Hello from a complete beginner

[Mike_J_Smith]

Hello all; thought I'd start an account and say hello instead of lurking in the background!

I don't really know where to start, but I have a long held interest in the sky, in particular planetary objects and deep sky objects like nebulae and galaxies. I'm really interested from an astrophotography perspective and would love to be able to recreate for myself some of the awesome photos I see here and elsewhere.

On the other hand I'm time poor (and cash poor!), so I've never really taken the plunge to get more knowledgable / involved as a hobby. I'm beginning however to think that if I don't start being more active, then I'll never get round to it and that would be dissapointing.

Plus my oldest son (11 yrs old) is kind of interested, so I'd like to do something with him / the family to.

So, long story but I'm now looking at getting a SeeStar S50 to get my feet wet and I already have a pair of Celestron SkyMaster Pro 15x70 binoculars to start with.

Thanks for reading  & Hello 👋

[Floater]

Welcome.

Hope you - and the family - have lots of fun. 🙂

[bosun21]

A warm welcome to SGL 👋.

[Astronomist]

Welcome to SGL!

If you haven't allready seen it, check out this thread full of images taken with the seestar: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/413599-seestar-s50-images/

Some really impressive stuff in there, it's a very capable device.

Enjoy!

[Chandra]

Welcome!! Your binoculars are excellent for observing large star fields, especially from dark skies... although you may have already discovered that observing high objects in the sky is quite uncomfortable... Regarding the Seestar, most users say that it is a great device for beginners, since it allows obtaining very decent results almost immediately. There are many threads here about it that can help you decide, such as this one: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/417549-seestar-s50-review-view-from-a-visual-observers-perspective/. I hope you can enjoy this hobby very much with your family.

[Tony Acorn]

Welcome Mike,

I'm not sure where you live but obviously some areas have better viewing than others due to light pollution, air quality and of course the dreaded CLOUDS. Kids are very receptive to the wonders of the night skies and from my experience it gives them a wider perspective of life. Binos are fine for lower altitude objects but then you invariably encounter more atmospheric distortion and can be uncomfortable as Chandra has already noted. Finding your way around the night sky develops the urge to discover more - free software programmes like Stellarium which can run on a tablet are great for helping with that.

It is an expensive jump to go from observing to imaging because for imaging you will certainly need a tracking mount. The likes of the Seestar S50 or the Dwarf III do keep those costs in check and both are very portable with reasonable battery life. Being "cheaper" of course means the definition on the cameras isn't as fine as the more expensive versions and good "seeing" is preferable.

If you have a local astronomy group, it is worth talking to them to see if they are holding open evenings where you can see what they use. I'm sure they will welcome new members, particularly if they bring down the average age of the membership!

Tony

[Mike_J_Smith]

Thank you all for the replies!

I'll take a good look through those threads on the SeeStar. I'm pretty much set on getting one as it seems the cheapest, easiest way of doing something. And then if I get the bug hopefully it'll give me some better ideas of what direction to go for the future.

 

[Mike_J_Smith]

1 minute ago, Tony Acorn said:

Welcome Mike,

I'm not sure where you live but obviously some areas have better viewing than others due to light pollution, air quality and of course the dreaded CLOUDS. Kids are very receptive to the wonders of the night skies and from my experience it gives them a wider perspective of life. Binos are fine for lower altitude objects but then you invariably encounter more atmospheric distortion and can be uncomfortable as Chandra has already noted. Finding your way around the night sky develops the urge to discover more - free software programmes like Stellarium which can run on a tablet are great for helping with that.

It is an expensive jump to go from observing to imaging because for imaging you will certainly need a tracking mount. The likes of the Seestar S50 or the Dwarf III do keep those costs in check and both are very portable with reasonable battery life. Being "cheaper" of course means the definition on the cameras isn't as fine as the more expensive versions and good "seeing" is preferable.

If you have a local astronomy group, it is worth talking to them to see if they are holding open evenings where you can see what they use. I'm sure they will welcome new members, particularly if they bring down the average age of the membership!

Tony

I'm based in Buckinghamshire, UK. So probably not the best skies and definitely a lot of clouds. I can at least get into the Chiltern hills and get away from some of the background light.

