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Essential reading for those who are thinking about getting into Astronomy !


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Brilliant article. Seems I accidentally stumbled on the right way of doing things since learning my way around the night sky with just my eyes for years ....I've never been great with binoculars though, can't seem to hold them still enough to get a long look, and they make my arms ache ! I have bought an astronomical set but they need to be tripod mounted and as yet I don't have a suitable one , they wobble if  I so much as breathe on them ! 

I hadn't even considered a telescope but was surprised with one for my 40th birthday , lovely husband thank you! 4" reflector , great little scope and never dissapointed me , as having done a lot of reading I knew pretty much what to expect from backyard astronomy in a light polluted area! Took me another 10 years to add a lovely 8" Dob which has extended my capability for hunting dso's. Two years further on I've added a little cassegrain , and today looking forward to delivery of some new eyepieces as I've only used a 25mm, 10mm and 2x Barlow all these years . 

I guess if you are passionate about the night sky anyway , have realistic expectations of your equipment , then you will never be dissapointed  or frustrated spending time under the night sky ! I no I'm not! 

 

 

 

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Thank you, John,

 

this is definitely a good help to me as I make a serious commitment to learning astronomy and it's fundamentals - while wanting to expand my own personal and individual knowledge,

 

thank you,

 

-Ben

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Apart from the 20 years old bit (I am closer to 3X that magnification) this is myself to a tee. So busy looking at what to buy and asking what is the best scope I can get to start out in this hobby this brought me right down to earth and made me stop and think before spending my hard earned cash.

Thanks for the link.

 

Steve

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As a complete newbie I'm currently reading through the posts for beginners and found this article very interesting. I was telling my other half who says why don't I use his dearly departed uncles binoculars and and see what's out there. I was like a kid in a sweetie shop because I'd forgotten they were here. To my ultimate dismay I can see nothing because of the cloud cover. Never the less I am the owner of a pair of Swift Saratoga 8x40 m1 binoculars from 1967. I can wait for a clear sky now ?

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Hello everyone,

 

I m new to this and am looking to get my first telescope. I have done a lot of research on the web, but there are so many options out there. I would like to go ahead and buy a very good telescope right off the bat. I am looking at the "celestron nexstar 8 se computerized, the advanced vx 8" schmidt cassegrain telescope ,  the skywatcher 12" collapsable dobsonian telescope, and the proed 120mm doublet apo refractor".

 

I know that is a all over the board, but they all seem to be great telescopes ( according to reviews i read ). Basically i would like a scope to look at moon craters, rings of saturns, clouds of jupiter, and some other galaxies and nebulea. I read that aperture is the key for a good telescope, but i also read the focal ratio will determine how much you can zoom in?

 

I would appreciate if anybody gave me a few tips on which one of those scopes will do the job for me. I guess my budget is between $1000 - $2000.

 

Thanks again

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On 07/03/2018 at 13:15, danielpiasecki said:

Hello everyone,

 

I m new to this and am looking to get my first telescope. I have done a lot of research on the web, but there are so many options out there. I would like to go ahead and buy a very good telescope right off the bat. I am looking at the "celestron nexstar 8 se computerized, the advanced vx 8" schmidt cassegrain telescope ,  the skywatcher 12" collapsable dobsonian telescope, and the proed 120mm doublet apo refractor".

 

I know that is a all over the board, but they all seem to be great telescopes ( according to reviews i read ). Basically i would like a scope to look at moon craters, rings of saturns, clouds of jupiter, and some other galaxies and nebulea. I read that aperture is the key for a good telescope, but i also read the focal ratio will determine how much you can zoom in?

 

I would appreciate if anybody gave me a few tips on which one of those scopes will do the job for me. I guess my budget is between $1000 - $2000.

 

Thanks again

Skywatcher 12" collapsable dobsonian telescope

Recently acquired one of these, its big, heavy and cumbersome I have the synscan\goto version so will be heavier than one without, the base is heavy and unless you can put wheels on it or similar I wouldn't want to carry it too far, great scope though

 

20180924_184320.jpg

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On 02/01/2009 at 17:31, John said:

As someone who has been in the hobby for many years now I found that many of the hints, tips and pointers in this article are right "on the button".

John

I have been called impulsive (ask my wife), and though true at times, I can argue the opposite when it finally came to purchasing my astrophoto kit.

   In 1979, when I was ninteen, my father died, and left me the old pair of virtually unused Zeuss 10x50 binoculars that he had displayed in their leather case high on a shelf in his den for as long as I could remember. Those binoculars sat in that case on a shelf of my own for another twenty years, until on a whim I grabbed them as a last item while heading out the door on a camping trip up in northern Ontario. My binoculars were the hit of the entire week among the five of us. They were passed around every evening, virtually all evening, and from that trip grew my love of the night sky.

   I soon acquired a small reflector, then a larger one, and twenty years ago my trusty old 254mm Meade Starfinder dob. I learned the night sky not the hard way, but the best, most fullfilling way, by studying charts and spending hours under the glorious stars.

   Since getting that dob I saved my pennies, did my homework, threw most of it away and did it all over again, until finally I was ready to purchase my astrophoto kit about six weeks ago. The learning curve is steep, no doubt, and I'm nowhere near where I want to be, of course (who is?), but I'm happy to report that there isn't a thing I'd do differently.

   The truth in that Sky and Telescope article should help anyone who feels the call of the night sky but doesn't know where to turn, and I just thank my lucky stars I was able to get into the hobby without too many errors. 

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Le 28/02/2009 à 11h04, ZOG a déclaré:

Profond et si vrai.   Torrent TurboTax Gogoanime

J'ai récemment rencontré cet article sur le Web écrit par Alan MacRobert du magazine d'astronomie connu et respecté Sky & Telescope. Il vaut la peine de lire si vous envisagez de pratiquer un passe-temps - idéalement, avant de commencer et d’acheter un télescope:

Edited by racitisisy
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Instead of starting a new thread, asking the same questions, I thought I'd revive this old sticky.

I've been looking at a reference guide in the form of an Atlas and many references seem to be for the Sky & Telescopes Pocket Sky Atlas. This seems to be discontinued in print, only available on Kindle? Would the Cambridge Star Atlas be a decent alternative?

BTW, The link within this thread seems to navigate to a subscription based site? Assume it's no longer a freebie?

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11 hours ago, Captain Rex said:

Hi, very new to this site and following all the advice I tried the link to this resource. Only it takes me here

https://digital.wwnorton.com/astro6

Which looks like a paid tutorial site. What am I missing ?

Thanks.

You are right. It seems as if the original piece has been taken down now. Shame because it was a good one but I guess 11 years have gone by.

I'll see if I can find something to replace it.

 

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