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Newbie from Scotland

16sport

By 16sport
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16sport

16sport

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Hi.

Thought I would introduce myself, I'm Stevie an absolute beginner in astronomy and wanting to learn about the night sky and get into astro-photography so might be asking a lot of question over the winter.

 

Looking forward to browsing the forums and getting to know everyone.

Thanks

Stevie

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16sport

16sport

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9 hours ago, Floater said:

Want to give any fix on where you are in Scotland?

I stay just outside Dunfermline in Fife, Would you have any advice on where the Best dark sky areas nearby would be?

 

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

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Floater

Floater

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8 hours ago, 16sport said:

I stay just outside Dunfermline in Fife, Would you have any advice on where the Best dark sky areas nearby would be?

Sorry I can’t be of much help with that. Might be worthwhile getting in touch with a local astro club  - I know that Dunfermline Astronomical Society exists, but only thanks to the wonder(?) of Google. There are others in the general Fife area, I believe.

Best of luck.

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saac

saac

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Hi Stevie warm welcome from another subject of the beautiful Kingdom of Fife :)  If you are looking for a darker view than you have then anywhere really in the NE of Fife, especially in the East Neuk area. For truly dark dark skies, depending on how far you want to travel, the southern Highlands is really on your doorstep  - a short drive up the A9 or A84 via M9 and you are in the national park areas of the eastern part of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs  and the southern Cairngorms National Parks respectively. 

Jim 

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16sport

16sport

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On 30/08/2022 at 19:21, saac said:

Hi Stevie warm welcome from another subject of the beautiful Kingdom of Fife :)  If you are looking for a darker view than you have then anywhere really in the NE of Fife, especially in the East Neuk area.

Hi Jim, 

And to think i originally grew up in the East Neuk (Anster /Anstruther )

 

Thanks for the info, I have seen some pics people have taken of the Aurora and milkyway from Duck Bay Loch Lomond on Facebook pages and thought about giving it a try.

My daughter has also just started her 2nd year of Uni down in Dumfries so planning on trying a night or 2 down there (probably need to put the Mrs in a decent hotel while I camp out under the stars 🤣🤣)

Do you do any photography or do you use a telescope? 

 

 

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saac

saac

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13 minutes ago, 16sport said:

Hi Jim, 

And to think i originally grew up in the East Neuk (Anster /Anstruther )

 

Thanks for the info, I have seen some pics people have taken of the Aurora and milkyway from Duck Bay Loch Lomond on Facebook pages and thought about giving it a try.

My daughter has also just started her 2nd year of Uni down in Dumfries so planning on trying a night or 2 down there (probably need to put the Mrs in a decent hotel while I camp out under the stars 🤣🤣)

Do you do any photography or do you use a telescope? 

 

 

I do dabble in astrophotography Stevie, but I'm on a very long slow burn: :)  I really started, gosh, well over 10 years ago.  First proper telescope was an 8 inch Newtonian (visual) only. Then once life became more settled and we put down roots in Fife (I'm originally from the West coast) I started the slow decline into astrophotography :) About 5 years ago I completed an observatory build (makes a huge difference) so now enjoy a permeant setup.  Some time round about last winter I managed to produce some work that I was pleased with but a long way off some of the real quality stuff you will come across on the forum here.  To be honest, I really like the technical, science aspect more than the aesthetics - that is my excuse! Work seems to get in the way a lot, arrive home and well, it can be a struggle to get out in the cold and wet. Weather is also a massive pain in the neck and it induces a recurring skill fade from one year to the next.  My latest move is to put together a mobile wide field setup based on a Skywatcher AZ GTi wifi mount. I'm hoping to try wide field astro landscapes maybe from a few of the hills around the NE of Fife this coming winter.  Dunfermline skies won't be the best for you I guess but you would be surprised at what you can achieve. There are some fantastic examples of work here that folk in London have produced, really amazing given the challenges. If you are mobile and do try the NE of Fife then maybe Birnie Lochs may be a good starter, just outside Falkland/Ladybank area . Nice quiet car park and well defined accessible paths to secluded viewing areas. Skies are reasonably dark and sheltered too.  

Jim 

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16sport

16sport

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Thanks Jim.

 

I will need to look into those areas, I have been up at Balvaird Castle last October but didn't see the Aurora (something else on the bucket list to photograph)

I have recently purchased the sky watcher WiFi tracker (not out the box yet as it just arrived before I had to head back to work) I also have Nikon D750 and my biggest lens is 150-500mm sigma, not sure how good it would be for astrophotography and what I might be able to capture.

Think my try starting with easier areas 1st like Orion nebulae (after a lot of YouTube on how to set up the tracker and align to polaris in the dark 🤣🤣)

Observatory at home would be good especially now the darker nights will be starting to roll in.

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16sport

16sport

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Thank you and sorry for the long delay had some family issues and now back at work waiting to get home in December to crack out the star tracker for the 1st time and hopefully manage to capture Orion nebula.........having this time away has allowed for some YouTube viewing on setting up the tracker and polar aligning ...just need to put it to practice 😆 

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