A little bit of help for starting out.

[Solaire]

Hi.

Very new, always loved astronomy, but not even looked through a telescope before!

So, decided to to look, and try to buy one.

I will do some research beforehand, probably wise to.

But would really like some extra help/advice to help me out.

Which type should I go for being a beginner?

A Refractory? A Reflector? 

Which size?

I have a budget for around £100 - £200

And also, is there any way i'd be able to use a scope to view the sun? With a type of lens that would make it safe? (probably expensive)

Any help would be amazing, thank you.

[oldpink]

HI and Welcome to SGL

with a budget of £1 - 200 you are going to be limited to a basic starter scope setup
a good place to start is here http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes.html

size and type will depend on what you want to do with it
or what you want to see, there is no all round does it all setup
each has its own good & bad points

as to solar viewing Yes you can BUT Do Not Try without using a proper sun filter for Astronomy
FLO sell these as well for most types of telescope

[Scott]

this would be my choice.

[Solaire]

It's hard to say what i'd like to view exactly.
As I have no knowledge of it.

[Solaire]

Should I read up on what's 'out there', and buy a scope to better match?

[oldpink]

there are lots of things to see out there
easiest are the main planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn which you will be able to see with any half decent scope
Mercury being small and close to the sun most of the time is harder as are the outer planets Uranus & Neptune which require a decent magnification

DSO's again can be seen but the faint ones require a decent sized scope like a large Dob or reflector on a decent mount
for Astro Imaging you need to start spending a lot more on a tracking mount and normally a laptop to control it

read up on the forums and see peoples results with their equipment and go from there

[Robny]

Should I read up on what's 'out there', and buy a scope to better match?

You dont need to be too specific on what you want to see but it would help if you knew if it would be the planets including the sun (with correct filtration) and the moon, or if your interest is in DSO's (Deep Sky Objects).

Knowing this ill help fine tune and slim down your selection, viewing solar isn't necessarily expensive. You just NEED to make sure you have correct filteration.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[NGC 1502]

I wouldn't rush to get a telescope myself.   You could meet up / join a local astronomy club, have a chat, maybe get a chance to see some kit, but with these light evenings, observing may not be possible.

You don't say where you are, but if by some fluke you are in Essex, then next Weds 18th at my club, we have "Telescope Zoo" where members bring scopes to look at rather than look through, the idea is to help others to choose suitable kit. You would be most welcome http://www.cpac.org.uk/

Having said that, just within budget is this - http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html  you have to find sky objects your self, and manually track, but you won't get better views for under £200, unless buying used of course.

Regards, Ed.

[Solaire]

I'm from Kent.

The budget I have isn't set, I mean if its worth spending x amount more, to be able to be y amount more, if its worth it I could save and wait.

Thank you for the replies

[oldpink]

I'm from Kent.

The budget I have isn't set, I mean if its worth spending x amount more, to be able to be y amount more, if its worth it I could save and wait.

Thank you for the replies

if thats the case I hope you have deep pockets

I initially thought about spending £4- 500 on a telescope with the idea of imaging

so far I have spent more than that on Camera's and twice that on the scope and mount

believe me it can mount up very fast

I already want to upgrade my mount and get a few other things so looking at a budget of another £1000 in the coming months

so beans & toast diet for the foreseeable future

[wuthton]

I wouldn't rush to get a telescope myself.   You could meet up / join a local astronomy club, have a chat, maybe get a chance to see some kit, but with these light evenings, observing may not be possible.

You don't say where you are, but if by some fluke you are in Essex, then next Weds 18th at my club, we have "Telescope Zoo" where members bring scopes to look at rather than look through, the idea is to help others to choose suitable kit. You would be most welcome http://www.cpac.org.uk/

Having said that, just within budget is this - http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-skyliner-150p-dobsonian.html  you have to find sky objects your self, and manually track, but you won't get better views for under £200, unless buying used of course.

Regards, Ed.

Good advice, if you are wanting to put your eye to an eyepiece then a dobsonian is your friend and you'd most likely get to look through one at a club.

[Fish]

How about a pair of binoculars, you can use these to get used to the sky and decide on what type of scope to start out with.

