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Beginner, confused and star struck


jaydee

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Hi All

I've been watching the stars for an early age. Remembering sitting on holiday in the Isle of Man looking up to the stars and my dad picking out the plough, seven sisters, orions belt. Since that time i've often been seen looking up to the stars for the comfort of knowing they are still there. I've been wanting to get a little closer to them for a long time, and this christmas my husband surprised me with a skywatcher explorer 130p 130mm Parabolic Newtonian Reflector. Setting it up was quite easy although i havent set up the angles I can view the stars I choose to view.

Now i'm wanting to know more. I've got a 10mm and 25mm eyepieces and a 2x barlow, but not used them properly as yet.

So here I am, a woman on a mission. I've joined this forum to get to know more and possibly join an astronomy group close to home.

Look forward to speaking to you all over the coming years.

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Hello Jaydee and welcome to SGL,

Download 'Stellarium' its free and very useful.

You've got a nice starter scope and I'm sure you'll get alot of enjoyment from it!!

The 25mm will give you a wider field of view and the 10mm will magnify things more (I'm not an expert as I only use binos) I think the barlow doubles the magnifying power of your eyepieces (don't quote me on that!!).

Regards and here's hoping for clear nights.

PS. You can join some groups from this site!!

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Hi Jaydee and welcome to SGL :D

I assume you have an equatorial mount. If you have a compass then point the mount north (It's the mount you are aligning) and set the altitude scale to your latitude - you'll be surprised how much difference that makes to tracking.

To refine, locate the pole star using the Plough and/or Casiopiea and fine adjust the altitude and azimuth using the bolts till you can see the pole star in the center of the eyepiece and finder. Then it'll track as the stars rotate :evil1:

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Hi Jaydee and welcome to the forum.

The last time I heard a woman say she was on a mission, I had to lie low for a while with my hard hat on! :D:D I must admit that with so many people joining the forum since the Stargazing Live program, its pleasing to note, how many of them are now women. This of course is a good thing because you know what its like when too many blokes start gathering in one spot (yawn) so it's great if other perspectives can be introduced....now that's a good mission!:evil1:

Please ask away any questions. I very much doubt that you can find a daft question that I haven't already asked (...and still do).

Clear skies

James

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Welcome. :D I think once you've figured out how to get the thing set up (all I did to get going was to point it north using the compass on my phone, set the latitude and that was it) you need to know what to observe. A popular recommendation is the book "Turn Left At Orion" (but make sure you get the new version). This will give you a hundred things that you'll be able to see. After that, well, the sky's your oyster, or something. :evil1:

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I see you say NE England, if Newcastle then you are at 55deg North. That is the angle you set the mount at. Guess Middlesborough is about 54.

Probably a good idea to have it about right as it means the whole lots moves correctly and it is gaining familarity with what you will have to do for accurate polar alignment. Every little helps.

The 10mm eyepiece and the barlow are usually not great, if you put them together and put them in the scope then even less great. So if you do and see not a great deal don't panic.

Go find Astro-Baby's site and get her polar alignment guide and her collimation guide.

For clubs look in the member societies of fedastro.org.uk.

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