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Greetings from Atlanta, GA

jdingo423

By jdingo423
in Welcome

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jdingo423

jdingo423

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Hey everyone!

I recently decided to get into observing with a telescope after many years looking at the stars with my naked eye, and have always had an itch to get a nice telescope ever since looking through my grandfather's Newtonian when I was a kid. So now that I have some money for the hobby, I'm excited to say I was finally able to see the rings of Saturn last night with my first scope, a Celestron NexStar 127 SLT Maksutov-Cassegrain. Holy gas giants, Batman, that was a thrill! Needless to say, I'm in love with this hobby.

This site is great and seems like a really cool community, not to mention all of the really good information on here for a newbie such as myself. I look forward to spending a lot of time on here while not out under the stars with my scope.

- John S.

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cloudsweeper

cloudsweeper

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Welcome aboard, John!  That's a nice 'scope you have - good magnification for details, wide enough angle for most objects, and wide enough aperture to get a decent-sized view of fuzzies (galaxies and the like).  Also easy to carry, set up, and use!

Doug.

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orion25

orion25

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1 hour ago, jdingo423 said:

Hey everyone!

I recently decided to get into observing with a telescope after many years looking at the stars with my naked eye, and have always had an itch to get a nice telescope ever since looking through my grandfather's Newtonian when I was a kid. So now that I have some money for the hobby, I'm excited to say I was finally able to see the rings of Saturn last night with my first scope, a Celestron NexStar 127 SLT Maksutov-Cassegrain. Holy gas giants, Batman, that was a thrill! Needless to say, I'm in love with this hobby.

This site is great and seems like a really cool community, not to mention all of the really good information on here for a newbie such as myself. I look forward to spending a lot of time on here while not out under the stars with my scope.

- John S.

A fellow Georgian! A warm welcome to SGL!

Do you get to the Fernbank Observatory often?

 

Reggie

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jdingo423

jdingo423

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41 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

Welcome aboard, John!  That's a nice 'scope you have - good magnification for details, wide enough angle for most objects, and wide enough aperture to get a decent-sized view of fuzzies (galaxies and the like).  Also easy to carry, set up, and use!

Doug.

Thanks, Doug! Did a decent bit of research before getting it! I've only used it from the balcony of my apartment so far, which made viewing fairly shaky until I thought to put folded towels under the tripod legs, which helped considerably. So far I find it to be amazing. Hoping to test it's true capacity this weekend if it's not too cloudy and if I am get far enough away from ATL city lights, assuming I get my power supply today.

2 minutes ago, orion25 said:

A fellow Georgian! A warm welcome to SGL!

Do you get to the Fernbank Observatory often?

 

Reggie

No, I have not been...yet.  moved to Atlanta a year ago, so still learning all the cool places to visit. I'll definitely add it to the top of my list though!

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cloudsweeper

cloudsweeper

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@jdingo423 - you can get anti-vibe pads which help a little.  Seben ones are a lot cheaper than Celestron's.  But if bits of towel do the job, that's even better!  The tripod is not as steady as on chunkier models, but one other thing you can do is to simply place something heavy-ish on the tray to act as ballast.  And if it's flat, you can still place EPs on it!

The 'scope will always wobble a bit after focusing anyway.

Have fun!

Doug.

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orion25

orion25

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40 minutes ago, jdingo423 said:

Thanks, Doug! Did a decent bit of research before getting it! I've only used it from the balcony of my apartment so far, which made viewing fairly shaky until I thought to put folded towels under the tripod legs, which helped considerably. So far I find it to be amazing. Hoping to test it's true capacity this weekend if it's not too cloudy and if I am get far enough away from ATL city lights, assuming I get my power supply today.

No, I have not been...yet.  moved to Atlanta a year ago, so still learning all the cool places to visit. I'll definitely add it to the top of my list though!

It's located in Decatur, part of Fernbank Elementary, not to be confused with the Fernbank Museum of Natural History (which is also a nice place to visit). The observatory is about 30 feet in diameter and houses a 35 inch (0.9 meter) Cassegrain reflector:hello2: one of the largest scopes in the southeast. It's open from 9-10:30 p.m. on clear Thursday and Friday nights. Resident astronomers and students are there to answer questions.

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi John and welcome to Ice Central - that's how cool this site is and there is plenty of knowledge here too should you need any help!

Clear skies, keep up the observing and hope you enjoy the forum.

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Physopto

Physopto

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Welcome John,

If you are worried about any vibrations try three small bags of sand placed against the legs and one hung off the centre support underneath. Very cheap and effective.

See you around.

Derek

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