Total Beginner - Please advise

[shadow920]

Hi guys and gals,

I need a bit of advice on Telescopes, I'm guessing this is the right place to ask.

I'm a complete beginner and have zero experience, I'm looking to spend £300 - £400 and would ideally like something with a computerized mount and the ability to connect a camera at some point.

Is this realistic and where would be the best place to buy? I've seen loads on Amazon but have no idea if these are a fair price or if they would fit the bill.

Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards

Steve

[Stargazer33]

Hi Steve, welcome to SGL!

You could have a look at FLO - First Light Optics (link at top of page). They may not always be the cheapest for every item but their service and more importantly their after sales service is in my honest opinion, second to none.

With £300-£400 you can certainly get a decent scope on a goto mount that will accept either webcam, DSLR or CCD at a later date with the addition of adaptor rings etc. I started off with a little Skywatcher 102mm Mak on a Skywatcher 3-2 mount.

You could get this: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html which will gather more light than my old 102mm and has the advantage of full goto.

If you wanted to photograph faint objects like galaxies and nebulae then you would need an EQ mount, but that could be something for the future. A lot of people 'outgrow' their first scope quite quickly so it really depends on how much you want to spend early on.

The Maks are good for planetary observing/photography and they have the advantage that you generally don't have to collimate them - line the mirrors up.

A lot of people on here seem to like the Skywatcher Newtonians like the 130P, 150P and 200P although the 150P & 200P on a goto EQ mount will be over your budget.

You could always get a manual mount and then add the goto at a later date once you have the funds.

Just a few ideas. Good luck with your choice, I know it isn't easy as I went through all this about 18 months ago!

[Andy_E]

I can't offer much help on your choice of telescope (my set up it completely different to what you require) but the advice above is a great start. As for where to buy, I'd stick with the reputable dealers (such as FLO) as not only can you buy with confidence but they'll probably be able to give you excellent advice too.

Personally, I'd rather avoid the likes of Amazon and ebay (apart from 'skies the limit' - Alan has an excellent reputation on ebay). Why not buy a copy of this months sky at night magazine? in there will be a full list of reputable UK suppliers.

Andy

[shadow920]

Thanks for the advice guys, it's always difficult trying to get into something new. It's terrifying when you see some of the prices of the mounts but I guess i'm looking at things that i'll want later on and don't need as a beginner. 

[Velvet]

i dont think an az mount would be the one to recommend if imaging is being considered, surely an EQ mount is needed?

Velvet

[LTB]

Imaging is mount.  Without a very good and reliable and accurate mount your most likely going to be disappointed if you buy a cheap mount....IF you are going to try and image on that cheap mount.  At your price point your best bet is to just get into visual observing and see if you like astronomy in general.  It can become a hassle waiting for the sun to go down....watching the weather....having the itch only to see the clouds rolling in for the night.  Last night was the first night I was able to observe in probably 10 days.  The weather was perfect....I had my scope set up and ready to go at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and then paced the floor still the sun went down.  Absolutely gorgeous night.  I went in the house 3 times to put on more clothes as in Wyoming the weather kept getting colder and colder but that was okay....it was way to beautiful to be in bed.

I have a friend who has his own observatory.  He has 2 scopes permanently mounted and both set up to image.  He probablly has about 10,000 pounds invested in all the equiptment to give him good astro images.  Thats not to mention the 10,000 pounds he has in the mounts and scopes.  Imaging can be extremely expensive.  Being a totally new person to astronomy I would suggest getting a good scope with a decent mount and then if the bug hits you simply would need to upgrade the mount because you already have a nice OTA that can image.  First light has some nice 8 inch F5 reflectors that could give you some really good visual as well as good imaging on an eq5 mount which could be later equipted with motors for guided imaging.

[LTB]

Additonally one other thing.  If you have an Ipad or Android Tablet there are some nice apps on the market that will make learning the night sky a breeze.  One almost does not need to to capablities if you have an Ipad or android tablet.  I use Sky Safari pro on my Ipad and it is amazing.  It quite simply gives you the location in the night sky...names the stars etc....and quite simply becomes a mentor to you teaching you the night sky so that after a few weeks of using this app you can look at the night sky and say oh.....there is Kochab or Mizor or Alpheraz.  There is vega...thers the plough and drago....the sky comes alive once you get your anchor stars down....anchor stars to me are bright stars in constellations that you can use to find Messiers or caldwells etc.

If you dont own and Ipad or android even a phone that takes apps can use these programs and do the same thing.  Learning the night sky with these apps is like having your own personal instructor standing besides you pointing out things you never knew.  The sky literally comes alive for you.

