Jump to content

Hello from Cumbria

colinc1234

By colinc1234
in Welcome

Recommended Posts

colinc1234

colinc1234

Posted
Posted

Hello...glad to be here. 
 

I have for many years ( too many to count) thought about enjoying the night sky and really going back to the dreams and ideas which i had as a youngster before anyone first landed on the moon.

Recently three "things" came together to push me in this direction. 

1. We have, many times, stayed in a valley deep into the Cheviot hills of Northumberland.One of the houses we used is literally just below the crags which lead onto the summit and we had no light pollution up here. The evening skies darkening into night were amazing and something our whole family never forgot ( not even our daughters who tend to be philistines on things like this ).

2. Last year the Northumberland National Park gained dark sky status and the kielder water observatory became quite famous. We had cycled around the reservoir but not until this point had we thought of it as a viewing point for the stars.

3. One of the firms which i do a little bit of marketing for supplied the chiller units for the European Southern Observatory in Paranal in Chile. Some great images and tales from a far away land.

I have a number of questions and would appreciate any advice.

1. First off..i would like to buy a small hobby telescope but i have glaucoma - one eye is quite good , one is less so. So one eye should be ok but does anyone have experience of how someone with not great eyes would go about chosing a telescope?

2. Secondly i would love to talk to anyone who has been out to Paranal - to hear what it is like and share stories and pictures.

So i do hope that this makes sense and thank you for your time

Colin

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 25
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Jim Steele

Jim Steele

Posted
Posted

Hi Colin and welcome to SGL.

Interesting post one bad eye shouldn't effect you too badly since you can use your good one to look through the eye piece.

It might take a bit of hard work to locate things given your other bad eye, how do you see the stars from a dark location? If it's easy for you to get your astro bearings you should be alright with a medium sized dobsonian, depending on budget.

If not, check out the skymax 127, since this is alot more portable and is supplied with a goto mount which could help you locate things more easily given your poor vision. You'd still need to align it but this can be done on brighter more easily found stars, polaris, vega, arcturus etc.

Another piece of advice is to head to your local astronomy society and take a peak through theirs and see how you get on with the various options

Hope that helps

Sure more knowledgeable peeps can offer more advice...

Good luck and clear skies

Ben :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
glowjet

glowjet

Posted
Posted

Hi Colin and welcome to SGL, you could maybe get some idea of what you could expect with your eye problem, by giving a pair of modest binoculars a try on the night sky. If these are going to work for you, then you could proceed as planned. Hope everything goes well, as there will be nice dark skies at the country location :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NotSoSuperNova

NotSoSuperNova

Posted
Posted

Hello Colin,

I would recommend starting with a half decent set of binoculars and getting familiar with some constellations and landmarks up there. It really is a good building block to work from and should give you a feeling of 1. If it's going to be the hobby for you. It's quite a romantic notion initially but due to our nocturnal habits it's not always for everyone. And 2. What kind of area you're going to be interested in. This will help choose the best telescope for you. 

For example though, a great starter scope that will give you good visuals and portability would be the Skywatcher 150 Dob http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
damnut

damnut

Posted
Posted

Hi Colin,

Warm welcome to SGL. Before parting with hard earned cash, go along to a local stro group and have  a look at what kit others have and what might suit you best. As above binos are a good start too. When you have 5 mins download a planetarium program. Plenty out there but try stellarium, its great and free. To be found here :--- http://www.stellarium.org/  . Also a couple of books to help guide you round the sky 'sky&telescope pocket star atlas' and 'turn left at orion'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
baggywrinkle

baggywrinkle

Posted
Posted

Hi Colin and welcome to SGL, you could maybe get some idea of what you could expect with your eye problem, by giving a pair of modest binoculars a try on the night sky. If these are going to work for you, then you could proceed as planned. Hope everything goes well, as there will be nice dark skies at the country location  :)

That is good advice.

Welcome to SGL. Yes see how you get on with a set of binoculars. If they work and compensate then when to buy a scope consider getting bino viewers so both eyes can still be used.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kenny k

kenny k

Posted
Posted

Ho Collin & welcome to SGL,there is a small and freindly star camp in cumbria in 2 weeks.If you can find the time to pop Down even for an evening you can look through a few scopes and see what might suit your needs.

Check out the star party section for Cumbria star party and drop a post in if your interested,im sure you will be most welcome.

Kenny

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.