new scope

[ash]

would like some help and advice in choosing a new scope please. i already have the skywatcher 130pm but would like to move up a couple of notches budjet around £500-£600 can't decide between a goto system knowing i am paying for the electronic jiggery pokerry or spend the money on the optics i've not got a particular interest i.e. planets because they are all good to look at so i presume a general scope would fit the bill.

any help or advice would be very much appreciated

thanks in advance site is excellent keep up the good work

ASH

[rob7]

Hello Ash. I'm fairly new to this game, but my advice would be go for aperture. I've got a Celestron C6 Shmidt with eq mount and goto, but I find I probably enjoy hunting objects in the sky by 'manually' star hopping [still learning this]. I do this with my Revation 12" dobsonian. Plus when you get there the larger aperture obviously wins on views. You'd get a lot of dob for your money!

Regards, Rob.

[philsail1]

Ash,

If you want very sharp views of the planets, I would ask some questions about the "focal lengths" of various scopes. It can make a big difference in quality of viewing.

Regards,

philsail1

[gary1968]

Hi Ash,

I'd recomend this............ http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=C8nGT I have one and its great. I would however agree with philsail1, it would depend on your prefered targets, this scope will show you the planets but as it is a fast scope it is better for deep sky work, you'd be better with a slower scope if planets are your thing.

Hope this helps

Gary A

[ash]

have been looking at that one gary or the skywatcher 200 both are similar priced but does that mean you are spending some ofthe money on the goto system instead of the optics? must admit the goto is very appealing as i don't have the time to put the hours in (yet) because of work commitments. as i said i think a good all round scope is more than adequate for me everything up there is good to look at.

thanks for the replies

ASH

[DanDare]

Hi Ash,

Its a dilemma that most of us face and it really depends on where your interest lies. Goto's are appealing and I've seen a lot more objects with mine than if I had been hunting them down manually. The down side however is that as you say a lot of your hard earned is going on the electronics rather than the optics.

Like you, I'm looking to get a second scope and as I've gone down with the fever (aperture, that is ), I think that its a dob for me. If you want lots of aperture and like me your on a budget then as Rob7 says its a good choice.

Regards

Roy

[rob7]

Perhaps another thing to add from my point of view is as there are only a few planets, whereas there are many, many more deep sky objects to observe at any one time. As far as I'm aware the bigger aperture will greatly help when you view these dso's. Not forgetting when I turn my 12" dob onto planets and the moon, I've had some wonderful views even with it being a 'fast' scope. As long as your willing to learn the art of star-hopping to find objects, then a dob is a fast way of setting up and getting on with observing, especially if you haven't much time spare. I love to use both of my scopes, but for me, my 12" is king....Until I can afford bigger or better!

Regards, Rob.

[Casus belli]

Hi Ash.

No-one can tell you exactly what scope to buy. Your own preferences, seeing conditions and the time you have available to set up should all be taken into consideration.

I have two scopes a meade etx 90 with goto and a lightbrige dob which is manually pointed. Personally I prefer the manual pointing. Tracking down a very faint patch of light 60 odd million light years away in the immensity of the cosmos is to me very satisfying.

The etx's goto to me was a pain to set up. It took ages and would often trip out requiring me to go through the whole tedious process again. In Scotland with its very changeable weather I needed something I could set-up quickly and get observing within a few minutes. I prefer dso's to planets and wasn't planning on photography yet so I went for the lightbrige. For a relative newbie its a great scope and im really learning the skies with it.

I use the etx manually as a quick grab and go scope and its planned future with me is to learn astrophotography with it.

Get as much advice as you can and think long and hard about everything. Theres no point getting a huge scope thats too heavy to move to an observing site. Try joining a local astronomy club and ask their advice. Most members will let you have a look through their scopes so you can try before you buy.

Oh and invest in some winter woolies!

[beamer3.6m]

I would recommend the 200mm Explorer on the HEQ5.

It comes in within budget and can be upgraded to GOTO at a later stage if you need it. The HEQ5 mount is also future proof due for when you want/need to upgrade.

I find in my light polluted skies 8" is more than enough.

[gary1968]

I agree with beaner3.6m, the HEQ5 is a far superior mount to the Celestron CG5, in that it is heavier thefor more stable with big scopes on it. It depends on what you are going to put on it.

The C8NGT I have is great, it is quickly and easily set up but, I would not like to put a bigger scope then a f5 8" newt on it. I had a f6 8" newt on it a couple of weeks ago and the mount struggled with it, in that we had to keep moving the OTA in the rigns and we also had to stop a few goto's as the tube was going to hit the tripod.

The f5 8"er however I have luckily managed to get in a position in the rings where I have not had to move it for weeks, might be because it is so short. I have never seen it going to strike the tripod either, I think for the same reason.

So, if you think that you will want something bigger / longer than either the C8N or the 200 Explorer then I would go for the HEQ5. If you are just going to use it for visual obs and only want to dabble in imaging as I do then the CG5 is as good as any..........

Oh, and 1 more thing, I have read several things on the web that say the Celestrons optics are better than the Skywatchers but I'm not sure about this as I was under the impression that they are the same OTA's built in the same factory just painted different colours, I'm sure someone will clear this up though.............

Gary A

[ash]

how easy is it to move a 'dob' with the 'newt' you have the slow motion knobs to keep the object centered does that mean with the 'dob' you are constantly pushing and lifting etc. also if you look at something near the horizon with a 'dob' will i have to be on my hands and knees to view? i am liking the explorer 200 and probably only dabble in imaging, but theres something about that c8ngt!!

decision's,decision's.

thanks for the replies

ASH

[Sam]

Ash,

My telescope started off as a dob, now it's on a HEQ5 mount. The reason I did this I want to dabble in some imagery but also because I found it a bit annoying forever moving the dob to realign, especially when looking at planets. The new combination works really well and allows some good views of planets and other observing situations where it's useful to crank up the magnification. Notwithstanding this I am toying with the idea of getting the 16" lightbridge, which is a dob, because the light grabbing capabilities of it will be great for larger deep sky objects etc. So what am I saying? Basically it really depends what you want to do and what you want to look at. For me it looks like I'm going to need a couple of different scopes - basically because I want to look at everything.

Sam