Equipment collection

[Astro-Nova]

Got my 200p skyliner, 25mm EP, 10mm EP.

Obviously will have a barlow lens in the future and some other lenses.

Anything else you would advise me to have?

Wanna see as much DSO as possible, better views of planets.

which,

filters? (solar, lunar, etc)

lenses?

any other accessories?

,should I be looking for to get the best out of my scope?

[John]

Someone once said that the best thing you could buy for £50 to get better views of deep sky objects was some petrol for your car to get the scope to a really dark sky site. He was dead right - the difference is really noticeable if you have any light pollution where you observe.

A red dot type finder like a Telrad or Rigel Quikfinder will massively help in finding deep sky objects in my experience.

If you want to observe the sun in white light you will need a solar filter that goes over the whole of the front aperture of your scope.

For nebulae a UHC filter will be useful. It does not help galaxies though - dark skies are needed to enhance the views of those.

You will want a low power wide angle eyepiece at some time for the larger deep sky objects - something like a 32mm Panaview.

You will also want better quality eyepieces in due course including something like a 6mm for high power planetary / lunar / binary star viewing.

That's probably more than the scope cost already in accessories - I hope someone warned you of this !

[DazC]

As John says a 32mm ep of some sort. I have a gso 32mm -best £40 spent in ages.

A red tourch/head tourch for changing eps, looking at star charts etc...

And a case of some sort for all your new accessories.

Hope they help.

D.C

[ollypenrice]

Star charts, big, clear and high quality. Wil Tirion (!!!) has drawn up the beautiful SkyAtlas 2000 which takes some beating.

Olly

PS, By the way, I live on the route des Princes d'Orange in France. I've quite a few Dutch friends here.

[knobby]

+1 for the box to put it all in, need to look after your new goodies!!

I'm looking for a nice EP box at the mo ...

[stevetynant]

id go for as big a case as you can its suprizing how quickly you'll full it

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

[Tribal-Wolf]

Maplin had a deal on recently with flight cases for 19.99, good value if they're still available.

[dweller25]

A cooling fan .......

[Stargazer_00]

thermals for the winter is an absolute must if you intend to stay outside for a large amount of time in sub zero conditions you have to make sure you are comfortable.

[BAZ Senior]

A Cheshire eyepiece, to collimate it with.

Not too expensive, but one of the bit's of kit on the must have list.

[Astro-Nova]

thank you all for the tips.

Dark skies is bout 40min from here in shropshire so in summer I will have a trip to the dark skies for sure. Atm Im trying to get as much as possible out of my back yard, which atm is working great with planets etc, did manage to find some DSO but faint so ill try witg better EP and filters maybe. DSO I will take some time to travel eventually.

regarding colimating, im going to try to use a 35mm film canister. Have to look into that a bit deeper how to work it.

as I want to use money for the 'entertainment' first

Probably will get a 6 mm EP and solar filter. NOt sure about the cooling van as I dont mind cooling the scope down naturally. EP case is a must,so thats on my list now as well.

UHC filter for nebula might be nice idea.

32mm EP. I got a amateur question about that. DSO are already far far away and a 32mm is not much of a zoom lens, how is this EP good for DSO?

Got my wintery thermals, wore 3 layers last january lol

skychart or planisphere might be good option as my skymap on my phone does not show DSO.

I did realize it is an expensive hobby, however I dont mind to spend the money only problem was with the scope is that it was the amount that hadd to be paid in 1 go. once in a while spending 30-50 pounds is not much of a big deal for me.

Solar filter I do want to have before June, heard in June is the last time ever I would be able to see venus transiting the sun, that is if I be able to see it from my location.