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Hello from Weymouth, Dorset.

RobH

By RobH
in Welcome

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RobH

RobH

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Hello all,

I live in Weymouth with my wife Amanda and our mad jack russel, Nelson (Admiral Nelson that is!)

I've been fascinated by all things astronomical since before I can remember.

My Dad used to take me out and show me the planets and stars and bought me the 'observers book of astronomy' when I was old enough to appreciate it. I still have that book, very beaten up now but still great.

I started making my own simple refractors when I was 9 or 10, and still remember very clearly the night when I first saw the rings of Saturn through a scope I'd made myself :D

I lost interest a bit during my teens as by that time I'd decided I wanted to become a rock star and spent most of my time making horrible noises on various electric guitars.

Fortunately for the world, I didn't make it as a rockstar :lol:

I owned a Charles Frank 6 inch F8 reflector for a long while, but unfortunately it was rarely used as I was living in London and Nottingham, and the skies were orange!

Time moved on and I moved, with my wife, to Dorset 6 years ago and noticed how much darker the skies were!

I bought myself a Helios startravel 120 refractor and started using it more and more, and as I did, my interest rekindled.

When we moved house again, we ended up with a big back garden with only the sea to the east, so very dark.

In 2005, my Dad passed away and I decided that, as he'd got me interested in Astronomy all those years ago, I'd get a scope to remember him by.

For some strange reason, the scopes I looked at kept getting bigger and I ended up with a secondhand 14" LX200GPS.

Amanda and I lugged it out a couple of times but it was pretty obvious that it'd need and observatory so, for a year, it went into storage and I picked up a 10" LX200 classic to tide me over.

One day I was browsing on ebay and saw a DSI Pro for sale.....I bought it, imaged M57 (badly :D)and was smitten by the bug!

The 14" is now in an observatory and I have spent far too much on gear but I love it :D

Greetings to all of you fellow dark sky lovers!

Cheers

Rob

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centroid

centroid

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Hi Rob, thanks for the interesting intro, and welcome to SGL.

I know your area quite well, as Dorset is one of my favourite counties, in fact my maternal ancestors, came form Dorset (Cattistock and Askerswell).

Glad to here that you are well set-up now, and can sit back and enjoy the hobby in a more relaxed manner.

Dave

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RobH

RobH

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Thanks for the warm welcome folks :D

Geoff, we're almost neighbours!

We're quite often up in Yeovil...should meet up sometime.

Dave, it is a very dark site to the east of us but the wind can be a little fierce at times.....my obs roof weighs around 300Kg but sometimes I worry!!!

Cheers

Rob

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Zeffer

Zeffer

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Welcome to SGL - I am originally from Weymouth and all my family (and my wife's) still live there so go down far too many times a year! I went recently with my scope and I am very jealous of the skies!

Most of my folks are in or near Wyke, where abouts are you?

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RobH

RobH

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Clearmount road ....wish it was as clear as the name!

Used to be called Middle Hill before the houses were built in the '30s apparently....so I called the obs 'Middle Hill Observatory'

Cheers

Rob

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RobH

RobH

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Thanks for the warm welcome folks :D

James, we are probably 200 yards from the sea, as the crow flies, so we sometimes have a bit of a problem with sea frets.

Also, salt in the air...I have to clean (carefully!) my corrector plate reasonably regularly unfortunately.

Weymouth tends to get it's own microclimate to some extent. Go 7 miles up the road to Dorchester and the weather can be completely different...it changes as you cross the ridgeway.

Cheers

Rob

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