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Eyup Everyone, let the rambling begin!

ChristopherLeeSmith

By ChristopherLeeSmith
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ChristopherLeeSmith

ChristopherLeeSmith

Posted
Posted

Eyup folks!

Congratulations to me on my first post (on ANY forum EVER may I add!).

Ive been a reader of the forum for some time now so I thought i's take the dive finally.

Alas i'm in need of advice much the same as most first time posters, and as you can from my signature im currently a scopeless astronomer!

I decided to do things the "Proper way" and start out with charts, books and what god gave me, but now I NEED MORE!

My very first scope to be precise, now I've been doing a lot of research over the past few weeks and have read a hell of a lot of the posts here, but I thought I would be more precise and tell you what i'm really after in a scope, highlighted in Green.

NOT A GO-TO!!!

I didn't learn to drive in an automatic so im not going to learn to navigate the stars with one either!

I'm more fascinated with the DEEP SKY objects out there so this has to be taken into consideration, and also it won't be used for Astrophotography, this will come at a later date as will filters, tracking motors, super sexy mounts with all singing all dancing coffee making capabilities.

So basically I have roughly £300 for a decent deep sky scope and mount thats going to keep me entertained for about the next......year or so.

Thank's for anyone who takes the time to read my ramblings, and I look forward to hearing from you!

(P.S, Im not sure if any of you go to Rosliston Astronomy Club, I will be coming down to see you guys one friday soon, It was going to be tonight but I'm a sucker for a bit of overtime, but I'ts paid for my first scope so I'm not complaining)

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BAZ Senior

BAZ Senior

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Hi ChristopherLeeSmith,

A warm welcome to the Lounge.

Well you have set your stall out and I would suggest you have a look at an 8" skyliner Dob.

Dobsonians - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

They have excellent reviews, and are very popular, it offers the best optics on a basic mount for the price.

They are reasonably transportable, so it's not a problem getting it to a dark site, if your home suffers from light pollution.

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MorningMajor

MorningMajor

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Hi Chris and welcome to SGL and the wonderful world of forums.

You don't have to Goto with a Goto, but occasionally it helps, having said that, you get more aperture per buck without spending money on motors so you're probably making a wise choice - a good pair of binoculars are also a great way to start if you need time to save for the scope of choice, and whilst you're waiting, download Stellarium - a great piece of free software which none of us seem to do without!

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Chris and welcome to the forum.

A Dobsonian is really only a description of the way its mounted, so as a newtonian, it will be possible in the future to put rings on it and mount it equatorially for tracking purposes or Goto so there will always be options for you when you're ready.

Clear skies

James

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ChristopherLeeSmith

ChristopherLeeSmith

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Ok I've been looking at the Skyliner 200P, im a little confused as to the mount. Is it as shown, a flat base without a tripod?

Also, second hand.....am i right in thinking I should steer clear of this field, yes I want "bite for my buck", No I dont want scratches on my lenses.

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brantuk

brantuk

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The 200P comes on one of two mounts - Equatorial or Dobsonian. The scope itself is a Newtonian reflector. EQ mounts are usually on a tripod or pier, Dobs are on a rotating base that also allows you to tilt the scope up and down (Altitude and Azimuth or Alt/Az).

If you intend photography you need an EQ mount - in your case you need a Dob as no photography is anticipated. :D

(Edit: You can get some great savings buying second hand so long as you avoid auction sites and stick with astronomers who tend to look after their kit)

Welcome to SGL :)

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brantuk

brantuk

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The 4/5/6/8 SE is a nice scope but it's a Schmitt Cassegraine telescope, totally different to the 200P Newt - and it has goto and tracking.

Sct's have a longer focal length and f-ratios of typically around f-10. This is great for focusing on planets as the view is sharp and contrasty. Same with Maksutovs.

Newtonians are basically light buckets that gather enough photons to view faint deep sky objects (dso's) and typically have low f-ratios of f-5 and down.

Sounds like your criteria are dynamic at the moment Chris :D

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RobH

RobH

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Hello and welcome Chris.

I see that you are interested in DSO's visually.

In this case, it's light gathering power you need more than anything else (apart from skies that are as dark as possible!).

A 4, 5, or even 6 inch scope will be a bit small really in that case, and if you are planning on learning the sky manually, rather than, as you said, driving an automatic :D, then a dobsonian mounted newtonian will give you the most aperture for your money.

For £300 you will be able to pick up an 8 inch dob, which is a good compromise between aperture and portability, or if you don't mind a slightly larger scope, you should be able to get a secondhand 10 inch for that.

Cheers

Rob

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philj

philj

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Hi Christopher and welcome. Your doing it the best way IMHO, learn the sky 1st.

I did this as a lad cos I couldnt afford a scope or binos so when a scope did eventually come my way I was able to track things down relatively easily.

Ive got lazy over the years though and tend to let the goto do the hard work but every so often I use a non goto just to keep my hand in.

Philj

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brantuk

brantuk

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Nothing wrong with having one or the other or both really Chris. Some folks like to learn the sky as a personal ambition - others cos it's necessary with a "push to" scope.

On the other hand Imagers don't want to waste time finding stuff when they could be imaging - so a goto helps save time.

So there's no shame in having either - it's "horses for courses" as they say :D

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DOBBY

DOBBY

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Hiya Chris & welcome to SGL... Dobby by name & dobby by 'scope here...for apeture for ya £ it's hard to beat...i've seen things i never knew existed with mine...I was well happy with seeing saturn last saturday...now i'm on to M numbers...& hooked...

whatever ya go for...happy hunting

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