Welcome Dad's Son

[acropolite (Phil)]

Dad's Son..Blessed are the cheesemakers...and of course any other producers of dairy goods....

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Ditto Dad's Son.

[ving (David)]

whachoo talking bout willis?

is dad's son a new member?
welcome to where ever you are!

[Dad's Son (David)]

Hello viewers and thanks for the welcome.

Yes I am one of the blessed cheesemakers and now I have too many hobbies. Got a motorbike (sorry it's a jappa) a proper car (a loud and polluting Torana) and a diesel 4wd. (We don't mention the beach buggy because it's not finished yet). 48, average just about everything (weight, height, etc).

I am new to the astronomical stuff but I am learning new stuff (I think). It's generally nice and dark here (not much light pollution) and I often wander outside with a coffee and look up, so it was inevitable that one day I'd get something to help the looking up bit. After playing with a pair of binocs, I plunged and bought a cheapish Skywatcher 8" eq from Andrews. It arrived on a cloudy Tuesday of this week (apparently that is usual) but the sky had cleared at around 9pm so outside I went. Had it all together in daylight and I think the collimation is right and I did see Jupiter with bands and 3 of it's moons.
And last night was even better, until the cloud came over at about 10pm. Looked at a few other but I just have to figure out what they were. I did set up a bit better and I could at least track Jupiter with just the ra knob. Have to figure out what to do about the dew settling on just about everything that was outside.
But today, it rains. And that is good. People on tank water are still getting it delivered by tanker as we have also suffered from that lack of rain.

The Dad's Son was a bit of a mistake by me, as very few people call me Dave. I answer to it but it's usually David or, at work, just Mister (long story).

[RAJAH235]

A warm welcome, David. Do you have a 'Planisphere'? It's an 'all year round' sky chart, where you just change/rotate the centre section to the current date/time etc, & it shows you what's in the sky. A 'Chandler' large version is the way to go. About $20.00, from Bintel. Enjoy your new hobby. L.

[BC]

Welcome Dad's Son,

I'm very new here myself but I'm interested in your purchase. I'm heading off to Sydney on Saturday to do the big browse/purchase. You'll notice that the GSO units are all the rage here. The units you bought is very much the specs I'm interested in, assuming it's the 200 x 1000 Skywatcher on the EQ5. I was hoping for the 1200 length but I'm told that this won't work on an EQ5. There's plenty of advice about getting a Dob here (and probably very good advice too), but I have to confess to being rather into coordinate systems (being a cartographer). I'm afraid I like the idea of the slow control around the celestial coord system. I'm interested that you are pleased so far and I'm wondering whether I should step outside the popular advice and go down your track.

[Dad's Son (David)]

Yes I am happy with the one I bought and it is the 200 X 1000. A tad weighty all assembled but I can get it out the back door all assembled. Not having anyone close to explain the setting up to scp was a worry and I think I was just a bit off south. Once I had lined it up on a "something" in the sky it was easy to track - and all set up, it does look very impressive to those who have only seen shop scopes. You can get into some amazing contortionist positions as I swivelled everything around to have a look at Jupiter instead of rotating the tube in the mounts.

This year I figured that I would do some new stuff and this in one. $1000 is a lot of money and with it you can get more dob but that is for later
It does shake a bit when you touch, say the focuser, but in no breeze it settled down quickly.

But yes I am happy. And it is easy enough to set but you do have to read the instructions a few times to get scp. Still figuring out what all the acronyms mean too - south celestial pole and the like. But it is fun.

I do have starcalc and Cartes du ciel but next time I'm shopping, I might look at getting the planishpere too.

Cheers - David

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Originally Posted by BC

There's plenty of advice about getting a Dob here (and probably very good advice too), but I have to confess to being rather into coordinate systems (being a cartographer). I'm afraid I like the idea of the slow control around the celestial coord system.

Hi BC,

It's simple to co-ord a Dobbie. Shove it a couple of degrees this way and pull it a few degrees that way. Pull or push Veeeerrrrrryyyyy slowly for tracking!

Piece of cake!!

[acropolite (Phil)]

Nudge, Nudge; Wink Wink...say no more...

[Librarian64]

Originally Posted by Dad's Son

Got a motorbike (sorry it's a jappa).

Welcome Dad's Son. Nothing wrong with Jappa's; I miss my GPZ 750 even after 20 years. Hey, at least they start everytime!

I'm new here too and already sense a warm and friendly place.

[toetoe (Peter)]

Originally Posted by Librarian64

I'm new here too and already sense a warm and friendly place.

With the right bunch of people here one can only feel welcomed.

[iceman (Mike)]

Welcome David! How did you hear about us?