telescope for planetary suface

[240788dt]

Hi im looking for a telescope which is good for viewing the surface on planets, any recommendations would help

[John]

Hi Daniel,

What sort of budget do you have ?

[240788dt]

Hi Daniel,

What sort of budget do you have ?

Hi John im looking to spend around the 300 mark....cheers

[earth titan]

For £300 that could be a challenge. Is that with or without the mount?

To give an example for Jupiter:

To see a little of the outline (an impression if you will) of the bands on Jupiter, a 150 reflector is a start. There wont be much detail though. This may just fall into your budget.

My c9.25 on a night of good seeing will pick up the GRS, some barges and other surface details but it has to be a good night. These are £1500 with a mount.

The best Views I've ever had of Jupiter were through a 16" professional standard Meade SC, and I'm guessing the budget would be blown then!

[Planetesimal]

I use a SW 150PL, which is a long focal length reflector so gives higher magnifications than the standard version. I'm very happy with it for planetary - I've seen all the bands of Jupiter, plus barges, festoons, the GRS and the shadow of Io during a transit. It's currently going for £275 with equatorial mount on FLO:

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

A word of caution though, you would need to be aware that these kinds of views are not available with the set-up "out of the box". The eyepieces need to be upgraded (I saw the detail on Jupiter using a BST 8mm which costs £47, although you might get one cheaper second hand). In addition, of you're like most people you'll want to improve your finders - once you've got a right angle 9x50 finder, a telrad and a chunkier eyepiece attached, the set up will be pushing 7.5kg which is sub-optimal for the EQ3-2 mount.

If I was starting from scratch now and wanted a 'scope for mostly solar system viewing with some DSO flexibility I would get a TAL 100RS refractor (£250) and a SW AZ4 mount (£180), add a telrad (£35) and a right angle finder (£65) plus about 3 reasonable quality EPs (say BST 8, 18 and 25mm for about £150), and there's a useable set-up for a total of £680.

[John]

Given your budget and the need for it to cover a mount too, I'd be tempted by a Skywatcher Skyliner 150mm F/8 dobsonian scope with there being enough left in your budget for a couple of decent eyepieces too.

It's basically the same scope that Planetismal describes above but on a simpler mount. It's quite possible to track the planets at reasonably high power with such scopes with a little practice and investing in a couple of decent eyepieces (say a 6mm for 200x and an 8mm for 150x) will give you, with some practice and patience, some great views of the moon and planets.

150mm will also deliver nice views of the brighter deep sky objects for when planets are not well placed

[Grotemobile]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-31045-Astromaster-130EQ/dp/tech-data/B000MLL6RS/ref=de_a_smtd

My son has just bought on of these.Plus

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-eyepieces/skywatcher-planetary-eyepieces.html

He bought the 4mm & 5mm EPs & ones of these

is a must. http://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-neutral-density-filters/baader-neutral-density-moon-filters.html

He has got some good pictures with this scope.

This is a lot better than a Dob.

Steve.

[John]

http://www.amazon.co...S/ref=de_a_smtd

My son has just bought on of these.Plus

http://www.firstligh...-eyepieces.html

He bought the 4mm & 5mm EPs & ones of these

is a must. http://www.firstligh...on-filters.html

He has got some good pictures with this scope.

This is a lot better than a Dob.

Steve.

Do you mean that it will outperform the 150mm F/8 dob on the planets Steve ?.

I can't see how, to be honest.

[Grotemobile]

This scope has a proper mount & contols.

With the Dob you have to it nudge round.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html

It is a totally different scope.

The Dob will perform better because

it has a bigger mirror,but the other

one is easer to use.I gave my Dob

away in the end.

Steve

[nicks90]

i was under the impression for planetary stuff a refractor offered better contrast than a newt or sct - due to them having a central obstruction?

£300 wont get much when you factor in eye pieces with sufficient contrast - tmbii or bst etc

[Grotemobile]

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/omni-xlt-series/celestron-omni-xlt-150.html

If you want a really good scope,i would

go for something like this.You only get

what you pay for im afraid.With EPs, your

not going to see much change out of £500.

You will then have a scope that will last

you a few years.It will keep its value

pretty well,so if you did want to sell it.

Hope this all helps.

Steve.

[John]

i was under the impression for planetary stuff a refractor offered better contrast than a newt or sct - due to them having a central obstruction?

