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Looking for East London astronomy club

souls33k3r

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souls33k3r

souls33k3r

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Hi All, first of all apologies if I'm posting it to the wrong section (by all means move it to the correct section).

I am pretty new to this hobby and am already looking to make a purchase on my first equipment and was looking for some East London based astronomy club. I haven't been able to find any apart from the one in Upminister which to be honest is a bit too far off for me to travel with the tube and the mount (Do not own a car yet unfortunately). I've been to the flamsteed and baker street irregular ones which are close by clubs to my work but I might not be able to travel that much in the tube with my to-be-dear equipment.

So does anyone know any astro society around Ilford, Barking, Dagenham, Becontree, Gants Hill, Wanstead, Stratford, area?

Many thanks.

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souls33k3r

souls33k3r

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Cheers guys. Funny enough the Loughton one is run by my ex-work colleague but I have to travel for it all the way from East to west which again is not feasible with all that equipment.

I guess I'll have to stick to Flamsteed guys.

Would be nice to find someone who lives in East London so that we can organise something ourselves

Gutted if you ask me :(

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souls33k3r

souls33k3r

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Cheers triton, will try to get hold of him/her and find out :) This thread is already started become useful for me... Wohoo! :) Would be super awesome if more can come forward.

Also is there any section of the forum I need to be looking at to find these little astronomy clubs? Those that are not mentioned in knobby and mcolbert links?

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knobby

knobby

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You're going to struggle taking that anywhere on the tube, I have the same combo and really can't imagine carrying it very far ... Maybe some kind of trolley like anglers use would help but it would still be a struggle .

Why not pop along to the Upminster club and have a chat .

Are you looking to find a club or a darker observing site ?

Sorry so many questions :-)

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souls33k3r

souls33k3r

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But all legit questions matey :)

Too right ... thats my only gripe that travelling with it won't be an easy job but then have also been looking at some custom cases. Saw someone use a great idea with a Stanley 50L tool box, that should be too hard to custom.

The problem with the upminister is that they do their meetings in a town hall which is easy to get to but their observing sessions are way out.

I think i'm looking more of an observing site with a bunch of people with scopes. 

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souls33k3r

souls33k3r

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So i guess i'll be sticking to my light polluted back garden then lol

This is such a niche hobby that not everyone is going to have a kit but there will be loads of people who will want to view it from your scope. I get that and don't mind sharing my scope but then again i don't want to be a lone wolf in one of the open area parks in the middle of the night waiting to be mugged too lol

Need to find me people around my area so 2 can become 4 and so on :)

I'm pretty sure there will be a few of us from East London who have the exact same issue and i'm only out here trying to find them few :)

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souls33k3r

souls33k3r

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Quick question guys, when is the best time to buy a telescope? Is there a particular time of the year like Christmas? Winters when there is less potential observation? After or before the Astrofest? Quite honestly I can't wait but if I have to then I will. Also how much margin do you think the guys in the shop have if I was to be a bit of cheapskate and ask for a discount?

Basically I've divided my purchase in to Phases. So Phase1 will be bought as a whole lot.

Phase 1:

Adv. VX 8” Edge HD
Celestron CG-5 / AVX / CGEM Polar finderscope (C94224)
Celestron Lens Shade for C6 and C8 (C94009)
Camera adapter for 8” Edge HD  (93644)
Nikon T-ring (C93402)
Baader mains adapter 5A/12v/60w (B2457640)
Tracer 12v 10Ah lithium polymer batter (tbp2545)
Bhatinov mask
Tele Vue Powermate 2.5x (PMT-2513)

Phase 2 (In a few months time):

Autoguider, Focal Reducer

Phase 3:

Any other bits that I would need.

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knobby

knobby

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As you haven't bought this yet, maybe have a think about what you intend doing with it ? Are you into imaging (hence the camera adaptor) or mainly visual ... Tell us what you plan on doing ?

For example, we now know you are trying to transport gear on the tube , did you realise that to image deep space you'd only need a small scope, something like a Skywatcher ED80 on a solid tracking mount like the AVX or an HEQ5

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souls33k3r

souls33k3r

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Ok so let me break this down to how I'm expecting to use my gear.

My very first visual is going to be of the moon and then shoot it too. This should keep me entertained for weeks if not months (weather permitting). While I'm doing that, I'll slew my scope towards the giant pebbles ( depending on what's up there) and then shoot them too. Work on my visual and astrophotography skills on both the moon and the pebbles to get my skills horned in. While I'm then doing that I'd be doing some DSO visuals and take the unguided 30 sec pictures to see what I can do with that. This will then feed me the urge to buy the autoguider and do the DSOS more properly. I'm hoping all of this will take me to the end of next year which is when I'd be looking at something like an ED80 or whatever my pocket permits :)

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carastro

carastro

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I am not aware of any better time in the year to buy a telescope.  If you're strapped for cash I suggest buying 2nd hand off UK AStroBuySell or this forum.  

I did a google and found an Astronomical society in Thurrrock, couldn't open their website so not sure exactly where it is.  Is this any good for Barking?

Carole 

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souls33k3r

souls33k3r

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Cheers carastro, I'm not really strapped for cash but want to obviously make a sensible purchase by not over spending. Astrobuysell is a good website but I'm just not lucky to find what I want there at the moment. Some people are selling the CGEM mount or a NEQ6 mount there for cut price but then I don't drive and they won't ship it either.

Thurrock can be an easily place to get to but like you mentioned, for me the website didn't open when I last checked (which was about 2 weeks ago). Not sure if this society still exists or not.

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Highburymark

Highburymark

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I'm in Islington, and have similar issues (no car - only reason for buying a car in London would be to carry telescopes around - preferably out of London), and I'd love to find a darker site accessible by rail or tube. A year or two ago a place in the Lea Valley was mentioned in the press as an ideal urban location for astronomers - relatively dark skies - but I've not heard of anyone using it since. If we could set up something there it would be ideal.

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