Purchasing my first telescope

[Chantelle]

Hi,

I have been reading about telescopes and have found a few that have caught my interest. I wonder if anyone has any reviews on these telescopes as there is just way to much info in their spec that I don't understand ...

Meade ETX90 PE

Celestron NexStar 102SLT

Celestron NexStar 127SLT

Celestron NexStar 4 SE

I have £500 to spend but it doesn't neccessarily mean I have to spend it all! I am after a Goto telescope which has good planetary and deep space observation. I love the moon so I would like something that will give me a good detailed view of it and I hope to get into astro photography as well. Maybe I'm asking too much of one telescope?

Any information would be really helpful!

Thanks

[Cjg]

Hi Chantelle,

Welcome to SGL.

Interesting choice of scopes - I know one of the "Dob Mob" will be along shortly to explain why a dobsonian is a better choice , but

the scopes that you have mentioned will all do a reasonable job. You may though find them limiting as you get more interested into stargazing.

You will forever be needing to carry a power source - ni-cads do't do the business with these scopes to power the GoTo.

I own the Skywatcher equivalent of the 102 and love it.

It is a good scope for general purpose stargazing albeit with some false colour around the brighter objects.

I now also own the bigger brother to the 4SE the 5SE.

Don't think that you'll go wrong with either of your choices, but for the same cash you will get a bigger aperture scope without the GoTo and that will allow you to see fainter deep space objects hence the Dob Mob.

If you get the chance to visit your local stro club before choosing, that'd be a smart move.

Think that the Forum Sponsors First Light Optics have the Skywatcher 102 in their clearance thread for about £260?

http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=188592&page=3

Good luck,

Chris

[knobby]

Wahey we've even for non dobbers recommending Dobs now!

Our work is complete, but seriously ... the astro society recommendation is a great idea, you'll meet lots of peeps and hopefully see some Scopes in the flesh,

Did I say get a Dob?

Good luck

P.s. the batteries have never done flat on my Dob

Sent from my HD2Droid

[Naemeth]

While it's most certainly not GoTo, you cannot get better £ for your aperture than by going for a Dobsonian . Plus, it's fun tracking things yourself! Funnily enough, I know someone personally who owns the 4SE (got it as a present), and would actually have loved to have a manual one, it's much more fun.

Sorry about the Dob Mob though .

[knobby]

There's also an immense satisfaction in finding something yourself, well maybe that's just me.

But some nights I must admit to wishing I could find more! (Desperately trying to hide twinges of goto envy)

Sent from my HD2Droid

[Monty]

All I'm saying is Sky Watcher 130p, hasn't let me down yet.

[boabsta]

I would recomend this http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150p-eq3-2.html to tick most of the boxes. If you can spring to an extra £60 to get full goto. Or you can buy the non goto mount and add tracking motors for around £100.

It can be a pain if you have to move it about a lot but there have been some stunning images posted on here taken with this combination. It's also excellent for DSO's and as Ive said a hundred times before, you haven't seen the moon until youve seen it through a telescope, and this is a stunning scope to see it with.

[onesmallstep]

Hi and welcome to SGL

The following link is for the Federation of Astronomical Societies website. Browse for local astro clubs by county.

http://fedastro.org.uk/fas/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=8

HTH!

[Cjg]

P.s. the batteries have never done flat on my Dob

I had to laugh at that - but if you've light polluted skies, then a goto makes sense (when correctly aligned) as it points to where the faint fuzzy is ...when you might not be able to spot the area...but lets not start that discussion.

Seriously Chantelle, take your time and look through as many options as you can - for some the fun is in the satisfaction in tracking down and finding the stuff - for others it's the time spent viewing that is the business.

In some ways you won't know until you've spent time out looking.

Good luck,

Chris

[Herbig]

All good advice here, but it can be very confusing at first and you don't want to make an expensive mistake. As many have said already go see your local group and look through as many scopes as you can and ask questions, you'll fing most people are only too pleased to help out.

For my money I'd save for a bit longer and get the 6SE.

[rowan46]

I would agree with herbig you have enough money for a second hand celestron 6se try astrobuy/sell. If you are not going for a dob it's the best small goto by a mile. New you pay a bit of a premium for them but 2nd hand they are much more reasonable.

[CFC]

Hi Chantelle

Meade ETX90 PE

Celestron NexStar 102SLT

Celestron NexStar 127SLT

Celestron NexStar 4 SE

I own the 4SE, a 4 inch telescope. It gives lovely planetary views and is fine for astrophotography of planets. This is a kind of telescope called a 'mak' for short (it's the kind of construction) and it means you can use cheaper eyepieces and it's good for planetary viewing. It has a very solid tripod IMO which is important for any astro imaging. It has a wedge, which means you can also use it for deep sky imaging IF you can set it up properly.

