Guest robbobsam Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Hiya Guys, I am as new as a newbie can get, I have been watching the repeat series of Professor Brian Cox's series on TV "The wonders of the Universe" and "The wonders of the solar system" and have been totally blown away. I was hooked, so I have now been online and downloaded the entire 5 series of the American series of "Universe" which is composed of another 50x 1 hour episodes of thilling documentaries and I have to say I just cannot get enough. I have joined this forum in the hope of meeting friendly helpful astomomers who can point me in the right direction as to how to start stargazing, I have been looking at scopes and watched a couple of YouTube videos giving advice on telescopes but to be honest, I haven't got a clue. I thought this looked a good buy >>>>>http://www.opticstar...?p=0_10_1_3_125 If any of you can advise me on the scope and on a good source of starter information as to how to start up star gazing I would be very grateful. Thanks. robbobsam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Hi Robert and a warm welcome to EMS The 127 Mak is a classic OTA and a super planetary scope - with a low maintenance overhead and long focal length it is very popular indeed. I may be after one myself in the fullness of time. A lot of folks upgrade to this after their first scope and there are many of them around as a "second scope". You can of course view everything with them but they are particularly good for imaging planets. To image dso's though they need to be mounted on an equatorial mount and the focal length reduced a bit. The price on that one is very reasonable for a new one - but you can make considerable saving (usually about a third off) if you look for one second hand in good condition under 2yrs old. Good one to start with though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Welcome Robert, You've certainly come to the right place if you want to meet some very friendly people and get lots of good advice. The scope that you are looking at is very nice, but I would advise that you don't rush in and buy just yet, until you have gained a little more knowledge to know what is the right scope for your needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Doctor Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Hi Robert and welcome to EMS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest telesto Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Hi Robert, welcome to EMS Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Hello and welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest robbobsam Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Thank you all for the very warm welcome, I will try and make the EMS1 meeting, I have a small bivvy tent that I use for my annual carp fishing holiday so I will get it out ready. I may have my new telescope by then so if I do buy one before hand I will keep it packed until the meet so some of your more experienced guys can show me how to use it. I wouldn't even know which end to look through. I am interested learning about the planets, stars and galaxies and with my passion for photography too I would like to learn how to take images of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cazz Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Hi Robert, welcome to EMS. We had a look at other peoples scopes before we bought our new one, the info we've picked up from the forum and talking to people is fantastic, I knew nothing and hadn't even looked through a scope until January. Now I feel I know more, and have had a few looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldfruit Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Hi Robert and welcome to the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hello and welcome to the forum. As it has been said above, while the scope you have picked is a good one, what scope you purchase depends on a number of factors. 1. How much have you got to spend? 2. What do you want to look at (will you prefer planets over nebula/galaxy's etc or will you want to see both? 3. Do you want a manual mount or a mount that finds and then tracks objects? 4. Do you want to get into astrophotography right from the start? When buying your first scope, having answers to the above questions can help you/us to advise on a decent first scope that will suit your needs and not leave you out of pocket with something you are not going to use. If you can, pop along to one of our meets, you are more than welcome to look through anybody's scope, but as you have just missed our last scheduled meet, the next one will proberbly be EMS1, so if you can't wait that long and you don't live too far away (can't tell whete you are as I am currently typing this on my IPhone) you are more than welcome to pop round. Good to have you on board, any questions fire away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hi Rob, welcome to EMS. I'm pretty new to this as well - I got a scope at the start of the 'summer' but have hardly had chance to use it. I went through about 2 months of working out which one to get, and found the EMS forum and members extremely helpful, welcoming and knowledgeable. The SGL forum is bigger but I think it is too big for a newbie - I preferred to keep it local! I am south Leicester myself, so the regular meets at Belper are likely to be a bit of a trek - I think I'll make a pilgrimage up there when the skies are clearer (and colder, no doubt), but it is too far for a regular trip. There is also a dark site at Sawley, near to the M1 A50 junction, that will be used more when the skies clear, so I expect this will be my regular haunt. Also note that there is a small group - Central Midlands Stargazers - Google it - that have a meeting point just down the road from you at Sibbertoft, so I'd touch base with them. I intend to hook up with them more once it is worth a trip out. I'm not qualified to comment on your potential choice of scope, but you mentioned photography. All the advice I got said get the best German Equitorial mount you can afford as you will probably be taking longish exposures while the mount tracks the object you are looking at, to counter the 'star trail' effect, and the quality of the mount will affect the quality of your images. (The GE mounts are the ones which are angled with counter-weight bars coming out). I expect this will muddy the water for you - my head was almost spinning while I made up my mind!!! And finally, if you enjoyed all the documentaries then keep an eye on the Leicester Astronomical Society section here - I update it with news on upcoming meetings. These are always interesting to attend. They are on a summer break at the moment though. (And finally finally, throw in a few more posts and when you get to 10 you get access to the Personal Messenger facility on the site). Cheers Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hi Robert and welcome to EMS, won't give any advice on scopes as I am very new to this also. Lots of folks who know what they are talking about here, so I will leave it to them Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hi Robert, a warm welcome to EMS. Personally I would hold off buying a scope until you have looked through a few, and find what would suit your budget, and what observing you would prefer to do. This is down to the fact that different types of scopes have pro's and con's that make them better for one type of viewing, ie. superb for planetary and lunar, but may struggle to pick out the fainter objects. I made that mistake, and my son now has my first scope! Iam only saying this so you don't fall into the trap that I did. You would be very welcome to pop along to our next observing session, and everyone would be happy to let you look through the scopes, and let you know how they perform. Feel free to ask questions, someone will be along to answer them. In the meantime, enjoy the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fluke Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hi Robert, Welcome to Amateur Astronomy and our friendly forum. I have the 127 Mak mentioned earlier. It's a fantastic starter scope, however, I'd defo come to a meet or 2 to see everyone elses kit before buying to see what suits you best. All the best, Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Strings Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hi and welcome from me too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Welcome along. I'm based in Leicester also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyboy1970 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hi and welcome. I love my little 127mak, you can view most objects through it but it really excels at planetary imaging. I am a member of Central midlands stargazers and would recommend you come along to a observing night, we usually have 4 or 5 scopes to look through. The group is only about 5 months old so everyone is fairly new to each other and you would be more than welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest robbobsam Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Hi and welcome. I love my little 127mak, you can view most objects through it but it really excels at planetary imaging. I am a member of Central midlands stargazers and would recommend you come along to a observing night, we usually have 4 or 5 scopes to look through. The group is only about 5 months old so everyone is fairly new to each other and you would be more than welcome. Thank you for that, its a very kind offer, have you any details of the club and how to join ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyboy1970 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Thank you for that, its a very kind offer, have you any details of the club and how to join ??? If you join the yahoo forum here you will receive emails when and where the observing evenings are on - http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/CentralMidlandsStargazers/ There is also a website - http://www.centralmidlandsstargazers.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweedledum Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Warm welcome to EMS. Flown out of HusBos a few times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest robbobsam Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 If you join the yahoo forum here you will receive emails when and where the observing evenings are on - http://uk.groups.yah...andsStargazers/ There is also a website - http://www.centralmi...stargazers.com/ Just joined Andy, thanks buddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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