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Hello From Victoria BC

Barry W

By Barry W
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Barry W

Barry W

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Hello to Everyone,

I've finally taken the leap to some more serious stargazing. I've always enjoyed staring toward the skies and viewing the stars. 20+ years as a Naval Officer have allowed me to enjoy some pretty spectacular night skies from the middle of the ocean. It's also provided a pretty good foundation on identifying the brighter objects in the sky.With a six year old son showing some interest, I've recently purchased a Skywatcher 8" Dobsonian. Thanks to a very good dealer who talked me out of an expensive "GOTO", I did some research and used the extra money to accessorize with a 2x Barlow, UHC filter and basic colour filter set (all still to be played with). The few clear nights since my purchase have allowed some very impressive views of Venus, Saturn, the Orion Nebula and the Plieades, confirming a desire to scan deeper into the skies.I've spent a fair bit of time scanning the web as well. After viewing multiple websites and forums, your lounge looks to be one of the more comprehensive, informative and (most importantly) friendly that I've come across.I'm looking forward to learning a great deal here through continued reading and interaction with all of you!

Cheers,

Barry

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Jarndyce

Jarndyce

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After viewing multiple websites and forums, your lounge looks to be one of the more comprehensive, informative and (most importantly) friendly that I've come across.I'm looking forward to learning a great deal here through continued reading and interaction with all of you!

Welcome barry.

Same reasons I joined the forum!

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Mike W

Mike W

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Hi Barry,welcome to SGL.

I joined for the same reason, everone seems very friendly and nothing seems too much trouble, there`s a wealth of experience hear, and usually an answer to everything.

Mike

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Barry W

Barry W

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Thanks for the welcome everyone.I woke up at 5 am this morning hoping that the skies might be clear enough to get a better look at Saturn higher in the sky than my earlier viewings - No luck.Instead, I've first registered here and have spent a majority of the last 6 hours cycling through the various pages here. Got hooked on reading "MrGlen's" plight from December and the help provided by everyone. His was a similar story to mine - Wanted all the gadgets, but ended up with the 8" Dob!Maybe I'm luckier than most newcomers and had a fairly good foundation to start with. With a background in sextant use (the old "sky wrench"!) and star globes, the rust is quickly brushing away. Manhandling the big dobsonian is fun (I've taken to calling it the "star Canon")! I think the stability of the big base and the size makes it very easy to use. It's amazingly smooth to move around the sky - even seemingly large physical movements are very stable as I reset images in the eyepiece.10 minutes each to set the finder scope and the added telrad (love it!) on my first night out and I was set. Nothing technical about it. I set the scope on the base and let it cool down through supper. I came out to the yard pointed at Orion to the south and started my first night of star hopping. Got Messier's List and a good planisphere to guide me through visual observing. I'll leave the cool astrophotography stuff to the experts for now, using their photos to augment my own exploration. There's a lot yet to see for myself!

Cheers again,Barry

(p.s. It is a chilly day here - but the forecast calls for a nice clear night - Can't wait!)

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timetraveller

timetraveller

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Hiya Barry

A very warm welcome to the forum to further aid your voyages of discovery may I suggest the downloading of three excellent a free Astronomy programmes from the web

1 Stellarium a 3d real time planetarium really good and easy to use

2 Virtual Moon Atlas a 3d comprehensive fully interactive moon Atlas

3 and finally cartes Du ceil A more sophisticated sky atlas which will allow you to produce very usable sky charts to print out and use to help you plan your nights viewing

hope you find all three usefull regards Pete

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RobH

RobH

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Hello and welcome Barry.

That's a lovely part of the world you live in, with some really dark skies not far from you.

I spent 7 months living just outside Courtenay in '87 and had some great views.....and good walks, and good times generally!

Cheers

Rob

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