Recommend me a scope. Thread #6496124961248969634 :)

[Virtual Cold]

Hi all, long-time lurker/first-time poster here.

I've been into astronomy for a fair few years now and although knowing my way around the sky quite well, I still haven't the faintest clue when it comes to scopes.

I'm fully aware of the different kinds of scopes out there (and their main pros and cons) but despite the hours and hours dedicated to researching on the web, I'm still at a bit of a loose end when it comes to choosing the right one for me. There's so much equipment knocking about and it really is quite overwhelming for me given what little knowledge I have at the moment. In a word... "swamped".

Ideally, I'll be taking this on trips with my friend to various parts of the UK in search of dark skies so it needs to fit in a saloon I guess. At home I don't have huge amounts of room but we do have a garage so there's always that. For this reason I've been looking at Cassegrains, but then there's the worry that I'll be quite limited in terms of DSOs. I spoke briefly with one of the astronomy lecturers at my university and he recommended the SW Evostar Refractor which seems like a solid scope but again, there's the DSO worry. A reflector seems like a great choice in theory but I'm not sure how easy collimation is for a beginner like myself. Plus, they're quite large!

I don't think I'll be engaging in any photography in the foreseeable future, (mainly because I'm funding a PhD at the moment ) so a motorized mount isn't essential at all, but would be handy if I can stretch the £££.

Another thing is, my Grandad is offering to put some money towards this and, well... to put it bluntly, from what I gather, he's trying to get rid of some funds in case he kicks the bucket some time soon. So this is going to have to be a fairly durable old thing due to the sentimental value.

Okay, so, I can probably stretch to around £700. If anyone on here has any equipment that they would be up for selling then I would definitely consider that (as long as you've a good reference ). Sorry if this is old hat, there must be thousands of similar threads on here!

Recommend away!

Thanks in advance,

Danny

[barkis]

Hi Danny, and welcome to the SGL forum.

A lot will depend in which area you want to invest your money.

Do you know the sky well enough to find objects invisible to the eye, or would you prefer the technological wizardry of Computerised GoTo telescopes?

It's an important decision, as selecting one type over the other, means sacrificing certain important aspects.

If you choose the Goto, you invest a good portion of the money to that end, probably at the expense of light grasp of the mirror or lens, depending on what type of instrument you decide on. Refractor, or Reflector.

Since you are foregoing imaging, that would lessen the importance of the GoTo mount. It's important that consideration is given to acquiring decent quality eyepieces. A good scope is often crippled by employing iffy quality occulars.

Anyway, some food for thought to start your decision making process.

If you enlarge on your ambitions in astronomy, i'm sure some good advice will be forthcoming from some very knowledgable guys on the forum.

Good luck with your final choice.

Ron.

[chemtom24]

a 6 inch newtonian would be large enough to see quite a few dso's and give good planetary/lunar views, and is probably the biggest newt you could call 'portable'. An eq3/2 mount would be easily portable for this scope too, tho you may prefer the alt/az mounts.

[Virtual Cold]

Hi Ron, thanks for the welcome and advice!

I would like to think I know the sky fairly well, although not to the extent of some folk on here I'm sure. The thought of operating a telescope by hand really excites me and although I know people swear by GoTos, at this stage I'm quite happy to use it manually. A GoTo is something I'd definitely want to think about in the future but I'd much rather my first telescope be a bit hands-on to be honest!

[Virtual Cold]

a 6 inch newtonian would be large enough to see quite a few dso's and give good planetary/lunar views, and is probably the biggest newt you could call 'portable'. An eq3/2 mount would be easily portable for this scope too, tho you may prefer the alt/az mounts.

Thanks chemtom. I have been looking at the Skywatcher range which people tend to recommend for beginners.

I know I said "hands-on" but that was specific to slewing, so how easy is it to learn how to collimate exactly? Watching videos on youtube is quite different from the real thing I'm sure!

[chemtom24]

Thanks chemtom. I have been looking at the Skywatcher range which people tend to recommend for beginners.

I know I said "hands-on" but that was specific to slewing, so how easy is it to learn how to collimate exactly? Watching videos on youtube is quite different from the real thing I'm sure!

collimation isnt too hard at all, you'll soon get the hang of it

[glowjet]

Danny, there has been some sound advice given already, you seem to have laid down some ground rules in that you want to transport the scope to dark skies, this is essential if you want to reveal some of the many DSO, which you seem to be inclined towards, but unless you have a very large scope, much of the detail will be limited to grey smudges, there is no scope which will cover both worlds so you are, with a limited budget, going to have to strike the middle of the road, something along the lines of a 150mm DOB if you want to be "hands on" this will not break the bank and give you a good start, with experience you can then go forward to something more specialized. I am sure there will be many more suggestions forthcoming

John.

