Taking the telescope plunge

[Bertfry]

Hello everybody. I've been following the forums for quite a while and am hoping somebody will be able to offer a newbie some advice on scopes.

I'm still quite new to astronomy but over the past year, I have been using a pair of binoculars and a celestron 70 travel scope in conjunction with a planisphere and the little gems "Stars" book to learn my way around the sky. I have had a lot of fun doing this and think this is a hobby I want to continue and so am looking into getting myself a telescope. My budget is around £400 but could be pushed to £500 if I treat my wife to dinner!

From my time under the sky so far, I think I'm more drawn to searching out DSO and I quite like the idea of working my way through the Messier list of objects whilst also having the odd casual look at planets and the stars. This has led me to consider either the Skywatcher 150 or the Skywatcher 200. Both fall within my budget but if I were to get the 150 then I'd still have a bit of money left over for accessories such as motor drives and additional eyepieces. On the otherhand I know that the larger apperture of the 200 would make it easier to view DSOs but I'm slightly concerned about the size because I may want to take travel with the scope and I'm not convinced I would have the storage space for it.

I guess my main question is would the 6" Skywatcher 150 provide me with enough aperture to run through the Messier list and others to hunt out DSOs?

Any advice very welcome indeed

[Keano]

Probably lots of people on here can give you some good adviceas to scope choice but I would have thought apeture and travel are a bit mutually exclusive tbh,maybe a skyliner 200 for dso's and something from the startravel range fro travel?

[John]

For DSO spotting you really need as much aperture as you can get. As most of it is done at low to medium power, tracking mounts etc are lower priority it seems to me so you can look at dobsonian mounts which means more aperture per £.

The Skywatcher 10" dobsonian is £445 and, in my opinion, 10" of aperture gives you loads of deep sky performance potential, especially if you can get it under really dark skies.

You will want a few more accessories in due course so another meal for you wife should be budgeted for !.

[Bertfry]

Thanks for the replies. I should probably clarify, when I said I wanted to travel with the scope, I meant that I might occasionaly want to stick it in the car to drive to a dark site. My only concern with the large apperture dob mounted scopes is that I don't have much storage room and I don't want anything too unweildly that would make it difficult to lug about. I also quite like the idea of learning about how to set up and use equitorial mounts which is why I am attracted to the Skywatcher explorer telescopes.

I guess one option would be to start off with a smaller aperture telescope and then progress to a larger aperture one in a few years time once we have more storage room in which case would I be missing out much in terms of what I would be able to see between a 6" telescope and a larger 10/12 inch one in reasonably dark skies (by that I mean a village location away from a major city?

[tom33pr]

Bertfry,

As the guys above mentioned, if you incline towards DSO observing (imaging not necessary involved) you will be better off getting as much aperture as possible within the budget - the suggested SkyWatcher DOB would be the way to go.

Yes, the difference between 6" and 10 or 12" is BIG as far as DSOs are concerned.

At the end of the day you will pick whatever you think will be the best, and you will like it. Good luck.

Regards.

[jamespels]

Hi Bertfry,

If you will only want to move the scope occasaionally, the dob Jahmanson sugests could be perfect. It is obviosuly not on an eq mount but it will be excellent fro DSO spotting, reasonably transportable and take up a lot less space in the house than even a 6" on an eq.

My 2p.

J.

[DOBBY]

Hi bert... a 6inch 'scope with tripod will need as much storage space as a 10 inch dob...an alternative might be.. get an 8 inch dob & if you still want to get a tripod at a later date , you can.. inc. one with goto . As to going in a car... both the 8" & 10" easily go on the back seat of a small car ie. a jazz

[ollypenrice]

I think, to be honest, that a Dob is easier to store than an EQ, which tends to be a cussed sort of a thing with bits sticking out and a tendency to fall over unless fairly well dismantled. However, a Dob is just the size of its footprint and can stand in a corner. Your cash goes into the optics and the mount is inherently stable. Cheap EQ mounts are less stable and take far longer to set up.

Olly

Dobby, excuse me, we crossed in the post so I'm unintentionally repeating your point.

[Adz]

A 10" dob is the same length as an 8", it fits in the back of my corsas rear seats for example. Nothing comes close for DSO performance on a budget like that. Just make sure you have some money left over for a cheshire and possibly telrad or rigel

[Ags]

I suppose it is worth pointing out that telescope weight increases proportionally to the cube of the aperture... A 12 inch scope weighs a lot more than a 6 inch.

