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Old 23-11-2013, 07:43 PM
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barx1963 (Malcolm)
Bright the hawk's flight

barx1963 is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Mt Duneed Vic
Posts: 3,982
Gaz
Welcome and well done on getting the better half on board. A 10" dob is a great starting point. While these days 8/10" dobs are medium sized scopes they are still a fair sized unit so I would advise going to a shop (Bintel in Camberwell is well worth the trip) so you can get an idea of the size.
As for other equipment, the scope if bought new will come basically ready to go. But having said that a few things are worth looking at.
1 Collimation. A basic Cheshire/Sight tube combo is all that is needed to successfully collimate. Laser can help but as I have found, the cheaper ones are not necessarily the best!
2 Charts. I started with these http://www.bintel.com.au/Accessories...oductview.aspx and they helped a lot before upgrading to Uranometria 2000. Even if you go for a go to, you still need to be able to pinpoint some stars for alignment.
3 Dew protection. Nothing spoils a night observing like dew! Even a hair dryer to occasionally blow some warm air on eyepieces helps, but in the long run a dew controller and some straps will make life easier.

Sunbury is not too far from Snake Valley, which is the other side of Ballarat. The next club night is Dec 6th I believe.

Cheers

Malcolm
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