Just starting, need advice

[pmgsky2]

Having attended a couple of star parties and shops I would be gratefuil for anyones advice re the following

I am a beginner - not too young but hopefully not too old

I am looking for equipment that I can hopefully expand on as I get more involved

Would like something that rest of family (no children) could use easily so I think that this impies auto locating etc

Have budget of £1500 and will probably only use at home so does not need to be too portable

Any suggestions

Peter

[brantuk]

Hi Peter and welcome to SGL

This is only one idea and there will be other suggestions - but with your budget an HEQ5 Pro would make a nice quick/easy to set up mount which is good enough for imaging if you progress that way in the future. For just observing and showing the familly stuff, an 8" newtonian like the SW 200PDS would be a very nice instrument that will show a lot of objects and that the mount will handle well.

This set up will only cost around £1k and leaves a healthy amount for any of the extras you'll need - there will be extras and you'll be surprised how quikcly £500 can disappear. If you move to imaging later - you'l be able to upgrade this very reasonably with guiding and autofocusing. Alternatively you may move to a refractor - there are many good ones the mount will support nicely. Hth

[Andymac79]

Hi Peter and welcome to SGL

This is only one idea and there will be other suggestions - but with your budget an HEQ5 Pro would make a nice quick/easy to set up mount which is good enough for imaging if you progress that way in the future. For just observing and showing the familly stuff, an 8" newtonian like the SW 200PDS would be a very nice instrument that will show a lot of objects and that the mount will handle well.

This set up will only cost around £1k and leaves a healthy amount for any of the extras you'll need - there will be extras and you'll be surprised how quikcly £500 can disappear. If you move to imaging later - you'l be able to upgrade this very reasonably with guiding and autofocusing. Alternatively you may move to a refractor - there are many good ones the mount will support nicely. Hth

Sound advice, as ever from brantuk

[Stevp]

Hi Peter, I wouldn't class myself as much more than an absolute beginner, but I cant recommend enough that you get yourself a set of binoculars. I'm sure there will be others here that could advise which. I have found that binoculars are great for sharing with the family as there is no setup time, also it is a good distraction rather than someone having to stand watching you setup, and the most straightforward to use.

[nightfisher]

Hi Peter, will you be wanting to observe lunar/planets or deep sky objects, more likely both, as brantuk suggests the HEQ5 as a good mount, but you might want to consider the syntrek version, as this has the goto stepper motors so kinda future proof, the 200 reflector will show a lot of the night sky