Hello from a Total Noob in Herts

[ukuleledaveey]

Hello all and wow what a amazing and friendly and extremely knowledegable,informative and helpful bunch you all are.

Have been browsing the various posts the last few nights as well as the sky.And decided to take the plunge and sign up.

I am a total green behind the ears newbie.But i am very fascinated by the sky at night as is my wife and a couple of our neighbours.during the recent hot nights we have been sitting innour communal garden and have been looking up to the stars and mars saturn and the moon.we have been aided a little by some phone apps to.

But we are really getting into it.i am in the process of hoping to buy a telescope in the next couple of months.I have been trawling the web as well as this forum.As there is so many scopes to choose from.

At present i am leaning towards the  sky watcher skyliner 150p as it seems to get a lot of good reviews across many platforms.

Once again hello from me and i look forward to chatting to you on here.

Best wishes

Dave 

[Floater]

Hi, Dave, and welcome. Yes it is a friendly forum and a door to access some of the most knowledgable amateur astronomers. In fact, whisper it, some are professional! 

Have fun with the forum and the hobby.

I have a Skyliner 150 (see sig) and you won’t go wrong with that - although 200 is even better, if you can handle the size. However, there will be many others that may be recommended! Be prepared for lots of input ... ?

EDIT: Don’t turn your face against the used market. Lots of bargains available and, with the right advice (see above ?) you’ll be set right.

[Mad Taff]

Whichever scope you get just enjoy the night sky. It can be jaw dropping. Good luck. Phil

[ukuleledaveey]

Hello floater and thanks for the warm welcome.

Yeah i expect many opinions and appreciate it all.

Yes i definately will consider the 2nd hand market i have no problem with that in fact a store had the 150p used last week but i missed it.

I certainly look forward to having fun and getting to know the folks on here.

Best wishes

Dave.

[ukuleledaveey]

Hello Phil and many thanks for the hello. Yes i am blown away by the night sky.i was lucky enough to live in Perth,Western Australia for  6 years  and the wife and i would often sit in the garden with our heads turned up to the stars.The sky feels so much closer there. We were lucky to see shooting stars zip across the sky and even hear them make a sizzling sound.

Once again many thanks for saying hello and i look forward to seeing younaround on the forum.

Best wishes

Dave.

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Dave, welcome. 

[ukuleledaveey]

Hello Dave and many thanks.

[RiponJas]

Hello there and welcome from North Yorkshire. 

[jock1958]

Hi and welcome to the forum.  I’m sure you’ll get lots of advice re the Skyliner 150 and it’s great that you’ve got your wife on board especially when you start spending on the Astro gear ?

[ukuleledaveey]

Hello RiponJas and many thanks im looking forward to learning and having fun on this awesome forum.

Best wishes 

Dave

[ukuleledaveey]

Hello Jock and thanks for the hello.Yes after 14 years of marriage we finallynfound something we both interested in ?

Unfortunately i think it will be me doing the spending but im sure its going to be worth it,espeacially birthdays and xmas when i can buy her things we can both use ? .

Once again many thanks

Best wishes

Dave

[Kn4fty]

Howdy Dave! Welcome to the forum! It's awesome that you have the wife interested too. That will make purchases much easier hehehe. Whatever scope you get, enjoy it. In the meantime if you have a set of binoculars laying around, use them. You'll be amazed at what you can see in the sky with them. One of my favorite asterisms that can be seen in binos is Brocchi's cluster. Looks like a coat hanger made if stars. Sounds like you are in the way to learning the sky with the apps and binos will just enhance the enjoyment. Good luck on picking a scope.

Rob from Kaintuck

[ukuleledaveey]

Howdy Rob and thanks for the lovely warm welcome.Very much appreciated.

Yes we are getting so much enjoyment from looking at the nigjt sky.i had a slight interest when i was a very young lad and was also a boy scout.so i remember some constilations even if not the names lol.

Im really looking forward to eventually getting my firsy scope.And alao hope to join a club at some point. 

I have been blown away just looking at mars and saturn with my naked eye.i did borrow some binoculars but found i had wobbly hands lol.

Once again a pleasure to meet you and thanks for the welcome.

Best wishes

Dave

[Kn4fty]

I understand the wobbly hands. I fixed by going to the local box store and getting a cheap tripod and an adapter for the binos. Much steadier now. I've got a couple scopes, but still occasionally pull out the binos.

[Charic]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

The 150P is a fine unit, the 200P for the same use gets better, then better still a 250P, then a 300P and so on.
For visual use, on a Dobsonian mount their cracking scopes and dead easy to use.

