Help with new scope

[awesome_john]

Some people proposed that I post my question here insteed of discussing it in the welcome-forum.

I have a beginners scope, Astromaster 114. Now I want to upgrade and have about 818£ to spend on a scope and some extra for accesories. I live in a city with light pollution, but I also have a summer residence where there are aboslute no light pollution.

I observe the solar system and special happenings like comets (looking forward to Pannstarr). I also do some variable and double stars, or at least try. I think I will go into some spectroscopy. I also like to keep an eye at the sun. Oh, and another thing! I would love to photograph sometimes; the solar system and special happenings, like Pannstarr that is coming now. No fabolus things, just want to record special things like comets, conjuctions and transits. Would like to photograph stars I keep an eye on too.

Now.. what scope should I buy? I like reflectors, have never used anything else, maybe it is time for it? I've been looking at Dobsons, Meade lightbrigade and SkyWatcher skyliner. Good price, large apperture, easy to handle. What worries me is how difficult it may be to keep objects centered and follow them without having to move the scope every one second. Then I am also worried about photographing stuff with it, I beleive it is difficult without GOTO?

Another scope I have looked at is the more expensive refractors with ED, like SkyWatcher Evostar ED, William Optics and Astro. They sure demand money, but I have a pretty good astronomy-account, if it's neccesary I may spend up til 2000£, but max 818£ - 1000£ on the scope and the rest on mounts/accesories.

Then we have Celestron C6 or C8, Nextstar 127 SLT, Nextstar 6 or 8SE, Meade ETX 125, Explorer 200PDS, Celestron C8-NGT.. as you may see I don't have a clue what to choose. And everybode suggest different things. It's a hard nut to crack :-P I've been googling forever and I most have read near one hundred articles about different scopes.

[TonyD]

Hi John,

Read your post and thought about it. And thought about it some more. And some more...

Hmmmm. Quite a bit of money ready to spend, but not sure at all what to spend it on! Where to start?

Solar system and double stars - refractor? Dobson light bucket - DSOs? Faint objects - definitely a large aperture required.

You're going from a budget scope at little more than £100 to considering spending twenty times that. Hmmmm.

But what about eyepieces? What about other related equipment you might want for even basic astrophotgraphy? What about collimation and associated equipment?

Much of the time in your situation the advice would be to go to a local astronomy group and talk to others and try out different scopes to get a feel for what you might want. And that certainly holds here.

But, with the degree of uncertainty and range of interests you have, I'd suggest going for a decent 6" or 8" reflector - any of those you've mentioned in your last paragraph on a motorised mount and then play around with what you have before you delve into the astronomy account again. With such a reflector you will get plenty of good views and an opportunity to practice and enjoy imaging and just learning how to get the best out of the equipment before you move to the next step.

Or do what I do, fall in love with TALs and then get tempted everytime another one appears in classified listings

All the best and good luck!

Tony

[rowan46]

If ultimately you may have a fair bit to spend, I would suggest splitting your budget. The most cost effective visual scope you can get is the 200p dob

http://www.firstligh...-dobsonian.html (other dealers are available)

The 200 is large enough to be used in fairly light polluted areas and transportable enough to stick in a car and take away.

You have enough in your budget if you spend wisely to get a small imaging system as well. Start with a heq5 syntrek for imaging and work from there you will probably need to buy new as they don't come up that often in the classifieds but small imaging apo's come up fairly regularly for 2nd users.This book will give plenty of good advice on what sort of equipment you need and more importantly why, I would suggest reading it before you buy an imaging scope as it may save you a bit in the long run

http://www.firstligh...e-richards.html

[ronin]

Starting with the photography aspect as that appears something you want to do then you will need to have an equitorial mount with a set of RA/Dec motors as a minimum. That removes the Meade ETX and the Nexstars as they are Alt/Az, others may be as well.

For photography you will need to look at the EQ5 or HEQ5, leave that choice to you.

With respect the scope you actually seem to have little real reason for a reflector, solar system, comets, variable and double stars, spectroscopy and solar seem better suited to a reasonable refractor. Personally I would be tempted by one of the Astro Profession ED scopes from Telescope Service, the 110mm offerings at 1000-1200 euro look good.

If a reflector then for a 200p scope the HEQ5 is really the better option, if you went for a 150 then the 150PL which should be fine on the EQ5. The PL version is a little more forgiving then the P version and you are talkig of things that are more luminous then nebula etc.

Goto is not necessary to track, however useful to reduce time to locate objects and if you intended to add guiding then goto is really a necessity as the guide side communicates via the goto side.

As started with the mount is really the first thing to be decided on.

[fondofchips]

Decisions, decisions, it has taken me two months to sort out what to buy, reading the excellent information & reading reviews, the mount is the most dificult choice, and part of the system that needs to be a little (or more) future proof.

I also looked at scopes actually being used at the local astronomy club, which changed my approach, resulting in my purchase of easier to use kit & ignoring aperture fever for now.

So add some weight capacity to whatever mount you were thinking of buying.

If the mount is under spec then the scope will seem like a flag on a pole.

At the end of the day the choice is personal, no susbstitute for looking through as many scopes as you can.

[swedonator]

Starting with the photography aspect as that appears something you want to do then you will need to have an equitorial mount with a set of RA/Dec motors as a minimum. That removes the Meade ETX and the Nexstars as they are Alt/Az, others may be as well.

For photography you will need to look at the EQ5 or HEQ5, leave that choice to you.

With respect the scope you actually seem to have little real reason for a reflector, solar system, comets, variable and double stars, spectroscopy and solar seem better suited to a reasonable refractor. Personally I would be tempted by one of the Astro Profession ED scopes from Telescope Service, the 110mm offerings at 1000-1200 euro look good.

If a reflector then for a 200p scope the HEQ5 is really the better option, if you went for a 150 then the 150PL which should be fine on the EQ5. The PL version is a little more forgiving then the P version and you are talkig of things that are more luminous then nebula etc.

Goto is not necessary to track, however useful to reduce time to locate objects and if you intended to add guiding then goto is really a necessity as the guide side communicates via the goto side.

As started with the mount is really the first thing to be decided on.

Should he get a ED refractor for solar system and double stars?

awesome_john: A 150 refractor does not sound big, but I have realised that they are BIG and heavy :-P The ED refractors are expensive but you get excellent views with small ED's, like SkyWatcher 80ED. This is what I think, I am also looking for a scope. The Celestron C8 I beleive will be a good all-round-scope?