£500 Budget: What's a Good Telescope for a Beginner?

[Chris Cavanagh]

Here she is; the beauty herself. God knows when I'll get a chance to use her here (especially with the weather at present).

[Chris Cavanagh]

Sorry; fixed!

[SacRiker]

Looks like heavy artillery! 

[YKSE]

Congratulations Chris, you'll get very nice through it.

[Chris Cavanagh]

It was a good bit of fun carrying it in the snow I must say.

By the way it came with Plossl 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, as well as a 0-III filter. What is this last one, and how useful is it really?

Also will I need any specific extras to get really good planetary views, or is the current rig good enough at present?

Thanks for your help again!

[YKSE]

OIII filter is good some nebulae, such Veil and North American, you find more about filters here:

http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/resources/by-dave-knisely/filter-performance-comparisons-for-some-common-nebulae/

A collimator is a must for any newtonian, if you're in tight budget, a simple cheshire should be fine, it's much better than those cheap laser collimators.

[SacRiker]

It was a good bit of fun carrying it in the snow I must say.

By the way it came with Plossl 10mm and 25mm eyepieces, as well as a 0-III filter. What is this last one, and how useful is it really?

Also will I need any specific extras to get really good planetary views, or is the current rig good enough at present?

Thanks for your help again!

I have thought about getting a big dob like that, but I just know I will be too lazy to carry it all around to get good views.  My garden is arranged in such a way that I need to move quite a bit to see different areas of the sky.  

[Chris Cavanagh]

£30 Cheshire on its way. Now I just need to delve into the shady world of eyepieces......

[Chris Cavanagh]

I have thought about getting a big dob like that, but I just know I will be too lazy to carry it all around to get good views.  My garden is arranged in such a way that I need to move quite a bit to see different areas of the sky.  

Maybe drive outside of town a bit? My partner and I walked a few miles out of town to go and see the Quadrantid shower last month (we froze but the sky clarity was worth it; even the Moon didn't prevent us from seeing a good few of them).

As for myself, I'm gonna live on the edge of a small town in 2 weeks (Borgholm Öland) so I'll just head outside my door to the small quay nearby; hoping that I get a space with less streetlamps where I can set this "wee mortar" up!

[SacRiker]

Maybe drive outside of town a bit? My partner and I walked a few miles out of town to go and see the Quadrantid shower last month (we froze but the sky clarity was worth it; even the Moon didn't prevent us from seeing a good few of them).

As for myself, I'm gonna live on the edge of a small town in 2 weeks (Borgholm Öland) so I'll just head outside my door to the small quay nearby; hoping that I get a space with less streetlamps where I can set this "wee mortar" up!

Sounds like you live (or will live) in a great place for observing.  I'm stuck on the outskirts of a biggish city (500,000).  At least I'm not too close to downtown.

[wheresthetorch?]

Great choice - fancy one of those myself. Will we get a first light report?

[Chris Cavanagh]

You will on the weekend; I'm in the middle of a move so my first go will have to wait until then!

Fingers crossed it goes well. I've looked up and saw perfect skies a few times this week; even saw yellow hue around Venus, it was that clear. Typical that I can't really use the thing here in a student corridor (much to my frustration).

[impactcrater]

Titania ?  Miranda ? Hubble....

[SacRiker]

Where's the first light report?!