[Schorhr]

Welcome to the forum :-)

There are a few nice telescopes within your budget range, it all depends on what you want to observe and if you live near a dark location (or are able and willing to transport the telescope by car or bike hanger)

A reflector is the cheapest solution, larger refractors get expensive and require a beefy mount. All telescopes have ups and downs, of course.

For deepsky (galaxies, nebulae...) aperture is key, a 200mm telescope will show more then a 100mm telescope, no matter if lens or mirror.

Under dark skies and long, patient observation you can see some galaxies like this

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

To see what to expect with a 4" (100mm) telescope

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/196278-what-can-i-expect-to-see/

A dark sky is a must for deep sky objects (nebulae, galaxies). If the milky way is not visible from your observing location, or if street lights and neighbors flood your garden with light, it will influence your eye's adaption to the darkness as well.

Even tthe bright orion nebula looks much better under a dark sky, http://www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/archives/001459.html

Fainter objects may not be visible at all if it is not dark enough or a nearby city emmits a dome of light at the horizon. Large cities can polute the sky for dozens of miles away... Planets are still observable from within the cities though.

For planets, a 4" will show plenty, as more then 200x magnification is rarely possible due to atmospheric conditions, turbulence (seeing), and a 4" (100mm) offers enough resolution. A 5 or 6" starts to show the first details at deep sky and of couirse has a bit more resolution.

8" gets bulkier but is still easily fit on a car's back seat, or in a bike hanger.

A dobsonian is a newtonian on a rockerbox (simple wooden box with low friction mount) manual tracking (up down left right), making it cheap and easy to use. Along with good maps or books, finding objects is easy.

A computerized goto mount is nice, but the electronics and motors often cost more then the telescope itself, resuliting in less aperture for the same price of a larger dobsonian.

Refractors offer a obstruction free image (sharper image) but need to either be quite long to prevent chromatic abberations (color fringe around bright objects), or need to be made with expensive ED glass elements. Over 3-4" a reflector/newtonian is usual the cheaper choice, even though the system has obstruction.

If planets are your main target, a 4" Maksutov on a camera tripod would be within your budget (200€/180£ or so).

A maksutov is a variant of a reflector, with a front lens. It has downsides (cool down time, limited field of view for larger objects...) but they are nice and compact and work well with cheap eyepieces.

A 90mm Mak on Goto Mount would cost as much as a 8"(200mm) dobsonian! They are sometimes on sale for little over 200gbp though.

A 5" within this kind of budget is the largest you can fit in a backpack, the heritage 130p. It is available for 130£ or so, sometimes less refurbished.

It is not perfect, but a good entry level telescope.

The mirror is not perfect, but it will show the planets nicely (better then a 3" telescope), its strong suit is widefield deepsky observing though. The low, open construction has some downsides (not suited to observe the sun, needs a table or low chair...)

A 6" (150mm) dobsonian would be the best within your budget. Nice views of planets, even more details in deep sky objects then the heritage...

BUT a long dobsonian like that can not be used from a balcony (not an ideal location anyway due to warm air rising up from buildings causing distortions).

IF you can stretch your budget to 279£ or get it used cheaper, and the size does not trouble you, get a 8" (200mm) dobsonian. 8" starts to show many deepsky details such as spiral structures of galaxies, lots of stars in dense star clusters, and planets look more stunning then in smaller telescopes as well. If seeing conditions are great (rare, but happens) you can magnify up to 400x and this will show amazing details on Saturn, Jupter, Mars (which shows as tiny dot otherwise) and the moon...

If you want to start on a smaller budget, please note there are a lot of bad telescopes around 50-200£ as well. They may be advertised as great powerfull telescopes, but magni is not anything. A stable mount is important, and more aperture shows more details, no matter if a smaller telescope comes with a eyepiece combination that can reach 600x or more, that does not show you more details, especially at night that does not make much sense at all.

Refractors for 200£ and under are a bit of problematic. The longer and larger the get, the stronger (and more expensive) the mount needs to be, short FH-refractors are not ideal for high magnification, ED refractors are over the budget.

