Newbie buying a Celestron - Advice welcome

[Athelstan]

Greetings all,

As a complete newbie I particularly appreciate this site and would like to get some ideas/feedback from you.

I am in the early stages of looking to buy a telescope which offers a good all round performance, shows results with a ‘wow’ factor (subjective I know but passion is subjective) and capable of providing good photographic results.

Overall it seems SCT is the way to go.

From what I have read so far, once you have decided on the type of telescope you want, the key issue is the 3 A’s – Aperture, Aperture, Aperture.

I guess this means the minimum I need is an 8” scope.

From the reports here, it seems that Celestron offers a better all round quality/performance than Meade. On this basis the choice seems to be:

NexStar 8SE

This seems to be an impressive piece of kit although I did read a comment somewhere that the mount is not well suited to deep space photography. Any comments/experience on this?

CPC 800 with GPS

I understand that this has a superior mount and overcomes the problem mentioned above. It also has GPS – whilst this sounds a pretty neat idea it comes at a premium and I wonder if I would be better off purchasing a non GPS, larger scope for about the same money. It crossed my mind that as my car has Sat Nav anyway, I could read off the co-ordinates from that and enter them into the scope (provided of course they were in proximity). Would this be an alternative?

C9.25 - SGT

Based on the above, it occurred to me that this scope would be a better alternative than the CPC 800 for roughly the same money. I know nothing about this scope so I wonder what you think?

Astrophotography – frankly the mechanics of this is still a mystery to me. I have seen some frighteningly expensive items called ‘CCD’s’ (£2,625) and suggestions that you need to lug a laptop around with you. Neither of these options seems very appealing. Instead I am hoping that it’s possible to somehow attach my existing digital camera (Olympus 5.0 megapixel) onto the telescopes’ eyepiece, take photos and then upload them onto my desktop. Again, any comments would be appreciated.

Finally, is there a particularly good time of year to buy telescopes? I imagine with the early nights demand to scopes increases whereas deals would be more forthcoming during early summer. Would I be right in thinking that?

Best regards!

Athelstan

[GazOC]

Hi, welcome to Stargazers.

Astro dealers don't really so spring or summer sales, they just tend to stick it out with the stock until Autumn. Of the scopes you've mentioned the 9.25 really does have a top-notch reputation with astronomers (thats not to say the others are poor scopes!) and it obviously has the advantage of having more aperture over the 8" alternatives. Unless you plan to go backpacking or orienteering with your scope I'd skip the GPS and spend the money on the scope or some accessories like extra eyepieces etc.

[Whippy]

Welcome to SGL Athelstan . I'd go with what Gaz has already said but I'm sure a member on here SteveL does some cracking images with a Nexstar 8 so you may not want to discount it totally. The only other thing I would say would be don't get too hung up on imaging just yet. You're going to have a steep enough learning curve just working out how to use the scope and observing without making your life difficult by undertaking a whole new area of imaging at the same time!!

Tony..

[GordonCopestake]

If you want to do photography you need an EQ mount so forget the SE and CPC range of 'scopes. The CG5 is a fine mount but personally think you would be better with a HEQ5. Your spot on with the SCT though, go for the 8" or the 9.25" if you can afford it. As Gaz said, forget the GPS, you will have to polar align your mount anyway.

[SteveL]

The 8SE only has a singlefork arm, and hence is a little prone to flexure and vibration... no problems when doing visual work, but for imaging it will cause problems

The CPC800 has a doublefork arm setup, so a lot more stable. I have the NexStar 8 GPS, which is the forerunner of the CPC800, so I may be a little biased here For long exposure astrophotography, you will need to get a wedge to allow the CPC mount can be polar aligned, so that will cost you a fair amount of money on top (250-500 quid)

the 9.25" OTA is fantastic, it really is... but be aware that the SGT mount sounds like a coffee grinder

[GazOC]

You've always got the option to buy the scope and mount separately and go for a HEQ5 or EQ6...

[Whippy]

The 8SE only has a singlefork arm, and hence is a little prone to flexure and vibration... no problems when doing visual work, but for imaging it will cause problems

The CPC800 has a doublefork arm setup, so a lot more stable. I have the NexStar 8 GPS, which is the forerunner of the CPC800, so I may be a little biased here For long exposure astrophotography, you will need to get a wedge to allow the CPC mount can be polar aligned, so that will cost you a fair amount of money on top (250-500 quid)

the 9.25" OTA is fantastic, it really is... but be aware that the SGT mount sounds like a coffee grinder

Ah my mistake mon ami....

Tony..

[gary1968]

what about a C8SGT, which is a goto EQ mounted SCT? Just a thought........................

Gary A

[SteveL]

C9.25 - SGT is the same thing, but slightly bigger aperture

[Athelstan]

Thanks to everyone for their ideas and tips. I am going to visit a retailer soon and see some of these scopes for myself.

Thanks once again!

[coulsaa]

Athelstan, if you're still around, have you made any decisions ?

I'm currently reading The Backyard Astronomer's Guide (by Dickinson and Dyer) and can thoroughly recommend it.

Andy

[Amilo]

Athelstan, if you're still around, have you made any decisions ?

I'm currently reading The Backyard Astronomer's Guide (by Dickinson and Dyer) and can thoroughly recommend it.

Andy

Thanks for the tip,I have just ordered the book online.