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Stargazing from Sweden

davhei

By davhei
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davhei

davhei

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Figured a quick introduction would be in order.

Have been interested in the night sky ever since childhood. Especially remember when I was maybe seven years old and popular astronomy photo books of the solar system and the deep sky were lying around at home that had images of the horsehead, M42 and other deep sky objects. Really caught my imagination. Actually remember contemplating a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram at that age, very thought provoking.

Another major influence in my early teens was the Elite series of computer games if you can believe it. The second instalment Frontier in particular. It modeled an entire galaxy including a large number of actual star systems. Made it possible to ”visit” various classes of stars, binary systems, gas giants and more. The seamless integration of the macro structure of the star systems and the detail down to clocks in church towers showing correct time blew my mind and further increased my interest in astronomy.

Didn’t actually start observing properly until a few years ago when I took a lawn chair, a star atlas and binoculars and started stargazing over the course of a year or two. Moving through the seasonal skies and ticking off Messiers, managed to spot around 40, was inspiring and thanks to a local astronomy club I also got the chance to look through a few scopes.

Eventually got my own scope after a lot of consideration. Settled on a 10” dob to maximize aperture while retaining portability and keeping my threshold to go out low. Unpowered, as I realized I enjoyed the chase and learning the night sky from my binocular stargazing. Also got a handful of good EPs and a detailed deep sky atlas to help in finding targets.

So that’s the start of my journey. Have been trying to make the most of the few clear and cold nights here in the Stockholm area of Sweden where I do my observing. Also found that sketching objects was quite rewarding so I will try to do that occasionally and hopefully get better both at observing and capturing the views on paper.

SGL has been a real inspiration and I appreciate the helpful and friendly atmosphere and also find that the similarities between UK and swedish observing conditions help to get reasonable expectations when I get inspired to view new targets. Look forward to learning more and perhaps contributing every now and then.

Clear skies!

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ronl

ronl

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Hello and welcome to the community, hope you enjoy your time here in SGL,

see you around the forums. It's nice to see you enjoy observing and sketching,

it's very satisfying.

Clear Sky's.

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davhei

davhei

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23 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

Hej Hej davhei !!

My son his wife and our grandkids live in Partille - other coast to you.

Enjoy your time here.

Small world! From an astronomy point of view I’m lucky to be on the east coast as the west coast is notorious for its weather! ?

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cletrac1922

cletrac1922

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Hi Davhei

Welcome from Land Down Under

You travel the universe in this forum

Know you will get a lot of enjoyment out of your 10" Dob

My first scope was a 10" collapsible Dob, and use it continually, especially with  primary schools, scout/guide groups with my club

John

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davhei

davhei

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9 hours ago, AstroFin said:

Hej davhej och välkommen! ?

I can easily relate to the Swedish observing conditions. Cold winters and summers filled with daylight bring some challenges to the hobby. 

 

Thank you neighbour. Hand warming heat pads have saved my night more than once!

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