Hello from Manchester.

[11mahW]

Hi SGL,

I've been a semi-frequent lurker here over the last year or so. I've been observing the sky when possible through a good pair of binoculars, i travelled to a dark site a few month back to try my hand at some astrophotography (failed miserably, completely botched my camera settings) and visited a local astronomy club twice. Other than these half hearted attempts to take up astronomy i'm pretty much a complete beginner.

I recently ordered a SkyWatcher Skyline 150P Dobsonian telescope, i'm super excited for it to arrive, although now sort of wishing i would've forked out the extra £60 and gone for the 8", ah well. I have ordered a few accessories to go with my scope, a Telrad, Barlow with a T-adapter and a Canon T-ring - I'm not too interested in deep field Astrophotography right away, Turn Left At Orion to get me kicked off observing the sky. 

Just wondering if anyone has any tips or anything i'm missing, if anyone has any recommendations for certain eyepieces to go with my scope. I'll mostly be observing from my backyard under bortle 7 skies with hopefully frequent visits to darker sights once COVID has passed. I'm based in the Greater Manchester area if anyone knows of any dark sites that are accessible.

Appreciate any advice or comments anyone can give. Cheers!

*EDIT*:

Just editing straight away to ask a few more questions,

1) Will it be necessary for me to culminate my scope when it arrives?

2) With the Telrad, am i right in assuming this basically replaces the use of my Finderscope? 

Cheers.

Edited April 30, 2020 by 11mahW

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[sloz1664]

Hi, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

[Floater]

Welcome. Have lots of fun with your new scope. 🙂

[Guest]

Welcome, I am very new here too and new to the practical side of astronomy. With regards collimating a newly delivered scope, I can only speak from my own experience. My scope arrived last Friday. I have purchased a number of accessories and my laser collimator arrived yesterday. I wanted to try it out and was surprised by the fact it did need aligning by a not insignificant amount which I suspect was the transit to me and the fact that the primary mirror locking screws were quite loose. 

Enjoy your new scope and clear skies sir. 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Guest

[banjaxed]

Hi and welcome to SGL. Collimating might be ok but will have to be checked as it might get a knock in transit. The Telrad is for easy location of objects and the finder is for pin pointing objects but both need aligning with your scope.

Edited April 30, 2020 by banjaxed

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

Peter

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi and welcome. 

[fozzybear]

Hello and welcome to SGL from an ex Manc living in France

[Anthony1979]

Hi from another manc... 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Hi and welcome. Regarding local dark sky areas, Gtr Mancychester is quite big but...

To the south and east you have the Peak District almost on your door step. North you've the Forest of Bowland in Lancs & the Yorkshire Dales. West there's urban sprawl then you fall into the sea. 🙄

Further afield, the northern fringes of Snowdonia isn't a huge journey.

There's loads of small rural campsites and some park up and observe areas in the places above. Notably, Bowland AONB is very astro friendly.

https://gostargazing.co.uk/regions/north-west-england/

https://www.forestofbowland.com/star-gazing

 

[Mr Spock]

Hi, welcome to SGL 

[rwilkey]

On 30/04/2020 at 09:35, 11mahW said:

1) Will it be necessary for me to culminate my scope when it arrives?

2) With the Telrad, am i right in assuming this basically replaces the use of my Finderscope? 

Hi there and a warm welcome to the forum.   On your first question, telescopes new from the retailer quite often arrive well collimated (surprisingly) but a few minor tweeks might be necessary (but don't fix wot ain't broke!).  On the Telrad question, users (not me, I don't have one) quite often say that they use both the standard finder and the Telrad to find objects - the Telrad to find the right area and the standard finder with its cross-hairs to home in on the target.  It will be a question of experiment and personal preference for you.  Clear skies!

Edited May 2, 2020 by rwilkey

[John Nodding]

Hello and welcome! 👍🏻
 

Noddy

[cletrac1922]

Welcome from Land Down Under

You travel the universe in this forum

John

[ronl]

Hi and welcome to the community, see you around the forums.

Clear Sky's.

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Peter in Bedfordshire 🙂