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I've become a man

Siege

By Siege
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Siege

Siege

Posted
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Hello, 

I'm Siege, a newbie to the sky. My amazing wife recently allowed me to open my birthday present early this year (2 days ago), I had unwrapped the thing I wanted most in this world... eyes to see the universe. It was a NexStar 130 SLT, I named it Neil after guess who?

Not that I knew much about the telescope, I was super excited and assembled it immediately and saw Jupiter for the first time as an actual sphere, and it was phenomenal.

That's my first encounter with seeing space in another light (see what I did there?). I'd like to know your first encounter with the night sky and If you know of any cool spots in the Cape Town area to view stars.

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Comsat

Comsat

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Welcome to SGL Siege! :) Also, happy birthday, and congratulations on an amazing birthday gift :)

Since I have never been in Cape Town, I can't help with areas to view stars, but my first encounter was the Orion constelation - the stars and M42 nebula, our Moon and Jupiter in opposition - I highly recommend those objects. Really easy to spot and very very rewarding not just to a beginner.

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MarySkater

MarySkater

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Hi Siege, welcome to the forum.

First encounter with the night sky?  (Apart from the obvious... it's dark and starry.)  As a teenager, the first time I got my hands on a pair of binoculars, I aimed them at a bright "star" and saw that it had a family of moons, so I realised it was Jupiter.  Before that, well, I'm in the northern hemisphere, so I knew how to use Ursa Major to find the pole star, but that was about all.

Good luck with your stargazing, and I hope you manage to link up with like-minded people in your area.

Mary

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Ruud

Ruud

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Thanks for joining, Siege. I've always felt we have too few SA members.

post-38669-0-84487000-1415316434.gif
Baie welkom by ons forum.
That's about as far as my Afrikaans reaches, but I do listen every week to Sterre en Planete from the RSG.
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damnut

damnut

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Hi Siege,

Welcome to SGL. If you need some guiding round the sky try copies of 'turn left at orion' and 'sky&telescope pocket star atlas.  Also download a planetarium program, plenty out there but try Stellarium its great and free, to be found here

:--  http://www.stellarium.org/

Good hunting with Neil, make sure you see saturn when it is next in your view.

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Siege and welcome to the forum. I can see that you and 'Neil' are forming quite a relationship there, be careful that the wife doesn't get jealous - you might need her 'permission' when it comes to upgrading your eyepieces!  :grin: I'm not local to Cape Town so can't advise on where better to observe but I'm sure that being a beautiful country, you won't need to travel far to find a great site. My first visual encounter with a scope and the night sky coincided with a look at the moon, simply awesome and to this day I never tire of looking at it through its many phases.  

Wishing you continued clear skies and hope you enjoy your stay here.

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