Stargazing Live - The aftermath

[lukebl]

Am I the only one here with a nagging feeling there are going to be a lot of hasty and unsuitable telescope purchases over the next few weeks, and a lot of disappointed people? I suspect Ebay will be busy with discarded purchases in a few months, once the enthusiasm wanes.

Let's hope people have the sense to come to this forum first for advice, before they part with their cash (and extra VAT).

[barkis]

I think you could be right there Luke.

I don't know if it was given a mention over the three episodes, that should any novice be considering buying a scope, they ought to seek good advice first, which is why I was hoping for an influx of newbies to SGL as a result of the programme. I believe it will have stirred lots of people to finally take their first steps , after procrastinating for years.

Ron.

[Horus]

I went into WH Smiths for an Astronomy magazine and they had completly sold, the girl said she couldn't understand why because they always ended up sending stuff back lol

[russ]

Be interesting to see how much interest those programs have drummed up. People here at work have taken a brief interest but it's only asking a couple of questions. And the bits they enjoyed were not practical stargazing but the funny bits with Dara and JR. And the slots out on Hawaii with the nice looking presenter.

The actual observing bits with Mark and his scope they thought pretty lame. And the camera in the garden etc was considered unnecessary. A slick looking programme with some ultra low budget open university bits thrown in. Unfortunately they are not seeing it the way we do. No real surprise, those programmes have still done nothing for my image, i'm still the strange little nutter that goes out in the garden in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. But that's just my work, all they care about is the pub, reality TV and football.

I really enjoyed programme no 3, everything seemed to be working a lot better.

[GazOC]

, those programmes have still done nothing for my image, i'm still the strange little nutter that goes out in the garden in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.

LOL!!

[russ]

LOL!!

Hopefully others will have more luck.......geek to cool in 3 days

[milkyjoe]

It was a good show I thought, shame it's taken so long to get something decent on telly, finally! lol

[Hewhoisalan]

Hey folks! I've been looking for people like you for several weeks now. (not through a telescope though). Yes i watched the live show over the last few days and again im hooked on looking up. My problem is, i need to buy a telescope. <-- you guessed it.

Now i've been all over ebay and looking on several sites but the telescope language is hard for someone who knows nothing to understand. How on earth do you start out with this? Every telescope comes with a large and detailed picture of the moon. Now im sure not all these products are as good as they claim. What im interested in is seeing planets and i need help to make sure i dont end up wasting money. I've just found a Seben Big Boss 1400-150 Reflector Telescope for £145.99. Can anyone advise me on whether this is a good product, will it let me see planets with rings and is this a good price? Im completely new to this and i really need some help.

Oh and to answer the above question, everyone i know is talking about the tv show and dodgy telescope salesman are not going to believe their luck over the next few weeks!

[lukebl]

..... I've just found a Seben Big Boss 1400-150 Reflector Telescope for £145.99. Can anyone advise me on whether this is a good product, will it let me see planets with rings and is this a good price? Im completely new to this and i really need some help.

Oh and to answer the above question, everyone i know is talking about the tv show and dodgy telescope salesman are not going to believe their luck over the next few weeks!

I'd suggest that you steer clear of Seben telescopes, as I've heard they are really poor. Others here may be able to advise.

Sky-Watcher have a good reputation, and have a huge range. I have three of them myself, and they're great value.

[keithatrochdale]

Hi Hewhoisalan

I have one and would say look elsewhere.

Visit you local club before you part with any money.

[Hewhoisalan]

Thanks guys! Well i live about 15mins away from an observatory which has a club so im going to pop in and have a word. Theres so much to take in and most of what im reading makes no sense to me. Its not the easiest thing to get into as a beginner. Im on the sky watcher website at the moment so hopefully i can learn a thing or two before i waste any money.

[Nillchill]

Hewhoisalan, Before parting with your cash, try and have a word with some of the members of the club to let you have a look through some of their kit. It will give you a better idea of the imagery to expect and will allow you to gauge how much you will need to spend to meet your requirements.

[Ant]

I'm still the strange little nutter that goes out in the garden in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.

Worked there a while then have you mate - to get them to know you THAT well?

My boss still thinks that there is something wrong with me - so your not alone!

I've still to watch these programs - they are in the planner and I'll catch up at the weekend.

