Greetings,
another noob here, from Healesville Vic.
I've been doing a little bit of reading, but so far even some of the beginners section seems over my head!
I've always had a reasonably keen interest in viewng the night sky with the naked eye with memorable highlights being a sighting of Halley's comet as a young teen in '86 and I'm sure I remember seeing Skylab as a little tacker, but that could be a vivid imagination?
I have an older bro who used to be a mad keen amateur astronomer in Castlemaine, but I never did get around to spending much time using his gear or learning anything from him.
My interest has been sparked again by my 12 year old daughter and also finally having reasonable views of the stars for the last couple of years after 20 years in suburbia.
As is probably typical with some of us noobs, I'm keen to rush out and buy something in time for Christmas. I've been scouring the classifieds and e-bay/gumtree and also considering new options. I don't have a huge budget, but it sounds like a new 8inch dob from Bintel (or maybe Ozscopes?) would do me nicely. Or possibly even something a little bigger via the classifieds. I'm trying not to be too silly about it so have forced myself, over the last couple of weeks, to do a little bit of reading first!
I'm hoping to get down to the Mt Burnett Observatory for their last public viewing night for the year. I missed their last young observers night yesterday for my daughter, but I'll probably drag her along on the 30th.
Anyway, bit of a long post for my first. Basically just wanted to say Hi.
Regards
Neil