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Best £50 I have ever spent

ollieholt

By ollieholt
in The Astro Lounge

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ollieholt

ollieholt

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A week ago u bought a second hand tasco refractor, it was £50 came with all the usual bits, 114mm x900mm great optical nick if a little beaten up on the outside. My first ever telescope! Only ever had a spotting scope. Looking forward to seeing Jupiter in the eye for so long now, and tonight was the night! Crystal clear sky's and Jupiter is so sooo bright tonight!

I got the scope outside and banged a 20mm eye piece in and has a scan around, I found Jupiter much more quickly then I had anticipated! It shone brighter then the stars by far in the FOV. All four gallilean moons on show! I could see two red bands in the northern (from my aspect) hemisphere. The furthest moon seemed to glow a little more orange? I'm not well up on the moons. Anyway my breath taken from me. Absolutley magnificent! All this happened now 30 mins ago! Can't get the smile off my face! I tracked it for 20 mins or so, I tried a Barlow and got a larger yet much less crisp view and switched back to just the twenty.

Very happy lad! :p

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jimmyjamjoejoe

jimmyjamjoejoe

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So jealous right now! I'm in the first scope limbo at the moment, and currently have no funds to devote to the cause, all i can do is spend my evenings browsing gumtree, ebay and others looking for superbargains (they're like bargains only better), and waiting another 2 weeks or so till the buy/sell section opens up for me here.

Really glad you enjoy your scope, enjoy the good weather that's predicted for the next few nights!

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ollieholt

ollieholt

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i fully intend too! i was out on my motorbike for an hour or two on a pleasure ride and whilst i was out and about i made a keen eye for accessible dark sky spots! oh and i have been the same for about 3 months, just waiting for that bargain to pop up. a chap a the pub over heard me and a friend talking of the night sky and mentioned he had a telescope but had no idea how to use it. i said i would be interested in having a look and he said he would be happy to let it go for £50. i wasn't expecting much but it was just about perfect. i am glad i didn't go bigger straight away you would be surprised how big the whole contraption is! don't worry about going too small with a 4/5 inch newt. there pretty hefty and cumbersome with their mount and tripod attached! good luck hunting!

Adz.... i think i have the bug your right! this was the second time i have ever used it, the first time i had a 20 min window between clouds a few nights ago. i only managed vega and a couple of other stars. i was blown away by how crisp and brilliant the light of a star through a scope is! i cant wait to get to a dark site and get andromeda or another easily viewable DSO down my pupils!

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ollieholt

ollieholt

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i know yeah! trusty bloke from the pub, they fix your car, find you furniture, give you a ciggy when in desperation and offer reems of ridiculous opinion to boot.

on a side note, i have had the pleasure of using my trusty £19.99 aldi spotting scope on the orion nebula and the pleiades, even in the bargain plasticy thing these looked breath taking. come on winter hurry up with your cold clear skies and wonders!!! i've always liked winter best, i have just got even more reasons to!

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Adz

Adz

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Yeah I remember seeing M31 in my first telescope, a small achromat refractor. Then progressed to a newtonian really showing off the galaxy well. Then saw one accompanying galaxy at a dark site and finally at Kelling last week managed a gorgeous andromeda with both orbiting galaxies around it.

In astronomy, your learning and seeing just keeps on building :p

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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Welcome and congratulations :-)

Now that you've seen what a Tasco scope will give you, just you wait until you've gotten your eyes into a decent eyepiece attached to a Sky-Watcher, William Optics, Meade or Celestron scope...

If I'm right, the Tasco is a reflector rather than a refractor (does it have a mirror in the tube or a glass lens at the front)?

Stick with it and keep an eye out for second hand bargains - there is a lot to like on the For Sale section of this forum once you've been a member a month with 50 (I think it's 50?) posts under your belt :-)

All the best and clear skies!

Mike

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ollieholt

ollieholt

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Yes it is a Newtonian reflector style scope, I managed to get the 4mm ep on it tonight some good banding too be seen however blurry, all four gallilean moons again, this time I got to show some pals. They too were in awe, two even berating me to take them to a dark sky site! I think they too may have caught the bug! I will be saving hard and probably upgrade to a dob in the future but it won't be for a while yet. The slow mo controls need a look at on the scope one axis is really skitty and one is perfect.

I have been scanning the for sale section for a while now there are some great buys on there!

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MikeWilson

MikeWilson

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Hi Olly,

Seeing isn't too good tonight - quite muggy out there, so through the eyepiece everything will look a little.. jellyfish like..

Having said that - it's a great social activity is Astronomy. Have to say that I've had more nights with pizza, beer, coke and tea and sandwiches than I have with a telescope :p

All the best,

Mike

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yeti monster

yeti monster

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£50 bargain scopes are great! I've been lucky having picked up a couple over the last couple of years. Keep trawling ye olde baye des fleases, JJJJ, they do show up but bear in mind their location, I once bought a TAL-1 for £20, but it was over 200 miles away, cost a fortune in petrol to collect it...

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ollieholt

ollieholt

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One thing I am after as an upgrade to this one is a red dot finder, although saying that 10 mins spent aligning my finder I already have would probably prove just as useful. I tried during the day to set it up when I first got it and though I had it right, turns out not so much! Lol

And yes I have made the same mistake on eBay in my youth! I always want to buy local.

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