Hello

[John Warrillier-Grant]

Hi, I'm looking at getting my first telescope and I am looking for a bit of advice and some information about the weekly meeting the society does on a Wednesday. Firsly about the meetings, what happens at the weekly meetings and is it ok to bring children? I am asking as I have a 13 year old son who is also interested in astrology and would like to come along. Secondly the teleskope, I have a budget of around £500 and am currently thinking about getting a telescope and eyepiece set from amazon and wondered what the opinion on them was I have posted the web addresses below.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-31145-Newtonian-Reflector-Telescope/dp/B0007UQNNQ/ref=sr_1_18?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1327437870&sr=1-18

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-Eye-Piece-Filter-Kit/dp/B00006RH5I/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1327437870&sr=1-2

[brendan martin]

Hi John, if the weather is clear we observe if not we still meet and there is always plenty to talk about, I would advise holding off buying a scope till you come and have a chat and by all means bring your son along, if you decide to buy your scope I would recommend you buy from a reputable dealer (you may save money)
cheers
Brendan

[Colin Murray]

You don't need a telescope for astrology, a crystal ball is what you need

[Graham Bell]

Hi John, i would advise you get the scope from a reputable dealer as Brendan has sugested.  I have looked at a couple of dealers online and have found it £30 cheaper than Amazon.

HTH
Graham.

[John Warrillier-Grant]

You don't need a telescope for astrology, a crystal ball is what you need

Thats what I get for using an android tablet, auto correct lol. I might get chance to come to the meeting tonight. What deelers do people recomend using? Am always a bit wary ordering from sites I've not heard of before and as it'll be my first telescope I have no idea which sites are good

[brendan martin]

Hi John I have used Opticstar in Sale Cheshire on various occasions and found them to be very helpfull and they are not to far away, but there are quite a few good dealers out there.
cheers
Brendan

[Ben Dobson]

Hi Brendan,

Was good to see you last night. Thanks again for the tour around the observatory and chat, really enjoyed it. Hopefully i will be at Ainsdale on Friday

Ben

[Tony Fort]

Yes Brendan a thousand thanks for Wed evening...it was extremely interesting and friendly. We'll definitely be along next wed and hopefully see you at Ainsdale tonight (weather permitting!) Tony

[david mcilwham]

Hi
Just a quick note to say thanks for last nights event at the Ainsdale centre, really enjoyed the variety of scopes available to try out, the enthusiastic people, great advice given and of course the bonus of being filmed for Sky At Night!! the only down side was "will some one turn that light out at Pontins"

[David Galvin]

Hi David, yes it was a good night, around 200 people came along to view the sky and listen to the lectures. I had fun with our new Watec 120n video camera atached to Chris Bank's 8 inch reflector giving us some good views of the Moon, Jupiter and the Orion nebula.
The Sky at Night programme goes out in March and covers the work done by our supernova search team:
http://datscope.wikispaces.com/ and by other amateurs throughout the U.K
I will put an annoucement on the front page of this website
when I have the transmision date confirmed.
Who said astronomy was boring?   :-)

[Dave Bentley]

Hi David,
Glad you enjoyed the event the lads from the society did a great job last night. I was fearing the worse when coming home from work on the M6 and getting battered by hail storms! It was magical the way the sky just opened up and stayed clear for most of the event. We have been doing this event for a number of years now and I can only remember that pesky Pontins light being off once (the bulb must have gone). We all enjoy doing these events when you get a night like that and we all might be on the telly!!!