trying to find the right scope help!!!!!

[Gaze Away]

Hi all,

Well Im in two minds, Skywatcher evostar 120 ed pro with neq6 or meade 10" lx 90 gps !!

Im really serious about astronomy and want to get the right scope. My last one was the meade ls 6, nice but not big enough and a waste of time If I want to do astro photography.

The scope I buy is going to have to last me a long time and all I need now is a bit of advice on which one of these scopes is right.

Im fairly new to all this, about a year and have always had the gps. I have never done a polar alignment but have read enough to be confident to do it. I suppose my real question is what scope do you guys think is better for viewing. I know I can add the wedge to the lx 90 and it has gps and a bigger appeture but at the same time the focal length is smaller than the evostar so which is best and will give better views (especially if i want to start astro photography !).

Thanks so much I really do appreciate the help.

Andy

[Helen]

If you want to do astrophotography then you'll be much better off with the EQ6 mount rather than the Alt Az of the Meade (even with a wedge). The EQ6 also gives you much more flexibility on scopes, as you can switch between scopes easily.

As for which scope to put on the top of the EQ6, well that depends on what you want to see/photograph. The 120 is however considered a good all-rounder.

Helen

[Mr Spock]

For astrophotography, an ED80 with and EQ-6 is ideal (you don't need 120mm and the focal length is a bit demanding)

For visual use, a C9.25 on EQ-6 takes some beating.

For deep sky, a huge dob...

[Gaze Away]

Thanks helen I have heard good things about the 120 and I am seriously considering it. I am unsure about having to use a wedge with the meade.

Mr Spock!! (cool name)The c9.25 was making me curious actually!! I presume its a good scope for astro/p and also if I went with this scope and mount I may be able to go a bit bigger......as its a bit cheaper!! ie if i went for the c11 xlt would this sit on the neq6??

thanks

[Mr Spock]

The C9.25 is one of the best for planetary photography - just google C9.25 and you'll see

C11 is ok too, but not really much of an advantage over the C9.25 for planetary photography. It will fit nicely on an EQ-6 though.

[Gaze Away]

The C9.25 is one of the best for planetary photography - just google C9.25 and you'll see

C11 is ok too, but not really much of an advantage over the C9.25 for planetary photography. It will fit nicely on an EQ-6 though.

I take it the bigger the aperture the further and better I will see ?

thanks

[Helen]

Sometimes.... You'll find that the resolution on a larger scope is often limited by the atmospheric conditions rather than the optics - particularly in UK conditions. The longer focal length of the C11 will make astrophotography more challenging than with the 9.25. And the extra weight will make the mount (and you when you're carrying it) work harder.

Helen

[Gaze Away]

Sometimes.... You'll find that the resolution on a larger scope is often limited by the atmospheric conditions rather than the optics - particularly in UK conditions. The longer focal length of the C11 will make astrophotography more challenging than with the 9.25. And the extra weight will make the mount (and you when you're carrying it) work harder.

Helen

Thanks Helen, I know im asking curious questions but I have got to learn somewhere. Also I have had numerous telescopes in my past years and just want to get this one right which is why I am willing to spend a bit more. I see what you are saying about the resolution.

Whats your view on the celestron 9.25 for an all round scope mounted on the neq6 ? compared to the 120 evostar. Meade also do the 10" lx200 optical tube???

thanks

[ollypenrice]

I'm very involved with deep sky imaging and wouldn't recommend a standard SCT for that purpose. The Meade ACF can give good results, the Celestron Edge would give good results if Celestron would sort out a focal reducer. (Maybe they now have, but at a price.) The standard SCTs really fail, in most cases, to deliver anything that can't be delivered far more easily by a refractor of smaller aperture and shorter FL. But on the planetary imaging side they excel.

A solution that is often, and wisely, suggested is to uncouple the DS imaging from the visual. Buy a small apo on a decent EQ mount, the HEQ5 being fine, and a large-ish Dob. There is no one scope that can do everything.

Olly

Olly's Favourites. - ollypenrice's Photos

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Ya Gaze away - sorry to tell you but sounds like you have a dose of AF Aperture Fever - I've looked into aperture - and have owned a few scopes - finally settling on the cpc 11 - maybe you need to check availability of your final decision - all Celestron's seem out of stock - Ive had my cpc on order since early Feb.

