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New guy from Norway

Thorbear

By Thorbear
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Thorbear

Thorbear

Posted
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Hi Everyone.

My name is Torbjørn, a 33 yo guy from Norway - New to this forum and new to astronomy.

I registered here a couple weeks ago, and have been reading and soaking up information a fair bit since then.

I have had an increasing interest in everything from sub-atomic particles to the largest of celestial bodies over the past couple of years, although on a fairly casual level.

A month or so ago is when i started thinking I should get a telescope - and quite to my surprise, usually being an impulsive buyer, I have not bought one yet.

Every time i learn something new, more choices emerge and new questions are raised - nothing new to any of you I guess  :smiley:

The only thing I have decided on so far is that my astronomy will be purely visual, as I can already find the most amazing pics of anything in the night sky online,

and my pics would never come close to that - I don't plan on buying Hubble  :tongue:

Seeing things with my own eyes is what I am fascinated with.

Anyway, I will keep reading and might have a question or two before my first purchase.

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Dark Sky Clive

Dark Sky Clive

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Hi and welcome torbjom

New here also although have had a couple of telescopes in the past as so much choice out there so good luck on what you decide on! I am waiting for delivery of my new Celestron CGEM 800 sct also an Atik Titan CCD Camera so lots of learning going to be happening here also

So good luck and hope you enjoy when you get your Telescope

Clive

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Schorhr

Schorhr

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Welcome from Germany :)

yeah, lots of telescopes... It can make One's head Spin.

Make sure to discuss your choice before actually buying it, it will help prevent unnecessary spends, falling for unrealistic advertising and finding the telescope that suits your needs best.

Visual astronomy is amazing once you get over the expectations to see full color, poster quality images. It's still the most amazing thin I have ever done. Seeing planets and galaxies with your own eyes is fascinating and makes everything else seem so small for a couple of hours.

There are great telescopes for every budget, though you can really get into the hobby for years to come if you spend 170€-330€. Some smaller ones are available as well, and some can be nice small telescopes.

Go check the classifieds of you area, even with 10-20€ and a Few tools you can turn a used 3" telescope on plastic tripod into a great starter dobsonion mount telescope.

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Thorbear

Thorbear

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Thank you everybody for the warm welcome. Astronomers are a friendly bunch aren't they  :smiley:

Hi and welcome to SGL - As an imager, my help to a visual guy will be rather sparse, but I understand that dobs are the best.

Loo forward to seeing you around :smiley:

A dob is definitely something I have been looking at, among all the other types there are too. I guess it does ease the cost a bit when I don't need the kind of mount used in imaging.

Hi Thorbear, love your avatar. Are you a budding solar observer! Welcome to SGL

Thanks. Solar flares sure are stunning.

Looking at our closest star is something I will surely do - A solar filter of some sort will be included in my first purchase.

Of course in an ideal world I'd just buy a dedicated HA scope right off the bat, But I don't think I'll be able to justify going with two scopes to start off with  :grin:

Hi and welcome torbjom

New here also although have had a couple of telescopes in the past as so much choice out there so good luck on what you decide on! I am waiting for delivery of my new Celestron CGEM 800 sct also an Atik Titan CCD Camera so lots of learning going to be happening here also

So good luck and hope you enjoy when you get your Telescope

Clive

Thank you, and congrats and good luck with your new scope too. Maybe there'll be some images shared from sessions with your new scope :smiley:

Welcome from Germany :)
yeah, lots of telescopes... It can make One's head Spin.
Make sure to discuss your choice before actually buying it, it will help prevent unnecessary spends, falling for unrealistic advertising and finding the telescope that suits your needs best.

Visual astronomy is amazing once you get over the expectations to see full color, poster quality images. It's still the most amazing thin I have ever done. Seeing planets and galaxies with your own eyes is fascinating and makes everything else seem so small for a couple of hours.

There are great telescopes for every budget, though you can really get into the hobby for years to come if you spend 170€-330€. Some smaller ones are available as well, and some can be nice small telescopes.
Go check the classifieds of you area, even with 10-20€ and a Few tools you can turn a used 3" telescope on plastic tripod into a great starter dobsonion mount telescope.

Thanks for the advice. I am fairly sure I have my expectations on par with what I can actually see.

I have looked at second hand stuff around here, but the problem is that the astro community here seems quite limited, and also used prices from things bought here are dangerously close 

to what it would cost to buy new from vendors abroad.

So far I have worked out that I like the portability of a mak, but would prefer the light gathering ability from a larger newtonian.

Since I won't do photography I probably don't need an eq mount, but a newt is probably best in a dobsonian mount anyway, depending on size of course.

My budget won't allow a purchase until june, maybe may depending on choice - so I will continue reading until then  :smiley:

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Schorhr

Schorhr

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Hello again,

i have a 4" Mak, those are nice travel telescopes that can be used as a stunning budget tele lens sometimes.

At 8" Deepsky just enters a new Level and unfortunately Maks and SC get quite expensive and bulky at that size, else I would have gone that path as well probably, even though the large Maks and sc have a limited field of view and long cooling times.

