Novice equipment, any ideas?

[paulhutch]

Hi guys I've always been interested in star gazing and recently set up my mums 'national geographic' scope that my father bought her. Whilst this is a great present for her I'm after something a little bit more hi tech, something I won't need to upgrade for a while and something that can be used with a dslr to take some astro photography. I have been looking at the Meade LX10 8 inch second hand (indeed I'd prefer to get second hand as I feel I'd get more for my money) the TAL200k second hand and the Meade ETX90 pe se goto (New £500). Now the question to you is A. Are my choices any good and B. If not can you recommend anything and if so perhaps add a link to some pictures you have taken and the model they were took with. Oh and I'm interesed in both planets and deep space photography.

Thanks in advance Paul

[Capricorn]

For astrophotography an Alt/Az mount is not suitable, the ETX90 and LX10 are both Alt/Az and also they are both long focal lengths so a high f number and again not suitable for astrophotography. The Tal would also be a pain in the rear for astrophotography.

Astrophotography needs a solid mount, the smallest recommended is the HEQ5. The basic HEQ5 is £509, if you want to be able to guide at some time, usually essential for serious astrophotography you would need the HEQ5 that is £597, althougn to get the use of this you need guide scope and guide camera - say another £500. For the goto version it is £747. Thats just a mount. The serious ones use EQ6's, I'll leave you to scare yourself at the price of them.

Which scope, well WO have just brought out a GT-81 that is intended for astrophotography, it is £680 (quite inexpensive actually) and with that you would need a field flattener at £225.

Astrophotography is as you can see expensive, a good setup will easily cost £5000, a very good setup say £12,000 - 15,000.

[paulhutch]

Hi Capricorn and thank you for your reply.

I'll take a look at the GT-81, budget for the scope was around £900-1800 so at £680 it leaves a few quid over for field flattener(?, I'll have to do more research), lens's and other extras. I was looking at the Celestron, CPC 800 GPS. What I don't want to do is spend £1000+ on a scope then loose 25% having to sell it on again as it's not right for the job in hand, but also I don't want to spend £1800 if I don't have too. You right about the cost, even the most basic of (half decent) set up's can set you back serious money, but the way I see it is the house I'm in has enough back garden to put an observatory and have a go at this for the rest of my life. A hobby that the kids can get involved in too. (Maybe even her indoors but I doubt it). Whilst your in the know, can you advise me as to which camera you use for your astrophotography, and do you mount it directly onto the scope or use a laptop and webcam? Once I have the right scope for the job I can top up accessory's as and when I can afford them. Thanks again Paul

[nicnac]

the TAL 200k OTA is highly regarded, i can say that

[DoctorD]

Hi Paul

I think that you need to ask your self a few questions before embarking on a spending spree

1. Are you more interested in DSO or planets from a visual perspective?

Typically these need very different scopes - most planets need high magnification (therefore long focal length such as that achieved with SCT or MAKs - not to say newtonians or refractors are not good on planets).

DSO's usually (but not always) need wider field of view achieved by shorter focal lengths and the are usually dim so need more aperture so larger newtonians work well.

2. How serious are you about photography?

As has been said above, a good astrphotography set up will set you back a considerable amount of money. For most DSO's you will need an equatorial mount and a sturdy one at that such as the HEQ5 or HEQ6. Basically the dimmer objects you want to photograph the longer the exposure you will need the better the mount has to be.

Many people image with reasonably small refractors albeit APO types with good colour correction - these can be used visually but will not match the performance of the larger newtonians.

If you are only interested in imaging planets then some of the best results are achieved using modified web cams and MAKs or SCT on either an AZ or EQ mount - with planets you usually capture video and then stack the best frames to get the final picture choosing only the clearest frames gets around the effect of atmospheric disturbances (seeing).

Many people will recommend "Making Every Photon Count" before spending money on astrophotography - they say it will save you money in the long run.

3. Are you ready to learn the night sky or do you need GOTO.

GOTO will add considerably to the cost of the mount, astrophotography can still be done using a driven mount without GOTO but finding objects can be difficult, especially if your using a smaller refractor - they may just not be visible in an eye piece.

Sorry no answers - there's many on here that can better help, but I hope these few questions help you decide what route to take.

Clear skies

Paul

[paulhutch]

Thanks for your reply, to be honest I have not really made myself clear, and (as always) I'm jumping in with 2 feet blindfolded. So we will rephrase the question. I'm after advice on buying a telescope that will be good to view the planets in my back garden. At a later date I would like to attach a webcam/camera to it and take some photos of them. I don't want to purchase a telescope that won't be up for the job, but also I don't want to spend more than £1500 ideally. I have already gathered that an equatorial mount would be advisable but I'm struggling to decide on the scope itself. Also what software is the recommended norm for stacking web cam images. I've decided that goto is my preferred choice, although I'm not adversed to learning I feel it would help me navigate the night sky more effortlessly (at least in the first instance)

Thanks again Paul

[Parus major]

My suggestion would be a dobsonian. Cheapest way to get a decent sized telescope that's usable right away and later down the line you can buy a mount and tube rings and you'll have a decent base for an astrophotography set up.

I'm currently on a similar route myself but had to buy a EQ'd telescope because of a garden wall angle issue, had I not had to I'd have bought a 8"+ donsonian instead of the 6" telescope I have.

Options -

200mm Skyliner and HEQ5

250mm Skyliner and NEQ6