As for their weight, size, cost and manageability, the bigger you go the heavier it gets, but the level of detail will increase with the larger aperture.
Best used from a dark site, meaning no man-made lighting visible to the naked eye, but once the scopes are cooled and correctly setup for visual observations, you may not need a bigger scope, although I think you would want to have a look, I know I'd like to look through a larger scope to see if I'm missing much, or nothing too dramatic. This scope is about 5 Years and I'll be keeping it quite a bit longer to be honest, Its just so practical for my needs (for now and the foreseeable future).

I would suggest you guys have a look at the 200P. No need to ask what type of eyepieces to use either, as the 200P Skyliner works admirably with the eye pieces listed in my signature.
Comfortable and affordable, the 8mm and a 12mm BST Starguider will get you up and running in no time, hopefully the weather will be in your favour.

As floater has already stated, you will get a multitude of answers,  so its not so easy to decide when there are so many options, and often is the case, we'd suggest go out and find a group/club locally ( you don't have to join) of like minded individuals who may already have some kit that you could all look through. Doing so will enforce your ideas? but if you, your partner and  friends are very keen as a group, why not go a 4-way split on a 200P Skyliner, and some Binoculars, you gotta have binoculars!

If interest's are lost you could purchase  the other split, or sell the whole thing later. 
If any one wants to take on astrophotography within your little group of soon to become enthusiast's, then what I have suggested here would not be the best recommendation, and other good folk here can advise on that aspect of the hobby, but for visual observations, and if your conditions allow, you wont go far wrong with  a 6 - 12" telescope on a Dobsonian mount like the Skyliner 150P. 200P ?

[ukuleledaveey]

Hello Charic,thanks so much for the wonderful reply and really greatly appreciate it very much.

I am hoping to get along to a club if i can find one locally.

Unfortunately i will be buying the scope alone but thats ok.i looked at the 200 but i dont have much room in my flat,so i think the 150 will probably be the scope eventually.i am.quite lucky in that i havr a lot of countryside not to gar from me.as the flats inlive in have external lights grrr which give a fair bitnof pollution.But about a coupleof miles away there is a national trust park and one of the houses that backs onto it has a observatory so i guess its pretty dark there.

We are off to suffolk in December staying in a log cabin been there before and the sky is wonderdul there if clear lol so i am aiming to have a scope by start of december at the latest.

Once again thanks formyour wonderul and extremely helpful reply.

Best regards 

Dave

[Charic]

The 6" 150P could well out perform my 8" 200P if you have the better conditions, but its all about the location, the weather and the seeing ( is it turbulent above?) Think of a coin in a swimming pool. At 3am I'm sure you could tell me what side is uppermost, but at 3pm, there would be too much turbulence in the water. Our atmosphere works just the same, so those nights where the Stars are twinkling like Christmas LEDs, I'l avoid and wait for calmer conditions.

You mention 'Flat' A 200P Skyliner can be carried in two parts making it do-able, the 150P could possibly be carried in one, but mind those steps!

The Skyliner takes up about as much floor space as the average kitchen chair, but the height might be an issue. Here's mine stored in its own cupboard in the kitchen, safe, out of sight, and double wrapped, but ready to lift out into the garden.

 

[Mr Spock]

Hi Dave, welcome to SGL 

[Demonperformer]

Hi, Dave, and welcome to SGL.

I would agree with others that, if it is within budget, a 200 might be a better investment than a 150. IIRC the tube lengths are the same, but the light grasp is about 73% greater. I once had a 250, but I found that to be unmanageable (others would disagree!) ... the moral is that it is worth actually seeing what you are going to buy "in the flesh" before parting with your cash.

Enjoy the journey.

[PeterCPC]

Hello Dave and welcome.

Peter

[sloz1664]

Hi Dave and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[ukuleledaveey]

Hi all and many thanks for the very warm welcome and much appreciated advice. I was sort of set on the 150 but now you have me thinking about the 200 lol, i have seen quite a few second hand ones for the price of the 150, but i am definitely going to have a look  in the flesh if i can. My only concern About the skyliner 200 is it may be to big to store in my tiny flat, i believe it is the same height as the skyline 150, but i would imagine the circumference is a lot bigger.

once again thanks so much for all the hello's and the fantastic advice.

best regards

Dave

[bingevader]

Hello and welcome.

If only the 200p came with a lamp stand or plant pot fitting!
Mine is in the house atm.

My lovely wife keeps asking when it is going back down the shed.

[ukuleledaveey]

Hello again all.and thanks so much for all the warm welcomes and advice.well a little update. I thought i was all settled on the 150 but you guys lol have persuaded me to investigate the 200p.Brand new it is out of my price range but there is quite a few 2nd hand ones for saleat what looks like fantastic prices.i am currently bidding on one that is only 45 mins away from me.fingers crossed by next sunday i hope to have my first scope.i will keep you posted.i am getting nervous about collimation but will sweat about that once i own a scope.once again thanks for all your help and warm hellos.

Best regards 

Dave