Greetings everyone, I'm a relative newcomer to the hobby, been surfing the skies for a year or so now and slowly finding my way around. Its interesting (and comforting!) to see from reading the posts on this forum that others early experiences are not too different from my own.
Biggest problem lately is cloudy skies... aaah well it can only improve!
My setup is fairly basic at present, a York 6" reflector plus a pair of 7x50 bino's. Light pollution is quite a problem around my backyard but the views are still pretty good.
Looking forward to participating further in the forums.
Welcome Kev.....another Queenslander.....not long until we get the numbers to kick these interstaters out...except for Ian in the NT we class him as our own......lol
If you want to get away from your light polluted skies keep an eye out for the mini IceInSpace star parties we have within a short drive of Brisbane. You can learn so much more from observing with other people.
Yup Kev as Andrew and Paul have said, we have gatherings quite often here in SE Queensland. We can keep you updated on when and where. Also you should come to the Queensland Astrofest in early August. It will be fun
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! The clouds seem to be moving on, you blokes must have some 'influence' .....
Asimov mate, I'm rather wishing I'd not heard of york for a while either! The OTA is not too bad (as far as my untrained eye can tell) but the mount has turned out to be a bit of a shocker. I'd be interested to hear of others experiences with equatorial mounts, I'm sure the best ones are those designed by folks that actually use them regularly !!
Never mind, I've almost got the finance minister at home talked into letting me buy a Meade LX90 or LX200, digits etc all crossed!
A warm welcome to you Kev,
I'm gonna have to try and get an Ice in Space night organised at Aratula.
Really dark skies, no lights for miles.
As soon as we finish off the new dunny...
And get the dome working,
And get the bedrooms finished,
And get the power station done,
And get the kitchen finished.
I have had experience with the York optical GEM's and they are not that bad. Astro_south has the exact same scope as yours. My only beef with them is the price since they are made by Guan Sheng. These days you can get the scope and the mount for a lot less and with thinner spider vanes to boot.
Welcome ganymede! As others have said, there's a growing contingent of QLD IceInSpace folk, so you should attend some of their local gatherings.. a great way to meet up with some friendly people and look through some different scopes.
Hello from a Queensland Newbie
L.
![[1ponders]'s Avatar](../vbiis/customavatars/avatar45_9.gif){kind=avatar}
Kev. Keep your eyes open for any SE-Qld get togethers.
!!
