A newby from the Redlands

[hikerbob (Bob)]

Hi to all.
I've been reading the valuable material on the forums since being told about the site by the guys at York Optical. It seemed appropriate to introduce myself.

I'm Bob and am located in the Redlands (South East of Brisbane).
I've got two low end telescopes - a Newtonian of just over 130mm internal tube diameter with a manual mount which I've had for some time but not really known how to use except for some moon gazing. I've now also got a Celestron NexSTar 80GTL with computerised mount which I've had more success with on those odd occasions when the wind has been quiet and the clouds few since I got the scope.

I've also got a Canon A640 and fittings to use it with the scopes 1 1/4" eyepieces.

No specific questions yet but I'm sure they will come.

Cheers
Bob

[edwardsdj (Doug)]

Welcome Bob

Great to see someone else from the Brisbane area

There are many people here willing to give you advice on how to use your equipment.

Looking forward to seeing some images from you in the future.

Have fun,
Doug

[acropolite (Phil)]

Welcome to IIS Bob, there are some very friendly IISers up your way, it would be well worth going to one of their regular get togethers.

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Welcome to IIS Bob. We will help you spend your money

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Welcome Bob. Make sure you come and join us up at Cambroon on the dark moon weekends. Keep an eye on the Star Party and Observing session forum, upcoming weekends will be posted there.

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Bob and to IIS! Great to have you onboard!

[citivolus (Ric)]

Hi Hikerbob. You are very near where the Redlands group meets. Info here: http://www.ras.org.au/ I have yet to make it out to one of their nights, as I'm in the middle of an equipment change and not all of it is here yet.

I hope to see you around!

[hikerbob (Bob)]

Thank you for the various welcomes and the info.
I managed to get a bit of play done tonight with the moon, dodging the clouds as I went. A change from the full cover and windy nights we have had lately.

I've tried attaching reduced size versions of two images to this post to see how it's done and because these are some of the first pictures I've managed to take with the camera attached to the telescope. I did try some stuff with Mars just after christmas but no real detail was visible.

Bob

[citivolus (Ric)]

Not bad, you managed to avoid burning out the histogram, which isn't always easy with the moon. Too often shots are way overexposed. The composition on the second shot is interesting.