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Yet another newbie!


Guest Dark_Matters

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Guest Dark_Matters

Good Morning all,

My name's Anthony, I'm 36 and live and work in Nottingham. Although I've always had a fascination with what's out there, I've never done anything about taking this up for a hobby until now. I've browsed a few sites in the last week or two and was overwhelmed with the amount of choice there is when it comes to choosing my first scope! I'm thinking of a budget of about £300 to start me off. I'm not too concerned about motors or mounts just yet, just a real good quality scope I can use to teach me the sky. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, I'm 6' 4", so a tall mounted scope would be beneficial for my lower back!

I noticed you have an intro night on the 28th, which I won't be able to attend unfortunately. Is this something you might run again in the near future?

Ant.

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Hi Ant welcome to EMS I'm glad you have signed up and I'm sure you will get a very warm welcome.

Below is what I consider good beginners scopes, what worries me is you are very tall and you will find that you will be spending most of your time kneeling on the floor as the 8" scopes are not that tall.

You could always design a stand for the dob to sit on, this could bring the eyepiece height up to 6 foot at zenith which would be perfect.

The one below is a 8" dobsonian, which is the ideal scope to begin with, there's no motors so tracking is down to you as is finding the object you want to look at. So remember to budget for a star atlas as well.


/>http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html

A little out of your budget is the this one. This has the EQ5 mount and tracks the object. But once again finding it is down to you.


/>http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-200p-eq5.html

Also consider a few other items such as an atlas, a red torch, maybe a few more eyepieces, and of course a collimator.

There's plenty to think about and plenty of questions to ask.

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Hi Ant, a warm welcome to EMS.

The 200P Dob is without doubt the best bang for your buck, although its a "push to" scope it does deliver in the optics department.

Don't let your height spoil your enjoyment, as Doc suggests raise the scope to a level that's comfortable for you, and you could also use a height adjustable chair so you are sitting. This is the one I have, but it was a bit cheaper when I bought it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leifheit-Ironing-Stool-in-White/dp/B0000DH7KA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327389976&sr=8-2

One of our members, Daz type R, uses a coffee table he picked up for song from Ikea. This with a bit of modification to make the scope secure , would help.

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welcome Ant, i`m sure there will be a beginers introduction meet again. shame you can`t make the 28th this time

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Hi Ant.

Welcome to EMS, you have come to the right place as the chaps on here are very knowledgable and will offer some great advice.

As Baz says, I have the 200P and place mine on a small white coffee table that I got from Ikea for £4.99 - (bargin) and it raises the hight of the scope by about a foot and a half.

On another note, going out on a ledge, your surname would not be Manu by any chance, used to train at ITEC many, many, many moons ago?

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Another vote for the 200p from me. I am a newbie and this is the scope I have gone for. It is fantastic. I also recommend the Celestron Skymaster 15x70 binoculars too. A little heavy after a while but great views for scanning the night sky.

I also work in Notts at present at QMC.

Welcome to EMS :)

Felix

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Hi Anthony and welcome to EMS :)

As the guys mention above - you can't go wrong with a 200P - either on a dobsonian or an equatorial mount. One of the best starter scopes around. You'll need a collimator to go with any newtonian, and you might want a Telrad finder and/or a right angled finder for a little extra comfort. So build a little extra budget in for those esseantial extras. I do most of my stargazing sitting on an adjustable stool - saves a lot of back bending.

Hope you make it down to a dark site meeting sometime - they happen quite regularly when the skys are clear - keep an eye on the announcements threads cos they can come up very suddenly depending on weather. Enjoy :)

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Guest Dark_Matters

Hi Ant.

Welcome to EMS, you have come to the right place as the chaps on here are very knowledgable and will offer some great advice.

As Baz says, I have the 200P and place mine on a small white coffee table that I got from Ikea for £4.99 - (bargin) and it raises the hight of the scope by about a foot and a half.

On another note, going out on a ledge, your surname would not be Manu by any chance, used to train at ITEC many, many, many moons ago?

Hi Daz, thanks for the tip for the coffee table, I will bear that in mind once I get my scope.

And sorry, no, my surname's not Manu, it's Wheldon.

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Guest Dark_Matters

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome. I can see that the weapon of choice might have to be the dobsonian 200p then. Well once my overtime comes through that is!

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