Looking for a good first DSO scope

[Danielson]

Hi, I'm looking to purchase my first telescope, my budget is £2000, my main interest is DSO, but also want to be able to get great detail with inner solar system objects. I've been looking at the Orion Skyquest XX12g (12"  being my maximum size") so is there anything similar to this scope I should look into? GoTo feature is a must. If I do go with the xx12g, how good would I expect objects to look? really would like to get into astrophotography as well. Can see this being an expensive hobby already haha

I will be looking at decent eyepieces also, such as a few of the TeleVue's

thanks!

[Colsey]

Hi, If you are interested in dso astrophotography its not the best scope for that but fine for webcam imaging of solar system objects. For visual astronomy it is a great scope tho. I have the xt10i and love it. Make sure you know what to expect first tho before dumping all that money into it, it is nothing like what you see in pictures. With visual dso's  you are just chasing fuzzy things most of the time. Go along to a local club meeting if you have one near you.

[swamp thing]

For visual observing of DSO"s it's not the scope you wanna worry about, it's the skies you're observing from.

No point in having a huge scope if your site is light pollution central, unless you can move it.

First, find a dark site, then, work out how big a scope you can take there. Skies first, scope second.

For imaging............... I'll let someone else answer that while I go and sleep. Zzz zzz zzz! It's late here

[Uhwaz]

For imaging............... its the mount you should worry about and not the scope

EQ6 with your budget ( 950 new or there abouts )

SW 250 or SW 200pds or MN190 

EQ6 + MN190 is 1915,- on FLO web so budget gone

or you could get EQ6 + ED80 and big dob for visual

if you serious about imaging buy the best mount you can afford it ll pay off in long run

[jabeoo1]

Danielson where are you based/viewing from ?  This may well decide the things you that you should invest in.  Also why is goto that important ?  Seeing things by finding them by using  patience is a really great part of the hobby.

[Uhwaz]

Danielson where are you based/viewing from ?  This may well decide the things you that you should invest in.  Also why is goto that important ?  Seeing things by finding them by using  patience is a really great part of the hobby.

for some ppl it is but other mite not have the patience

[ronin]

The Orion Skyquest XX12g is a nice visual scope, it is not a good astrophotography scope.

In simplest term the mount is incorrect and then being the size it is, 12", the OTA cannot be moved onto an equitorial mount. It is too big in all practical terms as you would need a very big equitorial mount to hold it. Big as in more then the £2000 on the Orion Skyquest XX12g.

Alternatives are the Skywatcher equivalent, and as Orion do not make scopes but buy them in and rebrand and the main source for Orion is Synta (=Skywatcher) you could be buying the same scope with a different colour and name on it.

The main decision is visual or imaging, if imaging then a rethink is required.

Throw a location into your profile and there may be a club near whereever you are that could be suggested that has an imaging group.

[Danielson]

Danielson where are you based/viewing from ?  This may well decide the things you that you should invest in.  Also why is goto that important ?  Seeing things by finding them by using  patience is a really great part of the hobby.

I'm in a good location in Scotland, right next to the countryside, light polution isn't a problem

[Danielson]

For imaging............... its the mount you should worry about and not the scope

EQ6 with your budget ( 950 new or there abouts )

SW 250 or SW 200pds or MN190 

EQ6 + MN190 is 1915,- on FLO web so budget gone

or you could get EQ6 + ED80 and big dob for visual

if you serious about imaging buy the best mount you can afford it ll pay off in long run

Thank you very much, ill read up on these!

[Danielson]

The Orion Skyquest XX12g is a nice visual scope, it is not a good astrophotography scope.

In simplest term the mount is incorrect and then being the size it is, 12", the OTA cannot be moved onto an equitorial mount. It is too big in all practical terms as you would need a very big equitorial mount to hold it. Big as in more then the £2000 on the Orion Skyquest XX12g.

Alternatives are the Skywatcher equivalent, and as Orion do not make scopes but buy them in and rebrand and the main source for Orion is Synta (=Skywatcher) you could be buying the same scope with a different colour and name on it.

The main decision is visual or imaging, if imaging then a rethink is required.

Throw a location into your profile and there may be a club near whereever you are that could be suggested that has an imaging group.

Visual comes first, imaging will be a nice bonus but nothing serious, perhaps even buy a seperate scope down the line for imaging only.

[NotSoSuperNova]

Some good advice here that I would heed. You're looking at a great visual scope though you may be better buying smaller imaging set up and leaving enough budget for a visual OTA and a couple of decent EP's. £2000 would be plenty enough to cover your bases.

Just a thought even though buying two telescopes instead of one may be a touch daunting.

[Danielson]

The Orion Skyquest XX12g is a nice visual scope, it is not a good astrophotography scope.

