Hi

Hi my name is Carly, I am 23, two children and I live with my partner... I am very very VERY new to Astronomy. I was 15 when I first got very interested in Astronomy. I even had a begginners telescope bought from Astronomy Ireland. My Little son decided to give my lens a little makeover and that was that. I am hoping to get a new one in the future. I have great interest in The Solar System and The universe. It just amazes me so much.I really hope to learn a lot but i just dont know where to begin. I hope this site helps me out... :blush:

Welcome Carly

I'm sure you'll get rewards from this forum - there are many people with quite diverse interests and you'll find your niche.

My initial advice is don't over stretch - start simple and enjoy. When/if you wish to get a little bit more specalised you will know the direction you wish to go.

If you start out too complicated you will be tempted to put it off some nights. If you want to consider a purchase start with Binoculars - 7x50 are good - good light capture and not too heavy. Even if you end up with a telescope they wont go to waste. It is so convenient to just grab a pair of binos and have a gaze at something - it is more effort to setup a scope.

You can buy a cheap contraption that allows you to mount them on a traditional photographic tripod if you want a bit of stability.

Get a star chart - a planisphere is good or a program like Carte du Ciel (free) for your PC. Get familiar with what is visble and when - and why. You don't need any more to be at one with the great cosmos - but of course one can always delve further...

Get comfortable first. There will be plenty of advice from some very competant people here should you have any questions.

Mark

Hi Carly,

Welcome aboard. That is how I got started I had a very big interest in the Planets.. Tonight is going to be a very clear and cold night perfect for astronomy. If you look South East when it gets dark you will see the Planet Jupiter you can't miss it. It will be the brightest star in the sky.

Carl O'Beirnes,
Balbriggan Observatory (MPC #J09)
www.webtreatz.com

Hi Carly,

Welcome to the forums!

Guess what, theres something happening at 5:20am tonight, (well tomorrow, but you know what I mean just before dawn on saturday) that doesn't even require Binoculars.

The Space shuttle will be flying over Ireland at about 5.20am 18 minutes after its launch in Florida. It'll still be climbing into orbit. It will have jettisoned its main fuel tank(big orange yoke) a few minutes before it passes over, and we will see the Bright white shuttle and the orange tank floating away below the shuttle as they zoom over Ireland at 17,000mph.

So if you are 'Up for it', you should 'get up for it' at about quarter past 5. Look to the West and you'll see a very bright white light and a very bright oprange light zooming towards you and overhead. Its a pretty amzing sight.

Carly wrote:

My Little son decided to give my lens a little makeover and that was that.

Firstly, welcome and I'm sure you'll get all the help you need here.

Secondly, I can relate to the above. My Dad had some binoculars and sure, when I was 7 or so, I figured they needed a clean... I was so proud :blush:

As Calibos says, if you're game, get yourself outside at 05:00 Saturday morning (7 hours from now as I type this) and you'll get to see a pretty rare and amazing sight.

Weather's on our side and NASA are still go for launch.

Dave

Welcome to the madhouse Carly!
:laugh: