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Anax7

By Anax7
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Anax7

Anax7

Posted
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I am new here so I thought it would be nice to say a hello!

What a lovely place you have here! I spent a lot of time looking at user's pictures of the solar system and deep sky. It helped me realize what to a expect from the type of telescope I'm planning to buy.

My name is Nick and I am a computer programmer from Greece, living in Cyprus for the past 7 years. I am 36 years old and single which is a bit scary as I move towards 40. 

I was always feeling a strong attraction to anything related to our Cosmos. My brother led me to stargazing when we spent a few nights out in the dark sky hunting down UFOs with his binoculars. We were really disappointed later on when we realized those where satellites...!

I have no equipment yet, but I know that with my budget I wont be able to see a lot of stuff, but its this feeling I want, the freedom of mind in those quiet winter nights.

I am planning to get myself a 4 inch achromat refractor. Bresser will most likely be the one. I am planning to invest on a good mount as I want everything to be rock steady. I haven't used/seen any reflectors before but I have the feeling that they are going to be a bit awkward to use and I cannot digest the inverted look. I still consider them thought due to their light collecting ability. 

Since I have only stargazed with binoculars I don't really know what to expect from telescopes. I found "Stellarium" software to be quite helpful, due to its scope simulation functionality, which displays the view as it would look through a simulated scope. Thats a great tool for understanding apertures, focal lengths and eyepiece strength but doesn't give an idea of how bright those objects will look.

For this problem I have found this online calculator (http://www.cruxis.com/scope/limitingmagnitude.htm) which calculates the maximum visible magnitude for a simulated scope. It looks scientific enough and as if made with love so I trusted it and I came to the conclusion that there are no big differences between small apertures and telescope types.

But enough with that, this is supposed to be a hello message!

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swag72

swag72

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Hi Nick and welcome to SGL - Glad that you found us. Regarding what you will actually see with a telescope have a look in the sketching section and that will give you a good idea and structure your expectations. There's also a thread running somewhere of 'What can I expect to see' 

Look forward to seeing you around :)

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swamp thing

swamp thing

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Posted

HI Nick and welcome to the stargazers lounge. 

As you have said looking towards a good steady mount is of high importance when observing. For this reason I would consider a reflector on a dobsonian mounting.

Most scopes mounted on small sized EQ's (equatorial) mountings have a tendency to wobble about like jelly. Dobs are stable and dampen vibrations very quickly.

And the best bit. They are cheap :grin:

Check this out for bang for your buck.:)

Enjoy the forums.

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Anax7

Anax7

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Hey, thanks for your replies!

 Swag72 I looked at various sketches, including mariosi's (glad to see people from Cyprus). I have also checked your profile and was amazed by your observatory, nice job!!

Swamp thing, dobsonians seem handy when someone is observing from a yard or flat surface. I'm going to be moving quite a lot and setting stuff on gravel. I also can't resist the temptation of owning an equatorial mount with an RA motor! (or even a DEC if I ever find a use for it!).

Mr Spock, I already have a set of binoculars (nicked them from my father's garage some long time ago). They are some old 8x31 Tasco's which surprised me the first time I used them on a starry sky. I can even see Andromeda's faint silhouette! 

Using those, I also observed that when I kept my one eye open, simulating a telescope, the image was a lot worse than that of using both eyes. Less lit, a bit fuzzy and felt like it was lacking detail. Not to mention the lack of 3D effect. That thing made me question the quality of image i could get with a telescope. I bit of a search online and I found the bino-viewers! People say that they decrease the light a bit. They also seem to be quite expensive and require double eye-pieces but I think they worth the try.

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Tim99

Tim99

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Hi Nick and welcome.  I bought a Explore Scientific ED80mm Triplet Refractor and have never been sorry.  It is so easy to set up and the views are very clear with great contrast.  Recently, I bought a Celestron SCT and their CGEM (go-to mount).  I haven't used the SCT much but I have the Refractor mounted on the CGEM and have gotten started imaging DSO's.  The 80mm Refractor is the scope of choice for many people for DSO Imaging.

I am glad I went this route because it is relatively easy to set up this little scope rather than lugging a big telescope around .... at least to get started.  haha. So, I don't think you can go wrong with your 4" Refractor idea. 

Just thought I would give you my two-cents.  Good luck and enjoy.

Tim

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