First Telescope

[vphotographic]

Hi all,

Im new to astronomy and im looking at the below setup for my first telescope.

http://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/SkyWatcher_Explorer_150PDS_EQ3-2_Reflector_Telescope.html

Obviously ill be buying from FLO, but this site has the full kit im looking for as an idea.

I may dabble in AP at some point as i own a couple DSLR cameras.

What do you think to this setup ??

Regards

Paul Marshall

[Catweazel]

Hi, it's a nice scope

If you want to get into AP, it might be an idea to get a sturdier mount than EQ3 though!

[vphotographic]

Im afraid mount will wait as im new to this and a eq5 mount is not cheap ??

Any other mount options around ??

Cheers

[idbvideo]

For the same price I bought a 200P on an EQ5 mount. My plan is to do AP but the EQ5 is not man enough to be stable and cope with the windage with the 200P plus DSLR etc., I suspect that it is the same for the 150P and EQ3-2 mount.

I know all too well that unless you plan properly it costs money. I started just before Christmas with an Astromaster 130EQ and quickly found that it was no good for AP. I bought the 200P and EQ5 out of frustration with the whole thing, I only had a budget of £400 at the time and was planning on putting a goto upgrade on it. But then I did the research and although the 200P/EQ5 will work for AP it looks like it needs to be well shielded from the wind so that the mount can cope with it all.

Dont get me wrong, the scope and mount are fantastic for visual, and I suspect that the 150P and EQ3-2 would be too, but to be honest, plan for a mount with twice the capacity of the largest scope you expect to go for.

[vphotographic]

Thank you.

Im guessing ill stick to viewing for now then and maybe oneday imaging when i win the lottery

What about a lightwieght webcam?

Paul