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Yet another newcomer!

Pain in the Neck

By Pain in the Neck
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Pain in the Neck

Pain in the Neck

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It would appear to be a tradition on SGL for ‘newbies’ to post about their new-found hobby, so in the unlikely event that anyone is interested, I thought I’d relate my short astronomy journey so far. I should add straightaway that I am not looking for any advice or help, as I have always firmly believed that the best way of learning is from making your own mistakes.

For as long as I can remember I’ve had a background interest in stargazing – staying up all night long to watch Neil and Buzz probably helped!  However, although I have been a keen photographer for >50 years, and had a lifelong technical career in radio communications and I.T., I’ve never actually looked through a telescope in my entire life.

A few months ago for some unknown reason I started reading telescope reviews, requesting equipment catalogues, sending tentative e-mail to suppliers, reading SGL posts etc. After much reading of books, manuals, forums, magazines – even going outside to look up at the sky on quite a few occasions armed with my brand new planisphere, I decided to take the plunge – and that’s when the real problems started. What a minefield! Refractor or reflector? Big aperture or portability? Goto or manual? Visual or imaging? So many decisions! After deliberating for 3 months, I have at last chosen and ordered. I was fortunate enough to have a bit of disposable income from my pension, but didn’t want to waste my money. So, do I go cheap and risk an immediate upgrade, or get something first time which will last me a bit longer? Do I go for computerised, or learn the night sky the hard way? My eventual thought process went roughly as follows


I decided Sky-Watcher was about my level, so I opted for the 150P-DS. It promised some basic imaging capability, but was still luggable to darker skies (I live in a heavily light-polluted suburb of Bristol).

I went for the HEQ5 Pro mount. Probably a bit over the top for the chosen OTA, but should still be OK for the first tube upgrade – and also capable of imaging. I would ideally have preferred starting with manual to gain some sky-searching knowledge before eventually upgrading, but the bigger payload mounts seem to invariably include computerised goto. Annoying.

Baader Hyperion 2” starter set. Again, maybe a bit OTT for my capability, but looked good for starting some AP.

Various bits including barlow lens, filters, red torch, collimating tools etc.

So I’m now waiting patiently for the courier to deliver my goodies, watching the skies cloud over. I just hope SWMBO doesn’t catch sight of it all before I get a chance to hide it in the spare bedroom!

In due course I might let you know how it all goes.

Clear Skies everyone!

 

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x6gas

x6gas

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1 hour ago, Pain in the Neck said:

I am not looking for any advice or help, as I have always firmly believed that the best way of learning is from making your own mistakes.

Well hold on there!  The kindly members of SGL can save you both time and money and generally are so friendly, helpful and (collectively at least) knowledgeable and wise that you don't have to learn by your own mistakes - least not all of the time!

Your equipment choice suggests you have done your research and that kit will serve you well and give you the flexibility to do visual or start imaging.  You have certainly gone for a popular and reasonably capable mount (very capable for the price point) which makes good sense.

So welcome and I look forward to reading more posts on your journey!

Clear skies, Ian

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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Welcome to SGL, Nice set-up you have got yourself. Regarding go-to: you can quite cheerfully ignore go-to on your controller, and just star hop. Even though my old Vixen Great Polaris mount now has a full synscan go-to system from an EQ-5, for visual I just do a simple polar alignment, and start up the controller, ignore multi-star alignment and just get cracking by anlocking the clutches, pointing the scope roughly to where i need to be, lock the clutches and use the controller to steer in RA and DEC. For imaging, go-to is quite a time saver.

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Floater

Floater

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Welcome. Hope you have lots of fun. I humbly suggest you fess up to the missus, though - unless you have a spare bedroom so unusual you can hide a 150 Newt and mount! 🙂

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jock1958

jock1958

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Hi and welcome to SGL. Bought my first scope back in the mid 90’s for £250, a Russian 4.5” reflector which served me well over the years. However since I joined this forum I’ve spent considerably more than planned but had a blast in the process 😉

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cletrac1922

cletrac1922

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Welcome from Land Down Under

I also have a background in radio communications and I.T, having served 27 years communications technician with Royal Australian Corp of  Signals, including tour of Vietnam

You cannot go far wrong with a HEQ5 mount, and can update scope later to a ED100 or ED120

I also have a SolarMax11, which I use on my EQ5pro mount as well, and the new SolarMax111 has a refined focuser over the SolarMax11

You can now also get a WiFi adapter for your HEQ5, and download the SynScan App

Attached pic of my Solarmax11 on EQ5pro mount

 

John

 

Solarmax11.jpeg

SynScan WiFi adapter.jpeg

Screen print SynScan App.jpg

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rwilkey

rwilkey

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Hi Pain in the Neck and welcome to the forum, I live just down the road from you in Swindon and in my early days Bristol was my stomping ground as I lived in Bath.  Also, I would add, there is nothing like jumping in at the deep end!  Your choice of the 150P-DS is a good one, along with photography-friendly eyepieces, you will have fun, I think.  Clear skies to you too buddy!

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Pain in the Neck

Pain in the Neck

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Well, what a friendly bunch of people you are! Thanks for the warm welcome - I’ll just pick a couple of people to respond to individually.

x6gas (Ian) - My comment about not needing help and/or advice related only to my initial purchases. I am absolutely positive that I will be calling on the wealth of expertise and experience out there in SGL-land in the not too distant future. Please be patient with me when the time comes.

Floater (Gordon) - Don’t worry, ‘er indoors is already well aware of me flexing the credit card. I think I can get away with it at the moment because I bought her an electric bike to assist with her lockdown exercise regime. Not sure for how long that excuse will be valid though...

John - The Bristol Astro Society is something I would like to know more about, but I guess it is difficult in the current situation. In particular I would love to take advantage of other people’s’ knowledge of suitable dark-sky locations around the Bristol area, as my back garden is bright enough to read by!
 

An update on my situation - kit has started to arrive. Unfortunately the OTA is out of stock, but will hopefully arrive in the next couple of weeks. However, looking on the bright side (if that’s a valid expression for astronomers), it gives me the golden opportunity to get to grips with the HEQ5 beast without the distraction of looking skywards. First attempt at polar alignment introduced me to the infamous altitude bolts which are apparently made of cheese. Wow, although I had anticipated a struggle to get the altitude aligned, for a while I was thinking it would be easier to move house to somewhere at about 40 degrees latitude rather than force the bolts! Still, I got there in the end, with both bolts still straight and intact. Luckily I can practice in daylight, as polar alignment appears to be a case (for me at least) of reading loads of instructions rather than twiddling dials. I’m confident it will become easier in due course.

Anyway, once again, lovely to meet you all.

Charles.

 

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