[Bertfry]

Dobby, thanks for the advice. Have now been looking at the dobisons and see that they also come in flex tube configurations. I quite like the idea of the 200p flex tube as it would make storage easier and comes with an added bonus of having auto trak, but presumeably the flex tube nature of the scope means that it would not be possible to mount the scope on a tripod at a later date although with the autotrak option I guess this doesn't matter.

At some stage I might want to dabble in astrophotography which is why I was thinking of EQ mounted scopes but I guess that can wait until later on and after a few more dinners with the wife!

[todd8137]

hi and welcome my 90mm refractor lets me see stuff the 12"reflector does not i see things the 90mm can not,with the 12" but

am sure the 6" would give you loads of enjoyment and not just the Messier list

clear skies always

pat

[John]

.... but presumeably the flex tube nature of the scope means that it would not be possible to mount the scope on a tripod at a later date although with the autotrak option I guess this doesn't matter.

At some stage I might want to dabble in astrophotography which is why I was thinking of EQ mounted scopes but I guess that can wait until later on and after a few more dinners with the wife!

A solid tube 8" or 10" inch can be equatorially mounted at a later date quite easily although the 10" will need a very hefty mount for imaging.

You presumption on a flex tube not being suitable for this is correct.

[swamp thing]

Hi

If your interest is visual DS Observing then an equatorial mount just gets in the way.

Moving an alt-az or Dob is much more natural, and easy, making finding things much easier.

IMO keep all thoughts of astro photography just that for a while.

The requirements for visual and AP are so different you're better off keeping them separate.

Regards Steve

[Astro Imp]

Hi Bertfry,

You seem quite concerned by the amount of space you need to store your scope. Have you seen any of those suggested in the flesh? If not I would strongly suggest you go to a good supplier or better still your local astro club to help with your decision.

[John]

Hi Bertfry,

You seem quite concerned by the amount of space you need to store your scope. Have you seen any of those suggested in the flesh? If not I would strongly suggest you go to a good supplier or better still your local astro club to help with your decision.

Thats a good suggestion

This thread might help a bit too:

http://stargazerslounge.com/beginners-help-advice/128173-look-size-thing.html

[ollypenrice]

I suppose it is worth pointing out that telescope weight increases proportionally to the cube of the aperture... A 12 inch scope weighs a lot more than a 6 inch.

... though counterweights are dead weight as far as the whole setup is concerned. A Dob, essentially, doesn't need them.

Olly

[Bertfry]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm erring towards one of the Skywatcher Dobs suggested earlier. My main concern about storage is that I plan to keep it in the conservatory so that it is easy to take outside (we don't have a garage). I already have my weight lifting and exercise gear in there so space is quite tight which is why I want to minimise the footprint of the scope. From what people have said (the link Jahmonson sent was especially useful) it sounds like the Dob mounted scope is the way to go. My only decision now is whether to get the Flex-tube version and whether to bother with autotrack. I quite like the idea of having a tracking option so I can keep objects in view for friends and family to take a look. I've seen a couple of youtube videos of the autotrak dobinsons and they sound quite noisy so I don't want to have to use the motors to move the telescope. Does anyone know whether the autotrak can be overridden by moving the scope by hand? Would the flextube option also mean having to collimate the scope each time I use it?

Thanks again to everyone for their help!

[ollypenrice]

A good supplier like FLO will give straight answers to the specific technical features of a model in the event of no SGL member responding.

Olly

[Damo636]

I personally wouldn't bother with the flextube versions of the dob unless you were considering going for a 12'' or above. With your budget i would go with either an 8'' or a 10'' solid tube version. The 8'' will leave you with some money over for a few essentials ie Cheshire collimating eyepiece, Telrad (not essential but really useful with a dob) and if you take the wife to dinner maybe a couple of decent eyepieces My 8'' stands behind the door in the shed and only needs half the storage space the eq mounted refractor does. Good luck with your decision.

[whirlpool5194]

I started off with the skywatcher 150 reflector on an eq3-2 mount, great scope but in hindsight maybe I should have gone for a dob. I currently use a 10" newt.....

Wp

[ScubaMike]

My only advice is to take the wife out for dinner and get the bigger budget