These two are similar but have no wedge, a slightly lighter tripod, and don't have the special Star Bright coatings the 4SE have

Celestron NexStar 102SLT

Celestron NexStar 127SLT - this is a 5 inch telescope.

For viewing deep space objects, a bigger aperture is better because you will be able to see fainter objects.

For deep space astrophotography, a really solid mount is more important in most ways than the size of the telescope.

The Meade ETX90PE - it can find north for itself apparantly but it is only a 3.5 inch telescope and it's pretty expensive. I don't know what other features it has.

You'll need to spend some money on bits like eyepieces etc and adapters for your camera so if £500 is your max, I'd say don't spend more on the scope than £400 so you have £100 for those. A 6SE would be lovely but it depends if you want to buy second hand or not, especially if you are not experienced.

Do a lot of research or you'll find what you buy doesn't do what you need it to do and you'll be selling it and buying another in the future. Astrophotography is a whole dark art, although if you are planning to focus on moon and planets it's much easier and cheaper to get set up

[earth titan]

Hi there. Looking for the perfect scope is a never ending task. I would countenance again GOTO for a 1st scope as you need to know the sky to align it. I got goto after 3 years and it still frustrated me. It has the capability to point at 30,000 odd objects but it isn't perfect and most of these can't be seen.

Good though GOTO is, and it is good, don't be fooled by the sales blurb. It is not for beginners.

I suggest dob for beginners! More bang for the buck!

[JonnyK]

I agonised over a nexstar 4se and a 127slt and a dob. I went for the celestron 127slt in the end and I absolutely love it. Im having loads of fun with the modded xbox webcam and the goto on it is spot on. Obviously I do crave a bigger scope but I think you get that whatever size scope you have. Good luck with your choice it certainly isn't easy!Just so you know I bought the 127slt, dew shield and 12v power lead which I think came to just over £400 from FLO.

[x6gas]

Hi there. Looking for the perfect scope is a never ending task. I would countenance again GOTO for a 1st scope as you need to know the sky to align it. I got goto after 3 years and it still frustrated me. It has the capability to point at 30,000 odd objects but it isn't perfect and most of these can't be seen.

Good though GOTO is, and it is good, don't be fooled by the sales blurb. It is not for beginners.

I suggest dob for beginners! More bang for the buck!

I'm afraid I disagree. My first serious scope was on a CG-5 GoTo mount and I never had a problem setting up and using the GoTo. You do need to learn how to polar align (and I find the use of a polar scope and one of the free polar finder programmes is a necessity), then you need to do a two star align. I usually add the maximum number of calibration stars but even so can do the whole process in under 5 minutes on a good night.

I never star hop, but it is a myth that with a GoTo mount you don't learn the sky. I have stellarium with me in the field so that I know what to look at, and it turns out that my Mk I eyeballs are not GoTo!

[Chantelle]

Thanks for all the feedback!

I have used a cheap reflector telescope before and it took me about 10 minutes to spot the moon through the lense, is this what it is generally like using a manual telescope?

I have spent most of this evening looking at manual telescopes, would buying one of these be a wise or not so wise decision as a beginner?

[Naemeth]

As long as you have a finder that's aligned, finding things is not a problem, I learned quickly enough even with a red dot finder that was out.

[Teslar]

I bought a 6SE it's a great scope and to be honest I would not recommend anything smaller. If your budget it tight and you really need a goto then you can't go wrong with s nexstar. However if you want a scope that grows with you look for an ED80 or it's cheaper brother ST80 on at least an EQ3 Synscan Pro you can sell the mount later easily and you'll always keep the apo. However buying the ED80 and EQ3 pro would blow your £500 budget but not waste it

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[jonathan]

My first scope was a goto, an 8SE. I used the goto mount for about a year then bought a large manual mount, I have not used the goto mount since then.

It may be a personal thing, but there were so many problems with it, some big and some small, that it just spoiled otherwise good evenings when I could have been looking at distant star clusters rather than fighting with the fancy electronics.

The challenge of a manual mount (whether motorised for automatic tracking or not) is in finding your target, if you are a visual observer this is usually half of the fun and you get a very good sense of achievement if you do manage to find what you were hoping to see. Serious photographers probably prefer to be making exposures than finding targets, so they may prefer a good goto, but excellent alignment is key for either type of mount for photography, it is not so important for visual.

There are numerous books and apps to help you find targets, there's no shame in having something like Stellarium or Star Walk on your iPad / iPhone out there with you, though they do tend to ruin your night-adjusted eyes if the screen is bright.

I started out with Celestron Sky Scout when I just had binoculars, I enjoyed this immensely and it taught me a lot about the night sky. I still use it with the scope to quickly locate or identify targets.

