It's finally here...

The postman finally came yesterday, bringing me a HUGE box and leaving me with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. After some pretty appalling customer service causing "next day delivery" to take a week, my telescope finally arrived, and naturally I spent the next hour and a half tearing open all the boxes and putting it together.

It's a Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ-MD, but I've left the motor drive off for now as the EQ mount had me confused even before I'd finished setting it up. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it faster than I anticipate...

It took me a while to set up, but overall I'm very impressed. I don't have much to compare it to having never owned a proper telescope before, but the build quality is very sturdy and I'm eager to get it out as soon as the clouds clear up.

After some close ups of some clouds and the trees at the end of the garden, I decided to see if my DIY camera fitted in the eyepiece slot... a snug, but perfect match. Hopefully I'll get the chance to test it before too long, but the bad weather isn't showing any signs of letting up any time soon.

I'm waiting for a couple more webcams to be delivered so I can make a detailed guide for you to follow in order to make your own. I'll do both a step by step guide with loads of pictures here on this blog, as well as a video tutorial to upload to youtube. 

I'm also working on a checklist of astronomy objects, consisting of 8 planets and 110 Messier objects, with their names and locations so I can tick them off when I've found them. I'll probably upload that at some point for anyone who would like a copy.

I'll hopefully be uploading my "Build your own DIY astrophotography webcam" in the next day or two, so check back soon!