Hello from Lancashire

[johnha]

Hi All, after seeing Jupiter a week or so ago, I decided to fire up my old Tasco 4.5" Newt (f=900 on a wooden tripod & EQ2) - the previous time I used it I thought there was a problem with the mount but it must have been me driving it badly. I'm finding my feet again, having a few problems but enjoying it enormously. I'm managing to get a semblance of polar alignment (at least I can get Polaris in the FOV) and managed to re-align my finder on Jupiter tonight. I've started an observation diary (currently reading as Jupiter, Jupiter, Jupiter etc...) - which will hopefully help keep me motivated.

No doubt I'll have loads of questions - I'm considering a new scope & mount, please be patient if I ask questions you've answered a hundred times before.

I'm based in Lancashire, not far from Much Hoole (rumoured to be the place where Jeremiah Horrocks observed the transit of Venus).

Regards,

John.

[DeepSkyBagger]

As I understand it, it's more than a rumour...

Welcome along!

[cloudsweeper]

 

19 minutes ago, johnha said:

 

I'm based in Lancashire, not far from Much Hoole (rumoured to be the place where Jeremiah Horrocks observed the transit of Venus).

Regards,

John.

Years ago, when the children were very young, they would joke, while passing it, that Carr House in that village was where Horrocks "invented the Sun".

Kids, eh!

Doug.

[cletrac1922]

Jeremiah Horrocks actually passed away 5 years before the 1639 Transit of Venus, and predicted the transit using Julian Date Calendar

Observed the transit in 2012, foreshore Goldcoast, Australia. That day left my ED80 visual, as club belong to had about 30 scopes set up, with lot of club members imaging the transit, to allow members of the public to observe the transit through my ED80

Had media coverage from our observation point as well that day

Have a couple of pic, taken with Samsung Galaxy 2 mobile held to the eyepiece. The pics have bit of light pollution around the edge, when held to eyepiece of ED80

Took 8 hours for Venus to transit the sun

 

[Cozzy]

Hello and welcome to SGL

 

 

Tim

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

Peter

[laudropb]

Hi. Nice to hear you are getting back into this great hobby.

[Floater]

Welcome to the forum.

Enjoy the rekindling of your enthusiasm.

[Mr Spock]

Hi John, welcome to SGL

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire :-) 

[Stephen Green]

Hi welcome to the SGL

[JamesM]

Hi John and welcome to the forum

Clear skies

[Pondus]

Hello John and welcome from me too, located in Norway .

 

Rune

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi John welcome. 

[JemC]

Hello and welcome John from another Lancashire guy with telescope 

Questions..ask away, if there is one thing i have learned it is the people on this forum love answering questions,

[ronl]

Hello John welcome to S G L, it's a great community, hope you enjoy it, keep on 

observing Jupiter, it's a wonder to behold.

Clear Sky's.

[seo]

Hi John and welcome aboard.

[Charon]

Welcome aboard from me too.

[johnha]

Thanks for the very warm & friendly welcome.

I've since acquired a Celestron NexStar 4SE and have been having huge fun chasing Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon across the sky with the occasional double thrown in. The mounts ability to track an object is a huge improvement over slow motion controls and the RDF is big improvement over the rubbish finder. The optics are (as expected) on another level. The GOTO/Identify is really helping me get my bearings through cloud & light pollution when I can only see a handful of stars.

There will be plenty more questions...

 

Thanks again,

John.