First telescope advice

[Davidjohn99]

Evening ladies and gents,

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good first telescope?

Im new to astronomy so bare with me and ill do my best. I recently purchased a set of celestron 15 x70 binocs and tripod and had some great evenings using them, but I think I need to get a scope to really appreciate what's out there!

I can probably go upto about £150 anymore and the mrs would kill me.

Any info would be greatly appreciated

[nicnac]

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Heritage 130p Flextube

if you can stretch a bit more

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian

great little starters, you will see more with the 150 as aperture is, as they all say, king.

you will get some supplied EPs, not fantastic but good enough to get you going

[LukeSkywatcher]

Have to agree with nicnac.

[Mr Spock]

The 150 Dob is seriously good for the money and worth the extra.

Buy the Mrs some new shoes - works every time

[RikM]

Another vote for the 150P Dob from me. Wonderful scope, very easy to use and won't break the bank.

[bish]

150 dob gets my vote for your budget.

[Davidjohn99]

Thanks for the help there, I did have a serious look at the dob, the thing that was putting me off was that it's not on a tripod. Sounds and looks the part tho, I had a look at a Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145P on the same site. What are your honest views on it?

Thanks again

[EntropyStar]

Thanks for the help there, I did have a serious look at the dob, the thing that was putting me off was that it's not on a tripod. Sounds and looks the part tho, I had a look at a Skywatcher Skyhawk 1145P on the same site. What are your honest views on it?

Thanks again

Another vote for the 150p Dob and the 130p Heritage.

I was put off originally when picking a scope without having a tripod, but the type of mount is easy to use and you don't have to worry at first with the fiddly business of using an eq mount; which you'll have to align when you go out observing. You can upgrade the mount in the future if you so desire (although not with the 130p Heritage). With your budget it's best to start with small steps and find out what you enjoy doing. The Dobsonian design is excellent for people fresh into visual astronomy.

[RikM]

The 1145P is a bit small really. It doesn't have enough aperture to view faint objects and not enough focal length or resolving power for brighter objects. It's more of a kids scope.

When starting out, we all have this idea that a telescope comes on a tripod, but for visual observing it is not really necessary. Mounts are expensive engineered things and tend to be wobbly in the smaller sizes. With a Dobsonian mount, it is really stable, easy to use and made of coated chipboard, so quite cheap to make. This means more of the cost of the scope goes towards the optical tube assembly. What's the use having a telescope if you can't point it where you want and keep it steady enough to get a good view of what you are looking at?

[Rigel-7]

I bought a 150p Explorer on Eq3-2 mount on Saturday and I have to say the Equitorial is a bit daunting at first. To give you an idea - carry mount and counter-weights to garden, assemble, balance tube, rough polar align. With a dob you pick up the tube-mount plonk it down and point it at a star...

I wanted to have a go at astrophotography, understand the eq mounts and get a package deal. The eq3-2 works out at about £100 when bought with the Explorer 150p. I pointed it at Jupiter on Saturday and saw the bands, four moons and was pretty blown away ... sadly work and clouds have prevented me from using it this week.

You can however buy the 150p dob and then mount it on an eq mount at a later date. Would this have been a better choice ...

The heritage 130p dob can be had new from £120 and is amazingly portable which may be a factor.

[RikM]

You can however buy the 150p dob and then mount it on an eq mount at a later date. Would this have been a better choice ...

If you want to get into deep sky astrophotography, NO.

You did the right thing. The focal ratio of the Skyliner 150P Dob is too high. You would need to use much longer exposures and would only be able to 'see' a smaller patch of sky. The length of the tube would also require a big mount from the outset so you would really have to be sure you wanted to image (and if you are sure you want to image, you don't want a long slow Newt for deep sky).

Stick with your Explorer 150P and get a drive motor for your mount if you want to play and learn or save up and get an HEQ5 if you are sure you want to jump in with both feet.

Have fun. All my deep sky images have been done with an Explorer 150P.

[Rigel-7]

I think you can have your cake and eat it. In this link they cover making a dob mount leaving the rings on. Project for when the days get warmer...

[Rigel-7]

If you want to get into deep sky astrophotography, NO.

You did the right thing. The focal ratio of the Skyliner 150P Dob is too high. You would need to use much longer exposures and would only be able to 'see' a smaller patch of sky. The length of the tube would also require a big mount from the outset so you would really have to be sure you wanted to image (and if you are sure you want to image, you don't want a long slow Newt for deep sky).

Stick with your Explorer 150P and get a drive motor for your mount if you want to play and learn or save up and get an HEQ5 if you are sure you want to jump in with both feet.

Have fun. All my deep sky images have been done with an Explorer 150P.

That's good to know. I am very pleased with the scope and have already had a go with the camera - sadly these shots have somehow got lost. It's really good to know that this kit can achieve those sort of results - a real inspiration.