Another Newbie

[terra05]

Hi, To say I know nothing about telescopes and space other than being gobbed smacked after seeing 'gravity' at Imax :lol: I found a new interest.

Before reading anything or researching I eneded up purchasing a Powerseeker 127 with a few extra bit and bobs for $114 and then spending 3hrs starring at the moon even managed to get a view of the iss at roughly 5:15am the other morning. Downloaded a few apps to find things a little more easily and as happy with the Celestron that I am, I have telescope envy and will upgrade after Christmas some time..

looking forward to sinking my teeth into this new hobby :D

[mental4astro]

Hi Trev,

:welcome: to IIS!

Congratulations on the new scope and on being bitten HARD by the astro bug with the Moon, :D :astron:

Don't be in too much of a hurry to 'upgrade'. The scope you've got yourself is a great tool to cut your teeth on. Just be patient with the scope and yourself, and you'll learn a lot with it.

And certainly don't be shy in asking questions here. Like the saying goes, the only dumb question is the one that is not asked.

Mental.

[terra05]

Thanks mate, Just been looking for an app that will move cloud cover so I can sit outside enjoy a cuppa and do some searching :)

[Sconesbie]

Hi Trev. I'm new to the forum too and very very new to space. I'm addicted to the ISS and learning all the time. Have you downloaded the GoIss tracker app? It's awesome. It shows the next passes, direction and where it is currently. There is another app called ustream where you can watch live video feed or see live shots from outside looking down to earth. I'm addicted according to my wife but I know worse ones to have. Even my children are talking about it.

I know absolutely nothing about stars or the moon but I often wonder what it's like and am looking at a telescope too. I hope Santa brings me one.

Hopefully together we can learn things here and if we ask nicely, they might talk in English. Ha ha ha.

Good luck and have fun star gazing.

[ZeroID]

Stellarium is the answer guys, Free and very good visually to learn and identify your targets. www.stellarium.org (http://www.stellarium.org)

And it comes without clouds ...

Welcome btw as well

[terra05]

Ya gotta admit the iss fascinates the hell out of me aswell and having my 40th next week a few of us are off the see hidden universe and hubble 3d at imax.

Ive been watching iss over at earthsky.org but will checkout the others.

Ya Some of the big words that get thrown around in this forum :shrug: ,but all part of the learning experience I guess ( and a quick google search helps :lol: )

[terra05]

just been playing around with it and WOW now thats impressive

[Kunama]

Hello Trev (and Scott) and welcome,
It always amazes me that there are people who roam this Earth who have looked up at the night sky and have not been mesmerised by it and drawn to it for life.

Glad you guys found the magic. I sometimes spend whole nights at full moon "crater-hopping" in amazement.
As Alex mentioned, don't rush into the 'upgrading' merry-go-round too quickly, there is a lot to be seen with your scope.

[terra05]

Hi and thanks Matt, I've walked around and not really noticed the sky before but the last month or so I found it be be incredibly humbling and seem to be thinking about it a lot more.

kinda of hoping I will be able to find George out there somewhere and get some kind of spotters fee :eyepop:

[Benjamin]

A recent trip out to Condamine "turned" me: the night sky out there was so overwhelming! I'd forgotten all the great times I'd had as a kid in a small country town where every backyard was a dark site. It might just have been that I turned 40 too! Have since grabbed a second hand 8" Dob and lost a bit of sleep...

[terra05]

Hi Ben, I think there is something in turning 40 and buying a telescope, when I was picking up the new eye piece this afternoon there was a guy there buying himself a late birthday present, also his 40th LOL , he went with a saxon somthing.

Seems to be a lot of people on here with the 8" dob sa a 15" this after noon looked impressive but at 6k :eyepop:

[bkm2304]

Trev,
Have a look at heavens above. It is a great site for getting details of satellite passes including the ISS, the mighty Hubble and the Chinese space station, the Tiangong. Also Iridium flares - amazing flashes from the Iridium comms satellites as they slowly rotate and reflect sunlight.

Regarding scope fever, I've had it pretty bad over the years. But remember, Galileo did his best work with a 1" and Newton revolutionised the scope world with a reflector about the same size!


Here's the link.

Heavens above (http://heavens-above.com).

Cheers,

Richard

[terra05]

Thanks Richard, thanks for the link, i was up until 3:30am yesterday just reading and playing around with some sites that have been posted and have been outside most of tonight, thankfully I start christmas holidays this week for 5 weeks :D but really will upgrade just after christmas even to a 10" dob.

to say i have now been bitten is an understatement