A CG-4 mount is a very nice starting point, you could fit an 80mm or perhaps 100mm refractor to this and get some cracking views of planets and star clusters for your money. A 6SE should allow you to see more fainter objects and more detail, or there are similar scopes available without a mount (e.g. Skywatcher Skymax 127).

[Fish]

The 4se will be great for planets and the moon, with the celestron software all you have to do is point the scope at three bright things and your aligned. You dont have to know the name but you do need to level the tripod. It will show you the brighter DSO's and it is very easy to transport. The other thing is the mount on the 4se is good and you can use it for an intoductory into astro photography.

If you then get a Dob for your second scope you can then point it at anything the 4SE cant see .

Joking apart you wont go wrong with any of the scopes you are looking at just understand the limits of the aperture.

[CFC]

Thanks for all the feedback!

I have used a cheap reflector telescope before and it took me about 10 minutes to spot the moon through the lense, is this what it is generally like using a manual telescope?

I have spent most of this evening looking at manual telescopes, would buying one of these be a wise or not so wise decision as a beginner?

It's simply about what you want to do, whether you go for goto or manual. It's not a question of wise or not, this is a hobby, it's about how you enjoy it.

I like goto because I can plonk it down, align it in about 5 minutes, and be viewing my desired object.

Some people like hunting for the objects and even if they don't find what they are looking for, they enjoy the evening. Personally, I would get bored. My enjoyment of the hobby is looking AT stuff, not looking FOR stuff.

I understand the kind of reference you are making to the cheap reflector, a more expensive manual telescope will see a bigger part of the sky as it will have a bigger aperture, the finderscope would be better, and it will be easier to move the telescope as the mount wouldn't be so nasty, but yes, the wandering around looking for things is the same.

If you live in an area which is light polluted, goto makes everything a sight easier - star hopping is much more difficult when you can't see so much.

[rowan46]

The reason people say get a dob is because of apparture. The dob mount gives the most apparture for the money this means you can see further and get better definition. the general rule is get the biggest you can afford and handle. That being said you appear to have your heart set on goto which of course takes a chunk out of the size of the scope you can get. The largest scope in your list is the 127slt its the same type of scope as the nexstar 4 ie maksutov. They give good views of planets and the moon and will allow you to see many of the messier list of deep space objects. You can hook up a webcam to image planets or a dslr to image the moon, dso's will not be easily possible (wrong scope, wrong mount). As I said the 127slt is the same type of scope as the nexstar 4 but it's bigger the mount is not quite as good as the 4 but internally it's the same and it's an awful lot cheaper than the 4 if you consider the fact it's bigger. If you are having trouble sourcing the 127slt get the skymax127 its the same scope on pretty much the same mount for a couple of pound cheaper.

[Darkstar_1]

Hi, I own a celestron 127 mak GOTO, and am currently awaiting delivery of a skyliner 200p dob. The goto is ok, but don't believe the blurb the advert tells you. Such as 40,000+ object database, because when you factor in limited field of view e.g. buildings trees etc blocking what you see and light pollution the usable number of database objects quickly drops. Also the 5" aperture of the 127 is not suited for deepsky objects, you will seebrighter ones like M42 M31 M13, but fainter objects will reveal no detail (if you can see them at al l:().

The GOTO is fine as long as the scope is perfectly level, but don't accidentaly knock the tripod or you will lose GOTO alignment, and have to start again. With a dob mount you just nudge it back.

If i was choosing my first scope again (based on experience) it would deffo be a dob.

clear skies, Den.

[Chantelle]

Thanks again for more comments.

I still can't decide even after spending hours looking now, although I now have my sights on a Celestron NexStar 5SE.

Could I upgrade parts to increase magnification or a sharper clear view through the scope?

I have seen colour sets being offered with telescopes on some websites, what would this improve?

[Naemeth]

Thanks again for more comments.

I still can't decide even after spending hours looking now, although I now have my sights on a Celestron NexStar 5SE.

Could I upgrade parts to increase magnification or a sharper clear view through the scope?

I have seen colour sets being offered with telescopes on some websites, what would this improve?

Read this thread on what the different colour filters do:

http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=38541

You can increase your magnification by buying eyepieces with smaller focal lengths, but bear in mind the maximum you will be able to use realistically in the UK is somewhere between 200x and 250x. How Sharp the view is is based on collimation, optical quality (of both Primary/Secondary mirror and Eyepieces), and dust can make a small difference on the Primary.

A Dobsonian may be your best bet actually, no configuration needed and there aren't any batteries to run out. Of course, spend all the time necessary to make your own mind up, and we'll always be here to help you with what you do decide if you need help setting up .