Newbie 'what telescope' advice....!

[Mattham]

Hi All

Absolute newbie here, I’ve had a lifelong interest in science and physics and the cosmos and after my wife badgered me about what present I wanted for my 40th have decided that I would really like to turn my intellectual interest into looking at the skies.

I know there are a load of ‘which telescope should I buy’ threads, but I’m afraid, here is another one!!!

I have been a lurker on the forum for a fair while and have read lots of advice and helpful tips for newbies but I am still really undecided on what to get.

I live in Luton and have discovered via light pollution maps that this is a pretty polluted area, however I am right at the northern tip where the pollution drops off a bit, and am only 5 mins from some fairly low polluted countryside I think.

I also have an interest in photography in general and have a fairly good DSLR, and I guess this is the root of where my indecision is coming from.  I think I have identified 4 contenders for various reasons, around £200-£300ish linked below….

http://www.tringastro.co.uk/sky-watcher-explorer-130p-synscan-az-goto-telescope-528-p.asp

http://www.tringastro.co.uk/sky-watcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian-telescope-454-p.asp

http://www.tringastro.co.uk/sky-watcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian-telescope-451-p.asp

http://www.tringastro.co.uk/celestron-nexstar-130-slt-356-p.asp

I think I have worked out that the 200P is the ‘best’ telescope in terms of the view I would get.  I have also figured out that it’s probably the easiest, along with its smaller brother the 150P to effectively ‘point and shoot’ and see something.  How much value would I get out of the 200P compared to the 150P?  Does the relative light pollution play any part in a decision of the 150P vs the 200P?

Also, I am not absolutely convinced of my ability to find things versus having a computer/motor to do it for me, coupled with my interest in photography in general, I’m wondering if the Sky-watcher 130 Goto or Celestron 130 Nexstar may be a more flexible compromise for me in terms of reducing absolute performance – slightly?  Loads? – and having the convenience of some computer/motor and the ability to track for photography.  It does seem as though photography is a fair bit of faff though, but the thought of looking at my own photos of celestial objects and understanding my place amongst them is really very appealing!  Does the setup have to be run every time you turn the Goto or Nexstar on?  How tricky is it to do?

Any advice on the above would be great…..I think all of the telescopes I’ve linked are pretty good at what they do, its thoughts on the compromises around location and pollution vs bigger mirror vs (perceived) convenience and ability to track for photography that I’m really interested in!!

I live relatively close to Tring Astronomy Centre, it has good reviews on the forum so am going over there the week after next, but if I could get some ideas from you guys before I go and therefore don’t make a complete fool of myself when I go, that would be fab….

Hope all of that makes sense – as a newbie if I have some things back to front or plain wrong, please go easy on me!!

Thanks for any and all advice and help,

Matt

[Marki]

Hi and welcome Matt

The 200mm dob does seem a great value scope, and many people will tell you (rightly) how rewarding it is to manually find your way around the sky. As a mainly visual person myself, I still really like the convenience of having goto and tracking  - more time on target (important when my time is limited), easier to find targets in light polluted skies (and in dark skies too where there are almost too many stars to confuse me when star-hopping to a target). Many goto systems have a park setting which remembers your settings (assuming you don't move the mount), but you may have to enter time/date each time, as well as aligning on bright stars etc. Its pretty easy after the first time though .

More experienced members can point you better for photographic advice, but in general an equatorial mount is prefereable to an alt-az mount for anything more than really short exposure photography - may be something to bear in mind at some point. There is not simple one-size fits all in terms of telescope/mount/camera arrangements for imaging/visual and ideal rigs vary depending what target type you have in mind, as I'm sure you'l know from reading the various forums here!

Good idea to go to a shop (or club) and actaully see the size of the kit too - don't be afraid to take your time and ask loads of questions, I'm sure the staff at Tring will be pleased to help you.

Good luck with you decision though

[ronin]

There seems 3 things that have to be decided on: Astrophotography, Goto, Manual.

For AP you need a good mount, preferably goto a relatively small scope. So big mount small scope.

For visual you need somewhat the opposite, a small mount that will take the scope and a big scope to collect light. So small mount big scope.

So both are mouint and scope but mount and scope are different.

Goto is really becoming "normal" these days, makes life both easier and more difficult.

Easier in that the system should wander off and find the next object of your desire, worse in that you need to supply data and set it up, and you need stuff called electricity to power the whole lot. A simple manual dobsonian mount with the newtonian scope is pleasant in that it have no complicated bits to cause problems, well at least generally no problems.

