Hello from the Gold Coast

[rawbaws (Rory)]

Hi all, new member, thought I would introduce myself.

I've just ordered a 8inch dob as my first scope. I live on the gold coast, in Tallebudgera so a bit out of the light. Two kids, 1 & 4. Obviously the 1 year old will be too young to join me but hoping my 4 year old daughter should be fairly excited to do some planet spotting.

I'm sure there is a massive learning curve ahead of me.

My other obsession, on the other side of the size spectrum, are mechanical watches.

Cheers
Rawbaws


Edit - Quick question, how do I change my view settings so that the oldest (first) post shows at the top of the thread rather than the bottom?

[Kunama]

Hello Rory,
Welcome to the madness. Sounds like you will have your hands full once the little observers start demanding you set the scope up each night.

Your ?
Go to UserCP. ( near top left of page )
Settings and options
Edit options
Thread Display options
Scroll till you see. "Linear - show newest post first" etc and make you choice then
Save.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Hey Rory, welcome to IIS!!
One of my earliest memories was looking Jupiter and Saturn through my older brothers scope when i was about 4, so you should be able to give your daughter a treasured memory and hopefully spark a lifelong interest.

The 8" dob in my opinion is the perfect beginners scope so I hope you are going to enjoy it when it arrives. Although there is a learning curve with any scope, the scope you are getting has one of the gentler ones!!

Cheers

Malcolm

[Allan_L (Allan)]

Hi Rory,

Good scope choice

Feel free to ask any questions, here, we were all beginners at some time.

First bit of advice, download stellarium, it's FREE, and a brilliant simulation planetarium software that will help you locate identify and plan for stuff.

http://www.stellarium.org/

[rawbaws (Rory)]

Originally Posted by Allan_L

Hi Rory,

Good scope choice

Feel free to ask any questions, here, we were all beginners at some time.

First bit of advice, download stellarium, it's FREE, and a brilliant simulation planetarium software that will help you locate identify and plan for stuff.

http://www.stellarium.org/

Excellent. Will check it out.

[Sen (Charles)]

Welcome Rory, you have many fn nights ahead of you with the children!

[Cimitar (Evan)]

Hi Rory, welcome aboard

Despite the cold outside this time of year you've picked a perfect time to start your hobby. There's lots of planets visible right now (Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) and the moon during the day/night is always a beautiful site . I particularly enjoy the shadows cast by mountains and seeing the little river like cracks running across the surface of the moon.

Cheers, Evan

[Ric]

Welcome Rory

Nice choice for your first scope.

[garypope (Gary P)]

After numerous years of enthusiasm for the sky, particularly now we live in a semi rustic range south of Brisbane, and a considerable measure of uming and arring about whether I would utilize a telescope past a couple times I purchased a second hand Saxon 8" Dob.

[sharptrack2 (Kevin)]

Rory!

The only sage piece of advice I can hand out is... don't get lost in the forum! I started reading everything I could and was soon overwhelmed. Read the "sticky's" though, they are a great resource to start from.