Hi all - another newbie

[Karen]

Hi all

Thought Id introduce myself.

My name is Karen and I live in SE Kent.

Very, very new to the whole astronomy thing.  Wanted a telescope for ages, and bought a ETX60 at the weekend.

Loving it so far, though I live in a congested area with a very small garden, so I intend to go to the Downs this weekend to do some proper seeing.

I feel a bit disturbed by the reviews of the ETX 60.  They get a pounding on some sites.

Given its my first telescope, and all the bits & pieces you get with it (ie, tripod, barlow etc), i think its quite good!

Does anyone have any experience with the ETX 60?  Please bear in mind that I dont expect to do deep sky viewing.......though it would be fab!

Also where are the good observing sites in Kent?

Thanks

Karen

[Mike]

Hi Karen,

Welcome to the forum. The ETX60 is a decent beginners scope. Plus points are it's great optics. Negatives are it is a usual badly engineered Meade mount so it's tracking and GoTo aren't fantastic. Also, 60mm isn't a lot of aperture so you are limited to what you can see. However, for starting off it is fine and there are several other people in the society who have or have owned ETX's of various sizes and will no doubt give you their experience of them.

The best way to learn how to use your scope, what to see with it and your way around the night sky is by doing it with other like minded people. You would be surprised ow much you can pick up just by watching and participating with others in Astronomy. We are having an observing session tonight so why not pop along and join us?

[Mac]

Greetings Karen.

If your thinking of going to the downs this weekend, i suggest taking snow shoes. (Just seen the weather forecast ).
I think you will enjoy the challenges that astronomy will bring you, I hope you have a lot of patience as the most
frustrating thing is waiting for the clear skies to roll in.

You say you live in SE Kent, so you should be blessed with relatively light pollution free skies unlike us orange skied Londoners.
so you will have an advantage over all of us to start with.

If you cant make the observing session who not pop along to the meeting on Thursday, its our Christmas one
so its just an excuse for an old fashioned quiz night, drink and nibbles.

Mac.

[Carole]

Hi Karen,

Welcome to the Forum.  If you live in South East Kent, then it's a bit of a distance to get to our meetings, but you will be made very welcome.  

I own an ETX105, slightly bigger than yours and until I started doing imaging I was very happy with it.  In fact it is much superior from an observing point of view to my imaging kit.  It is not so good for imaging.  As Mike says the tracking is fine for keeping the image in the eyepiece for a while, and the GOTO works if you manage to do an accurate alignment, but the procedure for that is not particulary accurate and there will be some days when you can do it perfectly and others when it is a bit hit and miss.  I still use it for visual stuff as it is very portable and the optics are good.  So all in all a good buy for a beginner.  

I suggest buy yourself a planisphere if you can as this is very good for learning what is up there at a given time each night of the year and on the back it should tell you where the planets are.

It's a fantastic hobby with a good social side.  We go camping to dark sites several times a year.  

I've attached a website which shows light polluted areas, in the SE (Courtesy of Mark), the pin marks are places we've camped etc.

http://www.markshelley.co.uk/webdisk/SELightPollution2.jpg

Nice to have another female on board.

BTW Guys, I thought it was an Observing evening tonight, not an Imaging evening. 

Carole

[Mike]

It is 

[Mac]

BTW Guys, I thought it was an Observing evening tonight, not an Imaging evening.

hands up, my mistake, 
changed to observing

[Karen]

Hi guys

Wow thanks for the fast responses!

When I say South East Kent, I'm meant North West!    I am in Chislehurst, and I never really know if its NW Kent or SE London.   !  I am from Glasgow originally, moved here 5 years ago.

Therefore I am not too far away from Orpington.

Unfortunately I cant make tonight or Thursday, its the whole run up to Christmas busy thing.  But many thanks for the offer and I'd love to come along in January.

I have a planisphere and i also downloaded a night sky app to my iphone which tells me what will be visible on any given night.  Its really good, i'd recommend it.

Carole - thanks for the link, its just what I was after.  And its great to hear from another female!  

Mac - i have to admit im not the most patient of people but I think the rewards will be worth it!  My inlaws have a place in Cyprus which has gorgeous clear skies.  Another reason why i went for the ETX60, as its very portable.

Mike - thank you for your comments.  I had a bit of trouble aligning to start with, but it seemed to work ok on the second attempt.  Ive ordered a 6mm and a 9mm eyepiece as i think the scope cant handle the 4mm that came with it, especially when using the barlow.  It has a focal length of 350mm.

Karen

[Rick]

Hi Karen. Welcome, and thanks for introducing yourself. You should now be able to respond in other sections of the forum.

[Carole]

When I say South East Kent, I'm meant North West!

I wondered whether you meant SE London. 

night sky app to my iphone

Sounds a good idea.

My inlaws have a place in Cyprus which has gorgeous clear skies

I'm jealous.
I went to Cyprus in August (Latchi) and was amazed at the views coming over the mountains at night.  You'll also get to see skies further south than we can see from here, so things like Sagitarrius and Scorpius (depending on the time of year), will be easily visible. 

Well hope to see you soon then. 

Carole

[doug]

     Hi Karen.

     My first telescope was an ETX 70 and found it was very good for what I wanted to do at the time.  As Mike has said, the optics are very good but some of the mounts can be dodgy on ETX`s, but your `scope is ideal for a "first".  Enjoy your watching and if you get a chance to come to a meeting, you will be made very welcome.  My wife and I have been members for a while and it is a very very good Society to belong to.  Everybody will assist you in whatever you want to do, so come and say hello. 

     Doug. 

[Simon E]

Welcome Karen, Lord Black adder here.

You have picked a good club to join, I have been a member for 4 months and have enjoyed meeting some of the club members at a couple of the meetings that i have actually attended (Mike i did go to two ). I am further South than you and get pretty good sky's.

Even though the mirror on your scope is small on the ETX it gets your foot in the door on a wonderful hobby and with the added benefit of Goto it will be a lot easier to pick up all sorts of things in the night's sky.
I'm sure when you come to upgrade to a big beast of a scope, you will be able to have a look at a massively different array of scopes that the other members own.

There seems to be quite a few female members that are in the club, so u are not alone and everyone seems really friendly.....

si

[Tony G]

Welcome Karen,

As you can see, we are an inviting lot, and very keen to help anyone with any questions on anything really, and you have a few people not to far from you in Mottingham (which I tell people, who don't know the area, is North Chislehurst) Petts Wood and Chislehurst.
So if you look in the gallery, you can see the sort of images that have been taken thought the orange haze that hangs over us in SE London.
Well it's a great hobby to get into, and like the others have said, you have taken that first step of getting a scope, so enjoy the clear winter nights as you have some nice objects now to see ie Orion etc.

Tony G

[Simon E]

Just don't trust Tony, as he meets people in car parks at night and gives them great big long tubes.

si

[Tony G]

Only people who ask get to see, and Si, so far your the only one to ask, in a pub car park that is.

Tony G

[Simon E]

And what a whopper it was Tony

si