[foundaplanet]

I think the best advice for anybody looking to get into the hobby on a limited budget is to forget about getting into imaging initially and buy the biggest dobsonian scope funds allow. Keeping a enough back to get a cheshire collimator and a couple of extra eyepieces.

There is a whole bag of enjoyment to be had with a good star chart and a nice 8"/10" dob, if that doesn't float your boat to begin with then the chances are imaging will drive you bonkers..

The absolute best thing to do before you do anything at all is to visit a local astronomy club/group and get an idea about equiptment. There is nothing better than a bit of advice from a few people with first hand experience and an opportunity to see some gear for real, astro folk in my experience are always a welcoming, helpful, friendly bunch and nothing like turning up for the first time down the local gym..

Imaging from my own personal experience (unless you have plenty of disposable cash) is something to get into gradually. If you already have a DSLR you can start off by doing some short 30 second exposures with a stock lens at 18mm on a tripod and get some very satisfying results. You can take multiple images, learn about stacking them, play around at processing and get a feel for what it involves along the way. Maybe then you will think, Hmm, I'd rather have a 16" dobsonian or maybe you will decide you will invest in a mount, a good mount being the priority item when it comes to imaging. Either way I would advise you to take your time, get a bit of basic experience behind you and don't rush into making any decision. It can become a very expensive hobby but if you are patient and take your time you can avoid costly mistakes and having a whole pile of gear you never use.

[shadow920]

Just looking around on the net there is so many different ideas on what the best start out telescope is. 

So what would be the differences between 

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html

and

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html

Or if i'm feeling really flush

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-250px-dobsonian.html

[ronin]

One thing to remember is that when you look at the retailers sites the packages are for visual scopes, not (in general) an imaging setup. Some of what you see can be used to get images but they are not aimed at that application.

Somewhere (close ?) to you is WLAS, West London Astro Society search them out and see if they are within reach and trot along ans see if there are any imagers there. Seeing the equipment is a good start. Sure one of the members mentioned Watford.

But buying a big visual scope if the intention is to go imaging is not the way to start.

[shadow920]

Ah so the Dobsonian will give me better visual images but won't necessarily be any good for images? 

[shadow920]

Sorry, better for taking pictures I mean.

[Special K]

All really good advice above and I like the idea of getting a new Eyepiece to accompany the scope very soon after purchase.  +1 to not getting too worried about photography in the beginning but you'll be wanting to ensure that what you buy gives you at the least the chance to take photos.  The friend quoted above with 20K in gear will no doubt have been in the hobby for ages and been accumulating!  It's all part of the fun, and I think it just comes in stages.  That's a good budget to start with and a good taster to see if the hobby holds your interest. 

Good advice to consider if you want that go-to or not.  You can definitely find your way around and things like the Cambridge Star Atlas, as well as all the online stuff are great.  Depends if you just want to bang on target or get some pleasure out of finding things after some effort.   I've seen others advise on this forum that the Go-to itself takes some knowledge and skill to align.   Good luck and welcome to the forum.  Lots of great people here ready to advise on any question! 

[LTB]

Yes you will be able to do little if any imaging with a dobsonian other then perhaps short dslr camera shots.  Imaging requires a very good mount that TRACKS the object.  Most imagers have either a tracking scope added to their mounts that track(a star) with near flawless accuracy so the camera can actually take long exposures without distortions.....or the CCD cameras have guiding built into them or in other words the camera or the guider scope communicates to the MOUNT and tells the mount to speed up or slow down based up calculations it makes.  Either way the cameras are not cheap....As with anything you get what you pay for.  Most dobsonians have no means of automatic or electronic tracking.....meaning YOU move the mount to follow the object.  You can buy tracking dobsonians but you end up getting into rather expensive scopes which will blow your budget.

As I said above its the mount that allows you to do astrophotography with any real success.  A CHEAP mount and a 10,000 pound Telescope will net you BAD astrophotograhy results.  A 10,000 pound Mount and a cheap telescope will net you some pretty good astrophotograhy results.  In other words.....visual astronomy the mount is secondary to the scope....astrophotography the telescope is secondary to the Mount....hope this helps.

[shadow920]

So whats the benefit of a new eyepiece? I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time on here :-)

[foundaplanet]

So whats the benefit of a new eyepiece? I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time on here :-)

Generally speaking when you buy a scope you will recieve one or maybe two eyepieces and a possibly a barlow lens. They will be okay to get you started but it is often the fist upgrade people make as the stock ep's are really in the package to get you going. One thing worth paying some attention to is the Focal Ratio of the scope which will be shown in specs as f4.7, f5.3 or f6 etc. It is worth knowing that the lower this number gets the more critical a newtonian will be on the eyepieces and eyepieces can get very expensive.