What Telescope Do I need ?

[trevorsmith44]

Hi All,

I'm totally a newbe I dont have any kit as yet but i've been doing some research and so far i know i need a refractor telescope and a equitoral mount and thats as fars as i got .I want to get into astrophotograhy but i've toured the net and all im doing is getting more and more confused with the whole thing. Can someone help me please. I dont want to spend anymore than £200 to start.

[John]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Do you want to take images of planets / the moon or deep sky objects ?

The equipment needed for each is rather different you see.

[assasincz]

I am not an expert in astrophotography, but I suspect that you will have a hard time getting into it with a budget of just £200 to be honest:o

[trevorsmith44]

Thanks for replying, im just wanna play at it for now nothing pro about it, just planets, moon that sort of stuff. Been looking at Celestron Astromaster 130EQ motorised but dont want to regret it if you see what i mean.

[x6gas]

You can definitely get some good shots of the moon on your budget.

Unless I am missing something, though, the Astromaster 130EQ is a Newtonian reflector, not a refractor.

Generally speaking, Newtonians are good for deep sky photography rather than planetary - but deep sky would require a much better (and much more expensive) mount... The Astromaster will be fine for the moon, though, but you might find that you tire of that quite quickly... and you don't need a driven mount to photograph the moon!

My advice would be to go for a SkyWatcher ED80 on an EQ1 mount. It's below your budget and if your interest grows then the scope makes an excellent guide scope for autoguiding.

See the SkyWatcher refractors at First Light Optics - Startravel

[Stephen]

You can definitely get some good shots of the moon on your budget.

Unless I am missing something, though, the Astromaster 130EQ is a Newtonian reflector, not a refractor.

Generally speaking, Newtonians are good for deep sky photography rather than planetary - but deep sky would require a much better (and much more expensive) mount... The Astromaster will be fine for the moon, though, but you might find that you tire of that quite quickly... and you don't need a driven mount to photograph the moon!

My advice would be to go for a SkyWatcher ED80 on an EQ1 mount. It's below your budget and if your interest grows then the scope makes an excellent guide scope for autoguiding.

See the SkyWatcher refractors at First Light Optics - Startravel

Don't think you mean ED80 do you

[x6gas]

Don't think you mean ED80 do you

Well spotted! Whoops, I meant the ST80!

Thanks Kheldar.

[DazC]

Hi and welcome.

I own a celestron 130eq with motor drive and i can tell you you will get amazing photos of the moon. As for the planets, you can see the planets with the scope and a bit of detail on them so they would make not bad photos but if you want photos of nebulie then this is a perfect starter.

You can pick one up for around £130 now so it won't put too much of a dint in your budget.

D.C

[trevorsmith44]

Thank you all for your help I think I'm going to research the ST80, I was convinced the 130 was a refractor lol