A 90/900 or 120/900 on eq2/astro3 may be within your budget, but a sturdy mount such as a NEQ3 would cost most of your budget. There are a few acceptable sets of course, 70/700 on eq2, but for deep sky the dobsonian is tough to beat due to the price.

Many beginners want to take photos as well.

For serious imaging you will need a equatorial mount with tracking and a DSLR, modified webcam or CCD astro camera, guiding... this would be way over budget... You can easily spend thousands and thousands on imaging ;-) Even with a more basic set up it would be hard to do with this kind of budget.

Imaging the moon and planets is possible with even the dobsonian though if you are patient and just want a few snapshots that do not have to be poster quality.

Sun filters can be build out of baader solar film or bought, starting at around 20 quids

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters.html

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm?itemId=171352074964

[Solaire]

Thank you for the replies, its so helpful.

[ronin]

I would say go get an Evostar 90, http://www.firstlightoptics.com/evostar.html

It is a good all round option for a first scope and requires little if any maintenance, there is not actually much that you can adjust on it anyway.

If you could stretch to it get the EQ3-2 mount, it has greater possibilities, as in you can later spend another £100 and get dual motors.

For viewing the sun you would get some Baader Solar Film, some cardboard, scissors and sticky tape and make youself one for the front of the scope. Also the finder or take the finder off. Too easy to put the filter on the scope then look throught the finder to centre the sun. Don't laugh, it has been done.

At 90mm it will show a fair amount of DSO objects and it is a nice length (f number) for eyepieces like plossls to work fine on it.

For a first one it is easy to use and does most things pretty well.

[Purplehayze104]

+1 for the evostar90 i had one & was great 2nd scope, bought it as a deal as wanted tripod originally, a bit of CA but nothing to overpowering was good with the moon & planets even saw a few dso's for first time like andromeda & M13 admitedly wasn't hugely bright but i knew wot i was looking took a barlow pretty well too.

[dannybgoode]

Why not get a set of binoculars to begin with.  Great for learning your way around and with a pair of decent 10x50's you can see things like Jupiter's moons and some of the brighter M objects.

The moon looks fantastic too.

Good set needn't cost more than £70-100.  Look at binocularsky.com for all you need to know about bins

Really a great way in to the hobby whilst you have a bit more of a think about what you want scope wise.

Then go to astrobuysell.co.uk and find a decent second hand set up and save yourself a good few £££ in the process.

[andyb505]

If it helps here is my beginners experience.

About three years ago I helped my son with his astronomy GCSE by helping him take some photographs of the moon. I was intrigued that you could take really good photos just with a digital SLR camera and a long lens (300mm). Spurred on by my experience I started to use my binoculars to look at the night sky. I found an old planisphere amongst my collection of books. Using the two together I started to be able to recognise a few of the constellations and other objects in the sky.

Around the end of last year I decided that I could afford to buy my first telescope. I did a lot of research and spent a lot of time reading this (and a couple of other) online forums.

I decided that I did not want to spend a lot of money as I did not know if I would carry on astronomy as a hobby and also that I was interested only in visual observing and not astro photography. I also wanted a simple telescope that was easy to set up and transport (as I have some dark sky sights near me).

I settled on the SkyWatcher Heritage 130P and ordered one earlier this year. Since then I have used the scope much more than I ever expected. I have not taken it to a really dark site yet but have taken it to Cornwall where the skies are darker than home. This scope is within your budget and I would recommend it for a beginner.

I am really happy with my scope and have already invested in a couple of additional eye pieces. The scope is really simple to operate, takes minutes to set up and has already let me see Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, many of the stars and even a couple of messier objects. I am still learning how to find objects and how to get the best out of the scope but I have already spent more time observing than I ever thought I would. Next steps are to try and get to a star party or a local club night and meet some others with the same hobby.

My advice would be:

Learn your way around the sky a bit first, try some binoculars to help you do this. Tray and attend a local club or star party. Work out what you want to use the scope for (visual or astro photography, planets, messier objects etc.). Read as much as you can on this forum, and ask questions.

Then by a scope and just gaze at the wonders in the night sky, you will not be disappointed!

Andrew