Dr Strange

Welcome aboard Mick!

Welcome to SGL Sam

I am afraid the poster above me is correct. Neither is a great starting scope. Furthermore one is a wide field and the other is a much more narrow field scope. The refractor is the wide field and the Mak Cas is much more narrow. So it will present two different views for you. The key difference is the field of view which determines how much of a given object you can see. A wide field scope will be good for very big stuff. For example big open clusters. However it will not provide much magnification and detail. A narrow field scope will mean you get more magnification but see a more narrow field of view so the big open clusters will not fit in the field of view. Frankly better options in the price range you are looking at would be the Skywatcher AZ-GTi packages. It is going to be a better quality, is more feature rich, will give you the option of GOTO or star hopping or both at the same time, will give you brighter and more detailed views of stuff, and will do better for you overall starting out. I would recommend one of the two following. The first is the 130mm Newtonian on the AZ-GTi. The second is the 127mm Mak on the AZ-GTi. The former will be a more "general use" scope. By that I mean you will get wider field views and will be more appropriate for most objects that we look at out there including planets, the moon, large deep space objects (DSO), and do OK on smaller DSO. The latter will be more geared towards smaller DSO, planets, and the moon. The former is £359 and the latter will be £445. AZ-GTi 130mm Newtonian: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az-gti.html AZ-GTi 127mm Mak: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-skymax-127-az-gti.html

Andrew With that budget the EdgeHD 8" and Esprit 100 are likely the best option for you.

You will want both a reflector and a refractor. Since you did not specify a budget and mentioned two higher end scopes I will base my recommendation off of that. On the reflector side you have two options. One more affordable (relatively) than the other. The more affordable one will be the Celestron EdgeHD 203mm/8" SCT. Reason being is it gives refractor like views when properly cooled and collimated. In order to help it cool quickly you will want the TEMPest fans from Deep Space Products in the USA. They are made for EdgeHD scopes and go in the cooling vent area. 150mm is really the better starting point for someone just starting out visually since it will make objects brighter and at better "scale" thus allowing you to subjectively "see" more. It can also be used for Astro Photography (AP) down the road. It will be £1,274 for just the optical tube assembly. I provide a link below to it as well as the other scopes I mention. The much more expensive option in the reflector category will be the Takahashi Mewlon 210. In this case you do get what you pay for. I have owned the Celestron 8" and 11" EdgeHD scopes. Both perform well for their price point. However the Mewlon (which I also own) is significantly better on small deep space objects (DSO) and planets than either EdgeHD. It acts more like a 9-10" SCT than a 8" one. After seeing one in action I sold my EdgeHD scopes and bought a 210. To give you an example Jupiter was my 3rd to last favorite planet. My order of preference was: Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Mars, Jupiter, Venus in terms of the visible ones we normally look at. Until I looked at it in my 210. Wow! Blew my doors off! I caught four of the Galilean moons that were amazing to see and crisp and clear. There were multiple shades of orange and brown on the planet instead of the normal two shades of baby poop brown and orange normally seen in the EdgeHD's. It became my 3rd favorite behind Saturn and Uranus which are two of my favorites and really good to view in the 210. DSO like gobulars are also well resolved in it. M13 looks like someone spilled sugar on a black table cloth. However it is a couple thousand more than the 8" EdgeHD. It is £3,045. In terms of Refractors the decision is a lot easier. The Skywatcher Esprit 100 is dead on the best value for the money. It comes with everything you need to image or view with expect for an eyepiece or camera. There are more expensive options out there but the performance does not justify the extra cost by that much of a margin. You pay a significant amount more for about a 10%ish improvement. The 100 is a good middle ground. It gives you wide field views but isn't as heavy as its sister 120. It is also a "fast" (low f/stop) scope at f5.5 compared to other scopes that are around f/7. It is £1,575. The Evo scopes are doublets which mean focus will be softer (not as sharp and clear), there will be some false color in them, and to manage that color they are very slow for AP at f/8 since faster than that you will see quite a bit more false color. All of the scopes I list will work well on the HEQ5 though for visual the AZ-EQ5 will likely be the better option since alt/az is always better than EQ for visual use since it is much more comfortable to use the telescope since it isn't put in sometimes awkward positions. Celestron 8" SCT: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/optical-tube-assemblies/celestron-edge-hd-series.html Mewlon 210: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/takahashi-mewlon-reflector-telescopes/takahashi-mewlon-210-f11-5-dall-kirkham-reflector.html Esprit 100: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/esprit-professional-refractors/skywatcher-esprit-ed-100-pro-triplet.html

