Getting started.

Hey all, I have recently been getting into astronomy over the last month and have decided to create a place where I can share my experiences, photos, observations and and general thoughts.

I work as a professional DJ which means I keep irregular hours and have a lot of free time. Usually I just spend my nights watching TV or checking out music but recently I have been thinking to myself how it would be good to actually get outside and do something more productive. Astronomy seemed like a good idea as I was already up at night and would allow me to keep updated with music while I was looking at the stars and educating myself with the sky.

I started looking into telescopes and was overwhelmed with what was out there and the cost of some of them. I was unsure if I was going to stick at astronomy or it was something that I would give up on after seeing the moon a few times so I wasn't wanting to spend a lot of money. Unfortunately, with telescopes, you get what you pay for, so there wasn't a lot of choice for low budget telescopes.

After some research I decided on the Celestron FirstScope.
There were a few reasons for this.

• It was cheep and available in New Zealand.
• It has a good sized primary mirror for its price.
• It is a dobsonian style telescope which makes it easy to aim
• Its small and light so I can just grab it and take it out when there is a clear night. No set up.
• It was a highly recommended 'cheep' telescope. I would often read about how it had quality optics no usually found on a telescope of that price.

I went ahead and purchased one off Trade Me for about $130 with an accessory kit. If I was to do it again I would probably avoid the accessory kit. The extra lenses are ok but the finder scope is rubbish and I have already gone out and bought a new 9mm plossl eye piece which I am using more than any of the included lenses.

I would highly recommend upgrading the eye pieces if you intend to stick with stargazing for a while. Its a very good investment.

I have been taking this scope out just about every clear night since I have got it and had some amazing views of the moon and various deep sky objects but jupiter has been a little hit or miss. On occasion I have been able to see the cloud bands but not very often.

The telescope its self is slightly out of collimation which is causing some kind of 'ghosting' with bright objects.

Not a problem with the moon as its so large and not a problem with Deep Sky as they are not super bright but jupiter looks like its got some kind of motion blur on it. Not great.

Still, Its fun finding it and having a look.

As well as the telescope, I have been taking the digital camera out and trying my hand at some very basic astrophotography. I'll post some of my results in another blog but here is one to give you and idea of how basic I'm talking.

An attempt to photograph the Milky Way.

Well, I guess thats about it for an introduction. I'll make a few more posts soon to show the images I have captured and talk about some new things I have purchased.

Until next time.