My hopeful student setup - Refractor, Reflector, Solar, Imaging etc.

[Adz]

Well hello all,

I will like to spill my plans for a selection of kit for myself in the future.

I don't have loads of money, but my passion for astronomy is always going to be around, so I see that making investments for a wide variety of kit will be wise. I understand that not one scope can do every job, on the contrary I would like to have a selection

Currently (In my signature also) I have:

> a pair of binoculars - for wide views and beginning stuff

> an 8" dobsonian light bucket - for nebula, galaxy hunting etc. But the ruitine collimation does put me off somewhat

> A canon 350d slr - only been used on shots of the moon

> A webcam - used for planetary imaging, i hope to progress to solar as well with it.

> Some high quality eyepieces

Now some of you may say this is a great setup. But some things have been bothering me and like they say it is always better to get it off your chest. I love hearing every ones contributions and opinions.

The dobsonian is just manageable for me, I have to drive to a dark site. But the collimation is just plain annoying. I also do not like the thought that if I haven't got exactly right (which is most of the time), that I am not getting the best out of my scope/session/eyepieces/imaging. All these play on my mind.

With a refractor the collimation is practically non existent right? The package is smaller etc etc you all know the perks anyways it appeals to me.

I am thinking of keeping the dobsonian, but planning to buy a refractor in the future. An achro is okay but suffers from chromatic abberation right? An appochromatic elimates the purple fringing I have got that.

I definitely dont have the time or money for DSO imaging. But I am fairly confident I can get some great results with my webcam and and bit of patience on planets and the sun.

So without realing off hundreds on questions to add onto my boring essay, I would like to know a couple of things.

What mount for this type of imaging, and a fairly impressive refractor?

What refractor? I believe the Tal to be good but maybe I should save up to elimate CA?

What mount would happily hold this type of scope, I dont think I can afford anything more than an eq5 with drive motors... I dont want Goto, I can find the easy stuff

I am going to get a coronado pst for the solar maximum coming up also.

So I would have solar - pst, moon + planets - refractor, dso - dobsonian, wide clusters - binocs.

What do people think?

Adam

[jgs001]

Adam, that's a tough one to answer... If you want to do imaging, you need a decent mount. Doesn't matter if it's for Deep Sky or Lunar or Planetary. For Deep Sky you need accurate tracking over long periods. For Solar System, you need accurate tracking at very long focal lengths. Both of these are difficult for the equipment, and pretty much amount to the same thing. You have to have a decent mount. And that's where it gets expensive and heavy.

One way of achieving this, and it's by no means ideal, but it will work, the 80ED and an HEQ5 pairing. You will have to push the scope far more than you'd think to get the

[Adz]

Ah this is heart breaking news to hear, but thank you John for your advice.

I was under the impression that DSO imaging was quite a bit more effort and expense than planetary and solar. So I was going to give the latter a go. But I simply do not have either of these factors so I guess I shall just stick to visual

I like to have pics to show my friends what I am raving on about half the time!

[jgs001]

Sorry Adam

However, if you're prepared to accept many compromises, and frustrations, you can get away with (and I mean get away with) something like a NexStar SLT and an ST80. much, much cheaper. But... you will really struggle to get any image scale on the planets as the planet will drift out of the field of view too fast if you push the focal length. Similar issues for the moon. And for Deep Sky, you are limited, in general to about 45 to 60 second exposures. Get many many exposures, you can get some amazing subjects, but that's painful in other ways...

I'm into Deep Sky, Lunar, Planetary and Solar, and having tried them both with the NexStar SLT/ST80 combo, and the HEQ5/ED80 combo, I have to say that whilst it's a lot more expensive and a lot heavier, the HEQ5/ED80 combo is so much easier to get decent results out of.

Have you considered mounting the 200p on an EQ mount ? You need the mount of course, but then just a set of tube rings, although I think you're still talking the HEQ5 for the weight alone.

[swamp thing]

Hi Adam

I would just add, if you find collimating annoying just wait until you've gotta set up an equatorial mount every time.

It used to drive me insane.

