash in this journey..

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