Need advice on 1st telescope + mount

[clynners]

Hi! I'm new to the forum. Astronomy / deep-sky astrophotography is my childhood dream that I'm finally able to begin.

As part of my research, I would love to hear your suggestions for purchasing a beginner telescope and EQ mount. My budget is +/- 1k USD, and I already have a Canon DSLR with two kit lenses. I live in the outermost suburbs of Houston (i.e. moderate light pollution) but intend to travel with the telescope too, so I'd like to avoid something beastly for now.

Additionally, I don't mind spending some hours on nights/weekends/vacations with starcharts, so I'd rather pay for optical quality over fancy computer software. I've read a lot of pros and cons on all telescope types, but I'd like to get a feel of the versatility of each based on your experience. Please keep in mind that I'm a true beginner, so I'll take all the advice I can get! Thank you in advance for your sharing your expertise!

Cheers,

Christa

[Dave In Vermont]

Well, how about some computer-software? And that would cover 'star-charts' as well? I have in mind the wonderful star-charting/planetarium program called Stellarium. Stellarium is a very large program that you set for your specific location and the current time - or any time you wish - and it will show you what's up in the sky at your observing location with as many details as you wish, such as stars, pulsars, quasers, galaxies, nebulae, man-made satellites, planets, exo-planetary systems, you-name-its. Comparable programs can run you over £200. But Stellarium is free. You read that right - FREE.

In fact, one of the developers is a member here. Stellarium can print out pages of star-charts quite easily. Here's a cut & paste of links for downloading a copy and where to get instructions:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.stellarium.org/
 
As for instructions, the most current one's are posted in Wiki due to their being new features & functions being created almost daily. There is also a Pdf. that's almost up-to-date. Here's the Wiki-Link:
 
http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Stellarium_User_Guide
 
And the Pdf. is here:
 
http://barry.sarcasmogerdes.com/stellarium/stellarium_user_guide-new.pdf
 
This should help you to find just about everything under the Sun.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wait until you have a little time to download - it's a large program. And set-up can take you anywhere from 10 minutes to 10 days, depending on how you choose to use it and for what. I'm adding a screenshot of mine at the end of this post.

As for telescopes, before you spend money on one, it would help if you could tell us what sort of objects interest you to find up yonder. Different designs are best for different things, so do some thinking and reading, and I'm sure a few people will help to light a path for you.

And welcome aboard SGL!

Dave

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire 

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[clynners]

Thanks for the friendly welcome and helpful advice so far!

Dave - A special thanks for your detailed reply on Stellarium. I will definitely look into that.

Concerning objects of interest, I haven't had enough experience to define that yet. Obviously I'd start with the stellar and lunar pics. However, (speaking as a serious beginner here) I would eventually like to do nebula imaging, hopefully trying it out with the same scope and/or mount before making the plunge for really high end mounts and optics.

Keeping any near-future endeavors in mind, I'm giving myself a pretty flexible price range for purchasing the right equipment.

[seo]

Hi and welcome to SGL

[badger111]

_{Greetings from Maldon, UK}

[michaelmorris]

Welcome to sgl

The problem you will have is that the needs of visual observing and long exposure imaging are really quite different and it can be hard to fulfil both needs in one scope.

If you are interested in taking pictures, you're probably going to be best off getting a computer controllable mount. You can pick up a secondhand Heq5 pro for around £450. As for scopes, a secondhand Skywatcher 80ed can be had for £250/£300

Another alternative is to buy an vixen polarie or skywatcher star adventurer for wide field imaging and get a separate visual rig that will double up for lunar and planetary imaging.

[Tim99]

Hello Christa and welcome to the forum.  I rekindled my interest in astronomy after I retired a couple years ago.  I was asking the same questions as you have asked and I started reading a lot to learn about telescopes, eyepieces, imaging (Planetary and DSO) etc etc etc.

I decided to buy a small 80mm Refractor because I wanted a grab and go kind of setup.  I have experience with Newtonians but this is my first Refractor,  I bought a T-ring adapter so that I could connect my DSLR to the telescope.  I had a ball with this little telescope!  Took some very nice pictures of the moon including the total Lunar eclipse this year.  I'm a nature guy so I even took photos of birds and wildlife through the Refractor.

I decided to check out a couple planets (Jupiter and Saturn) and with my little refractor, the planets were really small.  I wondered, "what kind of telescope do I need to get a good look at those planets?"

I kept reading and learning (especially on cloudy nights haha.)  I learned that to view and image the planets, you need a lot of magnification and a larger aperture scope ( 8" or more) can provide the light gathering needed to boost the magnification.   A long focal length also produces a smaller field of view ... good for planetary work.   So .... I decided to buy a 9.25 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (SCT).  The SCT gives you a lot of light gathering ability in a very small package.

So the point to my little story is that no single telescope can do it all.  It turns out that my little 80mm Refractor with its wide field of view is great for imaging Deep Sky Objects (DSO's)  With a tracking mount and long exposure time, the little scope can gather enough light and capture the big DSO's.  My new SCT with Go-To mount is another animal entirely ... taking an hour to set up, align and cool down before I can start observing or imaging BUT wow what a view it is of the moon and planets!

So Christa, I don't think you can go wrong starting out with a small refractor to get your feet wet.  Then as you learn more, you can do what I did and spend the kid's inheritance.  Haha.  the main thing is to enjoy it along the way.  I plan eventually buy a nice Newtonian and even a big DOB eventually.  There are advantages to each kind of telescope.

