Hello from well lit London

[Mr Blue Sky]

Hi all, just saying hi. I'm a born again amateur and I've just bought a starter scope. Meade Adventurer 80. I read loads of reviews of other scopes and plumped for that one knowing I could use it as a base, having read that it is a great tube but dodgy accessories. I had a limited budget that wasn't going to improve and I wanted to get started.

I am enjoying myself immensely but am already looking for a Barlow.  I've seen Jupiter and it's moons already!

I had a scope when I was a teenager and saw Saturn and was hooked and destined to return one day. I think that was a decent little scope, it cost £18 in 1975!

I do intend heading out to Kent or elsewhere it's a little less light.

Edited July 19, 2021 by Mr Blue Sky

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

[PeterStudz]

Hi,

And welcome. I’m in a similar position having returned after many years. In the mid-1970’s my parents bought me a Prinz Astral but it was so long ago I’d long forgotten how much I enjoyed looking through a telescope. Eventually my mother sadly gave it away to a charity shop

But I well remember seeing Jupiter and it’s moons, plus the rings of Saturn. Although I could not see any more details on the planets. Probably just needed a filter but helpful forums like this didn’t exist in those days. Sky at Night and Patrick Moore was the limit. 

[banjaxed]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL 

[Mr Spock]

Hi, welcome to SGL 

[barbulo]

Hi and welcome to the Lounge!

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[Floater]

Welcome. Glad you said hello. 

Hope you have lots of fun. 🙂

[Mr Blue Sky]

Thanks everyone! Looking forward to asking some silly questions

[JRM]

Hello Mr Blue Sky, welcome to the lounge.

[Starwatcher2001]

Welcome aboard SGL Mr Blue Sky. Good to have you with us.

I still have the little 60mm telescope I started out with, and had some cracking times with it and learned a lot. Have fun with your observing.

 

[rwilkey]

Hi and welcome to SGL.  One of our first telescopes was a Meade 90mm and I recall getting much enjoyment out of it, it also had decent accessories - a set of five MA eyepieces in a decent custom made case, which we still have somewhere!  Good luck and clear skies!

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi there and welcome. 

[sloz1664]

Hi, and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

[Mr Blue Sky]

Thank again everyone. Got into it again last night and, like the night before, there was this elongated blob just above Jupiter. Couldn't make out what it was! I think it was the Milky Way after some research. Looked like a distant galaxy.

 

Loving this

[DaveS]

Hi and welcome.

I spent most of my life in light-polluted London until I made my Escape to the Country a few years ago.

[Gonariu]

Welcome to SGL from Sardinia. You have chosen a nice little instrument to start with, I also have an achromatic 80/400 bought used a year ago which I really like. Usually the eyepieces they give as accessories for a telescope are not exceptional, for now use the ones you have then you can see what to buy better, a good eyepiece always lasts! I heard that London is a beautiful city that offers you everything, then in this period you are cool (we in southern Europe dream of the coolness you have in the summer, when it is 35º - 40º here we gasp).

[mikemarotta]

On 19/07/2021 at 08:38, Mr Blue Sky said:

... Meade Adventurer 80. I read loads of reviews of other scopes and plumped for that one knowing I could use it as a base ... a limited budget that wasn't going to improve and I wanted to get started. ...  I've seen Jupiter and it's moons already!  ... I do intend heading out to Kent or elsewhere it's a little less light.

Congratulations, Blue Sky. The best telescope is the one that gets used. You seem to be off to a good start. I understand about the city lights. But unless you are under the lights of that big Ferris wheel or something, you can probably find a lot to look for even in London. In the classic handbook, Turn Left at Orion, the author had his Ph.D. from Harvard and had taught at MIT before a friend showed him the stunning double stars of Albireo from within the New York City metro area, Fort Lee, New Jersey.  You might try for it.

Best Regards,

Mike M.

 

[mikemarotta]

On 20/07/2021 at 10:06, Mr Blue Sky said:

Thank again everyone. Got into it again last night and, like the night before, there was this elongated blob just above Jupiter. Couldn't make out what it was! I think it was the Milky Way after some research. Looked like a distant galaxy.

Perhaps a galaxy not so far, far away...

You might have resolved a brighter patch of the Milky Way. It surely did not look like this, but the picture is an indication. 

Allow me to recommend that you seek out a handbook or two and a website or three.  There's a zillion guide books, but the one that works for you is the one you need. Myself, I often browse the used bookstores and your public library is an option. You can try before you buy. As for websites, there's a lot those, too, and we all have our favorites. I like Sky & Telescope magazine's offering: https://skyandtelescope.org/interactive-sky-chart/

They have a separate one for the Moons of Jupiter https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/plugins/observing-tools/jupiter_moons/jupiter.html and the moons of Saturn https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/plugins/observing-tools/saturn_moons/saturn.html 

The snapshot is from the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University, co-sponsored by NASA. Nominally chartered to serve professionals, they also deliver a lot to amateurs, like "The Sky Tonight." https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/current-night-sky

Best Regards,

Mike M.

Edited July 23, 2021 by mikemarotta
added

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire 🙂