The AZ-GTi can handle it but it will shake every time you touch the scope including to focus it. At the £500 mark you can sacrifice 23mm and go back to a 127mm Mak at £445 and get a really good for its price point 127mm Mak and light weight/compact GOTO mount with the 127mm Mak AZ-GTi combination from Skywatcher: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-skymax-127-az-gti.html

I use https://www.tonightssky.com/MainPage.php it allows you to put in your lat/lon and specify what you would like to see by difficulty of the object to see as well as what objects you are interested in. For my light pollution I don't go lower than "small scope" for limiting magnitude and do a run on open clusters, planets, and double stars then sort based on constellation for the report. After that I do a run on galaxies, nebulae, comets, and globular clusters using the "easy" for limiting magnitude. I export both to a .CSV file, open Excel, sort it according to constellation then object type and use it to generate an observing list. For dark sky trips I go much deeper on the list and tend to leave off doubles and open clusters since I can see both easily from home. I have a sheet music stand ($25 USD) and a clip on light that I put a piece of red tape over to create a red light. This sits next to me and I can make notes as well as go through the list.

I would second this recommendation. Alternatively if you want to do this on a more limited budget the Star Adventurer is a good option for very wide field low cost imaging with the camera you have. It works well for its price point.

Unfortunately during the current situation stock is limited and manufacturing is delayed. While I live in the US I do use EU dealers when the pricing is better or I need (really want since I don't actually NEED it) something that is out of stock here. Perhaps you can look over here across the pond for the equivalent (I believe we have different names for the same or similar products) to what you want...

Welcome aboard!

Hello and welcome

I have and love the AZ-GTi mount. It is compact, does a yeoman's duty in terms of performance even over its weight rating (there are shakes when I use my Tele Vue NP101is but I expected that and it settles within about a second), is accurate, is easy to work with, and it is light weight. I highly recommend it. There are options in terms of packages or you can roll your own. For example the Skywatcher Evostar 120 will work on the mount. More optimally a 80-102mm refractor is a good option for travel including airline.

The better option would be a combination kit that you can easily move around with. The Skywatcher AZ-GTi mount would work well for that. Add to it a 80-102mm refractor like the Explore Scientific 80mm APO or 102mm APO (depending on your budget) for double stars and large DSO and a Skywatcher 127mm Mak for the moon and planets. Double stars, open clusters, the moon, and planets are not that impacted by light pollution. Other DSO like globulars and galaxies as well as nebulae are going to be and dark skies are important. I would buy the 80mm ED Essentials Explore Scientific and the AZ-GTi 127mm Mak combination as well as a 11mm and 18mm Explore Scientific 82 degree eyepiece. This combination will not be cheap but will serve you really well.

Excellent point Robin. Slapping my forehead because of my stupidity. The Rigel would work much better!

That is the one.

