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NEW NEW NEW HELP!!!

Faye92

By Faye92
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Umbraldot

Umbraldot

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Telescopes are always a trade off between cost, aperture and portability. It depends what kind of observing you are going to do. You will end up with a clutch of telescopes, eyepieces and junk of all kinds and spend a fortune over the years. All part of the fun!

Welcome to the forum.

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Jim Steele

Jim Steele

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Hi Stargazing and welcome to SGL, as others have reccomended a 200P Dob its a good scope and one to learn the skies on. I would forget imaging for now since that comes with its own issues, like the need for a tracking mount.

Site sponsers FLO aslo have a few discounted starter scopes that might be of interest.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html

Jim

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Spoon

Spoon

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Bought a Skyliner 150P for £200, assuming I'd need to add to that. Now running at six times that initial outlay and still haven't even thought about astrophotography!

I repeat, these folks on SGL give the best of advice. Oh, except when it comes to which eyepieces you should buy, 'cos NOBODY agrees about that choice ...

This made me laugh quite a bit. [emoji23][emoji23]

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Aenima

Aenima

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Hi stargazing,

A lot of recommendations for the 200p! The good thing there is that whether you go for the EQ (tracks the sky in an arc to precisely follow an object) or the 'push n pull' manual dobson mount - the actual optics will be the same. :) 

I still get good use out of my 200p two years down the line. Its versatile enough - provided you can carry it outside and find a good place to use it, and will show good detail on the moon and larger planets, while having enough aperture (light grasp) as an 8inch to pick up star clusters, brighter planetary nebula like the ring and dumbell nebulas, and a reasonable amount of the faint galaxies.

While the faint fuzzy objects will be exactly that, faint and fuzzy - you won't see colour or complex detail - these things only show up in photographs and really really giant scopes. The deep sky objects are always going to be challenging even with the more expensive set-ups, but as far as picking them out and recognising what they are goes, the 200p does seem to be quite good in that respect.

As for photography, unfortunately the idea will be very tempting especially after a couple of observing sessions when the possibilities of capturing what you see on camera become evident. Good news is the EQ5 / 200p combo can do pretty well given the right circumstances but be prepared to need several other bits of equipment - besides the actual camera - and a steep learning curve. :p The 200p is quite heavy for the EQ5 mount and if photography is a big part of your plan the 150pds (6inch) would be a better choice while not being much different in its visual capability, giving similar views to the 8inch but not weighing too heavily on the mount so  as to hinder the smooth tracking. Goto is another expensive but useful addition. However the dual axis motors can be attached a lot cheaper and then a laptop can be hooked up to give you a certain amount of control - obviously the setting is important as its a lot to set up in a dark field. A garden or patio will be great though. :) 

Hope some of this is helpful. :)

As mentioned already, this forum is a very good place to learn chat and throw ideas about.   

All the best, clear skies and welcome to SGL. 

regards

Aenima

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Faye92

Faye92

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Great advice thank you. It seems to be making more sense now.

It's actually going to be a birthday present so hopefully the budget can change lol. I have had a look at the skyliner 200P and I really like it, it's seems like the type of thing I am looking for and need for a beginner like me. So I assume that if you purchase this that everything that you need is with it and won't need to by an extras ?

Sorry for the questions :)

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Alkaid

Alkaid

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for £300 your looking at a very basic telescope and mount for anything decent

will really depend on what you want to look at as to which will suit you best and the upgrade's available to think about in the future

Not necessarily....I would say that 75% of my kit is 2nd hand. I find that most people who get into the hobby really do look after their kit, especially if you buy from someone experienced on the forum, so not much chance of buying tat. I've bought stuff from some of the old hands on this forum and their advice and experience was invaluable and I knew when I met them that they genuinely wanted me to enjoy the kit that I'd bought from them. Top people.

My advice to the OP would be to advise - what do you want to look at? Moon & Planets? Deep Sky? Or something that does both, but albeit not as well as the dedicated scopes? Once you know which scope / mount you need, then check out Astro Buy Sell UK. You can get your scope and mount separately. Also, once you've racked up sufficient posts, you can check out SGL's own Classified's page.

One more thing...have patience. You might not get what you want straight away, but if you're prepared to wait then so much the better. The summer is nearly here so you've got about five months to accumulate kit before next season.

Good luck!

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Faye92

Faye92

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Thanks!

Yeah defiantly something that does both to be able to seen moon and planets along with the deep sky.

It's just getting to know the types of equipment I'll need. Basically, I'm looking for a telescope that does the above for a beginner.

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Alkaid

Alkaid

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No problem at all. I think you need a 2nd hand 200p dob. Should be around £200. Spend the remainder on eyepieces.

If after one season you decide you need a telescope that tracks, then buy a suitable mount.

The 200p will be quite good on deep sky if you can get into the countryside. Stick one on a driven equatorial mount and it will become a very good planetary tool also. A few members on here have done just that.

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Spoon

Spoon

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Good choice.

Also save up for some better eyepieces, the standard ones are shocking compared to a good plössl. Maybe an OIII OBSERVING filter also. Will bring out nebulae like the veil quite nicely!

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