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Hello folks

splatt

By splatt
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splatt

splatt

Posted
Posted

Hi

My name is Ally, I live in North Yorkshire (UK). 26 years old, student waster.

Im thinking of getting back into stargazing again after an absence of about 15 years. I joined a local astronomy group and went to a few star parties. I really enjoyed it but sadly getting down to the meetings became difficult and I stopped going. I could never afford a telescope either as they were so expensive back then (early 90s).

However now I have a little money to play with and I really could use a hobby.

Ive been looking around online and seeing whats available (mostly eBay). Ive read about the scopes to avoid (makes such a Seben) and kind of have an idea of what to go for but Im open to suggestion.

I really want to start taking astrophotos as I do a lot of photography work. I have a Nikon D70 and all the image processing software (CS3). I know for decent results Im looking at big money but I'd be happy just with a few photos!!

Well thats enough babbling. Have a good one folks

Forgot to mention - I have the advantage of living in the middle of nowhere so light pollution is virtually non existant. 5 mins from my house is perfect darkness :icon_eek:

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MikeP

MikeP

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Welcome Ally. Have a good trawl through the forum - there's loads of advice on what to buy.

If you are still in doubt, just start a thread giving a rough budget and indicating where your interests lie.

Mike

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F15Rules

F15Rules

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Hi Ally, welcome back to a great hobby.

Hope you get sorted with a scope soon. As others have said, if you give an idea of what you can spend, you will find lots of helpful advice is forthcoming - peeps seem to like helping others to spend money:p

best wishes

Dave

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Ally,

A warm welcome to SGL, where abouts in N Yorks are you? I`m in a village a few miles outside of the City of York and the light pollution is horrible, everyone seems to love floodlights nowadays, enjoy the forum.

John.

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splatt

splatt

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thanks for the welcomes folks, seems like a very friendly community here!!

kev and glowjet: Im from just north of Whitby, fairly remote and fantastic light conditions. Its a lot better now they have installed the new streetlights which seem to shine mostly down instead of an all round glow.

Ive been doing some looking around at some cheap scopes and Skywatcher and Celestron seem to be cropping up a lot (along with the odd Williams Optics...I think).

The Nexstar scopes look very nice but what are peoples opinions on the "GoTo" systems?

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kev

kev

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Hey Splatt,

Whitby Astro society meet is tuesday coming (8th).

As for the light pollution freindly lights, yes, SBC have just installed them in my road as a replacement for the life expired sodium standard ones, they are a distinct improvement.

Kev

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splatt

splatt

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Ah I didnt realise WAG was still on the go.

Is Mark still in charge of it?

Its difficult to make it down to meetings as Ive got Uni, a job and I dont drive. Might head down over the summer when Ive got more time.

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Neil27

Neil27

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Hi Ally,

Welcome to SGL.

The Nexstar scopes look very nice but what are peoples opinions on the "GoTo" systems?

These are very good scopes my friend has a 4 or 5 inch nexstar and the goto works a treat.

I can certainly recommend them and they seem a tad strurdier than the Meade ETX range IMHO of course...:icon_eek:

Have a look at First Light Optics at the top of page as Steve has offers on these scopes now and again, and if no offer is on he is willing to offers small discounts for members I believe.

BTW I'm jealous of your skies, do you offer B&B......:hello2:??

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Hi there. I like N Yorks; it's where my parents came from. I miss the accent! And I kind of miss Rosedale Chimney Bank since I'm supposed to be a cyclist... To do astrophotography things get complicated when the focal length gets long. Your tracking of the sky has to be better and better the longer the focal length. So, to start with, why not keep it down to camera lens proportions, get a fair to middling mount or an astrotrack, forget the complexities of autoguiding and take some long exposures with your DSLR. Take a lot, stack them and start to get involved in the processing skills needed to make the mosst of them.

Olly

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splatt

splatt

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By processing skills Im assuming you mean getting to grips with photardshop?

I have tried taking some long exposure shots but sadly the lens I have is..well.....Rubbish. The aperture doesnt go anywhere near low enough for night time work so have just ended up with pictures of sheer black or a couple of stars at best.

Sadly that is where issues start to come into play. I can't afford to get both a new lens (with a decent focal length) and a scope so it might have to be one or the other.

Or I just wait 30 years or so and hope I can afford something then

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