How many scopes !!!

[Pig]

Very good point Luke...portability is a must for me. However, it will not need moving too far... f4 sounds like expensive eyepiece territory

[Gina]

How many scopes?  Hmm... let me see...

1. I started with a Celestron Astromaster 130MD which I no longer use.
2. Then a SW Evostar 80ED Pro.
3. ST80 for guiding
4. Another Evostar 80ED Pro for dual imaging
5. I think next was a SW MN190 - brilliant astrograph
6. Back to wider FOV and the then new SW Esprit 80ED Pro - just brilliant
7. Second ST80 to give triple imaging rig with Esprit - all 400mm FL f5 and adequate for narrow band imaging.

I think that's the lot, unless you count vintage SLR camera prime lenses for widefield imaging

[Stu]

I have currently, 'accidentally' ended up with 13! This is a temporary situation which will be rectified soon hopefully.

Having different requirements such as solar Ha and whitelight, grab and go for foreign travel, planetary, deep sky etc etc does tend to lead to more than one scope!!

The difficulty is choosing which ones to sell :-(

[John]

I currently own 5 scopes but I'm only really using a couple of them with the 3rd now and then. The other 2 are gathering dust

I could probably get by quite happily with just the 12" dob and the 4" refractor.

Having taken early retirement my astro budget is more modest these days so I tend to re-cycle the money buying, trying and selling on.

Sounds rather "austere" compared to some doesn't it ?

[AstroDC]

3 at the moment, 80mm Helios (my first scope), Meade 4504 114mm with Starfinder, and Orion SX250 for when portability is not important

Still looking though! Things could get expensive, especially as I've been viewing a lot of homebuilt observatories lately!

[Pig]

Stu 13 scopes currently  .... that's pretty good going and the most so far .... How many have you had if you count those which you have sold ?

[Stu]

Stu 13 scopes currently .... that's pretty good going and the most so far .... How many have you had if you count those which you have sold ?

22, here's the list. I'm sure John has had many more [emoji14]

Asterisk by the ones I currently have

Celestron C150-HD

Helios 150 f8

Orion Optics OMC200

Astrotech 106EDT*

William Optics SD66

Stellarvue 80ED

Vixen 80M

PST40

Televue 76

Carton 60

Televue 85*

Televue Genesis*

Vixen 150ED*

Orion Optics SX250*

Orion Optics 300 f6*

Vixen 80M*

Takahashi FS-60C*

Takahashi FC-76DC*

Skywatcher 120ED*

Skywatcher 150 f5*

Orion Optics VX10L*

Sumerian Canopus 16" f4.5*

Oops, I know it's a bit silly but as said, will be rectified soon.

Stu

[Peter Drew]

Still have 26 at last count, 60mm - 750mm aperture. 

[Stu]

Still have 26 at last count, 60mm - 750mm aperture.

Excellent [emoji3], must come and see them some time [emoji3]

Do you have a picture of the 750mm?

[Joves]

It certainly does Avtar,

Eyepeices also have this luring effect and before one knows it there is enough equipment around the house to open a small shop

Sorry Shaun, but this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Who on earth would buy so much astro stuff they could realistically or even possibly open their own small store. I enjoy reading your posts, but this one has really turned me off, it's so absurd. I mean... Ugh, hang on... Just ned to update my pathetic little inventory...

Celestron Nextstar 130 SLT

25mm Celestron Plossl eyepiece

9mm Celestron Plossl eyepiece

7.5mm York eyepiece

25mm LV eyepiece

20mm LV eyepiece

12mm LV eyepiece

9mm LV eyepiece

7mm LV eyepiece

5mm LV eyepiece

4mm LV eyepiece

2.5mm LV eyepiece

2x Vixen Barlow lens

2x Barlow lens

Meade Planetary and Lunar Filter Set

Meade LX90 ACF 10" SCT

Bobs Knobs

Losmandy counter balance system

21mm Televue Ethos

17mm Televue Ethos

13mm Televue Ethos

10mm Televue Ethos

8mm Televue Ethos

6mm Televue Ethos

4.7mm Televue Ethos SX

3.7mm Televue Ethos SX

31mm Televue Nagler

3-6mm Televue Nagler zoom

24mm Panoptic x 2

18mm Televue Radian x 2

14mm Televue Radian x 2

12mm Televue Radian

10mm Televue Radian

8mm Televue Radian x 2

6mm Televue Radian

5mm Televue Radian

4mm Televue Radian

3mm Televue Radian

32mm Televue Plossl

15mm Televue Plossl

26mm Meade Plossl

Bintel SCT - 2" adaptor

Bintel 2" to 1.25" adapter

Bintel 2" mirror diagonal

40mm FMC Bintel 2" eyepiece

Orion flex dew shield

Orion Flip Mirror

Bintel Nebula filter

Astronomik UHC filter

Astronomik UHC filter 2"

