Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Hi from "Hoth".

boyandorion

By boyandorion
in Welcome

 Share

Recommended Posts

boyandorion

boyandorion

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hello to u all from "Hoth".

I see its customary here to introduce yourself as a new member so here I am.

I am pretty much a rookie when it comes to this hobby. I have had a lot of things going on over the years. I am a security / network equipment tech by trade, and what claims most of my time off is the work I do as a musician.

The night sky always fascinated me tho. When I was a kid I used to put up a ladder onto the garage roof where I lived and lay back and watch the sky for hours. As for instruments to actually use for this, I always saw as unobtanium.

 

However... In my early 30s one time i had some cash to spare, almost on impulse, I bought a skywatcher refractor. Dont remember the model, but it's a 70mm lens and about half a meter long.

 

I got it in the mail, and it lived in the trunk of my van for some days until I one day took it to my office.

 

Hehe - I didnt want to tell the missus I had spent money on a telescope. Haha so it sat in my office for a month or so before I brought it home and thought- she will understand. I brought it into the living room and asked her if she liked my telescope.  I explained - it was not spendy and I always wanted one and figured now was a good time to get one.

She wasnt overly enthusiastic about it - because she didn't see the value in it. But as time went by I took my oldest kid outside an evening with a full moon. He was amazed and frankly so was I. I shot some pictures of the moon just pointing the phone cam to the eyepiece. Showed it to her and she was also amazed.

I was hooked instantly. So I set the scope up in our living room. After standing there at a window for a couple of days, the missus asks me - Is that one gonna stay there now? A simply - yes of course-  was the answer, and here I am. Been watching YouTube videos to learn this, but I miss a real community, and found this place on pure chance. First thread I read coming from google was about some guys here discussing some eyepiece question asked on CN and after reading that I decided - no way I'm going there, I'm staying here  - looks like it's a bunch of good guys here and I like the fact that its kept family friendly!

I'm sorry for the lengthy introduction, but I thought I'd do it the proper way hehe.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

See you around 🙂

Edited by boyandorion
Minor changes to tidy it up. Same text.
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
StarryEyed

StarryEyed

Posted
Posted

welcome.

The best thing you can do is keep your kids involved. They might develope an interest but depending on their age they will come across the whole subject matter at school.  Both my boys came home with extra house points and the like. So there is both educational benifit and a natural desire to explorer to be had. It's win win with kids. Resists the urge to spend and invest some time with observing the moon and planets. They are ideal for a refractor.

Kevin

Link to comment
Share on other sites
steve k

steve k

Posted
Posted

Welcome Hoth...I love your story how you got in to astronomy.. hope you enjoy SGL.. its a great community and great knowledge is imparted here by experienced people (of which I am not one !) I  have so enjoyed the journey so far of learning more from this site..

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cletrac1922

cletrac1922

Posted
Posted

Hoth

Welcome from Land Down Under

You travel the universe in this forum

If you like to learn more about using your scope, astrophotography, then rock up to local astronomy club

I have been on committee of mine, more years than can recall

Out couple of times per month with club doing presentations primary schools, space-badge, Cubs, Scouting movement

Very rewarding

My partner has always shared the interest, and my grand-kids now interested as well what is above us

When doing school/cubs presentations, I also talk in Australian Indigenous Astronomy, which goes back over 40,000, and taught to be by the elders, when only a child

John 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
boyandorion

boyandorion

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

On 08/08/2019 at 23:30, Mr Spock said:

Hoth's a bit cold for me. Vulcan is much nicer :wink2:

Hahaha! Yeah. Hoth is cold.  It's become an ongoing joke here that we live on Hoth, even tho the area here is relativley warm for Norway. But I say at least 10 times a year that we live in the wrong part of the world. I just love tropical weather. Not so fond of desserts tho, so I gotta say it, even tho Vulcan might be a nice choice for you, personally I prefer Risa :D.
 

On 08/08/2019 at 22:47, cletrac1922 said:

Hoth

Welcome from Land Down Under

You travel the universe in this forum

If you like to learn more about using your scope, astrophotography, then rock up to local astronomy club

I have been on committee of mine, more years than can recall

Out couple of times per month with club doing presentations primary schools, space-badge, Cubs, Scouting movement

Very rewarding

My partner has always shared the interest, and my grand-kids now interested as well what is above us

When doing school/cubs presentations, I also talk in Australian Indigenous Astronomy, which goes back over 40,000, and taught to be by the elders, when only a child

Nice! I bet it's really rewarding. Australian Indigenous Astronomy, sounds very interesting. A local astronomy club doesn' exist here that I know of. Yet. Hehe. It's kinda sad. Well, there is one club that is kinda nearby, but it is  no shorter than a 1 hour drive each way to get to it, so it's kinda hard to get involved there just because of the distance. Maybe there is hope for a local club in the future. Who knows. 
 

On 08/08/2019 at 16:23, StarryEyed said:

The best thing you can do is keep your kids involved. They might develope an interest but depending on their age they will come across the whole subject matter at school.

Definitely. Giving the kids to chance to develop interests, and especially the interests that we can share, is kinda important to me. Also, you say, resist the urge to spend and invest :). That's a very good tip. As a musician, and a poor one at times, I have definitely learnt that you can't always have what you think you want, and that what you already have (gear) can offer you so much more joy when you realize you need to appreciate it and do what you can with it. Same goes for all things, including this hobby. Of course I want bigger and better - but I'm not gonna be a fool and not enjoy the gear I have now to the fullest :).

But I see that my scope comes up a bit short on the provided eyepieces. It's good for watching the moon, but observing planets, it seem a bit small for. It's a 500mm scope with 70mm lens, and the eypieces that came with it, is 10mm and 25mm, which give me too little magnification. So even tho I am resisting the urge to spend, I feel that there are certain upgrades that kinda "needs" to be done to get the most out of the telescope. I am considering different options, like a 2x barlow, or a 4.5-5mm eyepiece. Being totally new, finding out what is best for me to get kinda scares me a bit hehe. I'm gonna see if there is any good info here to help me decide.

You guys might have some tips on what to look for, and if there are som stellar threads on this that you feel I should read, please feel free to give me some hint. :).

Thanks again for the nice welcome! Only glad to be here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.