Help on buying my first refractor

[jwallis]

Evening everyone. I would like to buy a refractor for the main purpose of viewing the planets, and also taking some photos of them, but this is where I am getting a little frustrated as I would also like the scope to be able to manage the brighter deep sky objects for photography also. Any help and suggestions would be much appreciated.

[happy-kat]

Do you have a budget for the telescope in mind?

[Spoon]

Budget is one of the biggest factors. What's your limit?

[50mriwalker]

About 150 pounds to get started on

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[happy-kat]

Do you already have a tripod or does the budget need to include a tripod as well?

[BlueMoon23]

£150 won't go very far in terms of deep sky and planetary observing + imaging (especially if you need a tripod as well). I'm not a great help but have you considered a pair of binoculars - that's where I started.

[jwallis]

Im looking at around the 1500 mark for a scope and mount. Maybe upto 2000 . Heard a lot about the bresser  125/1200.

[nightfisher]

I would say this is about the nearest you are going to get and be happy with   http://www.firstlightoptics.com/evostar/skywatcher-evostar-90-eq3-2.html

it will show the planets and allow you to take some basic images, should also show some of the brighter deep sky objects

[Spoon]

Im looking at around the 1500 mark for a scope and mount. Maybe upto 2000 . Heard a lot about the bresser 125/1200.

I'd suggest a decent refractor on an HEQ5 then you have some money left for a decent camera too. If you're wanting the brighter DSOs like M42 and M31 you'll be wanting a short tube frac as they are MASSIVE in the sky compared to planets. Planetary and DSO imaging with the same scope is a hard one

Cam

[jwallis]

Cheers Cam. I will have a good look around before purchasing. Cannot wait though.

[nightfisher]

Im looking at around the 1500 mark for a scope and mount. Maybe upto 2000 . Heard a lot about the bresser  125/1200.

disregard post 8 from myself, with this budget look for an Evostar 120ED pro and an HEQ5 syntrek mount

[jwallis]

Cheers Nightfisher, I will have a look, thank you.

[damnut]

If you find the 120 too big the 100 also has a great reputation. Though more aperture is better for visual   If you can check them out at a retailer or go along to a meet of your local astro group, and see what others have.

[jwallis]

Cheers damnut. Will do. I won't be buying the first I see for sure. A good look round and a ponder first