Where to start

[Paul63]

Hello

Completely new to all this have always been interested in the stars and planets over the years now its time to do some think about this very interesting hobby,can I call it a hobby,anyway you know what my question is....where do I start. Will need to buy a telescope obviously a beginners one and any other information on this subject,please be gentle with me as I turned 50 2 weeks ago and my learning process might be a bit slow....lol

regards

Paul

[Astro Imp]

An idea of budget and what you hope to achieve would help you get a meaningful answer.

[Paul63]

Hi 

Yes sorry about £150.00 I reckon to start with and to achieve I don't know whats the way to go,many thanks

Regards

Paul

[jambouk]

Well done for doing something about the hobby.

Where abouts are you in the country? What are you skies like?

I'd start by investigating what clubs/societies are near by, find some astro-brothers and sisters to hang out with and learn from and have a look through their kit.

There are various magazines to have a look at, like the sky at night magazine, and astronomy now.

Have you got any binoculars?

Welcome on board.

James

[jambouk]

Do you have a camera?

James

[Paul63]

Do you have a camera?

James

Hi  all

live in Catford Sth London  as you can imagine not very good with the bright light of the city but me and the wife do go up do go up and stay with friends in Walton on the Naze Essex so nice and clear up there yes have a camera,a nikon D40 so maybe a light weigh and mobile telescope,been looking at one of these a Celestron Firstscope 114EQ 4.5” Newtonian Telescope  but I'm ready and listening to all advice

Regard

Paul

[ronin]

Wander along to Regents Park when BSIA are there, they meet once a month, on a Wednesday night I think.

Much better to have a look at equipment and see what people do and talk with some.

BSIA

[jambouk]

You could contact your nearest club (or several clubs) and tag along to any meetings or star parties:

http://www.astronomyclubs.co.uk/Clubs/Default.aspx?CountyId=6

This guy is at the cutting edge of deep sky imaging and lives and works in London and his work shows what can be done (not necessarily easily or cheaply) from the capital:

http://s175657640.websitehome.co.uk/CCDLandWebSite/index.html

If you are going to primarily use it away from home portability sounds key. Again i think it would be good to see what others are using and transporting around the capital, and potentially using in their own light-polluted back gardens.

It would be good to know how easy star trails are in light polluted back gardens; that is something you could start playing with and i think they look good!

Sorry i can't offer any soecific advice but i'm sure you'll get some advice here.

James

[dick_dangerous]

Hi  all

live in Catford Sth London  as you can imagine not very good with the bright light of the city but me and the wife do go up do go up and stay with friends in Walton on the Naze Essex so nice and clear up there yes have a camera,a nikon D40 so maybe a light weigh and mobile telescope,been looking at one of these a Celestron Firstscope 114EQ 4.5” Newtonian Telescope  but I'm ready and listening to all advice

Regard

Paul

You can see a fair bit from the outer reaches of London. I've even started a blog about astronomy in London - I'm going to feature different targets every week. Plugging myself, terrible form...

I did just put up a bit of telescope advice though, about the 'scope that I use - an ST80 refractor. It's well within your budget too. There's a link in my signature which will take you to my discussion of the pros and cons that I've found with it. If you have a garden and/or a car you can go for something more substantial though. Don't know much about the Celestron - it's a reflector so needs collimating, but that's apparently fairly easy. Equatorial mounts can be less intuitive but aren't too difficult to learn. For £150 you might be able to get more apeture than 114mm though. At some point someone will suggest a Dob. I second this pre-emptively, if you can do that... The Heritage 130P is in your price range - it's table-top so quite small, but with a 130mm parabolic mirror it punches above its weight by all accounts. Gets rave reviews as a grab 'n' go on here and weighs just over 6 kg so is very portable. A standard 6'' dob is just a little over £200, but you could get one cheaper second hand. Proper dobs are bulky though.

Definitely go to an observing night / star party somewhere if you can to get a feel for different telescopes. I'm hoping to pop along to the next BSIA meeting myself, so may see you there. And of course there's a huge amount of advice and expertise right here on this forum!

DD

[Herbig]

Best not to rush in buying a scope, you'll more than likely regret it. As others have said, go to some astro club meets look listen and learn, ask lots of questions too. Be patient and save your cash until you know what you want. It's gonna cost you more than your original budget for sure!

[jambouk]

Back to my star trail idea (sorry i like them), here's a relevant link:

http://longexposuretips.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/how-to-top-tips-for-star-trail-success.html?m=1

James

[swamp thing]

Hi Paul

First off welcome to the SGL

As others have said viewing from London is kinda limited. I would also suggest popping along to your nearest club meet before shelling out on a scope. The opportunity for some "hands on" experience is priceless IMO. Most amateurs are more than happy to share the views/experiences with their own scopes.

[Paul63]

Hi Paul

First off welcome to the SGL

As others have said viewing from London is kinda limited. I would also suggest popping along to your nearest club meet before shelling out on a scope. The opportunity for some "hands on" experience is priceless IMO. Most amateurs are more than happy to share the views/experiences with their own scopes.

Hi All

Thank you for all your feed back all taken on board,I can imaging this will be a long  progress and learning experience but I'll be back again with many more questions I'm sure

Paul