One aspect is to get a mount for imaging, say the HEQ5 or the iOptron CEM25, or bigger, then stick a visual scope on it and later get an imaging scope. The mount is big enough to handle both.

A lot will also depend on where you are - light pollution, do you drive, intending to join a club (Bedford has a fairly large club, also St Neots, Sandy and one or two others I think. If you are in a dark village then something like an 80mm ED will show a lot, without immediatly the need to get a 200P Newtonian. I think the Bedford club is quite involved in the imaging aspect.

[Flyingfuzz]

Take a look at the Skywatcher Star Discovery 150p. Its on the new goto mount with freedom find, this lets you manually move the scope without loosing alignment. I have just upgraded to this scope and can tell you it's a great bit of kit, portable so getting out to dark sky's is easy but big enough to see those elusive objects.

[nameunknown]

It's got to be the usual advice - no rush, go along to a local "star party" and try out what they have there - see what you like before "you" buy (and do take the wife along - just so she knows you are not getting a bit too close to Venus).

P

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi Matt, welcome.

[laudropb]

Hello and a arm welcome to the SGL. Lots of good advice above.

[ollypenrice]

There are two kinds of tracking mount, alt azimuth and equatorial. Both follow an object across the sky for you but only one can be used for long exposure photography and that's the equatorial. Fast frame 'webcam' images can be captured to a good standard on a tracking alt-az but not deep sky.  It is very important to understand this. In the alt az the field of view slowly rotates even though the object remains centred.

The the next thing to understand is that long exposures don't just require a tracking equatorial mount, they require a good one. Not all the advertisers make this clear and many 'blurbs' suggest that mounts have everything you need for long exposure photography. In reality poor quality makes the budget ones useless.

If your budget is in the 200P ballpark then, in my opinion, the best thing to buy is a 200P. It doesn't do everything but everything it does do it does well.

Olly

[Ricochet]

If you think you can manage manually finding things then of the options listed I would go for an 8" dob as it will give you the best deep sky views. For planetary views all of those listed will be able to give you the 200X magnification the UK atmosphere limits us to so the difference isn't so important. None of those options are really suitable for photography but if you do get into photography at some stage then you'll probably want a second scope anyway so that you've got something to look through while babysitting the camera scope.

You might also want to consider something like this http://www.tringastro.co.uk/sky-watcher-star-adventurer-astro-photo-bundle-6844-p.asp as a cheap intro to astrophotography as it just sits between the DSLR you've already got and the tripod I assume you've also got.

Also, when you pull onto the little industrial estate that Tring Astro is on turn left, drive all the way to the end where you'll find some spaces ahead marked Tring Astro and then the showroom is up the stairs to the left.

[Mattham]

Wow, thanks all, this is absolutely mind boggling stuff to be honest....and that's before I even get out and have a look in the sky!

So, imaging seems way too complex and is now a no-no but I may look into it in the future.

I think then the main decision comes down to a manual dob and the biggest mirror vs a smaller one but with some electronics.

I've been reading another thread in this forum about goto or no goto and seems people are pretty much split on the issue.

I would be absolutely gutted if I got a manual like a dob 150P or 200P and then found I was so frustrated at finding things and them keeping them in view that it became too much trouble, but equally I would be frustrated if I had some electronics but the scope was not that great....but then you add in batteries etc and something that was maybe over budget but to an 'acceptable' level all of a sudden becomes quite a lot over budget.

Looking at something like a dob 150P for instance and comparing it against the star discovery 150P goto, its basically double the price for a similar scope but with some gizmos...

So.....dob 200P or 150P star discovery goto....forget electronics, how appreciable is the difference in the 'quality' of the scopes?

I guess another of my thoughts with the dob, other than my own ability to find targets is that there is no upgrade path, or at least no reasonable one, but with one of the goto type, I think I'm right in assuming that I may be able to uprade the scope if I found I 'outgrew' it?

I also appear to be only a five minute drive from some fairly dark skies according to the light pollution map I found so would something like the 150P star discovery be more portable?

Sorry for the new set of points and questions....!

Thanks again...

Matt

[happy-kat]

Good idea to spend time at this stage considering your needs as you want to end up with a telescope you will use.

[CABBAGES]

Im considering the same scopes as you for my niece./
I keep going back and forward between the 130slt and the 200p dob and now the Skywatcher Star Discovery 150p that flying fuzz mentioned might be best of both worlds ?
Im actually thinking of getting one of them for my niece and the other for myself. Would that be a silly idea ?