Used Telescope - Budget £400 ?

[Black Hole]

Hi,

Would anyone please be able to advise a total novice what type of telescope and ancillary equipment I could realistically get for a budget of £400 if I am looking at used equipment.

My logic is to try to get used equipment in the hope that I will get more for my money than buying brand new. From reading the forum it seems that possibly a Dobsonian telescope offers good value and perhaps some type of motorised movement for the scope but not GoTo.

I am hoping that 8" 2nd user telescopes might be available within budget?

Any advice most appreciated.

Thx

Blackos

[red dwalf]

I think you could be right in your choice of a dob, best bang for buck, I should think a 8" scope with your budget should be obtainable, maybe a little more aperature. I have used 8" dob scopes before and they are very impressive.

[red dwalf]

Yep new ! 8" skywatcher dob 270 pound, or 10" dob for 420 pounds new, first light optics web site

[swamp thing]

You can't go wrong with an 8" Skyliner Dob. Great all round scope.

Regards Steve

[Black Hole]

Thx for the advice.

If I could ask another question, are the beginner scopes such as an 8" Dobsonian powerful enough the see deep space object outlines such as galaxies? Or, are more powerful scopes required for that beyond the beginner level/budget.

[Black Hole]

It might help if I give a brief outline of what I hope to achieve.

Ideally, it would be nice to view the shapes of galaxies and nebulae plus good detail on planetary objects such as Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

I have tried to keep the budget low as a beginner so have avoided GoTo in an effort to keep costs minimal. If I have to increase my budget to get a scope powerful enough for my ideal viewing I would rather spend the increased budget only on the scope and not motorisation etc.

[rightguard]

i picked up my 200p ota for 140. eq5 mounts s/h go for around 100.

try astrobuysell uk, usually alot about on there.

and yes, s/h you will get more for your money and on the whole astro kit is well looked after by the owners as they are only too well aware of how much it costs!

200mm will be able to see alot of things, light pollution will be the limiting factor in most cases for 200+ mm

[Black Hole]

Thx for the tip about the astrobuysell site, I have just had a quick look and it looks very useful.

Many thx

Blackos

[RikM]

A Skyliner 200P f/6 Dobsonian is a wonderful introduction to astronomy. It could be all the scope you will ever need. With a reasonably dark sky you will be able to see loads of different deep sky and plantary objects. Even with a moderate light pollution, this scope will give you good views of very many objects. A Cheshire eyepiece will be necesary to align the mirrors, and a Telrad or Rigel QuickFinder will be a very useful addition to the finderscope, to aid you in finding objects in the night sky.

[JPearson]

an 8 inch scope is great for dso's in my opinion, with light pollution nearby and a few towns close by as well ive had many great views of the M51, the orion nebula, M81 and M82 and andromeda is massive, need to get out in deep skies more to get a few better views but an 8 inch is great for a lot of things, in my opinion.

[sunshine185]

There is a used,8" flextube autotracking dob on astrobuy atm.