Another thing to think of is what the skies are like where you do most of your observing, from your locations - seems you have better skies than me, but these SCT's I think are fantastic - very portable and forgiving on cheaper ep's and very stable but the only down side for you would be the long focal length for imaging.

Check availability - not sure about the Meades, but the Celestron's are rarer than clear nights - Paul.

[Helen]

In my case, I bought a C11 and have had a few good evenings with it for visuals (the light gathering is great!) and some lunar and planetary. But as I'm still a learner at astrophotography I found it was just to hard as a scope to 'learn the trade' so to speak. So my C11 is currently an ornament and I'm imaging with a 90mm scope! I'm lucky in that I have a permanent set up, but that actually means that its a lot of trouble to undo the set-up to put the C11 on for a bit of visual. So as I do love the views with a large scope, I've just bought a large dob to have the best of both worlds. So the C11 is now even less likely to get used.

They say the best scope for you is the one you actually use ...

Helen

PS this is NOT a veiled For Sale ad

[ollypenrice]

Helen's experience mirrors my own with a 10 inch SCT. They are very limited DS imaging tools. The most productive scope for DS imaging is the small fast apo in my experience.

Olly

[Gaze Away]

In my case, I bought a C11 and have had a few good evenings with it for visuals (the light gathering is great!) and some lunar and planetary. But as I'm still a learner at astrophotography I found it was just to hard as a scope to 'learn the trade' so to speak. So my C11 is currently an ornament and I'm imaging with a 90mm scope! I'm lucky in that I have a permanent set up, but that actually means that its a lot of trouble to undo the set-up to put the C11 on for a bit of visual. So as I do love the views with a large scope, I've just bought a large dob to have the best of both worlds. So the C11 is now even less likely to get used.

They say the best scope for you is the one you actually use ...

Helen

PS this is NOT a veiled For Sale ad

Thanks Helen you are really helping me understand things a bit more. Are the evostar 120 pro apos any good for planets as well as deep space?? or is it that they are just to small in aperture?

Thanks

[Helen]

I've never had a 120 apo so can't really comment. I have a 125 Mak which actually produces very nice planet shots, but that is a much longer focal length so would be easier to get high magnification. It does however show that you can get pleasing resolution at that size aperture.

Helen

[Gaze Away]

Hi Ya Gaze away - sorry to tell you but sounds like you have a dose of AF Aperture Fever - I've looked into aperture - and have owned a few scopes - finally settling on the cpc 11 - maybe you need to check availability of your final decision - all Celestron's seem out of stock - Ive had my cpc on order since early Feb.

Another thing to think of is what the skies are like where you do most of your observing, from your locations - seems you have better skies than me, but these SCT's I think are fantastic - very portable and forgiving on cheaper ep's and very stable but the only down side for you would be the long focal length for imaging.

Check availability - not sure about the Meades, but the Celestron's are rarer than clear nights - Paul.

Thanks for your help. Looking at things in perspective maybe I will have to settle in the middle, purchase the Celestron C9.25 XLT as it has a slightly lower focal length. If I use the heq6 mount It should help the imaging to a certain extent and then invest in an apo. I think I will maybe walk before i can run....

Andy

[Gaze Away]

I've never had a 120 apo so can't really comment. I have a 125 Mak which actually produces very nice planet shots, but that is a much longer focal length so would be easier to get high magnification. It does however show that you can get pleasing resolution at that size aperture.

Helen

Thanks Helen maybe that is the solution. I had a thread started asking about the 120 apo so I will go ask someone who has one,

Take care,

Andy

[Gaze Away]

Thanks for your help. Looking at things in perspective maybe I will have to settle in the middle, purchase the Celestron C9.25 XLT as it has a slightly lower focal length. If I use the heq6 mount It should help the imaging to a certain extent and then invest in an apo. I think I will maybe walk before i can run....

Andy

Ps your right about the availability.....shocking.

[John]

... Are the evostar 120 pro apos any good for planets as well as deep space?? or is it that they are just to small in aperture? .....

I have an ED120 Pro which I used mainly for planetary, lunar and binary star viewing. It's an excellent tool for those roles and has shown me some fine and subtle details on Jupiter, Mars and lately Saturn over the past few months. Within the confines of it's 12cm aperture it does a good job on deep sky objects too but obviously can't compete in this with scope in the 8" or 10" aperture range.

