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norfolk newbie

kegstar

By kegstar
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kegstar

kegstar

Posted
Posted

Howdo all,

It all started at Christmas when she bought me Collins guide to the night sky. For the last 4 months I've been out every time the clouds move first with bins then her bird spotting scope, a planisphere (great invention) and a bikes rear light teaching myself where to find constellations by star hopping.

Am trying my hand at finding my way around the moon. I can make out a fair bit of the surface but not the details.

Now seriously hooked and hope to soon buy a sky-watcher explorer 150p, maybe try my hand at astrophotography with my old Nikon d60.

Roll on the clear skies.

looking forward to picking your brains

 

kegstar.

 

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Putaendo Patrick

Putaendo Patrick

Posted
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Welcome to the Forum - seems like there are quite a few new people from Norfolk getting into astronomy, (years ago I used to live in Norwich).

An excellent resource for lunar observation is the Virtual Moon Atlas program, it's free and easy to download, just google it! Also excellent and free is Stellarium which you can configure to show you the night sky at your specific location.

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BlabyStarGazer

BlabyStarGazer

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Hi Kegstar  ...

Another beneficiary of the darker skies of Norfolk eh?  Welcome to the Lounge, there are plenty of folk around on here to help you with opinions, advice and general guidance.  Take mine as another 'thumbs up' for Stellarium - it is capable of so much more than you'd expect from a piece of free software!  Free for the PC/laptop anyway - smartphone versions you have to pay for  :(

The 150P also gets my vote for a good choice of first 'scope too, a nice 'all rounder'.  You won't be disappointed.

Above all, enjoy enjoy the hobby and don't forget that it was "she" who inspired you ...   :wub:

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101nut

101nut

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Welcome Kegstar.

If you ever feel like it you're more than welcome to visit/join Norwich Astro Society - club night is a Friday night at Seething Observatory. 

Just finished our public season but we've still got members only events from time to time over the summer. For instance we've got Matt Taylor from ESA on Friday (massive plug I know but woo hoo! :-) )

AndyG

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ronin

ronin

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Seems to be a club for Norwich out on the South or South East direction, see it is mentioned previously. Another at Attleborough as well - well the other side of the A11 to Attleborough. I would say the A11 makes the trip easy and also fairly quick. Breckland Astro. If you wanted then pay easch a visit and determine which suits you the best.

If you are thinking of the astrophotography aspect then wait a while. AP tends to mean getting into a bit more specialist or dedicated equipment.

The sky-watcher explorer 150p comes on an EQ3, that is generally taken as a bit too lightweight for AP, the 150P scopes is also likely not to achieve a sharp image on a DSLR sensor. Menaing you need to start making adjustments to the scope then getting it all collimated again. So the suggestion is hang fire a bit on that aspect. In an odd way it is luckily the summer and that means no real dark nights so little chance to jump into AP too fast.

Look up Norfolk clubs here: http://www.astronomyclubs.co.uk/Clubs/Counties.aspx

I think (distant memory) tht Horsford is on the Northern side of Norwich - I was at Horsham St Faiths and most of the places starting Hors--- were up that area. So the clubs are likely to be the other side.

 

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Peder

Peder

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You are most welcome. I wouldn't worry too much about gearing up for astro photography right now. Buy the SW 150 on the EQ3 as planned or an 130P on an EQ2 at a small investment cost and see if the interest survives the first year. If you later get serious about astro photography you have to get a better mount and a telescope that is suitable for photo imaging and that will mean quite a lot more money, but that is OK if the astronomy bugg has bitten you. For now, I would go with you initial choice. By the way, newtonian telescopes are excellent beginner scopes.

/Clear skies

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kegstar

kegstar

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many thanks for the welcome, I really appreciate all the advice and support. :icon_biggrin:

Another month of the bins & I should have enough for the 150p

meantime while the universe plays hide and seek with the clouds its back to the books & the internet for those programs.:hiding:

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