Hello

[Karen Bexley]

I've had an interest in astronomy for a few years, but I've never seemed to have the time to really get into it.

The current lockdown has created a new perspective on that, which is something that can be done from home.

The skies where I live in the New Forest  provide excellent viewing possibilities, particularly due to the lack of street lighting that would otherwise be an interference.

I'm by no means an expert on the night skies but hope to widen my knowledge through our enforced lockdown period.

[PeterCPC]

Hello Karen and welcome to SGL.

Peter

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you Peter.

That is an impressive set of equipment you have there.  At the moment, I have a pair of binoculars and a field scope I bought for bird watching 🤭

Maybe one day I will venture out and obtain a celestial telescope 🙂

[richard ashbee]

Welcome to the group Karen.

[Philip.]

Welcome Karen 😀

[carastro]

Welcome to SGL and the world of Astronomy.  Yes Astronomy is certainly a hobby that lends itself to isolation and suits the lock down, except I cannot get to my dark location campsite, so am stuck in SE London/NW Kent with bad light pollution.

You are lucky being based in the New Forest, the skies must be awsome.

Lots of friendly and helpful people on here.  If you do decide to get a telescope, make sure to ask for advice as there are different set ups for different things, such as observing with a manual "push to" type telescopes, Motorisde GOTO telescopes, and specific kit for astrophotography.

Carole 

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[Mr Spock]

Hi Karen, welcome to SGL 

[banjaxed]

Hi Karen, welcome to SGL.

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you all for your lovely welcome 😚 (definitely only virtual kisses at the moment 😉 )

I will most certainly take your advice Carole and ask for help when I eventually get around to going for a telescope.  That terminology you used there is a little confusing, so I will need a lot of help I think.

The skies are indeed awesome here Carole, and I feel very lucky to be living here.

Everyone seems very friendly on this Forum, which is a great bonus for someone starting out on a new hobby.

I have had a bad experience using Social Media, getting some very unwelcome comments when I had a Facebook account (since deleted), so I'm always a little wary joining new Forums.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Karen Bexley

[bingevader]

Welcome.

Binoculars and a spotting scope are a good place to start.

[Floater]

Welcome. Hope you have lots of fun with the hobby and the forum. 🙂

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you Gordon.

[Dr Strange]

Welcome Karen. My advice is think about what you like to do. Do you like to hunt for objects and take pleasure in the find? Or do you prefer to have the scope do the driving and just look at things? Or do you like both? What do you think you want to look at? Lastly it will come down to budget. With a somewhat limited budget in mind and with the caveat that there is nothing cheap in this hobby though it is much cheaper than many other hobbies as well as your likely answer to "what you want to look at" being "everything!" I would recommend the following:

For hunting for objects and on a budget:

Skywatcher Skyliner 200p Dobsonian{/url] (Dob) because it has a 200 mm diameter mirror and for a beginner 150mm is the minimum recommended aperture for a beginner to really see stuff with 200mm being the better option because that 50mm difference means you can see more and things will be brighter. It is £289 and a really nice bit of kit.

Add to that Skyliner the following:

A Telrad because it helps you star hop which is the hunting method for finding deep space objects (DSO). £38

Turn Left At Orion a book to help you find things as well as what to look for. £20

Sky Watcher anti tip observing chair. It isn't for your rear end. It is for your eyes. You see more when you are comfortably seated. It is adjustable so you can move it up and down to match the height of the eyepiece (EP) with the Dob. £95

 If you want to do both hunting and have the scope tell you where to go your best option is going to be a Dob with what is called digital setting circles (DSC) this is a more expensive option than just the hunting option BUT it comes with a computer that tells you where to point the scope and it can be used without the computer just to hunt. The accessories like the book, Telrad, and Chair are also good things to have. 

You will have to add DSC to it but for that I highly recommend the products from Astro Devices. Serge, the owner, is absolutely fantastic to work with. Several times I have had a question on his products and sent a email via his website's form. Within the hour I got a call from him and I am in the US and he is in Australia! That kind of customer service cannot be beat with a cricket bat! You have two options here:

[url=https://www.astrodevices.com/shop/index.php?product/page/8/Nexus-II]Nexus II[/url] which will require an app on your Smart Phone. I recommend Sky Safari. It works really well with this. Your phone acts as the computer and the Nexus II interfaces with the encoders that you will need (see two links down). It is £161 plus shipping since it comes from Australia. It was $20 for shipping to the US. It should be about £16 or so. Ditto on the other bits and bobs but if you combine the order (you have to) it will be a single shipping charge. 

The Nexus DSC is a complete DSC computer. It will do everything you need, has wifi, GPS, all the major catalogs etc. It does what your smart phone would do with the Nexus II. Actually it is a combination of your phone plus the Nexus II all rolled into one.

