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Thinking about purchasing Celestron AstroMaster LT 76AZ as first telescope... Is this a good choice?

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fleur_aries

fleur_aries

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I'm fairly new to Astronomy and stargazing, I have recently joined an Astronomy society within my local area. It was suggested to me that the Celestron AstroMaster LT 76AZ would be a good option for my first telescope.

Just wanted to get people's feedback on this suggestion and whether it would be a worthwhile purchase. It would be greatly appreciated if I could get some opinions of this telescope and also if there would be a better choice for myself.

Many thanks :smiley:

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Sammyb

Sammyb

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It's always difficult to recommend a scope as I think scope depends on personal circumstances and your interests. Will you need to transport to a dark site? Do you have a car etc or will you use in your garden? Can you try out some scopes at the astro soc?

Click on the first light optics link at the top of the page and go to telescopes and then beginner scopes. If I had £200 to spend on a first scope I would get the skyliner 150p dobsonian. I think that would be significantly better than the astro master lt 76az recommended to you.

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rory

rory

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Frankly no , that scope will be pretty poor . For beginners scopes look at the sponsors web store ( first light optics) there's a beginners section with a group of scopes at varying prices .

Also look through some scopes at the astro group and see and feel size weight and aperture for yourself . I agree with Sammy , the 6 inch is good value and show tons more than a 76mm .

The skywatcher heritage 130 table top dob is also a good value scope .

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fleur_aries

fleur_aries

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Sammyb - Thank you for your advice, there will be some observing opportunities at a site through my local Astro soc so there will be the chance for me to be able to transport it to a dark site, however this won't be on a regular basis. I unfortunately don't have a car and my main observing time will be from my garden. I think the chairman of the soc did mention that there would be scopes to try out through them.

Okay, I will check out the first light optics link :) Funny you should mention the 150p as one of my friends who is also into Astronomy had the exact same scope so it sounds like a good option. I appreciate your advice, thankyou.

Rory - Thankyou for your advice aswell, this is definitely helping me in the right direction. I'm glad that I aired on the side of caution with the Celestron scope, will definitely look into your suggestions :)

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fleur_aries

fleur_aries

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Just had a look at the 150p dob and it certainly does look like the way to go! Just wondering, as it is not a mounted scope would this have limitations in viewing outside? Or would it simply be a matter of putting it on a table? What would be the best way to get around this issue?

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rory

rory

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Just had a look at the 150p dob and it certainly does look like the way to go! Just wondering, as it is not a mounted scope would this have limitations in viewing outside? Or would it simply be a matter of putting it on a table? What would be the best way to get around this issue?

Hi , are you talking about the 130 heritage or 150 p dob. ?

The dob base is a sturdy platform for observing , very stable. The heritage is a table top scope . So although on a simple dob type altaz mount it may need to sit on a table or you'll need to sit on a camping Matt .

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fleur_aries

fleur_aries

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There was also another Skywatcher scope in the beginner's section which is mounted and there is the opportunity for Astro photography, this scope being the Skywatcher explorer 150p DS OTA. If it's worthwhile then will defo save up for it. Thoughts on this?

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Sammyb

Sammyb

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There was also another Skywatcher scope in the beginner's section which is mounted and there is the opportunity for Astro photography, this scope being the Skywatcher explorer 150p DS OTA. If it's worthwhile then will defo save up for it. Thoughts on this?

The 150p on the az4 mount and the nexstar 127 might be ok for simple webcam imaging of the moon and planets. For imaging of the fainter objects like nebulae, galaxies, clusters etc none of the beginners scopes on FLO would be suitable and you will need to spend a lot more than £200 to get into that. For photography a different set of considerations apply.

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Sammyb

Sammyb

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Just had a look at the 150p dob and it certainly does look like the way to go! Just wondering, as it is not a mounted scope would this have limitations in viewing outside? Or would it simply be a matter of putting it on a table? What would be the best way to get around this issue?

The 150p dob just goes straight on the ground and away you go. The dobsonian base is a kind of alt/az mount

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fleur_aries

fleur_aries

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Joehay_yorkshire and Sammyb - Thankyou for your advice and input. I think what i'm going to do is get the 150p dob to get to grips with everything and then once I have done that I will upgrade to another scope when I want to start astro imaging :) no doubt I'll be asking for further advice then :p

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joehay_yorkshire

joehay_yorkshire

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just a note for the future with imaging - you'll need an equatorial mount with a good motor drive, where those alone will cost a few hundred, then there's the tube on top. That's needed for long exposure stuff, but a basic mount and drive like mine is suitable for webcam stuff when the exposure is well under a second :)

happy viewing, clear skies

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fleur_aries

fleur_aries

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just a note for the future with imaging - you'll need an equatorial mount with a good motor drive, where those alone will cost a few hundred, then there's the tube on top. That's needed for long exposure stuff, but a basic mount and drive like mine is suitable for webcam stuff when the exposure is well under a second :)

happy viewing, clear skies

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