Astronomik OIII CCD filter

Astronomik OIII filter 2"

Astronomik SII CCD filter

Astronomik Ha (H-alpha) CCD filter

Astronomik Hb (H-beta) filter

Astronomik CLS CCD filter

Astronomik L filter - Type 2C

Astronomik L filter 2" - Type 2C

Astronomik Planet IR Pro filter

Astronomik MC-Klarglass filter

Televue Bandmate Planetary filter

Televue Bandmate Mars Type A filter

Televue Bandmate Mars Type B filter

Televue Bandmate UHC filter

Baader Solar Continuum Filter 1.25"

Meade Variable Polarising Filter

Batinov focus mask for Meade 10" SCT

Kendrick's Bhatinov focus mask for refractor 2.5"- 4.5"

Orion Starsoot Deep Space Video Camera II

Orion Starshoot LCD-DVR

Orion Starseek Wifi Telescope Control Module

Orion Steadypix Universal

Bintel 0.5 focal reducer

Bintel 2" to 1.25" focuser adaptor

ProStar C-mount male to T-mount female adapter

GSTAR-EX wireless video transmitter/receiver

JMI Microfocus for Meade LX90 SCT

Digitech USB Converter - USB to RS232 DB9

Meade #505 Cable Connector Set

12VDC 7.5A Power Adaptor with Cigarette Socket

Bintel DC Power Cable Meade

Cigarette lighter double adaptor

Bintel Connector Cable DC

Bintel Stellar Seat Observing Chair

Coronado PST (Personal Solar Telescope)

Lunt Solar Wedge 1.25"

Daystar QUARK Chromosphere Hydrogen Alpha Solar Filter x 2

Daystar QUARK Prominence Hydrogen Alpha Solar Filter

Panasonic Portable Power Supply

Orion Mini Giant 9x63 Binoculars

Canon 18x50 IS Binoculars

Bintel binocular L-bracket

Manfrotto Compact Series tripod with photo-movie head kit

Manfrotto 290 Series monopod

Manfrotto Light Duty Pistol-Grip Ball Head

Bushnell Binocular Tripod Adaptor

Bintel Hurricane Blower

Bintel Lens Cleaning Liquid

Televue NP127

Televue Starbeam w/ Flip Mirror

Televue Everbrite 2" diagonal

Televue NP101

Televue Genesis SDF 101mm f/5.4

Televue Gibraltar Manual Alt-AZ Mount with Sky Tour

Televue Starbeam w/ Flip Mirror

Televue Sol Finder

Televue 2" diagonal

Televue Bino View Stereo Binocular Viewer w/ 2x Corrector *

TeleVue TV-76

TeleVue Telepod Manual Alt-AZ Mount with Tripod

Televue Starbeam w/ Flip Mirror

Televue Short Everbrite 2" diagonal

Televue 2"-1.25" Adaptor

Losmandy Vixen Universal Dovetail Plate

Orion EON 110mm ED f/6 APO

Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 Synscan mount

Losmandy Short Universal Dovetail Plate

Televue Everbrite 2" diagonal - Satin

Bintel Red Dot Finder

Bintel Finderscope Dovetail Base

Mallincam Xtreme 2 (with Class 0 CCD Sensor) - PAL colour

HDX2 heat dissipater with dual attached fans

Mallincam control cable for RS232 cameras

Mallincam Wired Keypad Controller

Mallincam Wireless Exposure Control System

Mallincam MFR-5 focal reducer

10mm extension ring

5mm extension ring

Mallincam 2.5x Barlow lens

Mallincam IR filter

Mallincam optical window

Mallincam MCV-1 capture device with built-in enhancer

Mallincam Composite or S-Video Upscaler to HDMI - Pal

MCSV-25 S-Video Cable 25ft

Lens Pen Sensor Klear II Pen and Hurricane Blower

Lens Pen Mini Pro

Anyhow, where was I? Oh, yeah... Stop being so ridiculous, Shaun!

I'm what many would refer to as a guy with "all the gear and no idea!"

[Joves]

Actually... "All the gear, no idea, and skies not clear!"

[Pig]

That's just incredible ....... from all 3 of you, maybe I should have suggested a supermarket and not a small shop....