Regardless of the option you will need a encoder kit. I believe this will fit on the 200p listed above. Please confirm that with Serge. If it doesn't I am sure he can do a one off for you so it will. The encoder kit is £129 and can be found here: https://www.astrodevices.com/shop/index.php?product/page/12/Sky-Watcher+Classic+%26+Collapsible+Encoder+Kit

If you want the telescope to do everything for you including move itself but you have to align it there are two good options. One is a lot heavier than the other but is several hundred £ less plus it comes with EP's and the like. That would be the Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Flexitube GOTO. It is £779 and is here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-flextube-goto.html

The other choice would be the Celestron 8SE. It is much more compact and much lighter than any of the Dobsonains. However you will want to buy an additional EP or two. I would suggest something in the 14mm range as well as something in the 8mm range but not below 8mm for planets. The 8SE is here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/se-series/celestron-nexstar-8se.html and will cost you £1,269 and the EP's will be about £25 each for a decent but not spectacular one.

If you want the scope to be fully automated where all you do is turn it on and tell it to align itself you will have to go with the 8SE scope. Add to it the StarSense device. It will turn the scope into a fully automated robotic scope. It is £285 and can be found here: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/slt-series/celestron-starsense-accessory-for-celestron-mounts.html 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Dr Strange
finish the recommendations

[Nyctimene]

Welcome, Karen, to this friendly forum.

Have a look here :

 

Stephan

[sloz1664]

Hi Karen, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you all for the welcome messages. 

That is a very detailed post Dr Strange and plenty to mull over.  I think at this early stage though for me, I don't want to jump in and spend a lot of money on equipment until I decide on a particular area I wish to concentrate on.  I do have good quality binoculars and field scope, and I believe someone has already mentioned that you can get some good sightings of the general sky with that type of equipment (I've just looked back through these posts and it was Ben who mentioned that - thank you Ben).  Probably identifying all the constellations would be a good starting point for me and see where I go from there.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Karen Bexley
To credit Ben's advice.

[JamesF]

7 minutes ago, Karen Bexley said:

Thank you all for the welcome messages. 

That is a very detailed post Dr Strange and plenty to mull over.  I think at this early stage though for me, I don't want to jump in and spend a lot of money on equipment until I decide on a particular area I wish to concentrate on.  I do have good quality binoculars and field scope, and I believe someone has already mentioned that you can get some good sightings of the general sky with that type of equipment.  Probably identifying all the constellations would be a good starting point for me and see where I go from there.

For identifying the constellations and brighter stars you may find Stellarium helpful assuming you have some sort of device that it will run on.  It can show you what the night sky should look like from your location.  Or there's a fairly low-tech aid called a planisphere, which shows the orientation of the constellations using a couple of rotating discs.

James

[Neil H]

Hi Karen once your bitten by the bug there is no cure , The doctor right a telescope will be the only thing that will help ,but when your ready this is a hobby of a life time so there is no rush 

[Karen Bexley]

7 hours ago, JamesF said:

For identifying the constellations and brighter stars you may find Stellarium helpful assuming you have some sort of device that it will run on.  It can show you what the night sky should look like from your location.  Or there's a fairly low-tech aid called a planisphere, which shows the orientation of the constellations using a couple of rotating discs.

James

Thanks James.  I do actually have a planisphere, but finding where I put it is another matter 🤔  I must get searching.

I would also like to take some decent photos of the Moon.  I can see quite a lot of detail when viewing through my bins, but when I've tried to photograph it I just seem to get an overexposed white mass, with some features but not brilliant.  Is there a section on this Forum you can point me to where photographing the Moon has been discussed to get some better ideas?

My camera is pretty decent - Panasonic Lumix FZ1000.  I can get fantastic photos of landscapes and wildlife, but pointing it towards the skies has not been very successful for me 😳  I suppose the phrase 'must try harder' comes to mind 🤭

[Karen Bexley]

7 hours ago, Neil H said:

Hi Karen once your bitten by the bug there is no cure , The doctor right a telescope will be the only thing that will help ,but when your ready this is a hobby of a life time so there is no rush 

Thanks Neil.  I think starting small appears to be the way to go, in terms of using the equipment I already own and trying to identify the objects closest in the sky.  I'm not expecting to view deep space objects (just yet anyway) but I suppose that is a possibility in the future 😀 

[Karen Bexley]

10 hours ago, Nyctimene said:

Welcome, Karen, to this friendly forum.

Have a look here :

 

Stephan

Thank you Stephan, that is a really useful link.

I have subscribed to the Newsletter 😃

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Peter in Bedfordshire 🙂

[RayD]

14 hours ago, Karen Bexley said:

I have had a bad experience using Social Media, getting some very unwelcome comments when I had a Facebook account (since deleted), so I'm always a little wary joining new Forums.

I had exactly the same, Karen, and can assure you that this place is very different to FB and you won't get the same here.  They're a welcoming bunch.

Enjoy the forums and the wonderful hobby.

[Karen Bexley]

Thank you Peter and Ray.  I am finding this to be a very pleasant experience with some very nice and helpful people.