~ £600 scope to complement 200p newt?

[chemtom24]

Will be getting uni loan through in a couple of months and since ive got cheap accomo sorted il have some spare which im already 'spending'

So any ideas what sort of scope would complement my 200p?

thanks,

Tom

[studio1one]

I would get a 102 ED Frac personally

[chemtom24]

can you give me a reason studio1one?

[Revs]

A second hand C9.25 would be my choice. Being a longer FL it would compliment your short FL newt nicely.

[studio1one]

Well, you already have a largish aperture reflector so I would go with a smaller apochromatic refractor, as it is a totally different type of scope to what you already have and a good complement to extend your viewing and imaging range. I am assuming you are on an EQ mount not a dob here. If you are on a dob then it won't work because you couldn't share the mount and a 102 ED would take up all your budget.

[chemtom24]

crikey theyre not cheap!! i see why you said 2nd hand

ah another mention of the short/long fl scopes - please please someone tell me why a slow scope would be good? better solar system views? better for solar system imaging?

[chemtom24]

apochromatic? and totally different.. how will it be different in viewing and imaging? is it betetr for psolary system viewing and imaging?

[ollypenrice]

What do you want to observe or image with the new scope?

Olly

[chemtom24]

mainly solar system - the 200p is good for dso's right.. large ap and fast. But people keep syaing it is also a great planetary scope, and whislt i have nice veiws i cant help thinking it isnt thebest for planetary.

so planetary/solar system stuff

[Revs]

ah another mention of the short/long fl scopes - please please someone tell me why a slow scope would be good? better solar system views? better for solar system imaging?

Faster scope have a brighter image, slower is darker. It mainly applies to imaging (ie, fast/slow referring to the required exposure time), but is quite noticeable for visual, too.

Long FL scopes, ie slower scope, are generally used for planetary use whereas faster, shorter FL scope are better for dimmer objects like DS stuff.

mainly solar system - the 200p is good for dso's right.. large ap and fast. But people keep syaing it is also a great planetary scope, and whislt i have nice veiws i cant help thinking it isnt thebest for planetary.

so planetary/solar system stuff

They're not bad for planetary use, depending on the quality of the optics, but you are putting more demand on them to get the mag up enough for planetary use. A scope that have a long FL doesn't need pushing as hard to get the mag up enough. For example, I use a 5x barlow with my newt, but I used a 2x with my old Mak.

[RikM]

PST

[Revs]

PST

Actually, that's a superb suggestion. With a solar scope you get twice the opportunity to get viewing, and the Sun is great to observe!

[chemtom24]

so would the 102 ED Frac mentioned above give similar size views of saturn but just require less mag power to get them? also, since it will be a dimmer image, (waits for everyone to tell him hes wrong.. ) wont i get a little more detail out of the planets? jupiter is way too bright in the 200 and saturn was pushing it really, so a dimmer image will let me eyes see more?

[studio1one]

apochromatic? and totally different.. how will it be different in viewing and imaging? is it betetr for psolary system viewing and imaging?

An Aopchromatic scope is a refractor with special coatings that makes sure the lightwaves hit at the same time by correcting the wavelengths, therefore removing the false colour associated with refractor scopes. The ED stands for Extra-low Dispersion. You get the bonus of the sharp contrasty images associated with refractors, without the disadvantage of Chromatic Abberation. Visually and photographically it would be great for planetary work, no or little CA and excellent contrast. Photographically for DSO it would be excellent, although not necessarily visually.

[chemtom24]

thanks studio. so an apo is the way to go. what brand should i go for? and could i go for a bigger aperture or will this push the price up substantially?

also thinking about getting a HEQ5 for the 200 at some point so i'd mount the frac on the eq5

[studio1one]

Hey, it's only an opinion and mwhat is good for me may not be for you but personally if I had your set up it is what I would buy.

I think in your budget you would struggle to buy bigger than 102 even 2nd hand. A new Skywatcher Equinox 120 ED is about £1200

Although I just read the PST recommendation and it is an excellent one.

[studio1one]

As for the what brand bit, I have been reading this thread

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-reviews/121156-ikharus-102mm-ed-unboxing.html

with great interest and may invest in one myself in the near future. Seems like a very good price for such a high quality scope.

[Damo636]

Tal 100RS, long focal length, minimal CA, quality focuser, built like a tank and almost as good optically as an ED for less than half the price

[chemtom24]

the tal is looking to be the favourite ..

[Damo636]

Find me an unhappy RS owner and i'll eat my pants! Note to self : Buy edible pants on way home from work, just in case

[ollypenrice]

I'm sorry but I think there is a fair bit of misinformation on this thread.

Fast or slow scope? In visual use you deal with the effecive focal length which is the combined focal length of the telescope and eyepiece. Which bit of the effective focal length comes from the scope and which from the eyepiece really does not make a huge difference. OK, it is marginally better, perhaps, to get a long FL from the scope than from the EP but I wouldn't get too excited about it. Aperture is also important.

An 8 inch Newtonian is capable, if well collimated and of good optical quality, of getting close to what is possible on the planets in any telescope. If you are hoping to get a radically different view of the planets (eg vastly larger or vastly sharper) then that simply is not possible. You will be disappointed.

I would first go to some lengths to see if your 8 inch Newt is well collimated.

We have a seriously premium (6000 dollar) apo refractor here and it will probably beat a well collimated 8 inch Newt but not by what you might call 'an order of magnitude.' I'm being honest, despite my investment of 6000 dollars!

Often people new to astronomy hope to find a scope in which they can view Saturn at 600X instead of 220X. No, alas, the seeing will limit you to less than 300X, more like 220X in the UK. When you go larger you get a larger image which contains no more information.

Olly

[chemtom24]

does everyone generally agree with olly?

[RikM]

I do.

I had an 8" f/6 dob for a while, and now have a 10" version and they both (quite easily) give better views of the moon and planets than either the 127Mak or 127 Achro refractor that I have. The refractor is lovely to look through (I don't much care for the Mak!) but you can see more detail and at higher magnification with the bigger Newts.

The only thing I have looked through which gave a significant improvement was a big Edge HD SCT with a green and black eyepiece...not ~£600!

[foundaplanet]

Have you considered getting yourself some top notch eyepieces. You could get some nice ones with your money.

[chemtom24]

Have you considered getting yourself some top notch eyepieces. You could get some nice ones with your money.

perhaps I shall be dissapointed with a refractor then, given the decrease in aperture as rikrae said.

if so then you may be right foundaplanet - can anyone recommend a few decent ones. again tho i somehow feel that you lot are gonna tell me they wont make 'that much' difference!