Computer Controlled Scopes - Advise please.

[Stavros]

Hi all,

I'd like your thoughts and opinions please on the 3 scopes I'm looking at...

The reason for choosing a computer controlled scope is that for a novice such as myself I can hit the ground running so to speak and find objects in sky much easier. Or so they claim !!

Another consideration was obviously budget, if you notice they're all similarly priced from £360 - £400. I do not want to spend more than this.

When I'm not touring the nights sky I'd also like to attach a DSLR, I've read about the T-rings etc so I'm not looking for set up advise just yet, just which scope would suit my broad needs really.

To begin with I'd like to photograph the lunar landscape. I'm not looking at images from Humble and expecting the same results!  - I'll be happy with sharp Moon shots of new moons, full moons and creators etc.

Celestron Nexstar 102 SLT computerised-refractor-telescope - Wex Photographic £359

Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT computerised-telescope - Wex Photographic £395

Celestron Nexstar 4se computerised-telescope - Wex Photographic £399

My gut feeling is with the 4SE BUT I have no user experience to back up my gut feeling. 

Feel free to suggest an alternative but please remember I want something easy to use with the option of lunar photography.

Many thanks.

[Tinker1947]

FLO the site sponsors could be cheaper all round, certainly better backup

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/slt-series/celestron-nexstar-127-slt.html

[brantuk]

A dslr is more suited to long exposure deep sky photography - totally the opposite required for very near bright objects like the moon and planets. For that you need a fast frame rate quick exposure camera like a webcam or any of the many available astronomy planetary cameras. You take the best frames and stack and process them to create your sharp images. The stacking software is free fortunately - google Registax for starters.

[laudropb]

For lunar and planetary work I would go for the 127 Mak.

[michael8554]

Hi Stavros

If you only wanted to do the moon you don't need a computer controlled scope - it's pretty obvious where the moon is  !

But you will inevitably want to expand your horizons so to speak.

Perversely a computer controlled scope helps a beginner grasp the scale of the constellations and to find objects, but these scopes are also difficult for a beginner to understand and correctly set up.

You have listed two long-focus setups that would be good for the moon and planets, with a webcam, as Brantuk suggests.

And one short-focus that would be better for visual use on star clusters, the mount is not really suitable for long exposures with a DSLR.

Michael

[michael8554]

All I would say about how easy a computerised setup is - for starters, how many beginners will know which star, inevitably not in the FOV of the finder, should they move the scope to in order to complete a 1 or 2-star alignment?

Michael

[baggywrinkle]

The 4SE GOTO system allows you to pick any star without naming it, providing you have entered dates, time and timezone correctly and aligned the finder with the telescope which is a simple daytime job.

Not sure about the other two Celstron offers, but I would expect them to be the same.

The MAK provides the best magnification but sacrifices field of view. The 4SE is F13 so much the same as the Mak but the Mak has better light grabbing.

The 102 has the wider field of view but a lower maximum magniification of 200X, But in the UK how often do we get good sharp seeing?

My money would be on the Mak127.

I have the Skywatcher version and it is my grab and go.

[PeterCPC]

+1 for Mak 127

Peter

[happy-kat]

This has even more apperature 150mm, a goto and freedom find mount and in budget £359. Good for dso and planets.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150p.html

Not used it myself just an idea in budget.

The unknown is whether a dslr would reach focus.

[Astro Imp]

Please be aware you need to factor in the cost of some way of powering your scope. There have been loads of threads here where difficulties have been caused by insufficient or unsuitable power supplies.

[BritAngler]

If you are going to buy a power tank, I'd choose the 17AH version over the 7AH one.

The batteries in these power tanks don't like being run down to much less than 1/2 capacity before being recharged, so that reduces your viewing time to 3.5 hours (or 8.5 hours with the 17AH). Also, if the Goto motors are like the ones on my mount, they use 2 Amps, cutting the viewing time down even more - 1.75 hours (or 4.25 hours).

These power tanks get a lot of bad press simply because people run them all the way down before recharging them, but doing that reduces the amount of charge they can hold until eventually they are thrown away and labelled (wrongly) as rubbish. All it takes is to use them with a little care, and don't forget to recharge them on a monthly basis even if you haven't used them. Another thing is, you can buy a replacement 22AH battery for them for about £50, though the connectors will need widening slightly for them to fit.

[Stavros]

Thank you all for your feedback, there's a lot of information to digest and I fully intend to do just that.

Stu

[Stavros]

Well today I placed my order for the 127SLT from Wex Photographic, happily for me the price has come down also ! £345, down £50 from when I posted the original question.

Looking forward to playing with my new toy!

[Stavros]

No doubt there will be plenty of questions to follow ! 

Thanks for your help Ed.

[Dave In Vermont]

The Celestron power-tank suggested - above - in both the 7 AH & 17 AH variant - is offered by many other firms as well - simply branded differently. Mine says 'Orion' on it. These are good. But like most batteries, it does need to be re-charged on a regular basis. Whether it has been used or not. So, if you get one, mark a date, monthly, on your to-do list and try to stick to it. If you want to run it down for fun, get the necessary AC-plug - to - auto-cigarette-plug converter and let it run your laptop computer until the 'YELLOW' light on the indicator pops on. You'll be amazed at how quickly this happens!  

Running a Go-To telescope only drains it slowly. That and a few USB-plugs last all night. Just 'sleep' or 'hibernate' your 'puter when it's not needed. And please read the manual that should come with it.

Many of the things like this us astro-people use are available out there offered by different firms for different applications. But when they are branded for 'Astronomers" - the price tends to go up into orbit. So I suggest you shop around before plunking down your $£€¥. Examples abound!

Have fun -

Dave