Hello from Shropshire

[Tenor Viol]

Hi

I'm Ron and I live in north Shropshire so light pollution exists but isn't too bad. As retirement is getting near, I'm coming back to astronomy having been away from it for a quarter of a century (not quite sure how that happened...).

I'm a keen photographer, so I have plenty of camera kit - I'm a Nikon user. 

My main activities for the last few decades have been music related (mostly classical) either singing, or playing cello and sax and yes, tenor viol... 

The lockdown has convinced me I need something to be occupying my time especially as I see little likelihood of my music groups resuming anytime soon (and some may fold). So I have been furiously working Google to get back up to date with the market. Some decisions have been made, some are being worked on. So... I have bought a SW HEQ5 mount and that arrived the other day. 

I am thinking of a refractor and because I wan to do astrophotography, I am looking at something like an 80 or 100mm APO refractor around f/6. I could go bigger if I went for a doublet, but I think the extra quality of a corrected APO triplet is probably worthwhile the sacrifice in size.

My challenge is I am a Mac user, not a PC user (I gave up after several months of utter pain with Windows 10 continually crashing, constant updates to both it and the apps I use). I have already discovered that means a lot of the software people use is not available on the Mac, or if available, no compatible with the 64 bit Catalina OS.  Cloudmakers seem to have a suite of Mac apps which I am investigating. 

My initial task will be to get the new 'scope up and running and using my DSLRs (D7500 and Z6 - so APS-C and full-frame). The next step will be to add auto-guiding and then to move onto dedicated astrocam...

Looking forward to picking things up and being part of the community. 

 

[PeterCPC]

Hello Ron and welcome to the money pit that is astrophotography, and SGL of course.

Peter

[Ruud]

     Hello Ron,

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Tenor Viol welcome to SGL.  ...and Nikon [D40x & D80] user.

[banjaxed]

Hi Ron, welcome to SGL.

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[richard ashbee]

welcome from another Nikon user

[Demonperformer]

Hi, Ron, and welcome to SGL.

Enjoy the journey.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Demonperformer

[Dr Strange]

Welcome Ron!

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Ron, welcome. 

[Mr Spock]

Hi Ron, welcome to SGL 

[sloz1664]

Hi Ron and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

[Floater]

Welcome. I hope you have lots of fun. 🙂

[ronl]

Hello Ron, and welcome to the community, hope you're enjoying your time with us,

see you around the forums.

Clear Sky's.

 

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Peter in  Bedfordshire  🙂

[Tenor Viol]

Thanks for the welcome from everyone. 

I was heavily involved in astronomy at local, regional, and national level from the mid 1970s until mid 00s, although local involvement had really dropped out in the 90s. 

I'm not currently involved with any societies. I've managed to bump into a few people online I've not seen for rather a long time - the challenges include generally rather significant changes over the perhaps 15 - 20 or more years since we last met making instant recognition tricky at times.... 

Ron.