Good luck with your choice.

Regards steve

[A McEwan]

Collimation may be an ordeal just now, but it will get better. If you have doubts about your ability in this area, invest in a good (Hotech for example) laser collimator and learn to use it. It's very easy to use and will ease your mind that alignment is as good as it needs to be.

A PST is a good entry into H-alpha viewing and imaging. I know I "upgraded" to a Lunt 60, but you only have to see some of the images that people take through their PSTs to see the quality of them.

I'd say HEQ5 for whatever you're considering, beit the Newt equatorially mounted, or an APO refractot.

My recommendation if you go for the APO is a 100ED scope by Skywatcher or Celestron, or one of the other companies (Vixen etc). They are tried and tested performers and have decent focal lengths for image scale when a good barlow is used with them.

It's a big investment, all that added together, and EQ-mounting the Newt would be a bit cheaper way of doing it, but ultimately everything is a compromise between cost/ease of use/performance.

Good hunting!

Ant

[ronin]

Why do you want all this stuff?

[Adz]

Thank you for all the helpful input. Steve that has been a point that played on my mind, Ant cheers for coming back to me with all that info.

Why do you want all this stuff?

I thought I made that clear in the first post. 'solar - pst, moon + planets - refractor, dso - dobsonian, wide clusters - binocs'

[chemtom24]

Why do you want all this stuff?

you sound liek my mother, no offense.

[ronin]

Because Adam you are posting else where about how expensive it is to do a degree via the OU, and it is not going to get cheaper.

The money spent on the equipment would cover a few OU courses or courses from elsewhere.

Having a selection of every scope around isn't going to get a degree. You don't need a scope to study astronomy. Good maths and physics yes as does knowledge of a couple real time languages.

Chemtom24:

you sound liek my mother, no offense.

For the reasons said above.

It sometimes helps to read other posts on this site, gain a broader knowledge.

And having BSc as a qualification is getting to be essential these days. Many companies have a prerequisite of BSc 2.1 or 1st. 4 or 5 scopes isn't going to impress at an interview, actually won't get you an interview in the first place.

For Cambridge where Adam says he lives, even a degree is considered a low qualification, PHd is quite often requested.

[chemtom24]

ah well see now youve given reasons for your question, it all of a sudden becomes obvious why you asked.

and really, i did mean no offense.

[nightfisher]

in answer to the refractor question, yes the tal 100rs will be a good purchase and i find it nice and steady on eq5, ok for lunar imaging and very little ca/false colour

[Adz]

I don't think I was quite trying to make a point about how much the Open Universities courses cost. More with my personal frustration of the courses available for someone like me, who isn't certain which path they wish to go down.

However since then, the OU has refreshingly added some more courses that interest me. I am not confident in taking a degree with them yet.

'You don't need a scope to study astronomy.' Whilst I fully appreciate what you mean, the main aspect of Astronomy that appeals to me is still the observational side. This starter course I am taking I simply took to further my knowledge of what I am looking at.

As a side note, I don't enjoy my job. So while I am looking elsewhere for work, I like to have something to look forward to spending some of my earnings on to keep me sane

Thanks for following up what you contributed.

[Adz]

in answer to the refractor question, yes the tal 100rs will be a good purchase and i find it nice and steady on eq5, ok for lunar imaging and very little ca/false colour

Thanks, what about planetary imaging? Can you just edit the CA out of the way in something like photoshop?

[ScubaMike]

And having BSc as a qualification is getting to be essential these days. Many companies have a prerequisite of BSc 2.1 or 1st. 4 or 5 scopes isn't going to impress at an interview, actually won't get you an interview in the first place.

I certainly don't view a degree as the panacea that will get someone employment. That is the kind of soundbite that is unneccesarily pushing people into university education when they are neither suited to it nor capable of it.

We took on an IT admin junior about 12 months ago - no relevant qualifications - certainly not a degree, but a bundle of enthusiasm and willingness to work hard & learn.

He has now been made permanent. £30k+ with lots of scope to progress.

So many people with a degree think the world owes them a living and that when they finish University they can stop learning.