Ant

[haitch]

Well, I'll see if we get an influx of newbies tonight at Walsall Astro Society.

Could we have a banner on the front of SGL saying "DON'T BUY A SEBEN!"

[sengoksa]

Why the hell didnt they have a segment on buying a first scope

they def missed a trick there, I suppose jonathon ross was in there

to bring in a wider audience . Very suprised sir patrick wasnt involved

in any way and why didnt they scheldule the show for some moon

viewing that would of been a big viewer puller.....I still enyoyed it

though it could of been so much better. well my thoughts anyway.

[Earl]

The section on Imaging I personally think was not doing anyone any favours.

There will be plenty of disapointed people if they thinks its as easy as it was made out to be.

[Earl]

Why the hell didnt they have a segment on buying a first scope

they def missed a trick there, I suppose jonathon ross was in there

to bring in a wider audience . Very suprised sir patrick wasnt involved

in any way and why didnt they scheldule the show for some moon

viewing that would of been a big viewer puller.....I still enyoyed it

though it could of been so better though.. well my thoughts anyway.

The Gadget show covered that quiet well, but there should of been a section on what is good to start with.

Or just put FLOs number on the screen

[Sparrow]

Sadly, the Gadget show's item on telescopes was severely lacking in any knowledge of the subject - did anyone notice how at the end of their item there was a scope there on an aLT Az mount - the wrong way round!!!.

As for Stargazing live - it was great to see the hobby receive some airtime but I really think they could have at least shown the different types of scope and what they are good at/not so good at, and what to expect when looking through them. The last epsisode seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time covering the space station and our British astronaught to be along with Dara O'brien's feature on orientation in space. I would have liked to see far more about actual star gazing.

[angusb1]

that's just my work, all they care about is the pub, reality TV and football.

I think that covers a large proportion of the general public's interests, a lot of the people at my work are interested in those things too

I thought #3 was the best of them. Some really interesting stuff from Brian and I enjoyed the solar section from Hawaii.

[Astro_Baby]

Yup, well heres hoping for some ebay bargains. I suspect a lot of people will be off buying all sorts of tat and a lot will be very disappointed.

But its an ill wind and all that and I shall be monitoring ebay more carefully over the next 12 months

It would be interesting to know if scope sales take a jump upward and even more interesting to see how many newbies are still here in say 18 months.

[Astro_Baby]

ps dont buy A Seben, they arent a bargain and most buyers end up disappointed with them.

[John]

Most of you are too young to remember the Halleys Comet mania - some real junk was sold then, by even the big names - the rumours are that Celestron and Meade relaxed their quality control to get the production numbers up.

In the months that followed the scope section of Exchange & Mart was packed with stuff !.

Still, hopefully a % of the newcomers will get bitten by the bug - SGL can help loads there as it's so much more accessible than a club or society

We had better prepare our "tactful expectation management" lines for those that can't resist clicking "Buy it Now" before asking for advice here

[lukebl]

......We had better prepare our "tactful expectation management" lines for those that can't resist clicking "Buy it Now" before asking for advice here

I think it would be a good idea to direct folk to the fantastic sketches which Carol Lakomiak (Talitha) does, to give an idea what to realistically expect at the eyepiece. And she lives in rural Wisconsin with almost no light pollution and a big scope! It doesn't detract from anything for me, as I know what to expect and what I'm looking at, but might make people realise that the eyepiece view isn't quite Hubble.

I recently showed a friend some webcam images I'd taken of Jupiter with my 250PDS, and then showed the view through the eyepiece with the same scope. He was distinctly underwelmed and disappointed!

I think you either have it, or you don't, with this lark!

[LukeSkywatcher]

I think most beginners expect to see wonderful amazing colours when they look through a scope. They are very disheartened when all they see is B&W or shades of grey on MOST objects.

The boxes that most scopes come in dont help. They have lovely big glossy coloured images of planets and nebulae. Much like books and magazines. So many people come into astronomy expecting too much.

[Macavity]

Perhaps they could even have demonstrated the (remarkable) capabilities of the electronic eyepiece... Minitron, Watec etc. Would seem ideal, for those who doubt the validity of anything, that is not presented on the "telescreen". <G> But it may be the nearest many of us will get to "text-book" images...

Glad my modest equipment is essentially complete. I did wonder if some things may become as scarce as 'flu vaccines in the (average?) UK winter...