help buying telescope

[jaymz stealth]

ok ive decided to buy a new telescope i have a celestron 50az ive had it 2 weeks now i am impressed with it but it has limiting factors as in i can bearly see anything but the moon i want to see planets in the solorsytem with a little colour and detail and also some deep space things like the nebula

basicly i have about 150 pounds for a new one and i want some advice on what to get as im still quite a newbie at this i want from it what i said doesent have to be the best just so i can see detail a little more rather then pointing it at saturn or jupiter and not seeing anything but white circle

[Capricorn]

If you are close enough to a club with an observing evening then go along, seeing a few scopes and if possible looking through a couple is very useful.

Failing that then Jupiter is now too low to see much, so you may not have a great deal of success there immaterial of the scope selected.

Saturn needs around 100x to be reasonable, a bit more is always helpful. So based on say a decent 5mm eyepiece that means a scope of 600mm focal length, so that is pretty easy.

DSO's and many require aperture, so a reflector is the most appropriate. A reflector will require a collimator however especially if you want reasonable views of Saturn that are reasonably sharp.

I would be tempted to say use what you have for a while, simply get used to finding things and anything else and add to the fund and get the 150P dobsonian from FLO at £197.

The scope is parabolic and a longer focal length being f/7.8.

This has the "advantage" of not being as critical of collimation and the f/5 scopes (the 130P) and an 8mm eyepiece will give 150x. Ample for Saturn, not enough for Mars as that is a pain and needs higher magnifications and a degree of luck.

Next point is that you will need a collimator at some time, alternatively look at Astro-Baby's site and read up on using a collimating cap - cheaply made. And if this gets the job done then check the scope collimation regularily using that. You will also note that I have said an 8mm eyepiece, these aren't free so that is another thing to purchase at some time. Which eyepiece you buy I leave to you with the information that at the "budget" end there are BST Explorers, TMB Planetary's and plossl's. If plossl consider the Vixen NPL's.

This doesn't get you a scope immediatly but I suspect that the 150P will last you for some time.

[Marki]

Lots of folk here swear by the Skywatcher 130p heritage dobsonian as a good starter scope. Plus its less than £150!

First Light Optics - Skywatcher Heritage 130p Flextube

Not used one myself so can't otherwise comment.

Good luck on your search though! Keep at it - it'll be worth it when you get that little bit more magnification and bigger views .

[Hitesh]

I recently bought my first telescope( literally three days), and i have to say i didn't like the idea of collimating on a regular basis. So i opted for Skywatcher Skymax 90mm maksutov (its roughly £150, comes with decent eyepieces 10mm and 25mm. It has all the benefits of both refractor and reflector and none (or reduced) disadvantages like coma or chromatic aberations. Its also very compact so really easy to store So far i've seen saturn and its rings really clearly, only thing was looked a bit small.......so i suppose it could do with a barlow lense and a 15mm eyepiece, all in all your done for about £200

[JamesM]

I would certainly agree with the idea of attending an observation evening with your local Astro club or observing group. When you look at all the specifications and data that is advertised with a scope - it is hard to know what this really means unless you have some experience from which to hang these figures from. getting your eye in on some of these scopes will quickly tell you what you will need to meet your own expectations. Its not about spending mega bucks on a huge scope nor is about spending small amounts only to be disappointed in what you can see. Capricorn above makes a good call in recommending the 150P which is slightly over your budget but is certainly worth saving that little bit extra for. Observing deep sky objects (DSO's) is all about aperture, hence the phrase 'aperture fever' which describes how we all want bigger scopes to go deeper into space! The stars aren't going anywhere so there is no rush to update just yet, take your time, do some research during the observation evenings and choose wisely - it will you money in the longer run. Keep us informed on how you are doing.

Clear skies

James