Hello

[spendrey]

Firstly, I would just like to say hello and congrats on such a fine website.
I live in Bromley and have been interested in astronomy since I was a boy. I've only got an old 4.5" Tasco and now live in an area which suffers from a bit of light pollution but I still enjoy going out on a cold evening to see what's about.
I'm currently trying to convince 'er indoors that we can afford for me to buy a new scope but she tells me that tiling the bathroom is more important, can't say as I agree myself. I've been trying to choose between the Meade 10" LXD55 UHTC and the Celestron 10" C10-NGT so any thoughts you might have on either of these 2 scopes would be much appreciated.
Anyway, that's not my main reason for writing so let me get on with it and stop waffling.
As I said I have a 4.5" Tasco Newtonian which I believe came off the ark. I'm thinking of buying a Philips Toucam Pro and using an eyepiece adapter in conjunction with a .965mm to 1.25" adapter as the old scope is not the standard fitting. Firstly do you think I will be able to get any decent pictures using a scope of this size with a Toucam? and secondly, seeming as I will be using 2 adapters to connect it to the eyepiece do you think the CCD chip will be too far away to collect a decent image?
Either way I may still invest in the camera now as it will be fun to play around with until a get a decent scope.
Maybe one day I can come along to one of your viewing evenings and take a look through a real scope?
Anyway thanks for any advice you may be able to give and keep up the good work with the site!

Many thanks,
Simon.

[Rick]

Welcome. Drag yourself along to one of our meetings. The observing evenings are a good place to chat with folks who observe regularly.

[Ian]

Hi Simon.

You can buy adaptors for webcams that fit directly into your telescope, you should be able to get some pictures of the moon and planets like Jupiter and Saturn. It'll be fun and frustrating in equal measure.

Webcam astrophotography is all about getting the best out of what you've got and any skills you learn with the Tasco will be useful if you ever get another telescope.

Will we see you at a meeting?

[Anonymous]

Yes thanks guys, I think I will get the Toucam and experiment with my Tasco. If I manage to get any decent results I'll post them on here.
I would love to come alomg to an observing evening but unfortunately I have commitments on both Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I may be able to come along in the summer though when I believe you meet an hour later?

Clear skies,
Simon.

[Rick]

Society meetings at High Elms start after 7:30pm, with the main talk usually not starting much before 8:30pm unless the speaker needs to get away promptly afterwards.

Observing evenings start in the pub at around 19:30 UT (so they're an hour later during the  BST months) and migrate to the field after an hour or so (or around sunset if that's later) if the weather's clear.