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Greetings from Fort Collins, CO North America

Badweather

By Badweather
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Badweather

Badweather

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Greetings from Fort Collins, CO North America,

I just finally got a telescope.

A Celestron Nexstar 8SE.

We shall see if I made the right purchase.

I have been enjoying this scope since August 18th 2017.

Prior to this I have studied astronomy naked eye and with 7 x 35 Bushnell binoculars, NASA, Hubble images, wikipedia, etc.

i was first introduced to astronomy by my uncle who built a telescope from a kit he purchased from Edmund Scientific in 1973.

As an independent scholar I have continued to study cosmology, astrophysics, and astronomy the entire time between then and now. i frequently look up an object in Starry night only to find out that the object in question is in the southern celestial sphere and "I'll have to relocate to view it".

The first night I had my telescope, I had terrible skies, and being the first time, I failed to achieve alignment and looking up I saw Saturn in the sky. I slewed the scope and pointed it at what I thought was Saturn and peered into the eyepiece. I was gratified to see Saturn in my FOV.

I just recently purchased a 10 x 50 Celestron Up Close binocular for $34.00 and I'm surprised at the quality for that low a price.

I already know I want a 12 inch dob.

Looking forward to many great conversations here while I learn how to find things in the sky.

 

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Hayduke27

Hayduke27

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Welcome to the forum!  I lived in Ft. Collins for about 6 years in the early 2000's, nice town!  I also just recently got a Celestron 8SE and have been using it a lot up here in Gunnison.  It's a great scope for finding deep sky objects, I bet you will enjoy it!

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Badweather

Badweather

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15 minutes ago, Hayduke27 said:

Welcome to the forum!  I lived in Ft. Collins for about 6 years in the early 2000's, nice town!  I also just recently got a Celestron 8SE and have been using it a lot up here in Gunnison.  It's a great scope for finding deep sky objects, I bet you will enjoy it!

Thanks Alex,

It is amazing what I can see from the backyard here. And Bingham Hill near Bellvue, CO has a little roadside park that is even better!

I have been out watching the sky as many nights as possible since I got my scope. Really amazing views!

5 minutes ago, Victor Boesen said:

Welcome to the forum! Hope you will find it helpful. BTW I like your nickname;-)

Victor Boesen

Thanks Victor,

It's actually a real nickname I've had for a while that a Lakota friend of mine gave me one particularly stormy day. He said whenever I arrived, there was always a cloud on the horizon about to cut loose.

So, I thought it was appropriate for my stargazing persona.

Since I've gotten my scope, the weather is terrible. I have always looked at the sky regularly. Clearly getting a telescope makes me especially conscious of the current state of the atmosphere.

 

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Badweather

Badweather

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14 minutes ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Greetings, Badweather, it's nice of you to join us!

I pull-in the radio-beacon from the USNO in your town most every night, which synch's my watch with the atomic-clock out there.

Looking forward to seeing you about &

Starry Skies,

Dave

Thanks Dave,

I know there's a lot of reasons to be on the front range! Besides being nearly a mile high, we are a high tech paradise as well.

A significant contribution to Cassini research via the University of Colorado, goes on not too far away as well!

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Badweather

Badweather

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2 minutes ago, Floater said:

Welcome. I hope you enjoy the forum - you sure seem to be enjoying the hobby! ?

thanks Floater!

I am thoroughly enjoying the experience of tracking down things to look at and building a catalog of things to look at this season.

I'm working on building my star hopping skills as well as just using the 8SE to show me things.

This evening is supposed to be average seeing with above average transparency. I'm currently building my moondodging spreadsheet where I plot the best nights for November for Fort Collins so I can plug weather data and such into it and have half a plan for the month.

So yes, really looking forward to this evenings stargazing as well as many great conversations here about this most wonderful hobby!

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Hayduke27

Hayduke27

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3 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

Oh hey, Badweather - just read your post above about looking for what to add to your viewing list? Here's a very good website to help you on your way:

https://dso-browser.com/

Just input your location - or it will find you anyways - and away you go!

Best wishes,

Dave

Another awesome resource, thanks @Dave In Vermont!!

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Badweather

Badweather

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On 10/29/2017 at 01:55, hippie said:

Welcome to SGL Badweather.

Thank you hippie!

On 10/29/2017 at 04:53, Charon said:

Welcome aboard.

Thanks Charon,

I love that you are always "in the engine room"

On 10/29/2017 at 08:39, ronl said:

Hello Badweather, welcome to SGL, hope you enjoy your time with us,

nice set up you have, here's hoping for some good weather.

Clear Sky's.

thanks Ron!

Certainly enjoying it!

On 10/29/2017 at 10:36, des anderson said:

A very warm welcome from Essex. Des

Thanks Des!

On 10/29/2017 at 12:10, sloz1664 said:

Hi Des,

A very warm welcome to the Lounge :icon_biggrin:

Steve

Thanks Steve!

On 10/30/2017 at 05:42, Pete Presland said:

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire :-) 

Thank you Pete!

On 10/30/2017 at 06:12, PeterCPC said:

Hello and welcome.

Peter

Thanks for the welcome Peter!

On 10/30/2017 at 08:09, westmarch said:

Hi there,

welcome to the forum.  Nice piece of kit - wishing you many clear skies to use it.

John

Thanks John,

It really is a nice scope, very happy with the views!

On 11/1/2017 at 04:47, Dave Lloyd said:

Hi there and welcome. 

Thanks Dave!

On 11/1/2017 at 04:57, Dave In Vermont said:

Oh hey, Badweather - just read your post above about looking for what to add to your viewing list? Here's a very good website to help you on your way:

https://dso-browser.com/

Just input your location - or it will find you anyways - and away you go!

Best wishes,

Dave

DSO browser is a great resource!

Thanks Dave!

On 11/1/2017 at 08:34, Hayduke27 said:

Another awesome resource, thanks @Dave In Vermont!!

This is why I love a good forum.

Huge resource sharing makes things so much easier to find what you need to know!
 

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