[Kolya]

Hi all, just wanted to say hello from Brizzie.

I've been slowly, painstakingly trying to come to grips with binocular astronomy over the last year with the help of this very site (which is fantastic) and Stellarium.

Given that between Lemmon, PANSTARRS and (hopefully) ISON, this year is going to be a great one for comets (even if the northern hemisphere will get the best of them), I have decided it's time to head toward buying an 8" Dob. as it seems to be the instrument of choice for beginners. I haven't seen one in real life yet but will definitely do this before buying.

I am planning to attend a viewing night at our local astronomy club where hopefully someone will have one set up but am a little nervous at the reception I might get being female, non-scientifically minded and comparatively ignorant when it comes to astronomy (but eager to learn!!).

The other thing I'm concerned about is putting together the Dobsonian when I buy it. I've read that it doesn't come with instructions. Is it pretty straight forward in a common sense type way or is there a site that might have instructions?

When the time comes, I will probably buy a Dob online from Andrews because so many people at this forum have posted about how great their service is.