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Hello from Cornwall, UK


Peter B

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I started looking at the night sky over 50 years ago with a little 3" refractor but work and constant moving around the world with the RAF kind of got in the way and the telescope fell by the wayside.  My enthusiasm for the night sky never diminished though.  I never missed an episode of BBC TV's The Sky At Night, and more recently, in the last 10 years or so, I've followed Brian Cox's many excellent programmes on space and the solar system.

 

Walking past a local camera and telescope shop the other day I saw a Sky Watcher Newtonian reflector in the window and was pleasantly surprised at its price.  So when I got home I started to do some Internet searching to see what was available these days in the way of astronomical telescopes.  My word how things have changes since my 3" refractor!  My research boiled down to a couple of 'scopes for a 'born again' like me from either Celestron or Sky Watcher.  I eventually bought back into the hobby with a Sky Watcher Explorer 130mm Newtonian reflector with the AZ GTi Wi Fi mount.   I originally downloaded the SynScan app from Google Play Store but it wouldn't run on either my Android 11 phone or my tablet.  So I downloaded it directly from the Sky Watcher web site instead and it ran OK, so I guess the Google Play Store one is out of date.

 

I have hundreds of questions right off the bat, so I'm looking forward now to joining my local astronomy society to watch, listen and learn about all the kit and technology which has changed in the last 50 years and to get back into looking at the night sky again and hopefully learning how to attach my Sony A700 DSLR to the Sky Watcher to do some imaging.

 

It's good to be back!

 

 

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Hi Peter and welcome to the yard.

i am pretty much a novice myself and have found this forum to be extremely helpful and informative. The folk on here are knowledgeable and generous with their advice. I have found this an extremely useful place and I hope you do also.

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Thanks Martin, of all the forums I looked at I decided on this one for all the reasons you've highlighted.   I don't know about your night sky up in Cumbria, but down here in Cornwall it's been 10/10 cloud cover for days!

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Hello. Welcome to the Backyard.

 

bUxsxRGl.jpg

 

I've got a 130M somewhere. I think it's in the shed and home to a family of spiders. It's not a bad entry level scope at all though.

 

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One trick to improve the rather basic rack and pinion focuser is to thread a Baader Helical focuser into the focuser drawtube T-thread.

 

mxs3joil.png

 

You can see one threaded into my GSO 150mm Newt' above. You'll lose a little focuser in-travel but the ability to fine focus is an advantage.

Edited by Nightspore
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Hello Peter and welcome to the forum. Questions are welcome and I’m sure the good people on here will have the answers.

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3 hours ago, Peter B said:

Thanks Martin, of all the forums I looked at I decided on this one for all the reasons you've highlighted.   I don't know about your night sky up in Cumbria, but down here in Cornwall it's been 10/10 cloud cover for days!

The sky up here has been rubbish as well. High winds have also meant fast moving clouds high up resulting in any clear spells being short lived. It hasn’t been worth setting my scope up, but I have taken to popping out occasionally (in the short lived clear spells) and looking up and trying to identify different features, as I am still finding my way about.

I notice that you have mentioned being interested in taking some images at some point. Although I purely observe, there is a strong contingent of photographers here, so I am sure that any questions you have in that area will get quick responses.

You live in a great part of the country and when the clouds move on you must have some great dark sky areas.

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Thanks for a nice warm welcome to the forum.  I look forward to getting back to the night sky after a very long time away from it.  I live in a fishing village where light pollution is thankfully very light  so I can't wait to get out there when the weather clears to see how my Skywatcher 130P performs.  Best wishes everyone and clear skies!

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