Too many choices

[glen whitehead]

I have no experience but i have been doing a lot of research in to buying my first scope. My initial thoughts were to buy a goto scope like the 130p synscan but that is maybe a bit pricey for a me as i tend to change hobbies a lot. I have got an app which claims to make finding objects easy with my iphone so maybe i wont need goto but i would still like tracking so that i could experiment with some basic photography. I would also like the scope to be portable so that i can find better viewing sites eventually and take it on holiday with me. The things i would like to view are the moon, planets and dso, so everthing really. After all my research i think i have narrowed it down to 3 options.

1. Skywatcher Heritage 90 Virtuoso £180

90mm (3.5") Maksutov Computerised Auto Tracking Telescope

2. Skywatcher Heritage 114 Virtuoso £180

114mm (4.5") Computerized Auto Tracking Reflector Telescope

3. Skywatcher Explorer 130p supatrak £220

130mm (5.1”) f/650 Motorised Parabolic Reflector

Which one would be best and would the 130p be worth the extra money considering it isn't as portable?

Thanks in advance for any advice offered

[NGC 1502]

Personally, I do think that if as you say you tend to change hobbies I'd forget astrophotography, until you feel you will be into astronomy long term. Successful AP is not a quick fix hobby, but on the other hand I wouldn't want to discourage you if you are really keen.

So I'd kick off with observational astronomy, see how you get on. You can always find pics of any sky object on the net.

I don't have an iphone, but I think the astronomy app may help you to find sky objects visually, but not point your scope accurately at it.

Of the 3 scopes you mention, I'd prefer the SW 130 myself (extra aperture over the others) but any of those should be ok and be portable. The 130 would give better views of DSOs due to the larger mirror.

I'd not rush into a decision, see what others have to say first.

You could perhaps contact a local astronomy club, most are happy to help.

And welcome to SGL Ed.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Hi Glen

Welcome to SGL.

I agree with Ed. As you are new to astronomy and like others, have different hobbies, you really dont need to jump in head first to astro imaging. I say this mainly because it can be a very expensive field of astronomy to enter into and if you are unsure if astronomy is the hobby for you then honestly it could be wasting valuable cash (which is in short supply these days).

I would also say that you should test the water first by dipping your toe into it first. Observing really doesnt have to be expensive. You could (even before buying a scope) buy a pair of 10x50 binoculars and a planisphere to learn your way around the night sky and find objects. Then if you deide the hobby is the one for you..............invest in a scope. The SkyWatcher 130P certainly is a very abled scope and will show you many wonderful amazing sights.

Maybe you would even consider the Skywatcher Heritage 130P Dob:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html

Its pretty much the same as the Explorer 130P but it is a Dobsonian "Dob" scope and is sooooooo portable. I think they now sell brand new for about £100.

I have one and it is a great scope.

I hope my suggestions help you decide which way to go. I am not trying to disuade you from your plans. I am just offereing up other choices that wont cost you the Sun,Moon and the stars............... (pun intended).

Merry Christmas

Paul

[ollypenrice]

Astrophotography is complicated, expensive, and forces you into compromises which will reduce the success of your visual observing. I'd take it out of the equation for now and buy a Skywatcher Dobsonian to enjoy the sky. You get more optics, more mount, but the mount is incredibly cheap despite being so good. It just won't do AP.

And I say that as someone deeply involved in astrophotography for a living.

Olly

[Qualia]

Hiya Glen,

I wrote the following just a few days ago to someone else, so I hope you don't mind me repeating what I said. I'm doing this becaue I think the following will also fit your own enquiry.

It's probably not necessary to say, but just in case, I'd suggest that you buy your first set up from a specialist telescope shop that can provide advice and an ongoing service – not from ebay and not from some supermarket or photographic store where the staff will generally have no knowledge of what they are selling. If you haven't already had a peek, First Light Optics comes highly recommended as one of Great Britain's top class astronomy shops and, of course, SGL can help out a lot.

When looking around at your new potential purchase the general precept is that aperture rules and so you'll find that if a beginner asks 'what should I buy?' 99% 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 Dobsonian mounted rather than GEM (EQ) 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.

Another consideration to take into account is that although the Heritage will come as highly recommended telescopes, if you start small, say with the 3", or 4", you may soon be wishing you had gone for that 6". So have a serious think about this as well. It might be worth your time in the long run to save that extra £70 (the price of just a single low to mid-range eyepiece) and get the 8" 200p Skyliner, for example.

After you've got your scope with its supplied EPs you will probably want to get a couple more eyepieces, but do that after you've practiced a little. That way you'll be able to make a much more informed enquiry and decision. But, if you do decide to buy a Newtonian, your telescope will require collimation. So, you will need a special tool to do this, so you ought to budget yourself for a Cheshire which I think are about another £30 - £40.

Another thing to look out for are astronomy sketches. If you have a look at the type of telescope from which the sketch was made this is the kind of thing you will see when observing from a telescope of similiar aperture. From time to time folk do crop up who are very disappointed with astronomy-stargazing, they thought they were going to see those colourful galaxies and nebulae and wide and super bright globular clusters seen in the photos, only to see a fuzzy in grey, a planet the size of a pea.

If possible, try to get along to a local astronomy club and look through the type of telescope you think you may purchase and see if the view meets your expectations. Most stargazers will be only too happy to help.

