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johnbee

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Hi all, I've been 'messing around' with stargazing on and off for donkeys years, but after me and the wife sat outside for a couple of hours watching the perseids meteor shower recently, I decided to try and get a little more enthused, I think we saw more satellites than meteorites though :)

I was given a....don't swear at me please.......Tasco 114mm Newtonian a fair while back and have had odd successes with it but the garbage eypieces don't help much! I've tried collumation to give it a fighting chance but to be honest even with a decent eyepiece i think I am barking at the moon so to speak.

I would love to get myself something half-decent but unfortunately at the moment cash is most definitely an issue. I did think of maybe having a go at a DIY 6" or 8" reflector, but after getting the optics and hardware it would probably be almost as much as buying a decent second-hand one? At least some ideas to put on my 'wish list' would be good :D

Anyhow, I would love to try and get something of a little more quality (which isn't difficult with a Tasco ;)) and try and spend more time getting to know the night sky.

Any thoughts, recommendations are gratefully received.

John

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Welcome Johnbee. I'm sure there are many on here who have started with a "Tasco" scope. Trouble is when aperture fever strikes (as it surely will:o), you're doomed.

Good luck with your self build project. Let us know how you get on, and don't be afraid to ask for any advice. There's a wealth of experience here to draw on.

Best wishes and clear skies.

Jason

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 2

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Hi John, welcome to SGL :)

If you want to look for second hand scope, Astro Buy & Sell is the place http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/index.php Or why not consider saving for something new, like a 6" Dob for £209 http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/page/2/ If you could stretch to £279, the 8" dob is a serious piece of kit ;)

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Hello John,

a 4.5" is not bad at all, I myself observe a lot with my 5" ;-)

As you say, the eyepieces are one aspect. There are 10£/14€ eyepieces that will make a big difference to the inkluded ones (k/Kellner, h/Huygens?).

The worst Parr of those telescopes, without knowing for sure about yours, is the tripod/mount. The 114/900 usualy come on a shaky alt/az tripod or something like the eq1 or eq2, making it difficult to observe at higher magnifications (if you have a eyepiece for that).

This is where DIY can come in handy. A dobsonian rockerbox mount can be constructed for 4€/3£ (24x48x4000mm wood ~1,20€, two pipe end covers dn100 ~1,80, laminate floor scraps, free at some hardware stores, and felt gliders €0,30, better kitchen counter top and Teflon, and a bunch of drill-tip screws and a center bolt and nut...).

Grinding a mirror takes tens of hours, and for small ones the material alone will cost more then a discount dobsonian. So unless you want to do it just because you want to build it, there's cheaper solutions ;-)

I usualy reccomend a 5.1" heritage as upgrade from small telescopes, but the step up from 4.5" is marginal. As far as deep sky observation is concerned, a 8" will show much, much more and is sometimes sold for 200€ used, 330€ new.

Good luck with your telescope, get some free star charts, stellarium (freeware) helps too... And perhaps a copy of turn left at orion, if you don't have it allready.

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welcome, as said above second hand kit is readily available, I picked up a skyliner 200p dob with some extras including a telrad for £212, it really is a great scope too. If you search about, Im sure you could pick up something you could afford, I had to sell some other hobby stuff to pay for mine so I know how you feel cash wise.

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