In simplest term the mount is incorrect and then being the size it is, 12", the OTA cannot be moved onto an equitorial mount. It is too big in all practical terms as you would need a very big equitorial mount to hold it. Big as in more then the £2000 on the Orion Skyquest XX12g.

Alternatives are the Skywatcher equivalent, and as Orion do not make scopes but buy them in and rebrand and the main source for Orion is Synta (=Skywatcher) you could be buying the same scope with a different colour and name on it.

The main decision is visual or imaging, if imaging then a rethink is required.

Throw a location into your profile and there may be a club near whereever you are that could be suggested that has an imaging group.

Sorry to quote this post again, am I correct in saying the skyliner 300p is the same as the xx12g?

[lonebod]

I'd suggest you look at a scopenfor around £1500 and keep about £500 for eye pieces, power tanks etc. This is considered entry level AP kit from which you can build. http://www.firstlightoptics.com/pro-series/skywatcher-evostar-80ed-pro-heq5-pro.html. one you get started you could start looking at autoguiding etc.

[estwing]

get a second hand 12" dob..£300 ish..a few naglers 12mm, 20mm, x2 powermate...job done,for now!

[RikM]

Sorry to quote this post again, am I correct in saying the skyliner 300p is the same as the xx12g?

More or less the same yes. The view will be same through either. A 12" Dob is a great visual scope provided you have somewhere to store and use it. They are bigger than you imagine when you first get them, they do seem to shrink with time though.

For DSO imaging, you will need very different equipment. The biggest mistake people make is expecting one telescope to be able to do everything but it isn't realistically possible.

[Uhwaz]

i bought couple years back SW200 and i am really happy with it be it AP ( with DSLR ) or Visual, mite not be perfect but as beginner scope its great and i love it. Only thing i regret is not getting better mount as i got EQ5 with goto upgrade 

but thats just my own opinion and others mite disagree

[Danielson]

I decided to take the plunge, I went for a completely manual scope, Skyliner 300p no goto on amazon for £950, it dawned on me that it would take a lot of the fun out of viewing the skies. I also spend over £1000 on a few EP's, TV Nagler 17mm 2", TV Delos 6.0mm 1.25", TV Panoptic 35mm 2" and the TV powermate 2x 2"

Hope I've went with the correct EP's to pair with this scope as I'm still not sure how to calculate the magnification of the EPs with focal length of the scope etc, hoping I've made a good decision with the EPs. Cheers! can't wait!

[lonebod]

The 300p has a focal length of 1500mm. If you take this and divide it by the number of mm for the ep you get the magnification e.g. 1500/35 for you TV panoptic = 42.85 times magnification.

[Danielson]

The 300p has a focal length of 1500mm. If you take this and divide it by the number of mm for the ep you get the magnification e.g. 1500/35 for you TV panoptic = 42.85 times magnification.

Hah! it's that easy huh , I'll get a couple of pics up of my new toys when they arrive. I'm so excited

[Colsey]

You know you could of got that scope for about £100 less from a proper astronomy shop?

[RikM]

The exit pupil on the 35 Pan is a bit on the big side. If your sky is good and dark you may be okay though. You might find you get a bit of a washed out low contrast view if there is any kind of light pollution.

Lovely scope though and the other two eyepieces are perfect. You will probably want something around 12mm as well, it's quite a jump from 17 to 6.

[greglloyd]

I decided to take the plunge, I went for a completely manual scope, Skyliner 300p no goto on amazon for £950, it dawned on me that it would take a lot of the fun out of viewing the skies. I also spend over £1000 on a few EP's, TV Nagler 17mm 2", TV Delos 6.0mm 1.25", TV Panoptic 35mm 2" and the TV powermate 2x 2"

Hope I've went with the correct EP's to pair with this scope as I'm still not sure how to calculate the magnification of the EPs with focal length of the scope etc, hoping I've made a good decision with the EPs. Cheers! can't wait!

You will have a blast with the 300p under dark Scottish skies! I have a 300p as well under N.Irish skies. It's a brilliant scope. 

Astrophotography is not for me. I appreciate that for others it is a serious part of the hobby, but I see it more like taking photos that I can already see online. I prefer to see objects with my own eyes. I've gradually gone up the apertures over the years and the 12" is the start of beginning to see objects like you want to see them. No colour of course, but globs resolved to the core and bright, nebulae well extended (especially with the help of UHC / OIII filter), and some galaxies resolving spiral structure and internal features like nebulae within them.

I viewed through a 16" in Gran Canaria back in June and this give fab views, but not a world away from what my 12" can give under my dark skies. 12" is the watershed moment between smaller apertures and something more powerful that can really begin to give you a visual treat.

Enjoy seeing the objects with your own eyes in your new scope!

Clear Skies