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Hey Gazers! Newbie alert!

slothead

By slothead
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slothead

slothead

Posted
Posted

I'm Tom, a newbie both on this forum as well as in astronomy.

I'm a systems engineer and consultant to NASA/GSFC and DARPA and space-based hardware suppliers.  My specialty is Reliability Engineering and deal primarily with spacecraft buses (rather than instruments) including the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO), the Extreme Ultra-Violet Explorer (EUVE), the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the SOlar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and most recently the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).

I have yet to buy a telescope and will rely on the NASA/GSFC Astronomy Clubs resources until I can figure out what I want to buy and use.  But first I have a lot to learn about the celestial environment and the way we Earthlings find things with in it.

I'll be anxious to see what you all have to say and show.

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LeeWilky

LeeWilky

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Hi and welcome to SGL :)

Nice job you have there! 

Can you not ask your buddies at Nasa to borrow Hubble for a while ;)

Im sure you will get plenty of advice on what will suit your needs so i hope you get set up soon and look forward to hearing the results!

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Tom and welcome to the forum. The best type of scope to purchase in terms of value/aperture will be the dobsonian reflector type as most of the money goes into the mirror rather than on a more complicated mount or Goto system. If you head in the direction of 'dobs' as they are sometimes called, then my personal recommendation would be to purchase a scope that is 8" and above as this is when the ability to resolve finer detail starts to make things really interesting to observe. Dobs do come with Goto but you will be paying a lot of extra money for it which can't be transferred to another scope should you wish to upgrade. However, the equatorial type of mount mount (with Goto) would allow you to upgrade your scope up to the maximum payload of that mount. In short the equatorial mount gives you options but it comes in at more money. Horses for courses and naturally is totally dependent on your available budget so don't hesitate to post further questions over on the beginners equipment sections for more advice and discussion. Thee is plenty to see with any scope you buy and as long as you stick to main manufacturers (Meade, Skywatcher, Celestron, Orion Optics etc) you won't go wrong.

Clear skies and hope you enjoy the forum

James 

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