Glad I found this place

[glowjet]

Hi BeerMe and welcome to SGL, the choosing of a first telescope can be a bit of a headache, remember, buying a small instrument with limited aperture, may give rise to some disappointment. If finances permit, consideration should be given to obtaining a scope with a main objective in the region of 150mm, this is a good basic start and such as a Dobsonian telescope will provide you with the ability to observe much of the popular objects in the night sky, even better if you can transport your scope to a dark site.

A good pair of binoculars should also be considered, a good way to start your journey into Astronomy, with a modest outlay, enabling you to learn the night sky, at the same time assimilated knowledge that will help you come to terms with what course of action you want to take, when you want to upgrade to a telescope, enjoy the forum

[Charon]

Welcome to the forum.

[Ivor52]

Had a quick look around and knew I had found the place that can help me get started with Astronomy.

I'm a 40 something male from Lanarkshire in Scotland and I've been interested in the planets and astronomy for maybe the past 10 years.  Up until now I've only ever kept my interest at watching documentaries as I thought telescopes were far too expensive, but I've realised that's not the case and I'm going to take the leap and buy one within a few weeks.  Probably something cheap (£70-90) to get me started.

Are there any public observatories?  Maybe if I could get the wife out to one and let her do some stargazing of her own, the budget might just increase a bit haha!

Looking forward to learning and sharing with you all

Hi

I only started yesterday. If you have a Jessops store near you (yes they ARE back on the high street), pop in a take a look at the SkyWatcher MK1302 EQ2,,,Its what I got...they are selling at £139 at the mo...(a real gem of a bargain) and with the reviews its got and tiny amount of experience I have with mine, I think its the best. Though other experienced ops here will suggest maybe better starters, I don't think you'd be disappointed with it.

[Physopto]

Hi BeerMe,

 I would suggest you watch this video of Nik Szymanek talking about imaging. About 5 minutes through he specifically talks about his recommendations for a beginner scope type  and mount and the reasons for that suggestion.  I have found beginners (including me ) nearly always make the same mistakes, regardless of how much reading or what recommendations are made. Usually costing wasted time, money and a lot of frustration in the process.

Derek

[Physopto]

You can try this as well.

http://www.wexphotographic.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-astrophotography-using-ccd-systems

Derek

[Vox45]

Hello and welcome to the forum

Clear skies !

[Hitman77]

Hi from Edinburgh. The Astronomical Society of Glasgow have lots of outreach stuff and meetings going on but when I started out in 2014 I happened upon the Central Scotland Observers Forum. Great advice and help on the forum but what I found invaluable was joining the guys out in the field and getting some help using my new gear. Would heartily recommend it mate

Andy