First Scope Purchase - Advice Required Please!

[peonic]

Guys,

Looks like lady luck has finally smiled on me, and I've got a few spare quid to spend on a new scope. Well, actually as a pretty much complete beginner, it's more a case of "I've got a few quid to spend on a complete setup". I'm a complete novice when it comes to astronomy - and my only experience so far is that I've been able to borrow my brothers 4.5" Celestron Power Seeker reflector for the past couple of weeks to have a bit of a play around and start to learn the sky - and I've really enjoyed using it, but unfortunately it has to go back soon.

SteveL showed me some pictures a few weeks back that he'd taken with his Meade ETX-90 and LPI and I was pretty much blown away - which then lead to me borrowing the 4.5", and starting a major surf-a-thon to find out more. I also have an 11 year old son who's shown a lot of interest - so any scope that I choose needs to be easy to use for not only me, but also for him (he's having to stand on a box to get a view through the 4.5")

My other requirements are as follows:

Imaging: I've been awestruck by the results you guys are getting, and the stuff I've seen over at the UKAI site. One day, I'd like to be able to do something similar. I've already got a Canon 300D, so I guess the sensible thing to do is start with that?

Visual: While I'm happy to sit huddled up in the garden clicking around on the laptop capturing images for hours, my son isn't - he wants to be able to see stuff. He got to see Saturn for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and didn't stop talking about it constantly for three days.

Portability: My back garden sucks. I live on the outskirts of Ipswich (medium sized town of 140,000 people) - and the N-NE-E views from my back yard are somewhat orange most nights. The southerly view is pretty much obstructed by my house, a few huge trees, and a couple of really poorly placed streetlights. I think I'm either going to need LOTS of aperture to overcome the bad light, or have something that's easy to transport around to darker places. Being brutally honest with myself, I'm not sure how keen I'd remain if everytime I want to use the scope if I have to drive 30 minutes into the heart of the country to setup. I've seen a few places mention that you can gauge the light pollution in your area by looking at the Little Dipper and seeing how many stars you see. Well, even on a pretty decent night (where I was able to pick out a feint glow from both the Orion Nebular and M44 with my naked eye before they dropped into the light polluted murk) I can pretty much only see Polaris.

GoTo: With the poor light (or should that be poor darkness?) I've spent a total of 5 hours trying to find M51 this week. I know it's probably not the easiest target to pick on - but it's currently sitting in the least light polluted patch of sky that I have, and I've failed, miserably. I was able to head over to SteveL's house last week and got to have a play with his 8" Celestron GPS, and boy did all the buttons make me smile! I can understand that GoTo could possibly be classed as 'cheating', and I'm sure there's a lot to be said for finding stuff yourself - but personally I'd rather not have too many more nights of getting frustrated trying to find stuff and failing miserably like I have this week.

Accesories: I'm going to need the lot! The only stuff I currently have is a copy of Starry Night, and a T-adapter and T-ring on order from FLO. So eyepieces, powertank, filters - everything has to come in under one budget!

Budget: Ahhh, the 64 million dollar question! The other half has graciously allowed me a budget of £1500 (tho I guess I could *maybe* sneak a little bit more if there was a really compelling reason to do so). For this, I will pretty much need everything bar dslr, t-adaptor and t-ring. I'm also contemplating the idea of getting a ToUcam to use for imaging initially, as from what I've read, the learning curve is a little less steep.

Where From: One last stipulation. If I'm buying new stuff, I'm buying it from FLO (tho I'm not adverse to buying second hand, if it's from a member here). I've been REALLY impressed with the way Steve runs FLO - and the courtesy call I got Friday to tell me the bits I'd ordered had been posted really made me smile, and think back to a day when decent customer service was the norm.

I have spoken to Steve about scope choices (back when the budget was a little smaller) and we talked about a Skywatcher 200 Explorer on the HEQ5. My only concern with this scope is the size. It looks huge, and I'm not sure how that translates into it's ability to be portable, or more importantly how easilly my somewhat small 11 year old will be able to access the eyepiece.

Your advice, as ever, is hugely appreciated.

Peonic

[blinky]

The easypart I think is the mount, as you are new to this and want GoTo then the HEQ5 Pro with SkyScan will be perfect. I would think that a Refractor might be a better choice, you look in the end and it will be a bit lower than looking in the top of a reflector. The monet you have been given should allow a pretty decent setup.

[geoff_k]

For value, and bangs for your bucks, a good choice is a Skywatcher 8 inch reflector on an HEQ5 Synscan mount for the Go-to capability. Do bear in mind, however, that Go-to is not always easy to use and requires a good polar alignment and some knowledge of the night sky.

I think that set-up will come in at less than £1000 leaving you enough for all the various bits and bobs you find will need as well.

