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And my journey into astronomy starts at last!


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Hi, been so busy with life in general I really havent had the time to get started like I wanted to despite having my telescope for nearly tgwo blumming years :D:hello2:

I enrolled on a basic astronomy course on Friday at my local observatory in Nottingham and for 40 quid is a bargain with 8 two hour sessions thrown in for that price :)

Was thinking of doing a diary on here to see how it progresses if there is any interest, if not I wont bother :(

The telescope there looks awesome compared to my farty thing you need ladders to look in the eye piece :(

So Friday night we start with a lecture on the planets in our solar syatem and providing the weather is nice we are gonna look at Jupter to start off with I canny wait!!!! :)

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Hi i would definatly be intrested in following your journey as im very new to astronomy and finding it difficult to find stuff at the moment. Saying that i did view M43 the other morning and it was awsome ?

Good luck :D

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That sounds cool

I would be intrested in reading how u get on as i have just started and i would like to compare my results with yours. it would be a nice yard stick as i progress

enjoy your course

Teddy

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Hi and welcome to SGL.

I live in Nottingham as well. What observatory is it. Is it the one near Kirkby in Ashfield.

Hi, it is at Sutton in Ashfield mate, they have normal scopes to as well as the big one. If you wantedf to do the course im sure they would let you in it doesnt officially start till friday night.

Edit, just realised that you are no beginer lol, they are open to members though and have open nights to so you can have a look around. For the more experienced folk and members who have been there for over 12 months they have a course on there big scope and you can have a door swipe card to allow access at all hours. I know its a long long way off yet, but it is good there are so many knowledgable people in one place cant wait to get started now :D

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i definatly found going to a club has started to help me and even got to have a go on the scope pictured below :D

The one im going to is bigger then that :hello2: Apparently they are told that with their scope they can around half way into the universe of what we know is there already which I would say is pretty far :)

Cant wait now, really annoying though the only unclear night so far since last wednesday was friday :)

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Hello again, the course started in full flow tonight and as usual the clear nights this week have gone to **** because it was horrible all night in Nottingham so no viewing through the scope again :(

The course started with a presentation of nearly 100 slides, we started with the solar system and its 8 planets that orbit the sun. Then the lecturer went onto nebula and stars the birth of death of and galaxies. And I am probably more lost then before :D It was amazing just how much this guy knew and very rarely had to go to his notes to give us info. Some lovely images of the planets from space craft that has landed on them over the years and lots about nebula. I never knew that the gas and density stuff were forming stars so I cant wait to get looking at those in the future. I have always known the "known" universe was massive but tonight has really put into perspective just how big it is, and how insignificant we are as a race/planet etc. It is mind boggling that the stars have been studied for thousands of years and yet we still know very little of what else could be out there :) And galaxy maps are just mental, as are the blank voids or whatever they're called when there is not one galaxy around for a million/billion:confused: light years :hello2: mental stuff!!! Anyway they didnt say what next weeks lesson is but I have forgot to get a lesson planner for the second week running so it is my own fault ;)

I cant wait to get started and already been saying I need to save a few hundred quid now for a proper scope and goto etc :) I have received my celestrol goggles today, my first ever pair of binos 10x50 and were on offer at amazon for 20 quid so I had to have just in case it was a clear night but they will keep.

I have a list as long as my arm already of things I wanna see including the heart nebula the horse one and the cluster nebula in orion M43 I think? as well as Jupiter and its moons moving which im assured if you watch long enough you can see them move what an experience from this little old earth eh?

Anyway sorry for the essay just really feeling passionate about it all again and im remembering why I got an astronomy book every x mas as a kid once again :) I'll update again next week and hopefully have more positive news on the actual viewing side of the course.

Ollie.

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