I need help choosing a telescope!

[Stefan Novak]

Firstly, sorry that this is gonna be such a long winded question. Very basically, me and my mum are looking for a new telescope to buy for me and my dad for Christmas, but I'm not sure what exactly I want.

I'm not an amateur astronomer, I have been studying astrophysics and astronomy for quite some time now, but I'm an amateur at actually using the telescope as it isn't the greatest. I've taken a few photos of the moon with it, and seen Jupiter and a couple moons, but that's about it.

I guess I should start by saying that my dad has owned the same telescope for 30 years. Being 30 years old it's seen it's pretty battered and broke. It is a reflecting telescope with an aperture of 6". My dad is into astronomy, but becoming old now he doesn't really bother with things that take more than 5 minutes to use, so I'll have to set everything up for him :]

I'm pretty sure that I'm looking for a reflecting telescope, as I'm hoping to look for deep sky objects, such as star clusters and hopefully even some nebulae. (Okay, I'm really hoping to see some nebulae myself, even if it's not a pristine clear image, it'll still be nice to see it with my own eyes. And I'm also not expecting images like you see from NASA, haha)

It might also be worth noting that I live in a mildly light polluted area.

Another thing I should say is that I'm not sure if it's always the case with modern telescopes, but I'm hoping for a good mount (I believe the term is Equatorial Mount). Something like that, but a mount driven by electronic motors isn't necessarily extremely important, but it'd be nice. Especially for imaging.

I wish I could be more clear in what I want but I'm not an expert at this.

There is another part but it isn't as important, as I care more about getting a great telescope to use. But astro-photography is quickly beginning to fascinate me, and I understand what you need for it. So if you could please take that into consideration it would greatly be appreciated.

I'm not asking for a direct link to a telescope matching all these specifications, I'm just hoping for a bit more guidance in finding what I want. The budget is at highest - £300 (give or take). If you could not only give me an answer, but an explanation too so I can understand more of optics, that would hugely be appreciated.

So all in all, I'm looking for a reflecting telescope, useful for looking at deep space objects - particularly nebulae, though it is not strictly necessary - a good mount and easy to use.

Thanks in advance for any answers, they are all appreciated!

-Stefan

[Biggazza88]

Hey mate I'm no expert but your just about to get flooded with posts advising a skywatcher 150 or 200 dobsonian because apparently there the most bang for your buck in terms of light gathering and quality optics. Watch this space!!

[Stefan Novak]

Hey, I did have a look at that telescope and it's just too unrealistic for where we live and how we'll use it.

I plan on going down to an astronomy shop next weekend so I'm hoping for a variety of answers, so I can try out a large range of telescopes :]

So please not ONLY the Skywatcher 200p, I know about this telescope. Haha

thank you

[VigdisVZ]

Hello and welcome.

You know about the EQ-mounts and you know about the 200p, thats good How do you mean unrealistic? As in cumbersome?

My idea is that you shouldn't try to make a kit do everything with a limited budget, either focus on the mount, or on the optics (personally I chose the mount when I made my large investment recently, with that said the 150PDS is still a nice little scope for visual use).

If you try to split the money between both, it's going to be a compromise, and might not be as big of an upgrade to your dad's old 6" as you might have wished for.

However, there is one piece of kit that might fit what you want, within budget, and that would be the SW 150P on the EQ 3-2. This one could be upgraded with motors and GOTO. And while you already have a 6", getting one with a fresh set of mirrors will be a suitable upgrade in quality.

That's the only piece of kit that comes to mind at this point, hopefully others will post some alternatives.

[rowan46]

I think we need more information. If you have specific criteria for where and how the scope will be used it might help us to know what they are rather than having to guess. So come on don't be shy.

[Stefan Novak]

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

I understand your point about focusing on something specific. I think I'm more interested in better optics, and seeing objects like planets and nebula more clearly

I also plan on buying a few extra eyepieces too by the way

[John]

At the risk of seeming boring to Biggazza88........

The best bang for your buck you can get for visual observing for £300 would be the Skywatcher Skyliner 200P dobsonian. No frills but most of your £'s have gone on the optics and a 20cm F/6 newtonian can show both deep sky objects and planets / the moon really well.

