Johnnyaardvark Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Thought it was about time I introduced myself. Have been interested in Astronomy for many years and have a degree in Applied Physics with Astronomy from back in the mid 90's.. scary how time flies. Not owned a telescope since I was a kid but I have never stopped looking up. My current interests/aspirations are mostly astrophotography related but also want to observe visually quite a bit too. I will shortly be treating myself to some long awaited kit including a tripod with ability to track and a telescope... Oh what to buy... the rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper! Can't wait to get out observing but I am trying to resist the temptation to rush in until a learn a little more as to what will suit my needs best. Being Derby based I hope to make it to one of your meets at Belper to find out more. So much to learn Best wishes and here's hoping for clear skies. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi Steve and a warm welcome to EMS Hope you enjoy our forum. I usually invite newcomers to ask any questions they want to in the relevant beginner sections. With your qualifications however, I'll invite you to answer any questions you want in any section lol Seriously though - great to have you on board and please do come to our Stargazing Live event at Wymeswold next Sat night 18th Jan - you'll get to see and try plenty of gear which may help you choose. If you can't make that one then keep an eye on the "EMS Meets" section in "Info and Announcements" for the next get together at Belper. Would be good to meet you and get you acquainted with the club and it's members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyaardvark Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Thank you for the warm welcome Kim. I'm sure I'll be asking far more questions than I'll answer Here and SGL look to be great sources of advice. Without doubt there's some super knowledge and experience . I may well make it to Wymeswold for your Star Gazing Live event. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Welcome to the forum. Hope to see you at the stargazing love event. If it's clear I'll be the guy with the big white telescope on an equatorial mount standing on a little stool to get to the eyepiece! Great to have you on board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hello and welcome to EMS, if you can make the 18th, I'm the guy next to Felix with the same big white scope on a table with a stool for anybody who is shorter than me, lol Hope you enjoy the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi Steve, a warm welcome to EMS. There is some good kit out there for the amateur astronomer nowday's, so spending your money will be dead easy. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, you will get good advice. Look forward to meeting you, and in the meantime, enjoy the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Welcome to EMS Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tibbz2 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi and welcome to EMS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest devil74 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Welcome to Ems Steve..a great place to be is this for amateur astronomy. Fire away with questions and in the meantime hope you enjoy the forum..hope to see you at Wymeswold next weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T A WOW Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi Steve. Welcome to EMS. If you make it to the WW event I'll be the guy standing next to the artillery cannons. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuckstar Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi, welcome aboard. Hope to see you at ww. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Bino-viewer Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi Steve Welcome to EMS. I'm Derby based, and really need to get myself to Belper too.... Maybe see you up there some time...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyaardvark Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Thank you again to everyone for the super welcome. Great to know that there is a good local astronomical community. Look forward to getting to know you better and meeting some of you at your events either at Wymeswold and Belper. I will keep an eye on the weather for next weekend at Wymeswold but may have already made some prior arrangements to go with a friend to the event run by Alvaston Park Friends, Derby and District Astronomical Society et al. I imagine if the weather were to be good the seeing may be a little better at Wymeswold however! Best regards Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest foundaplanet Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hello Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fondofchips Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi Steve & welcome to EMS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmic dave Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Welcome to ems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perkil8r Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Welcome along to EMS Sorry it's a bit late on the welcome front, I've been otherwise engaged Steve, but we have spoken a few times in the chat room Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cazz Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Hi Steve, welcome to EMS. :-) I too am lagging behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest speed Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Welcome to the forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyaardvark Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 Thank you again for the Welcome (even the late comers ) and nice to meet a few of last evening at Wymeswold. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Good to meet you last night Steve and hope you can get along to an observing session with us sometime soon (once the weather clears up a bit). Did the evening give you any better ideas about which scope/mount to go for? Hope it was helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyaardvark Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 Nice to meet you too Kim, It was very helpful evening - especially in terms of size and bulk of different mounts and scopes. I also had the chance to have a chat about lenses (briefly) field flatteners, extenders/barlows - all very useful. In terms of scopes I am a little more decided but still hope to have a a chance to see some kit in action so look forward greatly to meeting up with people for an observing session... probably before I dive in. I may well post some requests for some bits of kit to be available to look at and keep my fingers crossed. Did you get any observing in last night in the end? Super weather this morning only if that break had come last night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T A WOW Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 I set up my 10" newt for about 45 min or so at the end of the night. Had quite a que of people to get a Look at Jupiter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Steve - I only just got the dob out of the boot about ten mins ago. It's a bit of a beast weight wise and I pulled my back with it on that slope last night into the scout hut. So I haven't used it at all since the event. Glad the evening was useful for you - if you want to see any particular scope in action on a clear night in the week - just pm me to arrange and you'd be welcome to drop round. I'll set it up on my drive - I've pretty much got one of each type except astrographs. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyaardvark Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 Ouch re: your back! Thanks for the offer Kim. The 200P would be good to see with various lens options but even better would be to look at a PDS as if was going down the reflector route that's the one I would be looking at for the dual speed focuser and shortened tube length. Not sure my other half is keen on the size of that setup though! I most likely will not trouble you with setting up gear on your driveway yet I'll wait till you have a meet! Mostly [i think] I am interested in the Evostar 80ED DS-Pro [Outfit] for the nice optics, portability and wider field astrophotography stuff BUT I want to know what it can do in terms of visual work for wider field views e.g. star clusters but also with smaller fl eyepieces and a good barlow lens. I am hoping to meet up with Mike and more of your members and that I may be able to have a bit of a play sometime I have been using Stellarium to give me myself a feel for fields of view and magnifications I could expect on different objects with different scopes/eyepiece/barlow combinations but I am sure you can't beat having a look for real. I don't know what the combination of my eyes, wearing glasses, range of focus on these would truly be capable of in real terms. Of course I wouldn't expect to see Jupiter/Saturn particularly big in the field of view with ED's shorter focal length but I know I would miss not being able to have a look these sort of objects with my own eye's occasionally as they have always blown me away whenever I have seen them so always like sharing that experience with friends/family I guess I wonder what I could do with this setup until I expanded my collection I really should move this kind of post to the Beginner Area or the Equipment Section! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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