my first telescope

[caveman118]

hi

ive been intrested in astronomy for since i can remember and finailly decide to buy my first telescope. after watching youtube videos and seeing pictures ive decided to view the messier catalogue. what would be the best starter telescope for this thats also relativity cheap i was thinking of a skywatcher explorer 200p will this do the job?

daniel

[dtr42]

yup perfect starter scope will last you a life time or till you get the "fever" to increase aperture and welcome to the forum

[umadog]

You'll do great with a scope of that aperture. I still have my first 8" scope from 15 years ago: they a keeper. The only thing you might want to consider is whether you want it on alt/az mount instead: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html The pros are that it'll be less prone to vibration, cheaper, and quicker to set up. The con is that you won't have tracking. In addition, the Dob is f/6 whereas the Eq version is f/5. You'll see more coma with the f/5 and it will require more accurate collimation (although the procedure for collimating is no harder). It also possible (although I have no evidence to back this up) that you stand a better chance of getting a good mirror at f/6 than at f/5. This is simply because slower mirrors are easier to make.

[Sammyb]

The 200P is a great choice. More than a "beginners" scope really. If its purely for visual then the 200P skyliner dobsonian might be a good alternative as has already been suggested. I had a 200P on an EQ5 - it is a bit easier for tracking objects and you can add motors etc but take a bit longer to set up (few minutes tops) and also you sometimes need to rotate the tube in the rings to get the eye piece in a good viewing position.

I always suggest going to a good shop or astro society to have a look at scopes and play about with different types/mounts. Sometimes people are a bit shocked by the size of a 200P (I don't think its all that big) as the pictures on websites don't really illustrate this properly and sometimes people find the EQ mounts somewhat tricky to get used to.

[caveman118]

thanks for the advice.

as a beginner im not knowledgeable at the moment so what effect do the f number have, whats collimation and whats coma

daniel

[caveman118]

I always suggest going to a good shop or astro society to have a look at scopes and play about with different types/mounts. Sometimes people are a bit shocked by the size of a 200P (I don't think its all that big) as the pictures on websites don't really illustrate this properly and sometimes people find the EQ mounts somewhat tricky to get used to.

good advice ive seen the scope at astrofest 2013 along with the other ones but for me personally size doesnt matter

i was thinking for long it also being used for astrophotgraphy and i was thinking of updating the mount to motorised or goto

[rowan46]

Welcome f number is short for focal ratio it has little meaning for visual work . except the lower the f number the wider the view, the more difficult the collimation and the more expensive the eyepieces need to be to get the best out of it.

Collimation just means getting everything into alignment. Mirrors can move and you need to put them back in the right place, It's not hard but does require a fair bit of precision.

Coma is the little comet shaped objects you get at the edge of the view, the smaller the f number the more likely it is to show. ( these are simplifications )

[caveman118]

Welcome f number is short for focal ratio it has little meaning for visual work . except the lower the f number the wider the view, the more difficult the collimation and the more expensive the eyepieces need to be to get the best out of it.

Collimation just means getting everything into alignment. Mirrors can move and you need to put them back in the right place, It's not hard but does require a fair bit of precision.

Coma is the little comet shaped objects you get at the edge of the view, the smaller the f number the more likely it is to show. ( these are simplifications )

with the scope being f/5 will it be more difficult in tracking for deep sky objects. would i be able to use this scope if i wanted to do some planetry viewing

[rowan46]

It will be fine

[rwilkey]

Hi Caveman, and welcome. Planetary viewing is fine with the 200P, just need to make sure your finder scope is properly aligned before you start so that you can find the target easily.

[Sammyb]

The benefit of the EQ mount is that once polar aligned you can track an object by only moving one axis (RA). With a dob or altaz mount you need to move in both dec and RA.

If you put an RA motor on the EQ5 mount it will track the object. You can even do some planetary/lunar imaging with a high frame rate camera. If you look at the flickr site in my signature you see some images I have taken with a 200P. Although the mount I used was EQ5 GOTO - the outcome is the same. If you want to do deep space photography (nebulas/galaxies/clusters etc) thats a different kettle of fish and the EQ5 mounts isnt really up to the job. You need deep pockets for that. I had a go with limited success as you will see.