Introduction

[MarkG]

Hello all

New member!
I am Mark, 51 years young, work in cyber security, love tinkering and integrating and I've been captivated by deep sky photography. I'm a relative newb with this so bare with

I've lived in Petts Wood most of my life so those of you local to me we've probably passed by each other so will be interesting to try and see who's who

So, i've been messing around with astronomy on and off for years, but recently ( before lockdown 1 ) decided to make a proper commitment to it so i got myself a telescope.. astromaster eq130 as a beginner scope and some attachments like barlows and a few other focal tubes and experimented with webcam's and a few astro cams as well as connecting my canon 550d and having a learning curve on focal ranges to get over. ( prior to this i had researched extensively how to grind my own optics ! )

So now winding forward to now, i'm a bit more experienced, and each rabbit hole i go down i learn more things... as such.. my 'box' of things has grown and i seem to have more tubes and 'stuff'.. absolutely loving it to the point i built a eq tracker.... failed... bought one... not happy with it.. got another... still not happy with it... got a new one now happy and learning with it. and the software side of things.. thats my biggest challenge at the moment, is understanding all the knobs and dials settings and sliders and what they mean in terms of making that capture to be proud of.

i like to throw myself into things so my apologies if this introduction seems a bit full on, i condensed down a lot of ramblings lol.

i will post in the main forums shortly to ask some questions... i'm in Poland right now and experienced some phenomena i cant get around that you guys probably have an answer to

anyway, good to say hello, look forwards to chatting with you all and learning more for each and everyone

clear skies everyone

Mark

[Carole]

Welcome Mark, we have to make sure not to muddle you with our Other MarkS (Mark shelley) who is an excellent imager, who moved to the countryside outside Ashford for Darker skies, but still remains a member.

From time to time we hold imaging session where new imagers can learn from the more experienced ones, but that has been on hold since the pandemic.

We also go to Dark sky camps from time to time, in East sussex which is an experience in itself and you will have some on hand assistance.

In the meantime ask questions on the forum.  The forum is not as active of late but hopefully some-one will get back to you with a sensible answer.  I am an imager myself and know all about those rabbit holes,  but I don't tend to automate things very much so if you're in need of more advanced IT help I'm probably not your "man".

Carole 

[MarkG]

thanks carole, im at the beginning of my imaging and post processing journey so ill post questions as they pop up

[Carole]

Don't be afraid to post up your images on here even if you think they are bad as it's the best way to get good advice. 

Carole

[Mac]

Saludos Mark,

Just ask away, the only silly question is a question you don't ask,

Between the members some one will have had exactly the issue you have had at some point and will have the answer you need,
We probably have a collected imaging experience running in to 100's of years with as many problems as well..

Above all,

Clear skies and enjoy.

Mac.

[The Thing]

...mainly problems! Welcome Mark. I've not been in the society quite as long as Mac and Carole but can vouch for their deep knowledge of problems and how there always is another close by every telescope as soon as it's on a mount 'Bon courage' as they say here in France. 

Duncan (in France)