I'm assuming you will find an additional budget when you want to upgrade the eyepieces and add some other accessories (which you will !).

[Stefan Novak]

Okay Rowan, I understand. Hopefully this will be easier to understand.

I live in rural north London, I plan to use the telescope regularly in my back garden, but will also be taking it to the country side and other dark spots. Mobility isn't a problem as my car has a large boot and we also have a trailer.

I plan to use this telescope to see several deep sky objects as well as planets in the solar system.

My current telescope is a 30 years old, 6 inch reflector with a standard tripod mount.

Some other not so important notes are that I want to practice astrophotography with this telescope. I'm still a beginner at this so I don't plan on buying the greatest equipment at first.

I am unfamiliar with the GOTO feature that comes equipped with telescopes. It sounds amazing and I would like to have one, but I am going to try it out at my local astronomy club first.

Primarily, I would like to see planets and nebula. The greatest quality is not extremely important, I would just like to see them with my own eyes. My budget is around £300.

Thank you.

[John]

Be warned that the GOTO feature will eat heavily into your budget. While a non-GOTO 20cm aperture scope is within your grasp for £300 (a bit less actually) if you factor in GOTO then the max aperture of the optics you will get for your budget drops to 13cm. For the objects you are interested in thats a significant drop in aperture.

[Stefan Novak]

Really? I suppose that the GOTO feature isn't massively important, I'm quite familiar with the constellations, and Galilleo didn't use anything like that! Haha

[John]

Really? I suppose that the GOTO feature isn't massively important, I'm quite familiar with the constellations, and Galilleo didn't use anything like that! Haha

I'm not knocking GOTO - some folks find it immensely useful. It takes some clever technology plus very precise motors to accurately find and track astronomical objects though wheras the dobsonian mount is basically some MDF panels, some bits of teflon and a handful of screws. The GOTO and tracking is provided by the astronomer !

They do work pretty well though - hence their popularity.

[rowan46]

I have got to go with everyone else with the 200p. Because of the light pollution apparture is indicated and the biggest you can get for the price is the 200p as to it's portability it will fit easily into a car. You are not going to get much of an imaging mount for 300 so forget imaging until you have a reasonable amount of funds available. Photo's of the moon and planets are possible with a webcam and dob but dso's are out, However at least with an "8 scope you will be able to see dso's. I have a 5" scope and it isn't great from a very light polluted sight. The 200p dob is a very popular scope and is highly recommended and the reason it gets such good reviews is because it is the best in it's price range.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

As is stated above in a few posts, if you want to do Astrophotography, forget a dob, you'll need an EQ5 minimum for a 200p, preferably a HEQ5. But take baby steps, buying everything in one whack is pricy, buy it bit by bit, and just get out and use the scope

[Qualia]

When looking around at your new potential purchase, although there are excellent reasons to buy a refractor, the general precept is that aperture rules and so you'll find that if a beginner asks 'what should I buy?' 95% of those answers are always going to suggest the biggest Newtonian (reflector) you can afford and carry about, and more than likely a Newtonian which is Dob mounted rather than Gem mounted, simply because the former mounts are probably easier to use and set up and are cheaper, so in effect you're putting more money into the optics and less into the mount. Herein lies the reason why the 200p is the UK's most popular scope. It will be hard to match its performance, ease of use, and decent aperture at its price.

I'm no imager, but from what I understand, astrophotography is a different ball game to visual stargazeing and focuses more on high quality equatorial mounts and decent, fast OTAs which don't need a lot of aperture. For example, a quality set up would be something like an EQ6 mount and something like an ED80 whereby lots of pics with longer exposures are taken and then stacked.

If you're serious about astro-photography before spending a penny most folk I'm aware off would recommend you the book Making every photon count.

[Stefan Novak]

Hey thanks for your replies. I've been looking with your opinions in mind and this one has my eye.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-150p-eq3-2.html

[Stefan Novak]

Thank you Qualia! I'll have a look into that

[rowan46]

If your heart is set on imaging please read this book

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

You are correct that you require an equatorial mount for imaging however not all eq mounts are imaging mounts. This book will tell you the characteristics required by a good eq mount and a good imaging scope. except for very expensive equipment. visual gear doesn't make good imaging gear