New astronomy group set up in South Kerry

I can hear the enthusiasm coming through your posts, its great to see people with a drive to get a club off the ground and do some good astronomy. We'd love to go observing at your site, make a weekend out of it, who knows.

How much did you pay for your big scope? and where di you get it?
It looks like the Eiffel tower from your pic....brilliant!
Does it come appart, and in how many pieces and how long does it take to put it back together again....wow

Wow well done. 10 already! That's great.
Your probably in the best part of this country if not Europe for
dark skies.
Can we take it as an open invitation so!?
I was down in Waterville a few years back
(before I had a good camera) and I was blown away
At just how dark it was there.
As for your meetings.
You'll probably find most in your club
Just want to attend talks and be there for the social
Aspect of it which is perfect.
But with skies like yours down there it'd be a crime
not to avail of them.

a weekend down Kerry way sounds on the ball!
Any good campsites near your observing site!?

well, it certainly is a heafty piece of gear, but for me its all about getting as good a look at an object as possible, I got it second hand at
www.astrobuysell.com/
Buying it new would have been astronomically expensive, so i got it for a good price as these sized scopes depreciate rapidly from the new price and plateau off at a resonable price.
It does break down, the top comes off, the poles come off and the entire thing fits into my estate car. If it didnt come apart, you'd need a crane and a flatbed truck to carry it around. :laugh:
Its all about the views though, otherwise it would be a pointless exercise,
You see galaxies with spiral arms, M57 resembles its photographic view although not as bright as a photograph, getting 10-15 galaxies in the same FOV while strolling through the virgo cluster is not all that uncommon. Under a dark sky, globular clusters (esp M13!!) are juse the most amazing things you'll ever see in this scope. And the planets are not too bad either, so its actually a good all rounder, the only thing that goes against it is its sheer size. Id get a bigger one if I could afford it and had the ability to transport it.

Its certainly not a scope for a beginner or novice, I'm the 4th owner, and I got it when it was 2 years old!, the previous guy before me had to physically take off his front door to get it out of the house, :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: aperture feavour got the the better of them. they didnt realise what they were buying.,

PS, I'd have it built and collimated in about 15mins on average.

Julie,
Great to hear that you are up and running and that you already have a core of signed up members. As we said before, we would be only delighted to travel down with our telescopes to any planned observing session you have. I still have fond memories of the session we had in the grounds of Piarsaigh na Dromoda GAA pitch a couple of years ago. Just send a email or PM and let us know where and when.

Michael Scully.
Secretary, Kerry Astronomy Club.

Julie,
it sounds like you're off to a great start - well done! I have been down in Valencia and WOW! what an amazing dark sky site... I have also been in Cahirdaniel and Sneem, to other great sites near/on the coast. I'd love to go down again... this time with a telescope!

Do you plan to give out handouts at meetings? I can't remember if I mentioned to you already about a website called www.skymaps.com where you can print monthly sky charts for free (A4 double sided) - a handy tool to have. Keep some in the car/at work/at home to give out to a friend who might be thinking about joining, has not done so yet and just needs a nudge.



Seanie.