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Somerset newbie


trev

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Hi all.

Well thanks to some great advice from Steve(FLO), I am now the proud owner of a Skywatcher Explorer 200 on HEQ-5 mount. Read through the manual quickly, pointed it at the moon but that is all so far.

Thought I would say hello and look forward to joining in the conversation a bit now I have my scope....

Trev

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Hi Trev,

Welcome. I think you'll enjoy yourself here. Here's to clear nights with the new scope too.

:?The moon is probably all you'll get a decent look at at the minute. The sky is almost blue here!

Looking forward to your posts on this scope

Ant

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Thanks guys.

The mount does feel really solid and the motors...well I just cant hear them. Really thrilled but the sky didnt seem great tonight. I also didnt really know where to look. I just needed to get out and have a look. Been thinking about a scope for months. Originally I was thinking about the revelation 8. Work got in the way for a bit and I didnt have chance to actually decide on it. When I finally decided to go for it, they had disappeared. But all is well that ends well. I am really pleased with the explorer. Have real confidence in its quality. I just have to sit down and read through the manual properly. Then I shall read up on finding my way round the night sky a bit. I had thought about a goto type scope before but I like the idea of taking the time to learn the sky. Probably change my mind when it turns out to be difficult to do. But well, maybe by then I will have the pennies to upgrade to the Skyscan ...

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Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I was actually on the verge of buying my scope from Steve who gave me great advice judging by all your comments. But just as I was set to buy it new, the exact setup came up for offer on ebay. I was a little cautious about buying a scope second hand but the seller seemed quite genuine and sent me loads and loads of pictures. Seems his teenage son had bought it but never got in to astronomy. Must say, it is in perfect condition and it saved me a couple of hundred. Hopefully I will purchase some stuff from Steve in future to repay his great advice. Was tempted to buy Starry Nights. Has anyone used the Linux software, KStars? Wondering how they compared...

Anyway, hope I havent clouded over the viewing for you all for the next two weeks. Have lots of reading to do to get my feel for the night sky. One reason I did go for this scope was for imaging but I am in no hurry to start that side of it. Want to get to grips with the basics and enjoy some views for a while.

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I was actually on the verge of buying my scope from Steve who gave me great advice judging by all your comments. But just as I was set to buy it new, the exact setup came up for offer on ebay.

I'll catch you second time around :)

:)

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Hi jahmanson. I live in Wells. What is the scene like in Somerset? Do you go to many events, etc? I had seen a lecture advertised a few months back in Bristol but it sounded very technical for a beginner.

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Hi Trev,

Well I'm not a club member so I can't really say but Bristol AC is a pretty active club and quite friendly by all accounts. I'm more of a "backyard sky-tourist" really - grabbing some time under the stars as and when I can. If you have any questions be sure to fire them at this group - you'll be amazed at how knowledgable the folk are here and how quickly you get a response. I've also found that there is no such thing as a dumb question here so there's no need to be daunted.

Cheers,

John.

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