[wrinkly]

Welcome to SGL©, Dan.

Just one rule, keep your Virtual Cold to yourself, some of us are ancient.

Why not go mad like me, buy a cheap Mak, a cheap refractor and a cheap Newt, then you can be totally confused.

ENJOY!™

[Capricorn]

You may not need a goto, depending on how much you can locate but the motors that are on one make visual observing a lot better. Objects tend to stay in view for longer, which is significant.

Alternatively get an EQ with dual motors and at least have the capability of tracking.

What to get, well first thoughts were something like an 8SE, probably a little over budget. How about the smaller 6SE. Reasonable size and portable. Think the price for one is around the budget. Also with one you could attach a webcam and do some planetry imaging. The 8SE and 6SE share the sme mount some the mount should be up to it.

After that I would suggest an ED refractor and something like an EQ5 with motors. Many people have had 80mm refractors and they seem to be a good all round scope, one that could happily be kept for a lifetime. Which ED 80 - how about the one on the Telescope Services site. I am thinking of the black one with the scope rings included. If I recall 500 Euro so about £450

TS80ED Individual

TS 80mm f/7 ED APO - 3' Crayford Auszug für Astrofotografie

[nightfisher]

my suggestion would be buy the tal100rs on an eq5 mount and get a fast 150mm reflector tube to use on same mount, best of both worlds, only problem is lack of tal 100rs scopes, the dealers are still waiting on next shipment

[twotter]

Sounds to me like a dobsonian could well be the answer. Normally I would suggest the solid tube 200P, but as you need to travel, and storage is an issue, I'll suggest the 200P Flextube Auto.

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P FlexTube AUTO

£475 ,which leaves money for a powertank, collimator, copy of Turn Left at Orion, and a few eyepieces.

DSOs will be at your mercy

[tom33pr]

Normally I would suggest the solid tube 200P, but as you need to travel, and storage is an issue, I'll suggest the 200P Flextube Auto.

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P FlexTube AUTO

I'd second that ^^^

You can't beat a big DOB as far as DSO observing is concerned!

[tyler_jrb]

Hey danny, I would reccomend to you a well respected scope by many on SGL. It fits in with your budget. I would say you should give a 10" auto-track flextube dobsonian a thought, as you want a motor really for most things many want to see at high powers. As the scope is capable of high powers then if you didnt have a motor on the scope you would find the object going out of view every 10 or so seconds making it quite annoying to view. As you say you want to be able to transport the scope easily in your car then this will work great for you, fitting the main body and base into the back of the car or just place it on one of the seats and fasten the seatbelt. It will also provide you with fantastic views of deep space objects, planets, sun and the moon. Dont forget a decent sky map, eyepieces.

Scope here:- http://www.opticstar.com/Run/Astronomy/Astro-Telescopes-Skywatcher.asp?p=0_10_1_3_255

Its around £650, leaving you some room for extras. You dont need a collimator or eyepieces straight away but eyepieces sets are the way to go.You can also buy some second hand eyepieces on sgl which will save you money for quality eyepieces. You can always save a little more for extras so dont be put off.

Hope this helped Tyler.b .

[Virtual Cold]

Thanks very much folks, you've given me a lot to think about!

The Skyliner Flexi-Dob is looking more and more appealing by the day but I think I'll probably mull it over for another month or two anyways just to make sure. I was tempted to wait until Christmas as I'll have more money then but that's a good portion of winter skies out the window! So many things to consider, so little time. That said, a cardboard tube would probably trump my broken bins at the moment!

Thanks for the welcome and advice guys. Sorry it took me so long to reply!

-Danny-

[philhas]

The scope I use the most is the small refractor on a Celeston Goto, quick to setup (between the breaks in the clouds), easy to transport with lovely widefield views. I will probably upgrade it to an ED80 or 100 soon. The Newt is great but big and I can't even imagine lugging a Dob outside so for me personally the usability of the refractor and goto wins.

[lexyastroman]

This could be a possibilty Omni XLT 127 Telescope (item #11084) / Omni XLT Series Telescopes / Telescopes / Products / Celestron.com sells for around £460 uk prices and when coupled with this STARTRAVEL-80T (Tube Assembly) - 80mm (3.1") f/400 REFRACTOR TELESCOPE by OVL sells for around £100 ota you got yourself a nice little set up. That's the set up i'm considering as i really like the look of the celestron 127 as you can add tracking or goto to it later. Maybe an az3 mount AZ3 ALT-AZIMUTH MOUNT - by OVL for the startravel 80 at around £90 and you got yourself the best of both worlds (pardon the pun). A good scope for the planets and a good widefield views portable refractor. It's well within your £700 budget and with room to spare for a padded case for transport. I only got a basic setup at the moment and considering getting these two scopes as they would suit my needs perfectly.