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New to astronomy and need some help


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Hello everyone, I am 25 years old and live in the United kingdom, London.

I am very interested in space/planets/deep space objects.

I have decided that I want to buy a telescope, and whilst I was searching the web for possible candidates, I was overwhelmed with the amount of choice.

Now as an initial scope I was aiming to spend as little as possible really, just to get to used to things.

My aim/objectives are basically to look at the moon in high details, and also get a close up ish view of some planets in our solar system, saturn, jupiter etc...

Now my question to you fine people is:

Can i realistically meet my goals whilst keeping the cost down?

As I am a single father with a low income, it would take some time to save up for a good telescope, but i was hoping i could buy a cheap one, "just for now"

A friend recommended this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001UQ6E4Y/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=08F3P2720ZPVY637W9FJ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=455333147&pf_rd_i=468294

Can anyone offer some advice, and maybe even suggest some telescopes?

Thanks in advance, and I will check back shortly :)

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As you are London based, perhaps you can come along to a Baker Street Irregular Astronomer star party.  They are free and held once a month in Regent's Park.  There you will get the opportunity to look through many scopes of all shapes, sizes and cost and it will allow you to get not only a sense of whether the astronomy bug has really bitten but also what you can expect to see through different sized apertures.

More details including signing up to the distribution list for notification of meetings here http://www.bakerstreetastro.org.uk/

Clear skies,

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Wander along the the Baker Street Astro at Regents Pk and have a look round first.

Think this months has just gone so you will have to wait a few weeks.

The other question is do you have a car?

I only ask as if in London then you may not need one and so never bothered.

I am not overly keen on the one in the link, I think it is a fast reflector and I think it has a spherical mirror. To me that makes it a difficult scope for easy first time use.

There is a 70mm refractor around at £70-80 - apologies it is more then the other.

From what I can see it may have a couple of basic names but the specification is 70mm dia and 700mm focal length.

Harrison have it as the Skywatcher Mercury 707 70mm it is £85 there.

365 Astronomy have it for £76.40, (365 Astronomy also have a 60mm at £56).

Sherwoods have the 70/700 at £75

The "bad" news, Jupiter has sort of disappeared, Saturn is disappearing and Mars is also disappearing. Until sometime around April next year there is not really going to be much in the way of a planet to see - unless you want to get up at 4:00 in the morning. So with the light evenings I suggest you take your time deciding and looking round.

The 70mm will do quite a lot, with a 7mm plossl you should see Saturns rings (just).

The 70mm refractor will be adaquate for the moon and Jupiter and Saturn. Mars will remain a small red disk, but that is the case for many scopes.

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It may be worth having a look on eBay or Gumtree to see what you can get secondhand. Another possibility (although a long shot) is to post a wanted add on your local Free cycle group, I managed to get a free TAL reflector once through Free cycle.

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Hi Westyy

Really good suggestions to go to a meet. If money is really tight (I'm on a shoestring myself :) ) you could always look at some quality budget binoculars while you explore telescope choices. Bins are a good way to learn your way round the sky. If you're near East London, you're welcome to come have a look through my baby beginners 4.5" reflector and a small gaggle of bins just to get some idea of what stuff 'up there' looks like.

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Wow, you guys are all nice and friendly! Dont often see that on the net, (usually get trolled/flamed for being noobish)

Thanks all I will take into account all the advice offered :)

One more thing I was wondering about, if I have a budget telescope, how would I go about taking some pictures? 

I wouldnt be after amazing award winning quality, just some average snaps of some targets that I find through a scope, isit as simple as pointing my camera down the eye piece or is there more to it than that?

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I would ignore the imaging aspect of astronomy for some time.

I am afraid that imaging tends to be costly, you can get going on a "budget" but there are basic criteria that would have to be met, the most fundimental being a fairly solid equitorial mount that is motor driven at least.

You could get a basic imaging rig for £1200, however 10x that is fairly common and still more is not uncommon. As I said "costly".

You also really need dark skies, otherwise you collect light pollution as much as anything.

One aspect is if you have a DSLR then get a cable release and attach DSLR to a tripod and aim at the sky and get a wide field shot. Still suspect that if in London you could be doomed. This might work well when Orion appears. If you do then try ISO 1600, Full aperture but stopped down 1 or 2 stops, and 20 second exposure.

