Gday all. New member nw nsw

[Pepper]

Hello everyone,
Just like to introduce myself before I start posting what may very well be questions you have all answered a million times.
At any rate, word on the street is Santa will be bringing me an ed100 and and an eq5pro mount.
Coming from a metal detecting background I quickly realised that there are a thousand different tools for the job and took me a while to decide on what I wanted.
Eventually wanna strap a cam to it and take some pics.

[FlashDrive]

Gidday Steve ....welcome to the Hobby.

The ' fun ' now starts when your Scope setup arrives.
Many good nights ahead I'd say and you'll be amazed at what you see.:welcome:
Col...

[JA]

Welcome to the forum Steve. Join in the discussions and have fun.

Best
JA

[Saturnine]

I'll add my welcome as well, don't forget to thank santa on xmas morning. An ED100 and goto mount is a good way to start along with a few good eyepieces.
Also don't be too quick to strap on a camera, take some time to learn the sky and appreciate what the scope can show you and you will be delighted.

[RyanJones]

Welcome to IIS Steve,

You do know that Santa is bringing you the astronomical version of a drug of dependence don't you ? Lol

Good selection on a first scope and mount :) you're going to have many sleepless nights enjoying what the heavens have to show us.

I'd have to agree with Saturine regarding strapping a camera to your scope. Enjoy this high first before hitting the hard stuff.

Regarding questions we've heard a million times before ??? The first time we heard them was the first time we asked them our selves. Feel free to ask as many as you like. We were all where you are now at one point.:thumbsup:

[mental4astro]

Camera? CAMERA?!

Mate, pencil & paper! If it was good enough for Galileo, it's good enough for us! :lol:

:welcome: Steve!

A million questions and a million ways of doing things too. Fire away :)

Alex.

[pfitzgerald]

Welcome Steve - enjoy the new kit - and ask away with the questions!.

Setting up and aligning your scope with the south celestial pole will be one of your first tasks. There is a great four part video series on this at Astronomyshed (another great forum)

Here are the links.

Part 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fO6hyYtPwM
Part 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcctN4xVXnI
Part 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGduG2jB9ec
Part 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDC-zct6lvY

I downloaded and copied these onto my phone and watched them each time as I was setting up my scope (ED120 & HEQ5-Pro) until it became second nature.

HTH

Paul

[Startrek]

Welcome Steve
What a great location to start your journey with this amazing hobby of ours

Tip1 - don’t rush take your time and learn the Night Sky on a planetarium like Stellarium or CDC
Tip 2 - buy 2 good books, Astronomy 2019 and Atlas of the Southern Night Sky both available from Bintel ( excellent resource books )
Tip 3 - don’t be tempted to ditch the hand controller straight away for remote goto from a laptop or tablet.Hone your skills with the handcontroller for a while until your ready to take the next step
Tip 4 - get ready for some late nights and early mornings, so rest up when you can
Tip 5 - have fun and be amazed at our universe ( it does eventually become an obsession )

Cheers and clear skies

[Kunama]

:welcome: Steve :welcome:

We win some we lose some, I just bought a scope from a chap who was going to prospecting and sold up all his gear.....:shrug:

Hope you enjoy the new direction :thumbsup:

[Pepper]

Cheers guys for the welcome and the tips. I’ll definitely be watching those YouTube vids thanks mate.
Very much looking forward to immersing myself in this, we have some nice dark skies here, just watching the sky with your eyes is brilliant. Can’t wait to get me scope. My first look with it will be at beechwood near wauchope, it’ll be coming on Christmas hold with me that’s for sure.

Counting down the days.......

[pfitzgerald]

Cheers Steve - enjoy every spectacular and precious moment.

Paul

[Rkonrad]

Welcome to the forums Steve enjoy

[ronson]

Welcome to the forums Steve