Refractors are fine and easy to use, (collimation is not normally a problem) but if you suffer from light pollution I think you will struggle to get the best out of one. You might need to buy an apochromatic refractor and they are not cheap.

I certainly wouldn't buy anything less than a 6 inch reflector or a 4 inch refractor, but there are other options such as Schmidt Cassegrains and Dobsonions. The former tend to be expensive, and the latter are cheap, but I'm not sure that they are suitable for astrophotography.

The trouble is, everyone has their own ideas and you can end up very confused. Do you have a local astro society that you can visit as members there will have differing setups that you can look at?

Good luck for whatever you eventually choose.

Geoff

[GordonCopestake]

I would go for the HEQ5 Pro/Explorer 200 already mentioned however as this is only £895 it leaves you with enough cash to buy a 102SLT for your son (and grab and go) for £275. As you also need eyepieces I would recommend the revelation eyepiece set for £99. Grand total £1269. Well within budget and an excellent setup for both visual, photography and grab and go. You also have enough budget left over for a webcam for imaging the planets and maybe a few books.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=200heq5pro

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=slt102

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=revelationepset

(Dont forget that all these prices dont take into account Steves generous 10% discount)

[Whippy]

Maybe I might be talking rubbish (see disclaimer in my signature), but why not go for the Celestron C8N-GT? Same scope as far as I can see for £300 less? Three hundred notes maybe better spent on other items...

Depending on how tall your 11 year old is, a reflector may be a bit too tall for him at objects near the zenith. Mine comes up to about 5'7" at the eyepiece. Maybe a SCT or a Refractor with the EP at the bottom maybe a bit easier?

[GordonCopestake]

For photography the HEQ5 is significantly better than the CG5. The CG5 is a great mount for visual but it's periodic error is very high. Plus the HEQ5 is silent, the CG5 is NOT

[Whippy]

The HEQ5 is silent, the CG5 is NOT

Yes. Quite!

[Black Shuck]

Chubster has just reduced his 8" reflector to £130 (bargain) Then you have got loads left for a mount.

Outlash - Didn't you have an HEQ5 for sale?? I think there is a EQ5 clone in the buy and sell board as well (?IanC)

Peonic - I note you are near Ipswich. I am not far away in Woodbridge! Have you considered joining the Orwell Astronomical Society (where they have the 26cm "Tomline" Refractor).

http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ipswich/

Cheers

Bill£

[peonic]

Peonic - I note you are near Ipswich. I am not far away in Woodbridge! Have you considered joining the Orwell Astronomical Society (where they have the 26cm "Tomline" Refractor).

http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ipswich/

I did try! Their website states that you need to contact them by email rather than just turning up one night. So I did - still no reply three weeks later

Really wanted to find a group to hookup with to ideally actually have a look of some of this kit 'in the flesh' - shame I couldn't make Kelling Heath this weekend, as that would've been a great oppurtunity.

My girlfriend just gave me the sagely advice of "he might be short now, but he's going to grow - and we have a stepladder in the shed" so maybe the idea of the explorer being quite large isn't so much of an issue.

With regards to the HEQ5 - if I did, down the line, get further into imaging, would it support the added weight of something like an ED80 as well as an Explorer 200/250? From everything I've read, the mount is where I need to be outlaying a lot of the money initially, and I'd like to get something that's not going to need replacing a year down the line.

Thanks for the advice so far guys - I'm slowly getting closer to making decisions

Cheers,

Peonic

[Whippy]

Chubster has just reduced his 8" reflector to £130 (bargain) Then you have got loads left for a mount.

Outlash - Didn't you have an HEQ5 for sale?? I think there is a EQ5 clone in the buy and sell board as well (?IanC)

Peonic - I note you are near Ipswich. I am not far away in Woodbridge! Have you considered joining the Orwell Astronomical Society (where they have the 26cm "Tomline" Refractor).

http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~ipswich/

Cheers

Bill£

I do indeed Bill, got a couple of interested parties, but it's still here. My Brother lives in Ipswich and he got married in Woodbridge .

[GordonCopestake]

The HEQ5 has a load capacity of 30lbs (15kg). I dont know the weight of the explorer 200 OTA but I would imagine that it would easily take both the 8" and the ED80. You have within your budget the facility to purchase the EQ6 if you really want to get into heavy stuff, but the portability rapidly evaporates with that mount IMO

[Black Shuck]

I did try! Their website states that you need to contact them by email rather than just turning up one night. So I did - still no reply three weeks later

I've sent you a PM about the society. Hope it helps

Bill£

[peonic]

Thanks for that Bill!

So, I guess the resounding support for the HEQ5 Pro / EQ6 makes that something to tick off on the list.

Just need to sit down, and make a big shopping list - and make the choice between the two - and see if I can scrape the budget out to the 250px instead of the 200....

Thanks again guys.

Peonic