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Another lurker signing in!


EyeofNewt

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Well hi all. I have to confess I've been lurking for a while and only just thought about registering (off work recovering from a migraine...)

I have my parents (in particular my Mum) to thank for getting me into astronomy when I was a nipper - we lived in a small village in South Wales with only 2 or 3 street lights so we could see the milky way quite easily on clear nights. The installation of more of the infernal lp devices followed to a move to Southampton (for uni) then following that having to go to work to pay off student debts (hiss boo) kind of put paid to serious astronomy!

Fast forwarding any more boring bits(!) I'm now living in the channel islands and SWMBO is also interested in astronomy. (I really have an awesome wife - she encourages me with many of my hobbies...)

So I have a skywatcher 200PDS newtonian on an HEQ5 mount - bit scary for a first scope and I have to confess that it hasn't been out of the garden yet - although I do have a (potentially) very nice dark site scoped out. A red dot finder was an essential add-on I have to admit as looking through the finder scope for the first time was like - which star is which!

Polar align was not easy to get my head around (that @#£$%& manual is useless) - and as for collimation *shudder*, but AstroBaby's awesome guides have (I think) kept me on the straight & narrow!

So it actually got taken out of the house last week (first time in a year - been very busy :) ) and we got a look at Jupiter with three of her moons visible :) - only EP we have so far is a 26mm one so more wallet pain to come...

I now think I've got a handle on controlling the scope with CdC and EQMOD so if we have some cloudless nights I'm anticipating some severe sleep deprivation to come!

Oh, and looking forwards to doing some imaging if the bits I've ordered ever arrive (what, me be impatient? ;))

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Hi and welcome to the forum.

Astrophotography is proving to be very seductive given the number of new people arriving and declaring their interest in it. If you can, try and get hold of a copy of Steve Richards' "Making Every Photon Count" (FLO £19.95). This is not a sale pitch but my suggestion for you to get up and running on what you need, why you need it and how to use the right kit to get the images you want. It is very easy to get stuck in and buy plenty of toys which is where this book will help you to look ahead to see what you're getting yourself into and to to make the right purchases from the start. I am being Mr. boring but I don't want your first image being that black hole in your wallet. :):D

Clear skies and glad you could come come aboard!

James

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Thanks for the recommendation! It's on my "to buy" list from Flo - but I have to wait for my other orders to arrive first (orders from the boss!). I'm looking at doing widefield imaging first - Canon 5DII and 24-70 f2.8 or 70-200 f2.8 should cope with that nicely (I hope) - especially as the lens hoods should mean I don't need dew-shields!

And the "black hole" image is usually when I forget to take the lens cap off *cough*

Cheers!

Andy

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Astrophotography is proving to be very seductive given the number of new people arriving and declaring their interest in it. If you can, try and get hold of a copy of Steve Richards' "Making Every Photon Count" (FLO £19.95). This is not a sale pitch but my suggestion for you to get up and running on what you need, why you need it and how to use the right kit to get the images you want. It is very easy to get stuck in and buy plenty of toys which is where this book will help you to look ahead to see what you're getting yourself into and to to make the right purchases from the start. I am being Mr. boring but I don't want your first image being that black hole in your wallet. :):D

Clear skies and glad you could come come aboard!

James

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Thanks again for the warm welcome all! Unfortunately the cloud "gods" are offended by something at present - I think another chicken needs to be sacrificed(!). So despite our wonderful states turning off the street lights at 00:00 (yay for reduced lp!) the skies have remained at 10/10 cloud cover during the nights :)

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