The main difference will be field of view and perceived magnification. The Skywatcher is going to give you a wide field where you can see more stuff in the eyepiece but objects will look smaller. The 5/6SE will mean a more narrow field of view with less stuff in the eyepiece to look at but objects will look bigger and you will see more detail on them. By stuff I mean stars for the most part. The other big difference will be size. The HEQ5 and Skywatcher will be quite large and heavier. However the SE is really not designed for astro photography (AP). It can be done but you are really limited to about 10-15 second exposures. The HEQ5 is designed to do AP. And you can expect 90 second+ exposures without having to guide. Guiding is where you have a second camera take pictures and send updates/changes to the mount to keep whatever you are imaging in the same place on the camera. So you will want to decide what your main purpose it. If it is looking at things as well as portability then the 6SE will be the better choice. If it is taking pictures then the HEQ/Skywatcher will be the better choice. However there is a "best of both worlds" option. That would be buying the HEQ5/Skywatcher and getting one of the Skywatcher AZ-GTi packages. The AZ-GTi package will be easy to take with you camping. The closest you will get to the 6SE would be their 127mm Skymax package. You could also just buy a 6" SCT Optical Tube Assembly (OTA). Something to keep in mind. For visual quality aperture is king. That means the bigger the scope with the best lenses or mirrors you can afford is what you want because you will see more detail and objects will be brighter. There is a caveat there. That being too big and too heavy and you will look for reasons not to use it. Many people get into this hobby, get hooked, then go on a "aperture fever" binge getting bigger and bigger mounts and telescopes until they realize that they went too big and too heavy. For AP aperture is way down the list. it is quality of the mount followed by quality of lenses or mirrors and the camera used. Bigger is not better in AP. Here are some links to the products I am talking about: AZ-GTi Skymax: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-skymax-127-az-gti.html AZ-GTi Explorer 130 (this is nice because it will give you much wider views than the Skymax): https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-az-gti-wifi/sky-watcher-explorer-130ps-az-gti.html Celestron 6" OTA: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/optical-tube-assemblies/celestron-c6-xlt-optical-tube-assembly.html

Welcome Ron!

Welcome aboard Dan! Good scope to start with. I would recommend getting Turn Left at Orion and the Sky and Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas (PSA). Both books will help you explore the cosmos. The PSA will be your roadmap. An option would be to replace the Red Dot Finder on the scope with a Telrad. The Telrad makes star hoping easier and is about £38. Well worth the cost. The PSA also has directions on how to make a ring to use with the PSA to find things.

The Bresser is a fast scope at f/5.9. So is the Skywatcher. That will mean that you will have chromatic aberration (CA) issues on bright objects like planets and bright stars. That means a purple or yellow haze around the object. How much this will bother you depends on how sensitive to CA you are. I am very sensitive to CA and it drives me to distraction. So Achromatic telescopes are not an option for me. The ED element will attenuate this issue somewhat but not by much. A better option would be the 120 Evostar by Skywatcher. It is much slower at f/8. I have looked through The Explore Scientific version of the Bresser and the 120 Evostar. The ES 102 had a significant amount of CA in it on bright objects. The 120 didn't have anywhere near as much. The 120 is a the top of the weight and moment arm capabilities of the AZ-GTi but it can handle it. I use my Tele Vue NP101is on my AZ-GTi. It is 5.4kg. There are shakes that settle in under a second with it but I expected that going in and am OK with it. Another thing to consider is that for visual quality (note I said quality meaning the best you can get) aperture is important. A 102 is nice but when you get into the 120 class it is an entirely different experience. In general quality being the same every 20ish mm of aperture increase is a big step in a refractor up to about 150mm. After 150 it gets stupid expensive, stupid heavy, and stupid big. 120-130 is considered the "sweet spot" for a refractor.

#3

As noted above, you need to calibrate the StarSense (SS). You will need to repeat this calibration each time you remove the SS and put it back on the scope. That will get you where you need to be to use it.

Start slow and build up to guiding. Astrophotography (AP) is a very complex part of the hobby. And doing too much too soon can be very frustrating and discouraging. As that is a full frame camera (if I remember right) you want a very wide image circle. In addition you will want a flattener. With that in mind the 80mm Esprit will come with everything you need except a camera or eyepiece to image or view with. It will be more expensive than the 80mm ED but when you factor in all the additional things you will need to get to use the 80 ED then it really shrinks that price difference.

It is a good starter telescope. Check out the book Turn Left at Orion. Another good book is the Pocket Sky Atlas from Sky and Telescope. Both are good starting points. I believe it uses a 1.25"/31.75mm focuser which means any 1.25" eyepiece (EP) should work in it.

Welcome to both of you! This is a great hobby and a great thing to share with your daughter.

Welcome aboard! I work for a USA .gov that puts me in situations that are not very nice. I too use the hobby as a way to clear my mind of the bad things I face regularly at work. Glad you have found a way to decompress and take time to address the stress of your job. And with that said thank you very much for doing what you do for your fellow citizens! You are a hero!