All them goodies Aaron....... what can I say other than :   "if I was a woman I would wed you"

[Stu]

I currently own 5 scopes but I'm only really using a couple of them with the 3rd now and then. The other 2 are gathering dust

I could probably get by quite happily with just the 12" dob and the 4" refractor.

Having taken early retirement my astro budget is more modest these days so I tend to re-cycle the money buying, trying and selling on.

Sounds rather "austere" compared to some doesn't it ?

Not austere John, just means you have a whole lot more sense that I do!!

Perhaps if the skies were clear more often I'd spend more time observing and less time buying (and selling) scopes!

[mister_wavey]

Holy moly.

Just...

Holy moly.

[John]

I just wonder what folks just starting out on a low budget will make of this thread   

[Piero]

I might be boring, but my first telescope (which I still have but in Italy) is a classic Newton 114 F8. A nice first experience which continued until I moved to England, and I still use when I go there on holidays. 

It has served me for 16 years so far. Now I have my lovely super portable wide field TV-60 which I enjoy every time I use it. When I will be more settled, I will probably buy a Newton 150 or 200 (F5 or F6) mainly for DSO and planets occasionally. 

This will also allow me to reuse my small set of eyepieces largely.

Luckily, that's it, just two telescopes again! 

[Piero]

John, it seems we have an "aperture ratio" in common!  

4": 2.4" = 12" : 8"  ~1.5 !

I wonder whether this is true for our body size too! 

[Pig]

pdp,

That's not boring at all, I have only 1 scope more than you and I only bought it last Saturday. However, I feel the urge to get another

[Luke]

If it wasn't for solar, then if I was starting again and wanted to be sensible about things, I would need only one scope. A 10 inch dob. So much you can see with that.

However, being sensible is for sensible people!

[Piero]

I wonder why? I think you have a very good setup that can keep you busy for a long time! I can go on with mine for hours.

Sometimes I even do *reverse star hopping*: basically I just navigate among the stars in a wide field (15x, 4.3deg) and when I find something interesting I zoom in (51x, 1.5deg). Then I take some reference stars and once back at home, I check what I saw on an atlas. 

Really funny and a great surprise! You feel a bit like Messier! 

The reason why I like wide field views so much is that not only you can identify and see a lot of objects, but also you can give them a context in the sky. It is this context that always surprises me, since it makes me think about how these objects, relatively huge if proportioned to us (e.g. DSOs, nebulae etc), are placed and surrounded in this emptiness of space. Nowadays, our lives are incredibly pushed towards idealistic concepts of success, high performance and power, and I think we are forgetting that we are just an incredibly insignificant part of this immense machinery that is the universe. When I observe in wide field, I exactly feel this corrected re-dimensioning of things. And the good thing is that, I don't care at all to be something completely insignificant for the universe, but I thank a lot that I have the fortune to see a little bit of this machinery, in which we live. 

[JamesF]

Having different requirements such as solar Ha and whitelight, grab and go for foreign travel, planetary, deep sky etc etc does tend to lead to more than one scope!!

Exactly so.  And having just bought a Herschel wedge, I have this nagging feeling that I might have to look for a long focal length frac in the near future.

James

[Piero]

Sorry for confusing. My question "I wonder why?" was referred to Shaun's post.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I bought and sold a few scopes over the years and because of the poor weather conditions in the UK my total number of scopes has reduced to the following -.

4" Astro Tech APO - used with Herschel Wedge and Binoviewers for solar mainly. Also used for double stars

Orion VX8 - used for DSOs with the 21mm, 13mm and 8mm Ethos

180mm Skywatcher Mak/Cass - main lunar and planetary scope - with Binoviewers with 25mm Plossls and 18mm Fujiyama Orthos

PST - used with Pentax 6.5mm -19.5mm zoom

Opticstar 80mm Achro - used mainly as a finder scope with the 180mm Mak/Cass on SkyTee 2.

Would I change anything - yes likely

PST to be replaced by a new Lunt 50mm

Opticstar 80mm to be replaced by an Altair 66mm or 72mm ED frac

One more EP possibly a 5mm Skywatcher Myriad 110 degree

[Stu]

I just wonder what folks just starting out on a low budget will make of this thread

I'm sure they will know that it is not necessary to spend these amounts to see plenty of good stuff. £300 or £400 is all you need for a dob and some eyepieces.

I wouldn't recommend anyone follow my example!!

[Pig]

John,

In a convoluted way the thread is probably a good lesson on how not to do it