Despite having a good 10" newtonian, the ED120 is my most used scope and I've had some very satisfying sessions with it

I believe the ED120 is well though t of as an imaging scope as well but I'm not an imager so can't comment 1st hand on those aspects of it's abilities.

[Gaze Away]

I have an ED120 Pro which I used mainly for planetary, lunar and binary star viewing. It's an excellent tool for those roles and has shown me some fine and subtle details on Jupiter, Mars and lately Saturn over the past few months. Within the confines of it's 12cm aperture it does a good job on deep sky objects too but obviously can't compete in this with scope in the 8" or 10" aperture range.

Despite having a good 10" newtonian, the ED120 is my most used scope and I've had some very satisfying sessions with it

I believe the ED120 is well though t of as an imaging scope as well but I'm not an imager so can't comment 1st hand on those aspects of it's abilities.

John,

thanks so much for your info. I'm about to spend a good few pounds so I just want to get this right.

If you have a scope with say a 9.25 aperture sct, why are these not so good for nebulae, galaxies etc ?? I dont really understand?

Andy

[John]

John,

thanks so much for your info. I'm about to spend a good few pounds so I just want to get this right.

If you have a scope with say a 9.25 aperture sct, why are these not so good for nebulae, galaxies etc ?? I dont really understand?

Andy

I can only talk about visual observing as I don't image but the SCT's have relatively narrow fields of view as they have long focal lengths. They are fine for the smaller deep sky objects but the larger ones won't fit into the narrow field of view. A 10" SCT can show at most around 1.1 degrees of sky wheras my 10" F/4.8 newtonian can show more than twice that.

I think you are starting to run into the reasons that many astronomers own more than one scope

[Gaze Away]

I think you are right John.

I have to make a decision about where i want to go in astrology. Visual or imagery...its not easy this unless you have bags of money lol.

Thanks again,

Andy

[John]

.....I have to make a decision about where i want to go in astrology.....

Don't go there Andy

In astronomy, I've stuck with visual as I like a low-tech approach to the hobby. I've still ended up with 4 scopes though

[ollypenrice]

My favourite planetary scope is a 140 apo. I've also had stunning planetary views through 115 and 127 apos as well. I don't think such views can be greatly improved upon in anything, quite honestly. Maybe a big Maksutov, but it depends on the night.

Olly

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Andy, Visually even large scopes will show you no where near the detail obtained by photo/imaging, all the pics you see are doctored - tweaked, stacked, cropped and you will never see this amount of detail by just observing.

Also larger scopes will not "DOUBLE" the size of the planets but make them brighter due to more light, then you can increase magnification - but only by a certain amount depending on the sky conditions - if they are poor due to atmospheric turbulence increased magnification just degrades the view - so only on a few clear nights can you increase mag and get the best out of your equipment.

DSO's again can be a little disappointing visually - only smudges or patches of "mist" in the eyepiece and totally dependent on your light pollution or lack of it. Rule of thumb is that if you can see the Milky Way in the night sky you stand a better chance of "detecting" a lot of the DSO's and being able to move from one to another - but light pollution for me anyway "washes" out the majority of deep sky - so from my location any object fainter than about 9.5 is "invisible" in the eyepiece.

I'm not trying to put you off visual, but if everyone who comes into astronomy understands that the major factor when choosing a scope is the amount of light pollution your suffering with before they part with a lot of cash, only to get set up and find that visually the extra cost has given them no benefit over their previous scope, they tend to be very dis - heartened and a little annoyed at their new purchase.

I think you have to look at the whole picture - looking up seeing the wonderful delights of the night sky - distances light has traveled - the physical aspects of the formation of the universe and relative sizes and distances to objects that can be seen - then there is the planets - amazing to see such detail on worlds near to ours.

Heres me - saying all this - and I've ordered another scope - so there - that's me hooked!!! - seriously - Ive been observing for years and even though I only have 1 scope at present - still get out most clear nights with it and just enjoy the night sky. Cheers Paul.

[Gaze Away]

Thanks everybody for your help. Its a great learning experience for me on here. I am going to stick with visual and buy the C9.25 on neq6 as i feel that this will be a good all round scope for me to be able to enjoy and learn the night sky.I should be able to take reasonable pics of the planets, stack them and gets some nice oictures out of them. This should keep me busy for a couple of years and then we can see how far telescopes manage to get then.

Again ty so much to all,

Andy