Good luck and clear skies!

Tim in Western New York.

[frank32gld]

Hi and welcome to this forum, i am new too and as you already noticed people are very helpful here. Have fun!

Frank

[Tim99]

I took these pictures with my DSLR attached to the Explore Scientific ED 80mm Triplet Refractor ($599).

 

Here is M13 (Globular Star Cluster)

This picture of a bird taken with DSLR and the 80mm Refractor

[JamesM]

Hi Christa and welcome to the forum

Clear skies

[tyco]

Hello and welcome to SGL

[michigander]

Welcome to SGL, Christa!

Astros fan?

Dana

[Mr Spock]

Hi Christa, welcome to SGL

A minimum starter for deep sky astrophotography would be a Skywatcher HEQ5 and ED80. Most likely over your budget new but there are second hand sources.

AP is expensive unfortunately, though you can get good reults with an AstroTrac and your camera + telephoto.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Welcome to the forum. If you don't have the budget for guided imaging then camera lenses on a tracking mount will give the best bang for your imaging buck. There are some very good budget options, for example this was taken with a 1970s vintage lens on a modded Canon 1100D camera.

There are some more example lens images if you follow the link in my sig if you are interested, and I put together a quick guide to shooting with a kit lens that you might find useful.

Hope that's some help and good luck with whatever route you decide to go down. There are plenty of helpful people in the Getting Started with Imaging section, I've always received plenty of good advice here.

[clynners]

Welcome to the forum. If you don't have the budget for guided imaging then camera lenses on a tracking mount will give the best bang for your imaging buck. There are some very good budget options, for example this was taken with a 1970s vintage lens on a modded Canon 1100D camera.

There are some more example lens images if you follow the link in my sig if you are interested, and I put together a quick guide to shooting with a kit lens that you might find useful.

Hope that's some help and good luck with whatever route you decide to go down. There are plenty of helpful people in the Getting Started with Imaging section, I've always received plenty of good advice here.

Loved your guide to using kit lenses for AP -- just excellent. I think the HEQ5 will be a good fit, simply looking at the payload capacity. I have the same Canon DSLR in your guide, so I think I'll try some imaging with that first. I'm still researching on the right scope for me. Thanks for sharing your talent [emoji5]

[clynners]

Hello Christa and welcome to the forum. I rekindled my interest in astronomy after I retired a couple years ago. I was asking the same questions as you have asked and I started reading a lot to learn about telescopes, eyepieces, imaging (Planetary and DSO) etc etc etc.

I decided to buy a small 80mm Refractor because I wanted a grab and go kind of setup. I have experience with Newtonians but this is my first Refractor, I bought a T-ring adapter so that I could connect my DSLR to the telescope. I had a ball with this little telescope! Took some very nice pictures of the moon including the total Lunar eclipse this year. I'm a nature guy so I even took photos of birds and wildlife through the Refractor.

I decided to check out a couple planets (Jupiter and Saturn) and with my little refractor, the planets were really small. I wondered, "what kind of telescope do I need to get a good look at those planets?"

I kept reading and learning (especially on cloudy nights haha.) I learned that to view and image the planets, you need a lot of magnification and a larger aperture scope ( 8" or more) can provide the light gathering needed to boost the magnification. A long focal length also produces a smaller field of view ... good for planetary work. So .... I decided to buy a 9.25 Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (SCT). The SCT gives you a lot of light gathering ability in a very small package.

So the point to my little story is that no single telescope can do it all. It turns out that my little 80mm Refractor with its wide field of view is great for imaging Deep Sky Objects (DSO's) With a tracking mount and long exposure time, the little scope can gather enough light and capture the big DSO's. My new SCT with Go-To mount is another animal entirely ... taking an hour to set up, align and cool down before I can start observing or imaging BUT wow what a view it is of the moon and planets!

So Christa, I don't think you can go wrong starting out with a small refractor to get your feet wet. Then as you learn more, you can do what I did and spend the kid's inheritance. Haha. the main thing is to enjoy it along the way. I plan eventually buy a nice Newtonian and even a big DOB eventually. There are advantages to each kind of telescope.

Good luck and clear skies!

Tim in Western New York.

Hi Tim, thank you for your feedback! It made me laugh [emoji4] and gave me a lot to consider.

Based on my research and advice from this forum, I think the HEQ5 will be a good fit for me at the moment.

For now, I'll try some imaging with a Celestron 70mm refractor, which I recently purchased for viewing during camping and travel, and I will also try using just the kits lenses with my Canon 1100D.

Christa - the nomad (working in Houston for now [emoji6])

[estwing]

welcome along....

[triton1]

Hi there and welcome to SGL and good luck with the "The Dark side"

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Loved your guide to using kit lenses for AP -- just excellent. I think the HEQ5 will be a good fit, simply looking at the payload capacity. I have the same Canon DSLR in your guide, so I think I'll try some imaging with that first. I'm still researching on the right scope for me. Thanks for sharing your talent [emoji5]

You're welcome, glad you found the guide useful.

[Charon]

Hi and welcome from Crete.

[Bizibilder]

Hello Christa and welcome to SGL!!

[Vox45]

Hello and welcome to the forum

Clear skies !

[xtreemchaos]

hi Christa and welcome from charl in south wales.