The Baker Street people may be able to help with regards this again, someone there will have tried it.

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You could get a 6" or an 8" dobsonian, with some extras. They are pretty cheap, and are extremely easy to use. All you have to do is keep the mount, place the scope on top, and you are good to go. You just have to move the telescope in 2 axes, up down which is altitude, and right left which is azimuth. And another advantage is majority of the money goes into the optics. Which is very good for observing.

For imaging, a more detailed and intricate rig is required. You need to have a rock solid mount, and a good fast telescope, preferable a refractor. Also, the focal length needs to be low, so that you can image for a longer duration. On top of that, there is the question of polar alignment, and once done, there is the issue of guiding. It is pretty heavy for a beginner, and takes quite a lot of time to master.

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Very good advice here :-) As allways.

I have started with a 76mm telescope and have a tabletop 76/300 as well.

Neat toy, but if you want years of fun, save up fot a heritage 130p or a 8" dobsonian. Those will show a lot more, and as planets are not visible well once in a while, deepsky should be considered. A 3" Telescope will only show bright DSO as faint smudges, 5" starts to show first details under good condition, 8" will blow you away and shows new things for years.

Imaging- go put the camera on a tripod, without telescope. Later you can build a barndoor and take widefield images up to 200mm. You would be amazed what is possible without a telescope...

Milkyway, Andromeda, star clusters, ...

if you like to tinker you could get a (used) 114/900 telescope tube and build your own dobsonian rockerbox, it's relatively easy, I've designed a rockerbox mount to build with kids (5€, only a handsaw and electric screwdriver is needeed, nothing difficult.)

MOON images are allways possible. Just through the eyepiece, even with a cellphone. Planets are a bit tricky but snapshots are quite possible, too.

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For observing planets you would need aperture and focal length and, as has been said, go for a Dobsonian. Try someone's 2x Barlow lens which will magnify the view. But the image will drift out of view quite quicky! if you like it, get one when you have the funds.

You can image on a Dobsonian but it's tricky. See here:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/63-201-0-0-1-0.html

Alexxx

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Like most discussions...I tend to be the odd one out..

I had your same exact predicament...

Should I start small?  maybe binocs? or a small Celestron refractor?

I thought...stuff that...

I did my own research..mind you, I subscribed to CN and Astronomyforum.

After 2 years (ok ok...i'm obsessive..) I finally decided what I wanted...

But..

This was based on where I live and my budget...

I live in South Africa, can't even compare the light pollution to London..

So,

I purchased a second hand SkyWatcher 10" (250p) as I knew this would (partially)

satisfy my aperture addiction and also give me great views for years to come.

In short...

Planetary scopes will guide you towards refractors...although don't discount Newtonians.

But as any amateur astronomer will tell you...

The true magic is in deep space...

Good Luck !

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I'm brand new to SGL, but not new to the hobby.  You'll get excellent advice here. :smiley:

I'd shy away from the Celestron 76mm Firstscope.  It's fun to let the kids play with, but will disappoint you with its views.  At 76mm, even Saturn will be very small, and DSO viewing will be very limited.  The Skywatcher Heritage 100mm will be slightly better from a planetary perspective, but is still pretty small when it comes to viewing DSO targets.

Refractor-wise, I have a saying: "Junk usually stops above 70mm."  Given that, many suppliers such as Orion & Celestron offer decent 90mm Eq refractors that can serve you well.

Reflectors can come with some added expense, in that they really need to be collimated.  A Cheshire or a laser can fill the need, but there is some additional expense and effort involved. To see what's involved, here's what I often suggest as "the bible" of collimation: http://www.astro-baby.com/collimation/astro%20babys%20collimation%20guide.htm

One more saying that might help in the long run is: "When it comes to DSO's, aperture rules, and Dobs rule aperture."  I'll echo the advice above in saying that you'll be off to a good start in this hobby with either a 6" or 8" Dob.  Both sizes are slow enough not to require expensive multi-stage, multi-lens eyepieces, but with a couple of good Plossls will serve your needs well.

Clear Skies

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All good advice, but don't be scared of imaging - even with a basic setup. Assuming the link below works:

jup1

This was taken with my skywatcher 127 (more than your budget, but still pretty basic) on a fixed mount - a small P&S camera held to the eyepiece recording a movie then stacked in one of the many free programmes...

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