I'll look into local astronomy groups too; we've got a decent store nearby in Tring I think, so that should hopefully be a good sign?

I've already found that the binoculars aren't the easiest or most comfortable to use. I need to find a way to use them more comfortably.

 

[Elp]

Hold for a second if you don't need it right away. ZWO just sneak peek image revealed a newer model today, no details as of yet.

[Tony Acorn]

12 minutes ago, Elp said:

Hold for a second if you don't need it right away. ZWO just sneak peek image revealed a newer model today, no details as of yet.

Could that be the upgrade brought about by the Dwarf III? ZWO seem rather busy atm - their latest ASiAir software isn't quite sorted it seems but I'm not giving up.

[Carbon Brush]

Binoculars. That size/weight/magnification is too much for hand held. Use a standard camera tripod + head.
You can probably pick up something 2nd hand for not too much.
You can do a big spend and go for a parallelogram mount😁.

Seestar S50. A great beginner scope - especially for your son.
Nothing wrong with the current version. Maybe they will be sold off cheaper when the new model is offered?
Yes as @Elp says, hold on and watch the new product news.

[Elp]

5 minutes ago, Tony Acorn said:

Could that be the upgrade brought about by the Dwarf III? ZWO seem rather busy atm - their latest ASiAir software isn't quite sorted it seems but I'm not giving up.

Pretty much any company with good finances will continually develop products including successors, so it's not necessarily a reaction to the dwarf, in fact I think it's a bit of a shot in the foot because the SS50 is selling so well at the moment. They said at NEAF this year that they were working on one so it's no surprise, just how quickly they've shown an image of one since. It would have to be significantly different from the SS50, otherwise I don't really see the point of it. From the screenshot it looks like there's a tiny widefield lens on top of the main objective, but the image looks masked off as you can't see the whole body of the unit.

Edited Wednesday at 14:11 by Elp

[Tony Acorn]

19 minutes ago, Mike_J_Smith said:

I'm based in Buckinghamshire, UK. So probably not the best skies and definitely a lot of clouds. I can at least get into the Chiltern hills and get away from some of the background light.

I'll look into local astronomy groups too; we've got a decent store nearby in Tring I think, so that should hopefully be a good sign?

I've already found that the binoculars aren't the easiest or most comfortable to use. I need to find a way to use them more comfortably.

 

I've considered the top of Dunstable Down to try and see the upcoming Comet - unfortunately it's about an hours or so and even then, the night skies will be impacted by Aylesbury. Tring Astro carries a good range and should be handy for you. I have found them helpful in the past although I use FLO as my regular source of bits / place to empty my wallet. 🤣

[Mike_J_Smith]

Interesting on the SeeStar, I guess it's inevitable that a newer version will come out given the success of the current model. But I'm guessing that any new version won't be out for at least 6 months probably longer & I'll probably end up getting one sooner than that. Ideally for this winter. In fact I'm eyeing one up on eBay now as I figure second hand would be a decent option.

[M40]

Hello Mike and welcome to the site.

Between your binoculars and should you get the seestar you have an excellent starting point but you need to be aware of a couple of things. The seestar will give you some amazing images after just a few minutes, no processing required. You can take it on holiday as its easily portable and you can be set up and running in just a couple of minutes, but..... you may get "the bug". You may want to improve your pictures with a touch of processing, you may want to see stuff that the seestar is just not going to show you like planets and smaller galaxies and if that is the case, you are doomed like the rest of us 😁 

All the best and keep us up to speed, the seestar is an excellent piece of kit.

[Carbon Brush]

3 hours ago, Mike_J_Smith said:

In fact I'm eyeing one up on eBay now

Oh - time for a caution.
Yes some people selling scopes on ebay are genuine. However, there is a lot of trash on sale.
It is very easy for someone new to the hobby to get caught out.
The usual advice on SGL is to buy from a proper astro retailer or a trusted used kit source.
Try looking in at a local astro society and chatting with a few people.
After reaching a not too onerous time & posts threshold (which I forget just now) you will have access to the SGL classifieds.

[wookie1965]

A warm welcome to SGL