Newbie from Cumbria, England

[Martyn87]

Hi all, Martyn here from Cumbria. I'm pretty much a total newbie, bought my first scope a couple of weeks ago, a pretty cheap (£260) second hand Celestron StarSense DX 6" which I believe is 'mostly' the same as the other 6" SCTs on the NexStar, C6 etc... I hope so at least! 

It'll be primarily used for visuals on planets at the moment with my eldest daughter, but will be building it up as a bit of a budget AP setup over the next few months with the hopes of getting some DSOs eventually. 

 

Been messing around with the DSLR on it already but I'm having focus issues, which the weather didn't want to give me time to resolve! 

 

[Floater]

Welcome. Glad you’re enjoying your scope. Hope you both have lots of fun.

[osbourne one-nil]

Do you ever wish you lived somewhere less cloudy? I do!

[Martyn87]

22 minutes ago, osbourne one-nil said:

Do you ever wish you lived somewhere less cloudy? I do!

Every day at the minute! Feel like I've had about half an hour of dark, clear skies in the last 2 weeks! 

[Clarkey]

1 minute ago, Martyn87 said:

I've had about half an hour of dark, clear skies in the last 2 weeks!

Forget dark skies until September.... That's when my kit comes back out the cupboard.

[Martyn87]

1 hour ago, Clarkey said:

Forget dark skies until September.... That's when my kit comes back out the cupboard.

Yeah I'd seen on Clear Outside that we won't get any "Astronimical Night" ie proper dark, until into August. But even a bit of twilight would do for now! 

[Chandra]

Interesting setup to start with!! Be very welcome to the community... Who hasn't ever had focusing problems in their first AP steps?? It comes standard on learning curves... Don't be discouraged and keep going!!

[Martyn87]

Just now, Chandra said:

Interesting setup to start with!! Be very welcome to the community... Who hasn't ever had focusing problems in their first AP steps?? It comes standard on learning curves... Don't be discouraged and keep going!!

Thanks Chandra. I've taken the advice of a couple of users here and decided to print myself a bahtinov mask, so that will hopefully help with the focusing. Now if only there was a way to improve the weather! 

[TiffsAndAstro]

44 minutes ago, Martyn87 said:

Thanks Chandra. I've taken the advice of a couple of users here and decided to print myself a bahtinov mask, so that will hopefully help with the focusing. Now if only there was a way to improve the weather! 

i think everyone who reads this and doesn't live in the north of england should do the decent thing and buy themselves some new astro gear right away and choose next delivery.

 

[Martyn87]

Well, the cloud disappeared for a bit tonight so I finally managed to snap a decent shot of the moon! 

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL 

[barkis]

Hi Martin.  Fellow Cumbrian too. Reside in Carlisle. You are going to enjoy Stargazers,
These Guys are quick to respond to any questions you ask. Very Friendly Too.
Astronomy is a great hobby, good luck with your New Scope.
 

 

[Sunshine]

A big welcome to SGL!

[Tony Acorn]

On 11/06/2024 at 21:13, Clarkey said:

Forget dark skies until September.... That's when my kit comes back out the cupboard.

I'm going to try the Perseids 10-12th August and the occultation on 21st August as I'm a glutton for punishment!

[Tony Acorn]

12 hours ago, Martyn87 said:

Well, the cloud disappeared for a bit tonight so I finally managed to snap a decent shot of the moon! 

Welcome Martyn from a fellow newbie who lives in a significantly mpore polluted area. I suggest that you get a flexible clamp to secure on the focus knob and extemd th eleverage - that gives you much finer control of your focus. HTH
Tony

[Martyn87]

1 hour ago, Tony Acorn said:

Welcome Martyn from a fellow newbie who lives in a significantly mpore polluted area. I suggest that you get a flexible clamp to secure on the focus knob and extemd th eleverage - that gives you much finer control of your focus. HTH
Tony

Thanks Tony, and to you! 

I actually printed a this fine focus know from Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3998859

It helps, I think the issue was more with my eyes to be honest! 

[Tony Acorn]

On 13/06/2024 at 00:36, Martyn87 said:

Well, the cloud disappeared for a bit tonight so I finally managed to snap a decent shot of the moon! 

Welcome Martyn from a fellow newbie who lives in a significantly mpore polluted area. I suggest that you get a flexible clamp to secure on the focus knob and extemd th eleverage - that gives you much finer control of your focus. HTH
Tony

[bosun21]

Welcome to SGL Martyn.

[Norris Adams]

On 13/06/2024 at 12:52, Tony Acorn said:

Welcome Martyn from a fellow newbie who lives in a significantly mpore polluted area. I suggest that you get a flexible clamp to secure on the focus knob and extemd th eleverage - that gives you much finer control of your focus. HTH
Tony

Hi Tony,

I'd been looking for something to give me a better focusing ratio for some time. Not being able to find an over-the-counter solution I'd tried various home-made ideas with limited success.

Your chance remark (regarding a clamp) made me think of a small, retail clothes 'grip' that I had thrown into my tool box just the other day. I felt sure it would be useful for something...!

I've just tried it and it works great! Rigid, secure and light to control and move! Because I'm only using it at the point of fine focus (for EAA work), it will never have to move more than a few degrees., so there's no interference issue. But trying to achieve those few degrees (or even sub-degree movement) when using a small wheel is mighty difficult!!

Thanks again!!!

Norris

 

[Alan White]

Welcome to SGL and the hobby that can last a lifetime.