Main Club Scope... best option?

[Blackheart]

Hi all

I wonder if you would mind giving me guidance, especially if you are involved with a club that tries to meet the needs of both beginner and those with more experience...

We have a small club in the Scottish Borders (Ancrum Astronomy Club near Jedburgh). We are just at the stage of applying for some funding to buy some equipment for the club and we need to decide what will be the centre piece of our observatory (run-off shed!). So far it's all wishful thinking but we are hoping to make it a reality. So, let's say we have £3000 to spend on a main telescope for the club.

Most of the people coming to the club are complete beginners but we have a few people who have some experience and would like to try their hand at astrophotography.

The main use of the scope would be for visual observing, with something that will perform well over as wide a range of celestial objects as possible.

We want something that is going to provide impressive views but is not so big that we need a squash court to house it and a step ladder to use it.

We also want something that is relatively easy to use so that youngsters and new members can begin to learn about the technology that can make life easier.

We also want something that is going to allow us to do some half decent astrophotography.

It's bad enough trying to decide on a telescope for yourself, never mind trying to satisfy the needs of a diverse group so I would really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

many thanks

BH

[damnut]

Hi Blackheart,

For my twopenny worth it would be an sct on a fork mount or a dob!!. To maximise viewing time I guess it would have to be goto. For ease of viewing an sct is probably easiest.

I now the Highlands Astronomical Society in Colloden has a 14" sct, it might be worth polling some of the groups here for advice, but I am also sure that there is great empathy over making such a huge investment for a group. So I would go and see what other groups have and how they secure\store and share such a large scope and make it available to a group.

Good Luck

Cheers

[king-jaffethehutt]

could get an 11" sct and still have around £1500 for a huge dob would have both bases covered then.

scott

[Skylook123]

A moderate SCT as Scott suggests is what our club has - 12" LX-200 on a pier inside a Dr. Who telephone booth style roll away observatory, at one of our sites. I would suggest that operator training be formally recognized; we award certificates of operator training at our club meetings. This helps keep both repairs and disappointments to a minimum.

One addition I'd consider is some sort of web cam and display capability for audience participation or astronomy introduction training. There is a range of very inexpensive to incredibly costly one could go; for my solar setup I have a Lunt LS60Tha, with an Orion Solar System Imager (around $90US last year) straight into my laptop. Now when I show the sun, 15 people can look at the laptop in a shade box. I have a one piece roll-up camp table with an elevation stand for the laptop that puts it a bit under 2 meters off the ground. With a better camera (realistically, mine only works on the sun and moon), you now have a great capability for both public and club activities. Or, as Scott suggests, the SCT plus a dob or two for more member support. The devil is in the accessories, as always; eyepieces, barlow, filters, etc.

Good Luck!

[umadog]

It's a tough call, but my bet is that you either buy one scope and focus on visual or buy two scopes and use a small one for AP. Since you're setting up an observatory, it would be silly not to put a >16" instrument into it

You say you want a system for people to "try their hand" at AP. That sounds like introductory stuff so definitely go for a small refractor on a nice mount. Spend under a grand on it. AP is easier at shorter focal lengths so this will make an ideal beginner's instrument. You can set it up alongside the larger scope and that way two groups can do stuff simultaneously. You would want some kind of partition between the two, however, as imagers invariably flash light everywhere. If you get barrow handles for the Dob then it could be pushed outside to leave the imagers inside.

You should look second hand. Our club got lucky and received a 25" on permanent loan. Ask around to see if anyone has a big scope they'd be willing to donate. We have a very active club, so if you have detailed questions on how it all works just shoot me a PM (details here: www.custerobservatory.org/). A 25" would be too hard for kids to push but a 16" should be fine. Don't be too strict on the stepladder restriction. Small kids will need a step stool even to look through a 12" Dob. What you don't want is people having to climb 4 or 5 feet in the dark on a wobbly ladder.

An SCT is definitely a viable possibility too. Downsides are that the field of view becomes rather narrow in larger apertures so this restricts your range of photographic targets and makes AP harder. You also want to make sure that the mount is reliable. A lot of Meade and Celestron mounts develop issues which could be expensive and time-consuming to fix. There's another observatory near to us and I've heard their 16" Meade SCT has a lot of issues with the mount. There's a lot, therefore, to be said for a simple Dob. The only maintenance cost will be mirror re-coating and yearly batteries for the Telrad. Someone handy with DIY could make an equatorial platform. That would be useful for public nights but not necessary.

[reddoss]

Personaly I would suggest something like a Skywatcher Flex Tube GOTO 12 or 14 inch if it's just for visual observing. You wouldting an awful lot of light grasp for your money.

[Peter Drew]

I'd vote for a largish SCT. Our 16" SCT is the most used and most popular telescope at the Astronomy Centre, a 11"-14" SCT would be just as suitable.

[cyg]

I agree go for a SCT if possible.

[glowjet]

Our society has a fork mounted SCT 12" Mead, this is pillar mounted in the Obs or can be removed for transportation to Star Parties along with a variety of Dobs and Refractors.

[nightfisher]

my vote would be for a large refractor

[Blackheart]

Hi all

Thanks for all the comments.

Nightfisher... Do you think a large refractor would have the light gathering power? I know the quality of the view through a good rafractor is hard to beat. I just wonder how a 6" refracor (for example) would compare with a 12" SCT on deep sky objects...

Cheers

BH

[Tim]

I'd have thought a C9.25 covers all the bases mentioned in the original post, including astrophotography. Anything bigger is a bit cumbersome photography wise perhaps.

[Peter Drew]

Seems to me that the budget would run to a SCT and a good 80mm refractor for imaging.

[nightfisher]

Hi all

Thanks for all the comments.

Nightfisher... Do you think a large refractor would have the light gathering power? I know the quality of the view through a good rafractor is hard to beat. I just wonder how a 6" refracor (for example) would compare with a 12" SCT on deep sky objects...

Cheers

BH

peak to valley could do you a really nice big frac, but mounting it would be a pain, unless you had a pier with an EQ6 head, might just cope

[Blackheart]

Seems to me that the budget would run to a SCT and a good 80mm refractor for imaging.

My thoughts exactly Peter!

BH

[Blackheart]

I would suggest that operator training be formally recognized; we award certificates of operator training at our club meetings. This helps keep both repairs and disappointments to a minimum.

One addition I'd consider is some sort of web cam and display capability for audience participation or astronomy introduction training.

Thanks Skylook

Two excellent ideas that I'm sure we will adopt...

BH

[umadog]

On full moon nights we image the moon live and project it into the wall of the shed and do presentations that way. The public like that and with the moon out dark adaptation isn't an issue.