MakeItSo

Hello All, 

I have a quick question. I am thinking (very loosely) about the possibility of a small APO for wide field views to piggyback on my CPC 1100. I am interested in recommendations. At the moment I am not planning on AP. 

I can see that there is a huge range in prices and to be honest I am looking for something thats reasonably decent quality (circa £500 - having no experience with APOs I really don't have a sense as to whether thats quite enough or not really enough). I had looked at the Orion Carbon Fibre 80mm f/6 APO Triplet but its just a bit too much money. 

Please advise...

And many thanks. 

Thanks all!

I am between Sevenoaks and West Malling. I'm looking for an astronomy club so any recommendations would be gratefully received. 

12 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Welcome Simon 🙂

I'm Kent also, medway area and like you only recently started with telescopes. Am reasonably lucky that I'm pretty much atop a hill and a fair bit of woods around the area, the back garden is fairly dark and not too much light intrusion unless neighbours have their garden lights on. No doubt a darker site would improve the viewing so may look at doing that later down the road too.

Hi Dave, 

Yes - I have a paddock out back and its dark...at least I thought so until started researching light pollution and what dark really looks like and realised I was pretty clueless. When you start reading about some targets being fairly easy naked objects and then you struggle to see them through binos it dawns on you that there are many levels darker! This was something I found frustrating initially until I adjusted my expectations to fit my location and the time of year. 

Hi Everyone, 

I am a 45 year old kid who has been reading astronomy and astrophysics books since I was in college. I've spent the past 2 years enjoying the sky with my binoculars and this year took the plunge and bought a CPC 1100 Edge and some good EPs. Its been a fantastic journey so far although I have recently learned that I don't actually know what "true" dark skies are. I live in Kent (Bortle 5 area). Looking forward to the next steps which will probably involve joining an astronomy club and perhaps venturing out to darker spots. 

Looking forward to learning more. 

Have a great weekend All. 

Simon