Which telescope for LP sky/ DK sky 5" 8" 10"?

[soronblackwing]

Hi everyone,

I am looking to buy a new telescope, but I want to get the right scope for my sky conditions.

I live at the edge of a very large town so LP is probably going to be an issue. There is a dark site nearby but only open on Friday nights.

I have just over £500 available and was looking at the following scopes:

Any dob 8" or 10" or nexstar 5se or skymax 127

I want something portable for if I go to dark sites but will mostly be used at home in the garden in my LP area.

What would everyone recommend I get?

I would like to be able to get good planet detail and all Messier objects pretty well from home and a lot more from a dark site. A big ask I know. I'll compromise portability for a good improvement from home site.

I was all set to get a 10" dob but am having second thought after seeing a lot of threads about how LP effects 10"+ telescopes plus it might be difficult to transport if I need to go to dark sites often.

I'm looking for simple to setup hence all being altaz/dob mounts.

Can a dob be setup on grass at a park or would it be to unstable? As a large forestry park is nearby which I could venture to for a dark site location on occasion.

Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[stevend]

From a Nexstar 127 owner; storage and portability were key to me and I am very happy with my (first) scope. You state a £500 budget so I would consider the following if buying the same;

- see if you can get a deal to replace the stock mount with something sturdier. The SLT mount is adequate but no more and I put a 5kg weight on the accessory tray to help stabilise the OTA. Not a showstopper but something I may think about in future.

- you will need a power supply, I use a car jump starter and it does the job for me but there are other options out there to consider.

- ditto a dewshield, fwiw I went the homemade route

- you will need EPs but this does not need to be at day one (I waited a month), but you will need them as the stock ones are not great. I use the BSTs but the Hyperion zoom is another consideration.

I hope that helps. It took me about two months to decide which scope to get and I think that is why I have got the right one for my needs at the moment, so I do recommend you take your time, but it is worth it, my scope has given me much more enjoyment than I anticipated beforehand.

[AstroAdam]

I've been observing with my 8", both as a Dob and mounted on an HEQ5, from LP sites for years.  Works very well  I find that the smaller apertures don't cut it as much under LP skies, but then that may be just me...!

A good LP filter can help a bit depending on the type of lights you have around you...  Can mean the difference between seeing a fain fuzzy and not.

[rowan46]

I would go for the 8" dob  if you have a car. The best defence against light pollution is portability. But if you intend to use it mainly at home in a fairly light polluted site the next best defence is apparture. fortunately if you are a car owner the 8" dob combines the 2 its big enough to see a lot from almost anywhere and small enough for 1 person to put in a car and if things are really bad big enough to benefit from filters. it's also well inside your budget.

[NGC 1502]

The idea that a larger aperture is more affected by light pollution than a smaller one is not what so many in the astronomy community have found.

Wherever you are, in town or at a dark site, aperture wins.

As portability is a an issue for you, a good move if poss would be to get to a dealer that has a showroom with scopes you can look at, feel the weight, and see if it fits into your car.

Most 8" and 10" Dobs have a similar tube length, because on most of them the focal length is about the same, usually 1200mm or thereabouts.  It's focal length that governs the tube length. The 10" will of course have a larger diameter tube and weigh more.   The tube of my 10" Dob fits across the back seat of my car, an important consideration for me.

HTH Ed.

[soronblackwing]

Thanks for all the replays

I am going to take all your advice onboard and go to a the most local telescope retailer to me and give them all a good look in person and see how they feel and if they will fit in my car.

As you have all agreed, portability will probably be the key factor and at this point the best option is the 8" or 10" if I can get it in the car. If they don't fit then I'll be going for the smaller aperture and travelling more.

I will do what everyone sways says " get the scope you will use most"

Thanks everyone

[bish]

The 10" has been ideal for me. I can see more under severe light pollution than with my old 6". It's not too heavy to move around and it fits in the car easily to take to star parties.  Having said that I will probably get a smaller scope for the times that the wife and dogs come with me!

[swamp thing]

 The best defence against light pollution is portability. 

^^^This. take it from another in a LP area. Nothing beats dark skies. If you can get to dark skies this is BY FAR the best policy.

Be warned though, dark skies bring aperture fever.

[soronblackwing]

Yeah, I have to say I'm obsessive with my hobbies and only the best will do.

Thankfully I have the best defence against both obsession and aperture fever.....my wife!

I get obsessive....> I sleep outside! (With my telescope) seems the perfect obsession for me

but a 10" dob will be my limit so that being the case I better buy the biggest first.

Thanks for the advice

One final question is which brand? I can get SW solid/collapsible, revalation or maybe the Orion skyquest if there is some in stock

I lean towards the revalation as it seems to have a higher accessory spec but the mirror isn't Pyrex. Is that a bad thing and is anyone of the brands better than the others?

[NGC 1502]

 but the mirror isn't Pyrex. Is that a bad thing and is anyone of the brands better than the others?

There's lots of opinion on the advantages of low expansion glass for telescope mirrors ( Pyrex and others ) but here's a good article on the subject - scroll down for the relevant section -

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/four-infamous-telescope-myths/

And this - http://www.rfroyce.com/pyrex.htm

Regards, Ed.

[scarp15]

Yeah, I have to say I'm obsessive with my hobbies and only the best will do.

Thankfully I have the best defence against both obsession and aperture fever.....my wife!

I get obsessive....> I sleep outside! (With my telescope) seems the perfect obsession for me

but a 10" dob will be my limit so that being the case I better buy the biggest first.

Thanks for the advice

One final question is which brand? I can get SW solid/collapsible, revalation or maybe the Orion skyquest if there is some in stock

I lean towards the revalation as it seems to have a higher accessory spec but the mirror isn't Pyrex. Is that a bad thing and is anyone of the brands better than the others?

Quite agree, you have set your mind on this, anything else will in time become a compromise. The 250 Skywatcher flextube manual would therefore be a good choice. Be prepared to lug it into the car, but you will soon get use to that. You will need to include the light shroud and in addition make a dew shield with camping mat material to use at home and so assist in keeping out stray light from entering the optical light path.

[Daniel-K]

Yeah, I have to say I'm obsessive with my hobbies and only the best will do.

Thankfully I have the best defence against both obsession and aperture fever.....my wife!

HA hasn't stopped me!

Get the 10" get to a dark site then you will really see what aperture can do. my old 10" dob at a dark site was better than my 14'" from home.

[szymon]

Just as a thought...for just over £500 I managed to buy (second hand) a Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Synscan mount and Skywatcher 200P OTA (which came with a Skywatcher autofocusser, a dew shield, OTA rings, dovetail and a bunch of other stuff).  The 8" aperture is great, and I far prefer using the Skywatcher with its motorised mount than I do a dobsonian.  Even when starhopping manually, the motorised mount makes it so easy to move around accurately, while with the dob it's more of a chore.

Since you say you don't like EQ mounts (and therefore won't be imaging), you could certainly get an AltAz mount with enough capacity to hold and move around an 8" newt stably enough for visual...

-simon

[Charic]

If my telescope somehow got stolen or crushed , I would replace it with another solid tube Skyliner OTA. Even from my slighty, light polluted observatory, the "8" works well, but the "10" will offer a slightly larger image scale, capture more light and probably show a liitle more Coma? Not that I notice it! The BST EP's should be ok on a "10" scope. If portability is not an issue, then you may even consider a "12" telescope which has about twice the ability of the "8" telescope?

[hazegood]

fro dark skies near you depending on where in Sheffield you are winscarr reservoir at Dunford bridge is pretty good, always open, post code is S36 forgot the last part,

Leigh