Hi - Newb from South Aust.

[louie_the_fly (Stew)]

Hi everyone. I just joined up yesterday after lurking on the forum for a while. We live out of Adelaide in a small town on the eastern side of the Mt Lofty Ranges where we're blessed with very little light pollution. We also like to travel around and camp in places like the Flinders Ranges & outback SA.

Although I've never had my own telescope I'm not really that new to astronomy as such, thanks to my year 11 science teacher from years ago. (lots of years ago!) So now that the kids have grown their own legs it's time to take it the next level. So far I've been using binos, but I hope to buy a scope in the next month. Eventually I'd like to have a go at some imaging as well.

It seems like the people on here are a decent bunch with lots of advice and info to offer. Thanks for having me onboard.

Stew

[swannies1983 (Dan)]

Hi Stew,

Welcome aboard and it's good to see another South Aussie . Clear skies.

Dan

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by louie_the_fly

....

We live out of Adelaide in a small town on the eastern side of the Mt Lofty Ranges where we're blessed with very little light pollution.....

Want some visitors??

[louie_the_fly (Stew)]

Yeah, I suppose a lot of city based observers would like a location like this. As good as it is though, my window for viewing isn't huge and I can't see the horizon from my backyard. But it's dark as and pretty sheltered from the wind. But damn cold this time of year.

Visitors are welcome, as long as they bring a few bevvies.

Cheers

[NeilW]

Hi Stew, and welcome. You should come along to the Astronomical Society of SA meetings on the first Wednesday night of each month. Check out http://assa.org.au

[louie_the_fly (Stew)]

Well I ended up buying a Celestron 8" SCT. Turns out a work colleague is a keen astronomer and he had it for sale. Surplus to requirements. I just need to look at the power switch. It worked OK when he showed it to me yesterday but now when you switch it on the LED flashes and the motor doesn't turn on. I fear I may have damaged the switch when I packed it in the car to bring it home today. It's got the RA clock drive but no Dec drive. Anyone out there have one they want to sell? From the Celestron catalogue it's a "DEC Motor for Celestar 8, Ultima 91/4 & 11 Part # 93549"

I'm also wondering, what size plug is the 12V DC adapter have, and is it +outer or +inner?

Thanks

[Suzy]

Hi Stewart & congratulations on your new telescope!
Boy that was good timing re your friend having the scope for sale! I'm sure you will enjoy many nights of observing, so much out there to see at the moment with Scorpius and Sagittarius being in our skies looking into the galactic centre, wow so many globular clusters in there.

To get you started with some goodies, you should participate in my target list in the Observation Forum, we would love to have you join us- some nice goodies to nab on that list.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=93668

I also did an article here which you might find useful.
Highlights of the Winter Sky

I'm sorry to hear that you've encountered a problem- how frustrating. I think your question might get more attention if you popped it into the Beginners Equipment Forum bit of cutting and pasting in there from here . I hope it all gets sorted soon before we head back into full moon time.

[louie_the_fly (Stew)]

Hi Suzy. Thanks for the info and the links. There's a lot there to keep me busy for a while. I fixed the drive on the mount this morning. Just a dodgey wiring connection on the controller. Small job - big results... So hopefully, as long as the skies clear up, I can get oiut for a couple of hours tonight.