Hi, I am new to astronomy and would like some help deciding between 2 telescopes.

[alyssrae859]

Hi, I am new to astronomy, and would like some help deciding between two telescopes. I would like to view the moon, the planets, galaxies, and pretty much everything our universe has to offer. The telescope I fell in love with is a Celestron NexStar 8 SE GOTO Cassegrain. I love that they're low maintenance, but I do not love the price. The GOTO feature is a big selling point, but I hear the short focal lenght is not good for DSOs, is this true? The other telescope I am looking at is a Orion Starview Pro 8" Equatorial Reflector. It is $350 cheaper with no GOTO feature. I am also aware that you have to collimate a reflector (which is not a problem), but I am just not liking the idea of the end of my telescope open to the elements. Could the inside of the telescope get dirty or damaged, would you ever need to clean it? I have also heard that the wind effects using a Newtonian telescope, is this true? The Cassegrain is at the top of my budget. I would like to know if the $350 difference is worth the Cassegrain and GOTO mount over a Newtonian. I would really appreciate some help, Thank you!

[ronin]

The 8SE is a long focal length, not short. The long focal length is often said as not good for DSO's, however it is not specifically the focal length itself.

A long focal length generally means a high magnification and this in turn means a biogger image and therefore a dimmer image. Since most DSO's are dim to start with producing a dimmer image is counter productive.

What it eventually means is that you need to pick eyepieces that are also "long" in order to keep the magnification down.

Another consequence of an SCT and the long focal lengh is the narrow field of view, it does not help at least initially as in when setting up (aligning) the scope. But you learn.

Reflectors do not have a real problem with being open to the elements, you do not observe when it is raining or foggy or I guess in a tornado. Astronomy is a fine weather occupation.

They are more prone to wind, they have a reasonable large cross sectional area, so if imaging is in mind they can suffer, equally if imaging is in mind an 8SE is not suitable. In general consider visual scopes and imaging scopes as close to seperate items.

You may occasionally want to clean the mirror - every couple of years or longer, but eventually you have to clean any scope. Collimation you have mentioned.

An 8SE is basically one lump, a newtonian you can assemble as mount and scope, slightly easier (perhaps).

With an equitorial mount I am going to say you possibly will want or need tracking/goto. They can be pushed manually but it is not intuitive, and without tracking things disappear out of view. Other then a manual dobsonian I tend to suggest tracking/goto as a requirement for anyone.

The 8SE will want powered, batteries sort of work for a short time - probably less then an hour. As you have different voltages and different retailers that will have to be for you to look up.

The 8SE is 2031mm so with a 25mm eyepiece that gives 81x and that in turn means a field of view of 0.6 of a degree. This is where the "problem" comes in - many objects are bigger then that, M42, M45 are both bigger and many nebula are also. 0.73 degrees is possible with an Astro-Tech paradigm and 0.85 with an Antares W70. Any are still a bit narrow. Someone recently has added a focal reducer to their SCT and finds it much more user friendly, but focal reducers cost money.

More information but the choice is ultimately yours.

I am guessing you want the 8SE, if so then get it. Simply you will enjoy using it more and so will be likely toi use it more.

Pay a visit to Bluegrass Astro Club in Lex.

Have a look and talk to people, it is mid summer and the nights are light so a scope will not get a great  deal of use for 6 weeks - more decision time.

Kentucky

Lexington

The web address listed in the first is dead, the second is working.

[DRT]

Hi, I am new to astronomy, and would like some help deciding between two telescopes. I would like to view the moon, the planets, galaxies, and pretty much everything our universe has to offer.

Hi,

Welcome to SGL

Given your objective to view everything I think you need a good all-rounder rather than a specialised scope. That suggests that a Newtonian or a Dobsonian would be a good place to start. These are relatively cheap when compared to Refractors/SCTs etc and you will therefore get more bang for your buck in terms of aperture and flexibility in what you can look at.

With your budget you could pick up a large (10"-12") Dob or an 8" Newtonian and a good mount/tripod plus some good eyepieces for the price of the 8SE. That would give you fantastic planetary and deep sky viewing and a much wider field of view than the SCT.

You have nothing to worry about with the open design of a reflector so long as you keep the lid on when storing it to prevent too much dust gathering on the primary mirror.

Best of luck.

Derek

[PeterCPC]

You will find the Celestron much easier to use so I would go with that one. It will be great for the moon and planets and you can image them too. It will be ok for observations of DSOs but no good for imaging them. GOTOs make life so much easier.

Peter

[jimbo747]

Planets and moon, an SCT or mak is best (plus you can use cheap plossls and get away with it) for DSO a newt or widefield refractor is better. If you look at peoples signatures you see people have a mix and match. For example I have a cheap 127 mak on a goto tracking mount, but also picked up a cheap 70mm travelscope for wider views. I only get viewing sessions of an hour so need something I can plonk down and get viewing clusters in 5 mins and very little storage space, but also something that rarely needs collimating

as I'd never get chance to do it properly.

a fast dobsonion newt wouldn't be convenient.

[DRT]

I only get viewing sessions of an hour so need something I can plonk down and get viewing clusters in 5 mins and very little storage space, but also something that rarely needs collimating

as I'd never get chance to do it properly.a fast dobsonion newt wouldn't be convenient.

I think you might be overestimating the collimation issue, Jim. I can set-up my 200P on my Giro mount and check the collimation (which very rarely needs adjusting) in less than 5 minutes. I have owned six Skywatcher Newts/Dobs in the past few years and all of them have held collimation very well. Bobs Knobs on the secondary help enormously when adjustment is needed but more often than not it isn't. When it does, I still think it's a five minute set-up unless something has gone very badly wrong.

That said, if we all favoured the same set-ups this would be a very boring place

[LukeSkywatcher]

I know the 8SE has its issues (narrower FOV and apparently not so hot on DSO's), but its the best scope i have ever owned and i can honestly say that i have never had a problem with either the narrower FOV or views of DSO's. 

"An 8SE is basically one lump, a newtonian you can assemble as mount and scope, slightly easier (perhaps)."

Not sure what you mean by this. Yes, the scope,mount and tripod can be carried as one piece, but it can be broken down into 2 or 3 pieces also. I carry my OTA and mount as one piece and the tripod as another piece.

Certainly if you can afford it, there is not a single thing that would put me off from buyuing an 8SE apart from the fact that its not going to allow you to do much imaging. I dont do imaging, so that aspect of the scope doesnt bother me.

One issue that does effect me when using the 8SE, is dew. The corrector plate (glass bit at the front) is a magnet for collecting dew. This is easily overcome with a heated dew strap. So a heated dew strap/shield is a must. You wont always use it but certain times of the year.

[Dean bailey]

Tal scope is amazing, never have to adjust the fider at all, Russian made quality scope, forgot actual model number but will get it for you tomorrow. Celestron are pritty hard Rubbish in my experience.