Hello from a 22 year old Novice

[m37]

Hey there. Welcome, and that's a brilliant scope to kick off with. Mine fell fowl of the elements when I failed to notice my tarpaulin had split during a very prolonged wet period. I want to restore it because I saw some great stuff through it.

Cheers

[Lewis90]

Again thanks for the welcome guys, reassuring to hear all of your feedback. After getting back in from work, decided I couldn't wait any longer and set it up. Was quite confusing for a first time learning about the R.A and dec knob. Still don't feel I know all the parts yet, but at least it's put together. Unfortunately no clear skys meant I couldn't test it out although as a minor conselation I saw the ISS pass twice @ 22:13 & 23:50 which was brilliant (been looking for it for ages!).

Round 2 tonight.

[astrosathya]

Hi Lewis,

Welcome to this wonderful hobby. I would seriously advice that since you've been pretty badly bitten by the bug, (it will get worse with years, ask me), you do the couple things below.

a) Download (free) Stellarium, Its a desktop planetarium software that renders the sky for your location and lets you plan your nights out. This saves a lot of frustration when you are unplanned for anything other than Moon and Saturn.

Download SkEye, an Android smartphone software. You can let it home onto your location. Point your phone to the sky and it exactly renders it on the screen to match the area it is pointed at. Additionally it displays two circles, for Field of view which can be changed. This helps the observer use the phone and telescope combination as a "Push to" system, thus making observations very easy.

As i said above that you've been bitten by the bug my friend, over the years you will gather more information, outgrow your Explorer 130, get a larger instrument, maybe get into astrophotography and so on...

All the very best to you.

[Wolfgangwand]

Hi & Welcome from me too.

[Pig]

Hello & welcome

Shaun

[Lewis90]

Hi Lewis,

Welcome to this wonderful hobby. I would seriously advice that since you've been pretty badly bitten by the bug, (it will get worse with years, ask me), you do the couple things below.

a) Download (free) Stellarium, Its a desktop planetarium software that renders the sky for your location and lets you plan your nights out. This saves a lot of frustration when you are unplanned for anything other than Moon and Saturn.

Download SkEye, an Android smartphone software. You can let it home onto your location. Point your phone to the sky and it exactly renders it on the screen to match the area it is pointed at. Additionally it displays two circles, for Field of view which can be changed. This helps the observer use the phone and telescope combination as a "Push to" system, thus making observations very easy.

As i said above that you've been bitten by the bug my friend, over the years you will gather more information, outgrow your Explorer 130, get a larger instrument, maybe get into astrophotography and so on...

All the very best to you.

Hey Sathya,

Certainly have, I will definately download stellarium, only been hearing good things about it. Seems like a really useful tool to help. I don't have an android but I do have Star Walk on my iPhone which seems quite useful aswell. Seems very exciting and something I've always wanted to do, can't wait for tonight to have a real look (should the sky permit)! Thanks for the advice

[glowjet]

Hi Lewis and welcome to SGL, as you are in Ealing it might be worth a trip up to Regents Park, where the Baker Street Irregulars meet. Enjoy your new scope

[ToxoLight]

Hi Lewis and welcome to the lounge.

[Lewis90]

Hi Lewis and welcome to SGL, as you are in Ealing it might be worth a trip up to Regents Park, where the Baker Street Irregulars meet. Enjoy your new scope

Sounds great, will check it out thanks for the welcome.

[LightweightTim]

Welcome to the lounge. I've just bought 'turn left at Orion' - it not only tells you where but when to look. Happy days...

Tim

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire