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Hello from NE Cambs/SW Norfolk area

Andy Milner

By Andy Milner
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Andy Milner

Andy Milner

Posted
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Hi All,

I'm very new to Astronomy and have been lurking on this forum and others reading and soaking up lots and lots of information to help me decide on what Telescope and Mount to buy. I recently bought a telescope without much thought back in October ( Celestron 114 LCM ) This however suffered vibrations easily but I enjoyed using it for viewing Jupiter and managed a few photos just holding up my iPhone to the eye piece capturing Jupiter and the 4 moons. This excited me so much, until the finderscope stopped working and the hand control lcd display went wrong. I have taken the scope back for a refund.

I now plan on buying a new Skywatcher scope primarily for DSO Imagery and Planetry fun.

I'm seriously contemplating a Skywatcher 150P - DS with either a EQ5 goto or HEQ5 goto Mount. This will be my first serious scope, however I really find the cost of the HEQ5 goto Mount off putting at around £700. However I do know from reading lots, that the Mount is so important, so will take more time over making my decision. I may have to go for the EQ5 goto and maybe upgrade lateron.  

I look forward to engaging with you all more and digesting info to make my purchase soon.

Thanks,

Andy

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baggywrinkle

baggywrinkle

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Welcome to SGL..good choice and good thinking. Skywatcher get good reviews for their OTA's and mounts.

I have the EQ5 and it is a good solid mount but of course its payload is restricted, you could look around at the 2nd hand market for a mount.

I will be moving to Ely in May...

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stolenfeather

stolenfeather

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Hi there Andy and welcome to the forum.  I have a Skywatcher myself but find the picture abilities restrictive.  I have always preferred being a "gazer" over an imager myself.  I like peering as far as I can but my pictures (besides the moon, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn) have always been inferior to the others I have seen here.  Oh well...  My first telescope sounds like the one you had but this one simply made me use vocabulary I was not very proud of which is why I got the new one.   Congratulations on the new scope and I am looking forward to seeing your captures on this site!

Isabelle

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swag72

swag72

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Hi Andy and welcome to SG. If you are starting off by saying that you would like to image DSO's and planets, the first thing to note is that they have different requirements, sadly one scope doesn't do them all. For imaging DSO's can I suggest the book 'Making Every Photon Count' available from the book section f the FLO site. It's an informative read and should be read ...... twice at least ...... before a single penny is spent. It will help you to understand what you need and why.

Imaging is all about the mount, mount, mount - Avoid these sage words that will be repeated by all imagers at your peril :grin:

Look forward to seeing you around :smiley

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JamesM

JamesM

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Hi Andy and welcome to the forum. As said above, the mount is key for imaging DSO's (galaxies & nebulae) but if you only have modest kit, you can still image solar system objects (moon & planets) with a straight forward video camera. Some good results can be had and will expose you to the workings of post image processing which also forms an important part of astrophotography. There are quite a few pieces of free software out there to be had too, though of course there are some other useful programs that need to be paid for. Imaging doesn't have to be expensive and can be done on a modest budget providing that your expectations are budgeted accordingly. :smiley:

Clear skies for now and hope you enjoy the forum

James

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Andy Milner

Andy Milner

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Hi all thanks for your welcomes and advice. I will check out the book "Make every photon count"

I was under the impression I could use a good webcam with a Skywatchers 150p to take reasonable images of the planets. I'm primarily interested in DSO's so will investigate more.

I've seen some great photos taken of Jupiter and the moon with a webcam on the 150p so I'm hoping that it will be fine as I'm more interested in DSO's. :)

Thanks, Andy

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Andy Milner

Andy Milner

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Thanks James. That's what I thought. I'm planning on using a DSLR and laptop and will price up all other accessories. I already have celestron xl ep's as a 5mm and 25mm. Will look into guide software too. I see there's some great free offerings. I've read quite a bit already on this forum. Just trying to piece all the information together to cost it all. Phew! Heh :)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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LeeWilky

LeeWilky

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Welcome to SGL :)

You could always try the SW Explorer 200p on EQ5 and spend another £92 for the motors if budget is an issue.

£415 will get you the 200p here http://www.firstlightoptics.com/reflectors/skywatcher-explorer-200p-eq5.html

and motors here for £92 http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/dual-axis-dc-motor-drive-for-eq5.html

A lot of people use this setup and do very well.

Either way you go good luck and look forward to seeing your images in the future :)

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