I hope this helps and please don't hesitate in asking more questions.

Oh, and welcome to SGL, Glen

[Mr Fiery Jack]

Astrophotography is complicated, expensive, and forces you into compromises which will reduce the success of your visual observing. I'd take it out of the equation for now and buy a Skywatcher Dobsonian to enjoy the sky. You get more optics, more mount, but the mount is incredibly cheap despite being so good. It just won't do AP.

And I say that as someone deeply involved in astrophotography for a living.

Olly

I concur, sound advise.

[glen whitehead]

Cheers for all the advice so far. The astrophotography side would only be simple, probably some stacked images off a webcam to start, something to show my friends.

just been playing with the iphone app goskywatch and it looks pretty good, the idea is to mount it to the scope and use it like a finder. I was thinking get something cheapish and portable to start and then get a 150p or 200 dobsonian for the garden next year if i stick with it. All thoughts on this matter and the 3 scopes mentioned nuch appreciated.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Cheers for all the advice so far. The astrophotography side would only be simple, probably some stacked images off a webcam to start, something to show my friends.

Great way to dip into the world of imaging. With a webcam you can get some really nice images of the planets and the Lunar surface.

SkySafari is a great app for smartphones. I have the Android version.................its brilliant. I'm sure they do an Iphone version. You could certainly mount it somehow as a finder.

[glen whitehead]

Cheers Paul

Just had a look at skysafari and it seems to be very similar to goskywatch so if i dont get on with that one skysafari will be my next download.

One of the other thoughts i had was to buy a dob and make some and make some big setting circles for it, then i could use an app or stellarium. I could get a bigger scope this way but would i still be able to get some images without auto tracking?

[glen whitehead]

Oh and another thought i had was to get a scope on an eq mount and add a motor but unless im missing something one motor would only track across the sky and never alter the altitude so would the object still fall out of view at some point? Im not sure if what im saying is correct as i've said i have no experience at the moment and most of what i know has come from youtube and this SGL. As the original post say's there are just so many choices. I'm sure eventually i will have a few scopes but i'm finding it hard to decide which one to start with.

Thanks again to everyone for the excellent advice.

[atmenterprises]

Glen, if you are completely convinced to go the astrophotography route, search for either an HEQ5 or an EQ6 mount. From the tons of reading I've done on here, those are going to be one of the mounts you want depending on what scope you buy. They offer stability and payload that will lessen your frustration when trying to do AP, and even then it's a high learning curve with lots of frustration. But if you're dedicated to it, the results can be very rewarding.

But Olly's advice was solid. A great dob-mounted scope is a great first step. That's what I bought first and it taught me a great deal and let me know what my tolerance was for standing outside in the cold long enough to view some things night after night.

[glen whitehead]

Im not wanting to do amazing astrophotography but i just thought it would be nice to have some images to show people and to look at when i cant get out. I agree a dob does seem to be a lot better value for money. If money wasnt an issue i would probably go for the skyliner 200p flextube goto, that seems to offer everything i need but its 800+, mayby next year? Is there any chance of getting some decent pics without tracking?

[atmenterprises]

Im not wanting to do amazing astrophotography but i just thought it would be nice to have some images to show people and to look at when i cant get out. I agree a dob does seem to be a lot better value for money. If money wasnt an issue i would probably go for the skyliner 200p flextube goto, that seems to offer everything i need but its 800+, mayby next year? Is there any chance of getting some decent pics without tracking?

Of the moon, definitely. I used my dob for that. The moon only requires one sub-second shot. But I had to move the mirror up in the tube on my dob a couple of inches so the camera would focus. Not that difficult of a job - just letting you know that some Newtonian reflectors have back focus issues that require some work to get the camera image focused.

Long exposures are definitely out for dobs, so galaxies and nebula are out. I tried imaging Jupiter with a dob and a SPC900 web cam. It was extremely challenging but I've seen it done on here a couple of times.

I didn't get the goto version of my dob, but I put a setting circle and an inclinometer on it so I could actually find things in the sky based on alt/az coordinates. Well worth the time and the few dollars it costs to add on those things if you get one.

If you want to use your camera on the dob, you might still need an extension tube to get your eyepieces to focus after you move the mirror. There's always a little gotcha! But for me, I like tooling around with them so it's fun to figure all that stuff out. Just keep a few dollars aside for your extras.

To give you some perspective, here are two images I took. The first was from about my third time trying to image Jupiter on my dob using a dSLR:

The second was my very first attempt on my HEQ5 using a web cam:

But the moon is spectacular in a dob with a dSLR. First attempt, even:

Wish you the best with whatever you decide!

[BinocularSky]

Is there any chance of getting some decent pics without tracking?

There is one instance where not tracking is a definite advantage: spectra of bright stars, where you use the drift to broaden the spectrum from a line to a band. This is a technique used by Jack Martin, who used to (maybe still does) display his spectra at Astrofest.

[glen whitehead]

For all the research i do i still keep coming back to one scope and thats the 130p with synscan. Yes it's the top end of what i want to spend for now but it does seem to offer a lot and i could try out different ota later on the synscan mount? Another factor is that they seem to sell for virtually the same price second hand as they do new so i dont think i would loose much buy giving it a go. Any thoughts on this?

Cheers

[atmenterprises]

I don't know much about that scope but a search on "130p" on this forum returned some threads where others were discussing it.