You can't do much wrong with a dob though, best bang for the buck and decent resale value if you ever change your mind.

Too bad there aren't any cheap used telescopes available. I startet that way until I saved for a larger telescope ;-)

Here a lot of deparmtent store reflectors where sold on weak mounts, that now sell for a relatiively small amount of cash.

Do you favor observing any objects, planets, deepsky, or just whatever's up there? :-)

If deepsky is the least of your interest, a 5" Mak or f/5 Newtonian is a great, affordable and portable solution that still shows a lot. Else I'd say the 8" is the best bang for the buck, at least if you live under dark skies (milky way visible?) or are able to put everything in your car to drive out of town.

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Thorbear

Thorbear

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Thanks for the added welcomes everyone  :smiley:

Hello again,
i have a 4" Mak, those are nice travel telescopes that can be used as a stunning budget tele lens sometimes.
At 8" Deepsky just enters a new Level and unfortunately Maks and SC get quite expensive and bulky at that size, else I would have gone that path as well probably, even though the large Maks and sc have a limited field of view and long cooling times.
You can't do much wrong with a dob though, best bang for the buck and decent resale value if you ever change your mind.
Too bad there aren't any cheap used telescopes available. I startet that way until I saved for a larger telescope ;-)
Here a lot of deparmtent store reflectors where sold on weak mounts, that now sell for a relatiively small amount of cash.

Do you favor observing any objects, planets, deepsky, or just whatever's up there? :-)
If deepsky is the least of your interest, a 5" Mak or f/5 Newtonian is a great, affordable and portable solution that still shows a lot. Else I'd say the 8" is the best bang for the buck, at least if you live under dark skies (milky way visible?) or are able to put everything in your car to drive out of town.

I guess I will start with planets/moon/solar observing, but I'd prefer to not limit myself to not being able to see some dso's as well.

I went to my local retailer and had a chat, and by the time I got out of there he had recommended a mak127 as a nice portable all-round scope.

But then again I see that I can comfortably fit a 250px flextube within what I'd be willing to spend. The flextube design seems very nice for the space saving aspect, and for fitting in my car,

But does it have much negative effects on maintaining collimation?

Obviously my next thought is would a 10" dob be a scope I would dread to lug around with me -  not exactly a grab and go.

Choices choices

I'll get there in the end  :smiley:

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Schorhr

Schorhr

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I can totally understand that you want a telescope that's not limiting you to one or the other type of objects :-)

A 5" Mak has some downsides, you will have a rather limited field of view, especially if only a 1.25" focuser is available at that high focal length.

For some Maks you can get a T2 to 2" focuser adapter, but the secondary mirror size may limit the maximum field at the end anyway, and the aperture will not show much regarding spiral structures and details in galaxies. It's great for planets and moon though and has a large enough aperture that seeing conditions limit the maximum magnifications rather then the optics itself.

I have a 5" reflector dobsonian and on a goto-mount, 5" is a nice grab&go size, but my main telescope is a 10" as well as it's still easy to handle but shows so much more...

I can grasp your considerations regarding portability though... I went with a travel dobsonian from Sumerian optics in the end so I do not have to rely on a car.

The Flextube's are a nice concept, though the 10" has an aperture ratio of f/4,7 if I recall correctly. This will require you to get better eyepieces, as the cheaper one's will not show a sharp image at the outer field at or under f/5. A typical 8" f/6 is much more forgiving in that aspect and collimation is not as critical as a "faster" telescope.

Collimation will be neccesary with all reflector telescopes to ensure you will get the best results. Though after following one of the tutorials on collimation it get's pretty easy, even though the instructions seem very overwhelming at first.

Regarding deepsky, check out drawings as they resemble the most accurate visual impression through a telescope.

Due to different artists, locations and weather conditions it is hard to compare drawings with different apertures done by different people.

Check out

http://clarkvision.com/visastro/m51-apert/

but keep in mind he spent up to fourty minutes observing to see all the details. At first glance the faint nebula seem like faint fuzzies, only patience will reveal more structure. The drawings match the impression of M51 after a sucessful night of observing, not what you see "live". But I does show what difference 6 to 8" aperture will make, and 5" will be even a bit fainter... Though still, 5" is a fun thing to have, easy to carry to a dark observing location. I bought my Heritage 130p AFTER getting the 10" in order to get out observing more frequently with just a backpack and by foot, or use it on the balcony. At 170€ as dobsonian it's much cheaper then the 5" Mak and more rigid then most telescopes under 200€ as they usualy come with a shaky eq1 or eq2 equatorial mount + tripod.

Back to the 10" Flextube, you will probably end up spending 250€ on a very good overview eyepiece and 45-100€ on the lower focal length eyepieces, while with a f/6 telescope you can get away with eyepieces around 30-80€...

Good luck and lots of fun with whatever you choose :-)

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ronl

ronl

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Hi and welcome to the lounge,

I am a visual observer, without go-to, I enjoy finding targets myself,

that's all part of the fun. hope you find your scope soon, it's a big 

decision to make.

Good Luck and Clear Sky's 

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