help first telescope?!

[bronwen]

hi all, new here. just wondering if anyone has any ideas on a good first telescope?

im thinking price range under £500, for everything i will need, or at least to get me started and buy other things later

ive been leaning towards a refractor one cz ive heard the reflectors are hard to maintain

thanks all

[richbyers]

hi, i know a bronwen...you dont live in cumbria do you?

anyways, for the most seeing ability for your money - reflectors are the best way to go- more specifically dobsonians -

many many people go for this 200mm dob

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian

or if you want a mount you could take a look at

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Explorer 200P EQ5

both will give you enough money left to buy some nice eyepieces and other things you may want

if you want to go down the refractor route then im not really 'up' on which refractors are good and which arent, but you will have to spend more money to get the same power as a reflector

rich

[Moonshane]

try to decide whether you want to image or not. imaging anything other than solar system objects is hard and can be expensive.

if imaging it's all about the mount and you generally have a small telescope (often a refractor) to get wide fields. I am not an imager so cannot really help.

if not likely to be imaging then aperture is what really counts as almost all objects and especially the fainter ones look better. I'd agree that the 8" dobsonian is a good place to start your thinking. collimation is presumably the 'maintenance' you are talking about and this is an easy thing to pick up and quick to do once you have. it's like tuning a guitar before each use. more often than not it's a check and minor adjustment that takes a few seconds.

don't let this be an issue preventing buying a reflector as it's really not an issue.

[bronwen]

oh ok, ill think about them although they dont really look very flash do they... anyway that probs shouldnt matter

been looking on youtube and have seen some "Schmidt - Cassegrain"? they look pretty nice also they look easy to carry cz id have to trek it down to the bottom of the garden where its paved.

thanks

ps. north west, ribble valley sort of near Cumbria...ish haha

[bronwen]

hmm just had a shop around for those Schmidt - Cassegrain things they seem like lottery winners only haha! unless im just looking at rip off web sights

whoops was looking at some crazy elite things haha... dont matter ignore this comment

[umadog]

A Dobsonian is at least as easy to set up as an SCT and will produce images that are at least as nice. Don't be put off by them not look sophisticated: if you want to do visual observation they are hard to beat.

[bronwen]

ok ok i want this one!

First Light Optics - Celestron NexStar 5SE

and its orange! super cool now just need to find some money... i think i might have to set up my rock painting ebay shop

[umadog]

You should definitely buy what seems right to you. The scope you list will have goto and tracking. Tracking in particular is very nice. I think I should point out, though, that you will see more and spend less with this: First Light Optics - Skywatcher Skyliner 250px FlexTube Dobsonian

[bronwen]

hmmm ive been doing some thinking and as nice as all these are their a little expansive for a first try. i think ill go for something in the 300-400 range or below...

hw does this one look? its probs not as good as the others but its cheaper and has good reviews...First Light Optics - Celestron Nexstar 102 SLT

also sorry but the dobsonian ones just dnt really do it for me

or even someting like this http://www.firstlightoptics.com/startravel/skywatcher-startravel-102-synscan-az-goto.html

[richbyers]

if you dont want dobs - those are both good telescopes

[Moonshane]

before you commit I'd strongly recommend that you have a look through various telescopes if possible. there's the Astronomy Centre at Todmorden which is not far from you and would be a good place to go and see what things look like. I'd hate for you to buy a small aperture scope at the top of your budget and then be very disappointed with the limited views you get or not being able to see things as they require more aperture to even detect them. The Astronomy Centre

if you ask nicely there may even be a possibility that they could have a smaller scope available that's not normally on site.