£300 wont get much when you factor in eye pieces with sufficient contrast - tmbii or bst etc

Thats true up to a point but from my own experience I reckon the difference is worth around an inch of aperture, assuming equal overall optical quality. The 150m F/8 newtonian has a relatively small secondary mirror so the diffraction effects are minimised. This review by Ade Ashford of the EQ mounted version of the Skywatcher 150mm F/8 optical tube is worth a read:

http://www.nightskies.net/scopetest/scopes/explorer/150PL.html

[Grotemobile]

If you want a Refractor

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/omni-xlt-series/celestron-omni-xlt-120.html

Iv got a 4" one .Works very well & easy to

set up.This is what i use as my go

any ware scope.Very portable.

Steve.

[pel]

I was thinking of a Skymax 127 AZ goto as a planetary scope. I've always liked the images I've seen that people have posted on here.

[pel]

Have you tried searching on Flickr for Planet and telescope name, for example - Jupiter Sky Watcher 200p.

I searched on - Jupiter SkyMax 127, the images look great. (Obviously those images are created as a composite of many images, but you should still get good views).

[swamp thing]

1360324131[/url'>' post='1819987']

This scope has a proper mount & contols.

With the Dob you have to it nudge round.

A "proper" mount??

[pel]

A "proper" mount??

I can see an EQ/Dob fight coming

[swamp thing]

1360327373[/url'>' post='1820059']

I can see an EQ/Dob fight coming

Nah! Too easy

[John]

Have you tried searching on Flickr for Planet and telescope name, for example - Jupiter Sky Watcher 200p.

I searched on - Jupiter SkyMax 127, the images look great. (Obviously those images are created as a composite of many images, but you should still get good views).

I can see where you are coming from Perry but images taken through scopes can be pretty misleading as to what you can see visually. As you point out, stacking an processing can enhance things in a way that our poor eyes simply can't match

Sketches made at the eyepiece are a good guide to what can be seen with patience and good seeing conditions.

[pel]

I can see where you are coming from Perry but images taken through scopes can be pretty misleading as to what you can see visually. As you point out, stacking an processing can enhance things in a way that our poor eyes simply can't match

Sketches made at the eyepiece are a good guide to what can be seen with patience and good seeing conditions.

Maybe I'm assuming a relationship between image quality and views that doesn't exist. Daniel (OP) may have to rely on reviews and subjective opinion then.

What if the person is very bad at drawing John?

[John]

....What if the person is very bad at drawing John?

Good point - like me !!!

[earth titan]

To be honest, I would ignore internet photos and pictures as a guide. I've spent hours fiddling with images to improve them, and they are much better than those I have seen through the eyepiece.

EQ v dob? Have to say EQ is easier as the dob needs nudging, but then a mount is expensive. Value for money, a good dob is a worthwhile investment but then you need a good quality planetary eyepiece with a wide field (needed for a dob to prevent continual nudging). This isn't cheap either.

Then there's theReflector v refractor debate.... just don't go there.

£300 quid is tough. I'd extend my budget, look for a 2nd hand 150 Mak and an EQ3 (manual) mount and be done with it.

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

[Rich MedRev]

As a user of a 10" Dob with a reasonable mirror for all-round work F6.4 I can assure all that following planets through a nudge from time to time is easy and the secondary mirror on an F6 or longer Newtonian is small enough to avoid contrast loss. On an F8 lunar and planets will be great.

Aperture resolves fine detail and in the UK skies the brief glimpses of steady seeing deserve aperture to provide the detail.

I have a TAL100 but it does not compare to the Dob on the planets unless the LP and seeing is so poor that I don't bother with the Dob, which isnt that often thankfully.

The TAL used to be on an EQ mount but it is now AZ4 Alt-Az and is so much easier for planets / lunar and doubles.

+1 vote from me for the 6" F8 Dob.

[Damo636]

With a £300 budget I would be looking at an 8" f6 (200p) dob. With a £300 budget, I cannot think of anything else that will come even close to matching it for planetary obs?

[Alkaid]

Buying brand new, I agree with Damo, the 8" dob will resolve some good detail, but in my opinion will be a constant pain to continually push around. It will do your head in for high power work.

Have patience, as this season will be over in a few months. Buy a 2nd hand OTA with your £300, a nice big 5" or 6" achro refractor, or a 150mm Mak, or even an 8" F6 newt or 6" F8 newt. Then save up over the summer months for your mount, again get this 2nd hand if need be. You'll be ready for battle come September.