Hi and welcome, Craig. The best resource for astronomy info and help that I know of is the Salt Lake Astronomical Society. See the SLAS site on the Web and I bet you'll want to join. It's only $20 a year. The site is http://slas.us -- best wishes, Joe --- On Sat, 7/11/09, Craig Smith <hemismith@sbcglobal.net> wrote: From: Craig Smith <hemismith@sbcglobal.net> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] New to the list To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 7:01 PM Hi, My name is Craig Smith, I just joined the list and thought I'd introduce myself. I moved to Utah (South Jordan) last December from southern California. I've been interested in astronomy for about 8 years, although I haven't been able to pursue it as much as I would like. I started off with a Celestron G-5 (8" SCT on a CG-5 mount). After a few years I got a Meade 8" LX200. A couple years later I added a William-Optics Zenithstar 80 II ED refractor on a PortaMount. I spent way more money and had way better equipment than I was deserving of. I had some wonderful nights at places such as Mt. Pinos, Yosemite, and RTMC, but sold everything a couple years ago for various reasons (except for a few filters in case anyone is interested). I got the bug again though last year, but this time got something smaller, lighter, simpler, and cheaper: Nexstar 6SE, Stellarvue F50 finder, Baader Hyperion zoom. With the forecast for a great weekend coming up I was looking for places to go and people to observe with; I met Jay on cloudynights, and he tipped me off to this group. Although I am sure I don't have near the equipment, experience, or knowledge of the people on this list, I hope I can join you for a few outings. I don't have a lot of time to pursue this hobby though so probably won't be hugely active. As far as personal info, I am married and have a couple girls, love to camp, and have a day job doing database stuff. Craig _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com